l is - .VOYAGE TO SENEGAL, 
dotliing of any of the inhabitants in this part of Africa. There 
ÏS no variety of fashion, except in the head-dresses of the wo- 
men ; and the only alterations which 1 have, qbsened in these, 
are in their height. T 
All the inhabitants of both sexes, whether Mulattos, Whites> 
or free Negroes, speak French tolerably well. Their common 
and natural language is that of the Yolofs. The first things 
v^'hich strangers learn, are their numbers. 
Rice and millet are the principal food of the inhabitants ; but 
foreigners who come to the isiand, import Bourde;uix flour, cof- 
fee, sugar, and liquors: they find there oxen, sheep, poultry, 
game, and fish; so that they live the same as they do in their 
own country ; except that they w ant fruits, which are not cul- 
tivated. 
The governor of the island is the supreme head of the civil, 
military, and judicial administration: the last, though dependant 
on the governor, is not entirely military ; the laws are not posi- 
tive, but have been established from custom. It is seldom that 
either free Mulattos or Negro slaves are condemed to death. 
Before the revolution, Negroes who were found guilty, were 
sold and sent to the American colonies. If they happened to 
fee slaves, the produce of the sale served to indemnify the injured 
party, and the surplus was given to the master, after the ex- 
pences were discharged ; but if the condemned Negroes were 
free, a part of the produce of the sale likewise went to the pro- 
secutor, and the rest was vested in the king's treasury. In both 
eases the governor gave an account of the prosecution to the 
iniiiister of the marine. At present, I am assured that no other 
sentences are passed than that of imprisonment in irons, either 
for a limited time, or for life. 
The Whites are tried by the same tribunal, and under the 
same forms. \\ hen any one distui bs the tranquillity of the in- 
îiabitants, he is arrested, banished from the colony, and em- 
barked for France. If he have committed murder, burglary, or 
any capital crime, he is seized, and sent to France, to be tried 
according to the instructions sent from the Senegal. All disputes 
relative to commerce are decided before the governor, who en- 
deavours to reconcile the parties ; and if he cannot succeed, they 
appoint three arbitrators, who, with the governor at their head, 
give a final decision. If the parties be Europeans, the ar- 
biters are Whites; and when they are Africans, their case is 
decided by Blacks : while a dispute between an European and an 
African is submitted to a person of each colour. The decisions 
thus elicited are strictly adhered to; and there is not an instance 
in which a subsequent contest has arisen. The same forms of 
proceeding took place at Goree, while it was in our possession^ 
