PARTICULARS RESPECTING BAMBOUK. 191 
SO long been the object of the research of Europeans, is 
situated to the east of Bondou ; the Portuguese, who on 
the first discovery of Africa, built forts in Bambouk, were 
oblig-ed to abandon them, either in consequence of the wars 
which they had to maintain against the inhabitants of the 
country, or on account of the mortality among their soldiers, 
occasioned by the insalubrity of the climate. 
Bambouk has always been considered as the Peru of 
Africa, and the accounts given of it by Compagnon and 
several other agents of the French companies, have in some 
measure confirmed the pompous descriptions of the Negroes. 
The war carried on by the Poulas of Foutatoro and Bon- 
dou against the Bambaras and the Serracolets, not permitting 
me to continue my route to the east, ' prevented me from 
entering Bambouk. It was, perhaps, a fortunate circumstance 
for me ; since it is probable that the inhabitants would 
have taken my life, as a forfeit for my curiosity and bold- 
ness. I contented myself with collecting such particulars as 
appeared to me to be the most authentic, respecting that 
rich country ; and which nearly corresj^ond with those given 
in an anonymous work published in 1789-* 
* Voyage au Pays de Bambouk, <^c. Paris, Defer, 1789, one vol. 8vo. 
The name of the author was Coste ; he had travelled in different countries 
and published several works, to none of which he affixed his name. He died 
about the year 1811. 
