COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF SAMBOUK. 
171 
jaaga; on the E. by the river Senegal; on the S. by the districts 
of KuUa and Konkadou , on the VV. by the Satadou ; and on 
the N. W. by the kingdom of Bondou. 
It is a mistake which has prevailed, that the kingdom is not 
governed by any king; it has its sovereigns like the othér neigh- 
bouring kingdoms; and each village has a master. Towards the ri- 
ver of Félémé, these chiefs are called Farims, with the addition of 
bheir residence. In the interior of the country, they are called 
Ahuramii : they are all independent of each other, but acknow- 
ledge the supreme head of the kingdom ; and they are obliged 
to unite for the defence of the country in time of danger. 
The Mandingos have possessed themselves of this state, in 
addition to their other conquests ; and the natives of the country, 
who are called Malincops, have received them, and formed 
alliances with them, so that they are now only one nation, in 
which the religion, customs, and manners of the Mandingos, are 
absolute. 
There is no country with w hich we are acquainted, that is so 
rich in gold mines as Bambouk. The experiments that have 
been made, prove that their ore is far superior to that of the 
mines of the Brazils and Peru; besides which, from the nature 
of the soil, ten men would extract more gold from Bambouk, 
than a hundred would in the rich mines of Spain and Portugal. 
In short, the country is so filled with gold mines, that the metal 
is found in every direction; but the richest of those that have 
been discovered, are in the centre of the kingdom, between the 
villages of Kelimani and Natacou, about thirty leagues to the 
east of the river Féîémé. The gold is very pure, and appears 
in a surprising abundance. 
The country is intersected by high and barren mountains; and 
the inhabitants having no means of subsistence but what they 
procure with their gold, are obliged to work sedulously in the 
mines; but they must first obtain the permisson of the chiefs of 
their villages, who only grant it for a certain time, and on condi- 
tion, that they retain not only half the produce, but likewise all 
the lumps which are above a certain size. 
The Negroes of Bambouk have no notion of the different 
species of earth, nor the least rule for distinguishing that which 
produces gold. They know generally that their country contains 
much of the precious metal, and that the more steril the soil is, 
the more may be found in it. I'hey vratch indifferently in various 
parts, and when they by chance meet with a small quantity of 
the^ore, they continue to work in the same spot till they see it 
diminish, on \\hich they move somewhere else. They are of 
opinion, that the gold is an evil spirit, which delights in tor- 
menting those who love it; on which account ii often cbunaes iu 
Y 2 ' • " 
