A voyage to Senegal

by Jean Baptiste Léonard Durand

In every part of the island may be found a prodigious number of stags, hinds, goats, buffaloes, and elephants; while tigers, lions, and wolves do not infest this charming retreat. Game and smaller birds breed undisturbed, and are seen in vast flocks all over the island. The shores afford plenty of fish, and amongst them great numbers of turtle; in short, it produces in abundance all the necessaries of life: it is, however, uninhabited, and has been so ever since the Bissagos expelled the Biafares, to whom it belonged, and banished them to the continent. This was the termination of a sanguinary war, in which the Biafares being overcome, were either dispersed, or made slaves, or sold.

The conquerors did not think proper to establish themselves on the territory which they had acquired; but they repair thither every year, to the number of three or four hundred, in the months of February, March, April, and May, and plant fields of rice, millet, and other pulse. After their harvest, which is always plentiful, they return to their own country.

From the known richness of the soil it would doubtlessly produce, without much trouble, sugar, coffee, cocoa, indigo, cotton, tobacco, and in general all the productions of America. The labour might be performed by slaves purchased on the spot, or hired at the rate of three or four bars for each man per month: the bar is a nominal coin of Africa, valued at four livres sixteen sous, about 3s. 8d. English, and costs in Europe little more than half that sum. These slaves would in time have a liking for the island, might become free, purchase land, and finally be civilized. The navy of that country which might first form the establishment would also derive great advantages: the expeditions of Europeans in this part of the world have had commerce exclusively for their object, and the cultivation of land or the building of ships has never been thought of; though in the isle of Bulam almost every thing requisite for this important object might be obtained. The Portuguese who are naturalized in this part of Africa, employ the large trees which grow at Bulam and the neighbouring islands, for making their boats. There is one species, called micheiry, of which they construct their decks; it is easy to work, and is never perforated by worms: specimens of this wood have been sent to Europe and America, where it is deemed preferable to those kinds that are generally used: it must, however, be admitted, that mast-timber is not to be procured; the micheiry is too short, and the palm and most of the other trees are too heavy and brittle. The Portuguese, however, are obliged to make their masts of palm-trees; but on account of their weight they form them very short, and dispense with top-masts.

The marshy spots produce some peculiar trees, the leaves of which are large and thin, the wood is spongy, and the bark thick and supple, insomuch that it is made into tow. To effect this object they peel the inner from the outer rind, and the former makes a kind of tow, which never rots. With respect to cordage, the country furnishes abundance of materials for this purpose, as it is made from a species of reed which abounds in all the marshy spots. This vegetable is cut and left to macerate in water, when, after beating it to deprive it of the outer rind, it is spun and made into good ropes. The cocoa-trees also afford a supply for this purpose; the fibrous substance which covers the shell makes excellent tow; and the ropes which are spun from it, are cheaper and more in use there than those of hemp. The natives understand this sort of manufacture, and the well-informed Negroes convert it to their own use.

We continue to send insignificant expeditions to this part of the world, and trade in slaves, wax, ivory, hides, cotton, ostrich-feathers, and gold; but fortunate will that nation be, which shall establish a powerful colony in the isle of Bulam.

The English, in 1792, were the first who made an attempt at an establishment of this description: they formed an association, and raised by subscription a sum of 9,000l. sterling; each subscriber giving 50l. for 300 acres of arable land in the island. They sent off three ships, which carried nearly 300 colonists, and a variety of articles necessary for their establishment.

The principal objects to this association was the abolition of the slave-trade; the civilization of the Negroes; and the opening of a humane and social intercourse between Europe and Africa, founded on the exchange of useful goods and on pecuniary speculations.

The new colonists were well received by the natives, and particularly by the naturalized Portuguese on the continent, who had long been in the habit of trading for slaves. After their arrival they elected a chief; and their choice fell on Lieutenant Beaver, who proved himself worthy of their confidence[1]. He agreed with Captain Dalrymple, who commanded the expedition, to buy in the name of the colonists the whole of the isle of Bulam, as well as a great tract of territory on the neighbouring continent.

This project was carried into execution, and the sale was made to them by three negroes, who seemed to have an equal right to the property which they sold; the price of this acquisition was 473 bars.

This transaction put a stop to one of the causes of dissension which had always prevailed amongst the Europeans; it terminated those incessant quarrels which took place amongst the Negro kings about the possession of the island, and which always caused the shedding of blood. The English were wise enough to renounce all ideas of usurpation; they bought and became masters of the island by a written and voluntary convention.