CHARACTER AND PERSON OF FONEBE. 
121 
horse worth thirteen captives. Fonebé is of ordinary stature, 
thin, and of a weak constitution; his cheeks are hollow, his 
features are not so long as those of the Poulas ; his skin is of a 
darker colour, and he has the animated look and the round- 
head of his nation, by which it is distinguished from the pure 
Negroes. He is very lively; speaks with inconceivable 
volubility, and never remains five minutes in the same place : 
he gives orders to some, runs and listens to others, and seems 
aware of his superiority over all persons of his colour. A 
great admirer of the whites and their arts, he has a much 
stronger sense of the beautiful than his countrymen ; his dress 
resembles that of Almamy, wliich I have already described ; 
except that over his scarlet cap he wears a round hat, which 
was given him at St. Louis. Fonebé had thoroughly studied 
the character of the whites, as his conduct demonstrated ; he 
knov/s that by kind treatment, it is easy to obtain tokens of 
their good-will. 
The country which I traversed this day was flat : and 
interspersed with groves of gum trees ; the uncultivated surface 
of these plains is entirely composed of ferruginous stones, 
which in like manner are met with in great quantities in the 
mountains that bound the horizon. At noon we halted 
near four huts, shaded by an immense baobab: this hamlet 
was destitute of all provisions; beyond it immense plains 
opened before us, entirely covered by a species of asclepias ; 
the goats browzed the flowers of this plant, which is considered 
R 
