BALANTES NEGROES. 
57 
beoavîse voyagers have not a sufficient opinion of the inhabitants 
to expose themselves in going over it; and even in procuring 
from them provisions and refreshnients, it is necessary to secure 
oneself from insuh. This isle has two ports or roadsteads, in 
Vk liich ships can anchor and he secure from the sea winds. Tlie 
old port is to the north, and the new one is to the south. 
To the north of the isle of Bussi^ and on the other side of 
the canal on the main land, is a tract of country ten or twelve 
leagues long, which is inhabited by Negroes, who are called 
.Baiantes, and who are remarkable for holdhig no intercourse 
whatever with their neighbours, either on the continent or the 
isles. They allow no one to enter their country, i^ever give their 
daughters in marriage to the other Negroes, and very seldom 
ailow their sons to unite themselves to foreign women. They 
are idolators ; their government is a sort of republic, adminis^ 
tered by the elders of each canton, who form a council. They 
have slaves; but the free Negroes never attempt each other's 
liberty. In other respects they are wicked, cruel, and all of 
them thieves. Their arms are saguayes, arrows, and sabres. 
In their battles these negroes are daring, rash, and furious : 
they respect no tiag ; and all nations have occasionally been in- 
sulted by them. Notwithstanding they are often victorious, yet 
tiiey are more frequently defeated ; but their natural ferocity is 
always the same. They never abandon their piracies ; and thus 
the navigation, near their territories, is always attended with 
danger. 
These people are tolerably industrious ; at least \ve judge so 
from the appearance of their country, as we pass along the coast. 
They traffic by carrying to their neighbours, and even to foreign- 
ers who enter their roads, rice, millet, culinary vegetables, oxen, 
goats, poultry, and particularly gold. The quantity of these 
different articles w^hich they annually bring from their country, is 
a sufficient proof of its fertility. It is a generally received opin- 
ion, that the gold which the Baiantes sell, is obtained from 
mines iii the interior of the country which they occupy ; and 
that this is the reason why they refuse to let any person enter it : 
they are aware that this precious metal excites the envy of the 
Europeans, and that they would expose themselves to expulsion 
or slavery, if they were to admit tliose nations amongst them. 
They pay a tribute in gold to the king of Casamanca, and some- 
times give this metal for such merchandise as pleases them, or 
for which they have great occasion. An analysis has been made of 
this gold, and of that from Galam, the result of which has proved 
the former far superior to the latter, and even to that of all the 
countries to the eastward. Several circumstances contribute to 
strengthen the opinion, thjit the country of the Baiantes containa 
DURAND.] H 
