S AN so— SAG A. 
427 
industry of the natives. Here they are much better clothed ; 
they apply themselves to trade, their markets are better 
supplied and their agricultural operations are more carefully 
performed. All sorts of provisions are dear here : indeed it 
is frequently difficult to procure them at all, owing to the 
great number of strangers passing this way. In this part 
of Bambara the only kind of grain is large and small 
millet. Rice grows in very small quantities. Yams which 
are so useful in the south, are here small and so inferior in 
quality that they are very little cultivated. In the market 
I sometimes saw a dozen at most. They were extremely 
dear. Travellers buy them and roast them in the ashes to 
eat at their departure in the morning on the road, when 
they rest. The environs of Sanso are wooded with ces and 
nedes. The butter extracted from the ce, is sold at Jenne 
to the caravans which pass through the village. The greater 
part of the inhabitants have nothing to burn but millet 
stubble, for wood is so scarce that those who have it prefer 
selling it in the market. 
At six o'clock in the morning of the 20th of February 
we set out proceeding in a N. E. direction for six miles, 
through a level, open country, the soil consisting of hard 
grey sand. I saw a few naucleas and nedes. The heat, 
already very powerful, was increased by a burning wind 
from the east. About eleven we halted at Saga, a very 
pretty village, shaded by bombaces. I now found myself less 
an object of curiosity than hitherto. Every one took me 
for a Moor. My beautiful coloured cloth and my glass 
wares wholly occupied the attention of my companions. 
Throughout all this country the costume is nearly the same 
as in the south, except that it is neater. The women like- 
wise wear their hair platted ; they may be compared with 
the Mandingo women of Time and Tangrera, but not with 
the Bambara females who wear scarcely any clothing. They 
have also rings at the nose such as I have before described. 
