THE BAOBAB. 
41 
It was night before we reached Coque. Our route was 
bordered with gum trees, the yellow flowers of which, arranged 
in circular bunches, spread a delicious perfume. We also 
saw many rates. The bark of this tree yields a yellow dye ; 
its leat is without indentation, and of a beautiful green ; it is 
not very high ; the wood is white, and the bark is easily 
reduced to powder. This was the first time that I saw the 
baobab, that enormous tree which has been described by 
Adanson, and which bears his name. I measured one, and 
found it to be forty feet in circumference. Stripped at this 
time of its foliage, it resembled an immense wooden tower. 
This majestic mass is the only monument of antiquity to be 
met with in Africa. I am astonished that the Negroes have 
not paid to this tree the same bonours that the Druids did to 
the oak ; for to them the baobab is perhaps the most valuable 
of vegetables. Its leaves are used for leaven ; its bark furnishes 
indestructible cordage, and the bees form their hives in the 
cavities of its trunk. The negroes too often shelter themselves 
from storms, in its time-worn caverns. The baobab is indis- 
putably the monarch of African trees. 
We had some difficulty to find the hut of the chief of 
Coqué. This village contains about five thousand souls. 
Situated near the frontier of the Jolofts, it is a continual 
thoroughfare for the caravans of Moors who visit their country 
to purchase gum, and a great number of persons of that 
nation are settled at Coqué. The streets are crowded with 
G 
