Senegalese

“ Ethnic divisions: 36% Wolof, 17.5% Fulani, 16.5% Serer, 9% Tukulor, 9% Dyola, 6.5% Malinke, 4.5% other African, 1% Europeans and Lebanese
Religion: 80% Muslim, 15% animist, 5% Christian (mostly Roman Catholic)
Language: French official, but regular use limited to literate minority; most Senegalese speak own tribal language; use of Wolof vernacular spreading—now spoken to some degree by nearly half the population
Literacy: 10% (est.) in 14 plus age group
Labor force: 1,732,000; about 80% subsistence agricultural workers ”

“ The Senegalese, who had a strong Arabic strain in their ancestry, were considered the most intelligent of Africans and were especially esteemed for domestic service, the handicrafts and responsible positions. "They are good commanders over other negroes, having a high spirit and a tolerable share of fidelity; but they are unfit for hard work; their bodies are not robust nor their constitutions vigorous." The Mandingoes were reputed to be especially gentle in demeanor but peculiarly prone to theft. ”

“ The subjects, who are the true nobles, being descended from the first owners, constitute the bulk of the primitive Zenaga population, beneath whom are the captives, nearly all blacks obtained by conquest or purchase from every part of Sudan. The fair element is said to form about a twentieth, the blacks one-half, and the half-caste Berbers and Arabs the rest of the Senegalese Moors. The numerous geographical terms in the western districts north of the Lower Senegal attest the long persistence of the Berber dialects amongst the Zenagas. ”

“ But the ruined place was still treated from time to time with shell fire, lest any troops should make the charred wreckage a cover for advancing toward the enemy trenches. They rode on to where they caught a flash of soldiers' uniform.
In a blackened butt of an inn, a group of Senegalese were hiding. They were [151] great six-foot fellows, with straight bodies, and shoulders for carrying weights—the face a black mask, expressionless, save for the rolling whites of the eyes, and the sudden startling grin of perfect white teeth, when trouble fell out of the sky. ”

“ By the Niger is here undoubtedly meant the river of Senegal, which in the Mandingo language is Bafing, or the Black River.
To what extent these people are now spread over the African continent it is difficult to ascertain. There is reason to believe that their dominion stretches from west to east, in a narrow line or belt, from the mouth of the Senegal (on the northern side of that river) to the confines of Abyssinia. They are a subtle and treacherous race of people, and take every opportunity of cheating and plundering the credulous and unsuspecting negroes. ”

“ That first impression has all the force of reality to the superficial observer; but if he remain any time, the illusion vanishes, and Senegal appears what it really is—a parched and barren country, destitute of the most necessary vegetables for the nourishment and preservation of the health of man.
The town of St Louis, which is also called Senegal, because it is the head-quarters of the French establishments on that coast, is built upon a small island or a bank of sand, formed in the midst of the river Senegal, at about two leagues from its mouth. ”

“ There is no race of men more perfidious and cruel than the Moors; they do not possess any of the virtues of the Arabs; they oppress the Negroes, and consider the persecution of strangers as a religious duty.
The Negroes, on the contrary, are naturally good, humane, and hospitable. Those who inhabit the environs of the Senegal are large, muscular, and well-formed men; their countenance is noble; their feelings sensitive and grateful; and their spirit is courageous and indefatigable. There are no domestics more attentive or capable of sincerer attachment ”

“ The left bank comprises several kingdoms and various nations. The Yolofs, who inhabit a vast tract of country between the Senegal and Gambia, are a powerful, active, and warlike native people, who differ from the other Negroes not only in their language, but in their features and colour. Their noses are not so flat, nor their lips so thick as those of most other Africans; their skin is of a fine black; and the Europeans, who carry on the [123] slave trade, consider them as the handsomest Negroes on that part of the continent. ”

“ SENEGAL, a country of West Africa belonging to France. As a geographical expression it is the land watered by the Senegal river; politically it has a much wider significance. The French possessions in this region are divided into (1) the colony of Senegal, and dependent native states; (2) the colony of Upper Senegal and Niger, with a dependent Military Territory; (3) the Territory of Mauretania. The first colony includes the most westerly coast region of Africa; a large part of the second colony is the country enclosed in the great bend of the Niger ”

“ The price of slaves has varied at different periods, on account of the competition and jealousy of different European traders. The Negroes of the Senegal are preferred to all the Blacks of the African coast, as their race is handsomer than the others. But it has been found that they are more fit for domestic services, and for the arts and trades, than for working in the fields, a labour too severe for their constitution. ”

“ The negroes of Senegal adore a river, trees, and serpents, with a crowd of shapeless idols, the legends of whom neither amuse by their incident, or excite the imagination by the beauty of their poetry. ”

“ Proceed to Kayee, and crossing the Senegal, arrive in the Kingdom of Kasson.
The kingdom of Kajaaga, in which I was now arrived, is called by the French, Gallam; but the name that I have adopted is universally used by the natives. This country is bounded on the south-east and south by Bambouk; on the west by Bondou and Foota Torra; and on the north by the river Senegal.
The air and climate are, I believe, more pure and salubrious than at any of the settlements towards the Coast; the face of the country is every where interspersed with a pleasing variety of hills and vallies ”

“ Those which lie higher up possess, on the contrary, the greatest fertility, and produce cotton, indigo, and tobacco spontaneously. But it is an erroneous assertion that they contain orange and lemon trees, as these salutary fruits are totally unknown on the banks of the Senegal.
In the small circumference of Isle St. Louis, there are a fort, a powder-magazine, a hospital, a church, and about twenty brick houses. The Negroes, whether slaves or freemen, inhabit wooden huts covered with thatch, and of a conical form. ”

“ Three races or tribes of Moors, each of whom have their chief, frequent the desert which borders on the Senegal, collect the gum, and carry on the trade exclusively. The first is called Trarzas, and occupies all the country comprised between Arguin, St. John’s river, and the Senegal. This country extends from the shores of the sea to forty leagues in-land; and the chief of the tribe is a descendant of Alikandora, whose name is celebrated in the festivals of the country: his name is Alikouri. The state is hereditary; and the eldest son of the king succeeds the father. ”

“ As you are doubtless aware, the climate of Senegal is exceedingly unhealthy. I fell ill with a fever and was obliged to return to France where I was assigned to the office of the General Staff Major in Paris. At the opening of the war with Dahomey in 1892, I was sent in command of the Engineers of the Corps Expeditional, and on the 17th of November of that year was severely wounded at Dakar in Dahomey, having received a spear cut through the lungs. ”

“ Then the French settlers, who occupy the colony of Senegal, necessarily have relations with the surrounding tribes. Under the administration of Colonel Faidherbe, reconnaissances have been pushed far up into the country. Officers such as Messrs. Pascal, Vincent, and Lambert, have brought back precious documents from their expeditions. They have explored these countries formed by the elbow of the Senegal in places where war and pillage have left nothing but ruins. ”

“ The Senegals however are the blackest, and I never saw any who had a bad smell. They are very grateful; and when one knows how to attach them to him, they have been found to sacrifice their own life to save that of their master. ”

“ The motives which decided the choice of Senegal as the scene of his observations, are recorded by himself, and are too remarkably indicative of his ardent thirst of knowledge, not to be noticed. “It was,” says he, in a memorandum found after his death, “of all European establishments, the most difficult to penetrate, the most hot, the most unhealthy, the most dangerous in every respect, and consequently the least known to naturalists.” ”

“ But the feminines on board the Senegal bound for Sierra Leone outrage all our sense of fitness by their frightful semi-European gowns of striped cottons and chintzes; by their harlequin shawls and scarves thrown over jackets which show more than neck and bare arms to the light of day, and by the head-gear which looks like devils seen in dreams after a heavy supper of underdone pork. Africa lurks in the basis: the harsh and wiry hair is gathered into lumps, which to the new comer suggest only bears' ears, and into chignons resembling curled up hedge-hogs. ”

“ Yet even this handful of Frenchmen does not thoroughly represent all the organic elements of European society, for it comprises none but traders, soldiers, and officials, with a few artisans amongst the military conscripts. Although the oldest of the French possessions, Senegal has the least claim to its title of "colony." Hither no Europeans have ever come freely to settle down in the country as artisans or labourers, and even in most prosperous years not more than seven Hundred or eight hundred men have ever arrived of their own accord. ”

“ Senegal is most certainly a great and valuable acquisition to this country, if put upon a proper establishment, as it will secure to us all the gum trade, so useful in our manufactures, and will greatly encrease the slave, gold and ivory trades in Gambia river. ”

“ The part of the coast beginning at Cape Blanco, and extending to the arm of the river Senegal, called the Marigot of the Maringouins; is so very arid, that it is not fit for any kind of cultivation; but from that Marigot, to the mouth of the river Gambia, a space, which may be about a hundred leagues, in length, with a depth of about two hundred, we meet with a vast country, which geographers call Senegambia. ”

“ The Mandingoes of this part of Africa have more resources for food than the negroes who inhabit the neighbourhood of the Senegal, who have, in fact nothing but millet. Their food too is better cooked, and, excepting salt, which they have a great deal of trouble to obtain, they possess all that is necessary for supporting life; yams, maize, rice, honey, foigné, beans, giraumons, and pistachios, grow abundantly in this happy land: on the Senegal, on the other hand, all these things are wanting, though salt is easily procured. ”

“ I shall only say, that for any kind of service whatever about the house, I would advise no other kind of negroes, either young or old, but Senegals, called among themselves Diolaufs, because of all the negroes I have known, these have the purest blood; they have more fidelity and a better understanding than the rest, and are consequently fitter for learning a trade, or for menial services. It is true they are not so strong as the others for the labours of the field, and for bearing the great heats. ”

“ Most are unfortunately devoted to Senegal; for our English travellers are generally poor ethnographers and anthropologists, so far as the Gold Coast and Ivory Coast are concerned. You remember our correspondence about the comparative anatomy of the vocal organs of negroes and whites. A warm friend of several years’ standing—a young Spanish physician and professor here—is greatly interested in this new science: indeed we study comparative human anatomy and ethnology in common, with goniometers and Broca’s instruments. ”

“ They profess an attachment to and claim relationship with the inhabitants of Senegal, and if hospitality can in any degree prove the sincerity of the former, it must be allowed they have such attachment, as the house of a Serrawolli, and every thing it contains, is at all times at the service of the poorest inhabitant of that place. ”

“ Louis, until a woman with a basket on her head could travel unmolested from one place to the other. It was to no purpose I endeavoured to convince him that such an improbable arrangement had never been entered into between any European governor of Senegal and his enemies; and I likewise as ineffectually brought forward to support my assertion the friendly intercourse which had so long subsisted between the several English governors of Senegal and himself, and the very handsome and rich presents he, as well as his predecessors, had received from them and the vessels trading in the river. ”

“ Leaving Cape Branco, and the Gulf of Arguin, we continued our course along the coast to the river Senegal, which divides the desert and the tawny Azanhaji from the fruitful lands of the Negroes. Five years before I went on this voyage, this river was discovered by three caravels belonging to Don Henry, which entered it, and their commanders settled peace and trade with the Moors; since which time ships have been sent to this place every year to trade with the natives [1] . The river Senegal is of considerable size, being a mile wide at the mouth, and of sufficient depth. ”