SAVIGNY AND CORREARD. 
285 
to enter. An enemy landing on the coast north 
of Barbary point, which is said to be possible, 
would find it quite an open town. 
Goree, which is merely a rock, derives all its 
importance from its happy situation for trade. 
It could be rendered likewise almost impregnable, 
being nearly surrounded by a wall of basaltic 
cliffs. It contains about 5000 inhabitants ; and 
being the entrepot for all the French trade with 
the coast of Africa, is said to exhibit one of the 
busiest scenes in the world. On the opposite 
coast is the projecting promontory of Cape Verde, 
the most western point of Africa. It is composed 
of the same species of rock with Goree, and might 
be rendered important in a military view ; but the 
country round is rocky and unproductive. 
The author considers Senegambia, or the region 
situated between the Senegal and Gambia, as a 
district capable of great improvement. The po- 
pulation is crowded, a considerable village occur- 
ring every two or three miles. Indigo and cotton 
grow everywhere ; and though the sandy charac- 
ter of the soil is unfavourable to the sugar cane, 
there are districts in which it might probably be 
cultivated with advantage. The author mentions 
a fact singular if true, that the substance com- 
monly called the Terra sigillata of Lemnos is the 
mere pulp of the baobab reduced to powder, and 
which being carried across the desert, is imported 
from Barbary into the Greek islands* 
