COUNTRY OF THE JOLOFFS. 
85 
by Foutatoro, on the south by Oulli, on the west by the states 
of the Bourb-Salum and of the Darnel, and on the north by 
those of Brack. It was formerly the most extensive empire 
in this part of Africa, and its king still enjoys a degree of 
pre-eminence among the other sovereigns of his colour, who 
prostrate themselves whenever they address him. 
The Joloffs as well as the Poulas probably inhabited the 
fertile plains of Numidia or Mauritania, before the invasion of 
the Saracens. On the arrival of those conquerors, they crossed 
the desert, and thus placed the Senegal between themselves 
and the followers of Mahomet, supposing it to be an insur- 
mountable barrier. The country where they took refuge, 
without being very fertile, would afford great resources to a 
more industrious people. Their forests are filled with gum- 
trees, but they allow the Moors the benefit of them. Millet, 
cotton, and indigo, grow abundantly in their plains. 
From the sea coast, the ground rises imperceptibly as you 
proceed eastward to the frontiers of Foutatoro. There is no 
appearance of stone throughout this tract on the surface of the 
soil, which is composed of extremely fine sand ; but at the 
depth of thirty or forty fathoms is found a stratum of ferru- 
ginous stones, resting on beds of others, which are calcareous. 
The ground ceases to rise on entering the deserts which 
separate the country of the Bourb-Joloffs from Foutatoro. 
The latter therefore forms the first plain of this part of Africa, 
proceeding from west to east. 
