Gambia River

“ The Gambia River is navigable for three hundred miles up from the sea. The greater part of the river is held by the British. They have an important little colony at the mouth of the river, and several smaller stations higher up the stream.
Sherboro Island lies fifty miles south of the British colony, Sierra Leone. This island and the coast line as far as Liberia form a part of the British possessions.
The inhabitants of Senegambia, if we except the Europeans and the traders living in the towns and trading stations, are mainly native negroes. All are black in color and have good figures. ”

“ Eighteen miles lower down the distance from shore to shore is 27 m. There is a sand-bar at the entrance to the river, but at the lowest state of the tide there are 26 ft. of water over the bar. The Gambia is in flood from November to June, when the Barraconda rapids are navigable by small boats. Above the rapids the stream is navigable for 160 m. Politically the Gambia is divided between Great Britain and France—Britain possessing both banks of the river up to, but not including, Yarbatenda. ”

“ A boat with four Krumen was easily found; but our friends warned us that the ascensus would be easy and the descensus the reverse; the latter has sometimes taken a day and a night.
The Gambia River here opens its mouth directly to the north; and, after a great elbow, assumes its normal east-west course. We ran before a nine-knot breeze, and shortly before noon, after two hours' southing, we were off the half-way house, reef-girt Dog Island, and Dog Point, in the Barra country. ”

“ Two days’ steaming brought us from Bathurst, Gambia river, to this, the oldest English settlement on the west coast of Africa. It is situated upon a broad bay at the entrance of the Sierra Leone river, with high hills and peaks in the distance. The soil looks reddish, like that of New Jersey, but is thoroughly charged with iron. The vegetation is decidedly tropical, producing palm oil, ginger, spices, gum, bread-fruit, oranges, bananas, pineapples, etc. The heat is oppressive.
The fever epidemic has destroyed fifty-eight out of ninety-eight white residents within thirty days. ”

“ There is no doubt that the French are a little sore at the withdrawal of our offer to give them our possessions on the Gambia river, and this has been shown by their endeavouring to intimidate the people of Catanoo into hoisting the French flag, and, later, by their occupation of the island of Matacong near Sierra Leone; but as far as regards Whydah neither France nor any other European power has any claim to any portion of its soil. ”

“ The country itself being an immense level, and very generally covered with wood, presents a tiresome and gloomy uniformity to the eye; but although Nature has denied to the inhabitants the beauties of romantic landscapes, she has bestowed on them, with a liberal hand, the more important blessings of fertility and abundance. A little attention to cultivation procures a sufficiency of corn, the fields afford a rich pasturage for cattle, and the natives are plentifully supplied with excellent fish, both from the Gambia river and the Walli creek. ”

“ The chief implement used in husbandry is the hoe, which varies in form in different districts; and the labour is universally performed by slaves.
On the 6th of October the waters of the Gambia were at the greatest height, being fifteen feet above the high-water mark of the tide; after which they began to subside; at first slowly, but afterwards very rapidly; sometimes sinking more than a foot in twenty-four hours: by the beginning of November the river had sunk to its former level, and the tide ebbed and flowed as usual. ”

“ About the 11th century the district came under Mahommedan influence.
The Portuguese visited the Gambia in the 15th century, and in the beginning of the 16th century were trading in the lower river. Embassies were sent from the Portuguese stations inland to Melle to open up trade with the interior, but about the middle of the century this trade—apparently mostly in gold and slaves—declined. At the end of the century the river was known as the resort of banished men and fugitives from Portugal and Spain. ”

“ In its course it makes many islands, inhabited only by wild beasts. It is navigable for 150 leagues, at the end of which it is crossed by a stupendous ridge of perpendicular rocks, over which the river rushes with such violence, that travellers pass under it without any other inconvenience than the prodigious noise. The Gambia, or Rio Grande, runs 180 leagues, but is not so far navigable. It carries more water, and runs with less noise than the other, though filled with many rivers which water the country of Mandinga. ”

“ Since that time, whilst we have refrained even from abating the nuisance of native wars, our very lively neighbours have annexed the Casamansa River, with the fine coffee-lands extending from the Nunez southwards to the Ponga River, and have made a doughty attempt to absorb Matacong, lying a few miles north of Sierra Leone.
Whilst English Gambia is monopolised by the French, French Gaboon is, or rather was, in English hands. For a score of years men of sense have asked, 'Why not exchange the two?' When nations so decidedly rivalistic meet, assuredly it is better to separate à l'aimable. ”

“ At a short distance to the SE. is the dry bed of a stream which, during the rains, runs to the SW. and joins the Gambia. The inhabitants here had commenced preparing their corn and rice grounds, in consequence of the very great appearance of approaching rain for the last two or three days, during which we had some thunder and lightning, accompanied with a perfect calm and intense heat of the sun and atmosphere.
Little trouble is indeed necessary in this country for the purpose of cultivation ”

“ The river was much swelled by the rains, but did not appear to overflow its banks. It certainly is larger even here than either the Senegal or the Gambia. We descended with difficulty down the steep side of the hill towards Bambakoo, which place we reached at half past six o'clock, and pitched our tents under a tree near the town. Of thirty-four soldiers and four carpenters, who left the Gambia, only six soldiers and one carpenter reached the Niger. ”

“ Within the district now in contemplation, flows the river of Senegal, with its valuable gum trade; the Gambia, abounding with innumerable objects of commerce, such as indigo, and a great variety of plants for staining, of peculiar properties, timber, wax, ivory, &c.; the Rio Grande, Rio Noonez, Rio Pongo, &c. all greatly productive, and their borders inhabited by the Jolliffs, the Foollahs, the Susees, the Mandingos, and other inferior nations, and communicating, as is now generally believed, with the river Niger, which introduces us to the interior of this great continent ”

“ Cocoa and palm oil and rubber all come to the river or grow within a short distance of its banks, and all tropical fruits and native food-stuffs flourish like weeds. Beauty is perhaps hardly an asset in West Africa, but the Volta is a most beautiful river. The Gambia is interesting, the Congo grand, but the Volta is entrancingly lovely. I have heard men rave of the beauty of the Thames, and it certainly is a pleasant river, with its smooth, green lawns, its shady trees, and its picturesque houses ”

“ In the evening left Badoo, and went to Tambacunda, about four miles east of Badoo. The river Gambia is only four miles distant, South of Badoo. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Scott went up a hill near the town, and had a fine view of it. The course is from the South-East, till it reaches the hills near Badoo; it then turns towards the South. It is called Ba Deema, or the river which is always a river, i.e. it never dries. The distance between Badoo and Laby in Foota Jalla is five days travel.
Purchased two asses. ”

“ The face of the country is very mountainous, and much covered with wood, a large proportion of which is well adapted to common uses. Its vegetable productions are the same as those of Bondoo, from which country it differs in nothing save its proximity to the river, and its partial inundation during the season of the rains. ”

“ Our possessions in the Gambia consist of St. Mary’s Island, a strip of land one mile in breadth on the river bank opposite, called “the ceded mile,” about three square miles of unoccupied bush and swamp higher up on the western bank of the river known as Albreda, Macarthy’s Island, and British Combo. Bathurst alone is inhabited by Europeans, nearly all of whom are French. The trade is entirely in French hands, the exports consisting principally of ground-nuts, hides, and beeswax, of which the [Pg 11] first are shipped to France and used in the manufacture of olive oil. ”

“ Compare the same with our starved establishment at the Ruined River-port! In other parts of the Gambia valley eight subordinate comptoirs, including Jilifri or Gilofre, traded for hides and bees'-wax, ivory, slaves, and gold. When Mungo Park travelled (1795-97) the opening of the European trade had reduced its exports to a gross value of 20,000l., in three ships voyaging annually. After the African Company was abolished (1820) it passed over to the Crown, and the station was transferred to its graveyard, Sainte-Marie de Bathurst. ”

“ And now, being about to take leave of my hospitable friend, (whose kindness and solicitude continued to the moment of my departure, [2] ) and to quit, for many months, the countries bordering on the Gambia, it seems proper, before I proceed with my narrative, that I should, in this place, give some account of the several Negro nations which inhabit the banks [14] of this celebrated river; and the commercial intercourse that subsists between them, and such of the nations of Europe as find their advantage in trading to this part of Africa. ”

“ The only disadvantage the place labours under is the bad quality of the water, which they obtain from wells about four feet deep, on the borders of a narrow stagnant lake.
The chief (Saféré) who with his followers and slaves composed a part of the Kaartan forces, received us kindly, provided us with huts, and furnished us with an excellent supper of rice and mutton, the first good one we had made since leaving Galam. ”

“ Though this country will be amply described in other voyages in our Collection, it may be proper to remark, that both sides of the river Gambia are inhabited by a mixed population of three nations, the Feloops, Foleys, and Mandingoes, each of whom have their own separate villages interspersed. This population is divided into many states, lordships, or little kingdoms ”

“ Here I waited a fortnight, in hopes of meeting a vessel going to the Gambia or Sierra Leone, but none offering, I proceeded by land to Goree, where I arrived on the 3d of November, and met with a vessel ready to sail for the Bathurst Gambia. ”

“ We travelled along nearly east at the rate of two miles an hour over [64] a flat country thinly covered with baobabs, tamarinds, rhamnus lotus, and other fruit trees, within a short distance of the river; between us and which lay a low tract of land, annually inundated, where rice is cultivated by the natives when the water retires after the periodical rains. ”

“ Physical Features, Fauna and Flora.—The colony, as its name implies, derives its character and value from the river Gambia (q.v.) , which is navigable throughout and beyond the limits of the colony, while large ocean-going ships can always cross the bar at its mouth and enter the port of Bathurst. Away from the swamps by the river banks, the country is largely “bush.” The region above McCarthy’s Island is hilly. Much of the land is cleared for cultivation. The fauna includes lions, leopards, several kinds of deer, monkeys, bush-cow and wild boar. ”

“ I therefore employed the time in packing up some dry provisions for our use until we could reach Kaarta. At day-light we commenced passing the animals and baggage to the north bank of the river, where, with the assistance of a canoe, all was safely landed soon after eight o’clock. ”

“ The soil all along the coast is very unequal. From Cape Blanco down the coast, to the River Gambia, it is in general very [40] sandy, but as the sand consists of broken shells, covered in many places with a rich black mould, it must be favourable to vegetation. The most barren places of this part of the country, except just on the sea shore, are covered with grass and bushes; and where the black mould is found, the vegetation is luxuriant, and the trees of vast dimensions. ”

“ The soil and appearance of the country the same as that of the preceding day’s march. The path was not so much broken, and the animals travelled better. We reached Canopê at eleven, A.M., where we halted in order to refresh the men and animals, and to purchase, if possible, a few asses, which we were told by our guides were here in great numbers. Large prices, in amber, coral, and blue baft, induced the natives to sell us seven very good ones. ”

“ Passing the post-office and the French, Spanish, Portuguese, and American consulates, poor copies of the dear old Commissariat, we halted outside at Mr. Goddard's, and obtained from Mr. R. E. Cole a copy of his lecture, 'The River Gambia,' read at York, September 1881. It gave me pleasure to find in it, 'The man that is wanted throughout the West Coast of Africa is not the negro, but the Chinaman ”

“ But the most particular account we have, of these people, is from Francis Moor himself, who says,G "Some of these Fuli blacks who dwell on both sides the river Gambia, are in subjection to the Mandingos, amongst whom they dwell, having been probably driven out of their country by war or famine. They have chiefs of their own, who rule with much moderation. Few of them will drink brandy, or any thing stronger than water and sugar, being strict Mahometans. ”