PARTICULARS RESPECTING BAMBOUK. 
193 
twenty-five feet deep ; at the surface they are twelve feet in 
circumference. They form them with a gentle slope and with 
steps for descending- ; but as the sides are not supported by 
planks, they frequently fall in and bury the labourers. Women 
are employed in washing the earth to extract the gold from 
it ; they throw away the coarse gravel which much re- 
sembles iron ore. At the bottom there remains an emery in 
very fine powder, which it is extremely difficult to separate from 
the gold. The farther they proceed with the pits, the more 
they find. 
The mines of Nambia, Semaylla, and Combadiréré, 
produce great quantities of gold, which the Moors take in 
exchange for the salt which they bring hither. 
The climate of Bambouk is so intensely hot, that it would 
be doomed to almost continual sterility, if the numerous 
rivulets which flow from the mountains did not in many parts 
cool the air and favour vegetation. The country, therefore, 
produces great quantities of rice, millet, maize, and pease. 
The baobab and the tamarind tree are seen almost every where. 
The inhabitants possess numerous herds of goats and horned 
cattle, but horses are rare. 
The people of Bambouk are Mandingoes. Their cruelty 
and perfidy make them terrible to all travellers, and it is not 
without the utmost precaution that even the other blacks 
venture among them. Nevertheless the Moors, the Serracolets, 
c c 
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