192 , PARTICULARS RESPECTING BAMBOUK. 
Bambouk is almost entirely covered with lofty mountains : 
their elevation serves as a defence to the country, exposed to 
the invasions of the Poulas of Bondou and the Bambaras; 
ever eager to seize the wealth which it contains. This king- 
dom abounds in gold mines and very malleable iron. The 
working of the former is nearly at a stand ; it is no doubt 
checked by the opinion current among the people, that cer- 
tain death awaits the proprietor, who after discovering a new 
mine fails to sacrifice a black cow to the gold, which is supposed 
to possess the power of sorcery. Policy has doubtless con- 
tributed to the circulation of this opinion, lest the riches 
procured by more active exertions, should attract the ambition 
of neighbouring countries. The inhabitants, as the Negro mer- 
chants inform me, pretend also that it is useless to dig further 
than twenty feet deep, when the gold ceases to be found in 
considerable quantities, because, as they say, its disappearance 
indicates that it has left its place, or is hiding itself. This 
notion has doubtless the same origin as that which we have 
just mentioned. 
The most important mine is that of Natacoa ; it is situated, 
says the work before cited, in a hill the height of which is 
three hundred feet, and the circumference from a thousand to 
twelve hundred paces ; its summit resembles a dome The hill 
of Natacoa is placed in the centre of an immense plain, at a dis- 
tance from the hills of Tambaoura. The pits dug by the Negroes 
are to the number of twelve hundred, and from twenty to 
