THE JOLAS, OR BIAFARES. 
dainty, that their children are forbidden to touch this dish, 
which is reserved for the palates of adults and princes. There 
are as many chiefs as villag-es amongst these Pagan tribes. 
Mahometanism alone has found means to form empires, and 
to gather together a numerous population under its laws. 
These people, who differ in language as much as in manners, 
are incessantly at war with one another. 
On the banks of the river Geba, opposite to Bissao, are 
the Jolas or Biafares, whose territory extends into the interior 
as far as Ivoii, which borders on the Basares, a nation reported 
to be canibals. The Naloubes are also neighbours of this 
village : their territory terminates at Kakandé, and is sepa- 
rated by the Rio Grande from that of the Biafares. The 
number of elephants is so great in these countries, that in the 
season when the grass is dry, the chiefs assemble the young 
men, and lead them to the woods : they set fire to the grass, 
and the elephants, unable to escape the flames which encircle 
them on all sides, perish in the conflagration, sometimes to 
the number of twenty or thirty : by which means the Negroes 
procure a considerable quantity of ivory. 
The Biafares are indisputably the handsomest Negroes 
on this part of the coast ; their manners perfectly resemble 
those of the Mandingos, from whom they differ, however, in 
religion and language. They wear large breeches, and a 
tunic with wide sleeves ; and are covered with p-ris-n^ris, 
though they are not professors of the Mahometan religion. 
