COLAT-NUTS. 
465 
scarcity or abundance of the article ; there are smaller cakes, 
which cost seven or eight thousand cowries. 
The Moorish merchants derive considerable profit from 
their trade in salt. They have great influence over the 
negroes, who give them credit for being richer than they 
really are. The poor Man dingo traders, after travelling for 
two months with loads of colat-nuts on their heads, are 
obliged to go through the streets of Jen!»e to sell them ; 
for, being merely articles of luxury, they are not easily 
disposed of. It is true that a great many are consumed in 
the neighbourhood of Jenn^ and on the banks of the river as 
far as Timbuctoo ; but the quantity which is brought from 
the south is immense, and they are consequently sold at 
eight or ten cowries each. Certainly at that price the poor 
Mandingoes can gain nothing ; for the expenses incurred on 
their journey and during the time they stay at Jenne, the 
fares across the rivers, the passage-duties in the villages, 
and the requisite presents, absorb all their profits. The 
cowries obtained by the sale of their col ats are appropriated 
to the purchase of salt, which cannot be bought with their 
merchandise. 
As there are no inns in this country, the strangers are 
obliged to lodge in the houses of private persons, whom 
they pay in merchandise. They buy wood in the market 
for their cooking, and as provisions are dear in the town, 
they send their slaves to the neighbouring villages, where 
it is procured somewhat cheaper. The fishermen catch 
many small carp in the surrounding villages. They dry 
them by laying them on straw and then setting fire to it. 
This fish is bought by the poor people. 
Sego-Ahmadou, the chief of Jennd, maintains an active 
war against the Bambaras of S^go, whom he wirshes to 
subject to the standard of the prophet ; but the Bambaras 
who are a warlike race, resist him. This war is very inju- 
rious to the trade of Jenne, because it interrupts all commu- 
VOL. I. 2 H 
