Senegambia

“ I have resided near five years in Senegambia, on the coast of Africa, and have had the honour of filling very considerable employments in that province. I do approve of the within plan, and think the undertaking very laudable and proper, and that it deserves your Lordship's protection and encouragement, in which case it must be attended with the intended success. ”

“ The climate of this section is extremely hot and in the marshy districts it is very unhealthy. The soil is fertile, and yields the usual productions of the hot regions of Africa. Lower Senegambia includes the sections bordering on the Gambia.
As a country, Senegambia has a most luxuriant vegetation. The monkey bread tree is characteristic of the country. It is considered the most enormous tree upon [Pg 93] the globe, and while other trees may surpass it in height none equal it in the size of its gigantic trunk and limbs. ”

“ There must be large tracts more or less like Senegambia and the parts about Sierra Leone, where only white men of exceptional constitutions, and submitting to a very strict regime, can live and do work. In the struggle for existence the African race, which can flourish everywhere in its native habitat, is bound to have an advantage over the race that can only thrive in the best parts of the continent. ”

“ Much of Senegambia was made known as a result of quests during the 16th century for the ``hills of gold'' in Bambuk and the fabled wealth of Timbuktu, but the middle Niger was not reached. The supremacy along the coast passed in the 17th century from Portugal to Holland and from Holland in the 18th and 19th centuries to France and England. The whole coast from Senegal to Lagos was dotted with forts and ``factories'' of rival powers, and this international patchwork persists though all the hinterland has become either French or British territory. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Among the Balanti of Senegambia, one of the most degraded races in Africa, the girls cannot find a husband until they have been deflowered by their King, who often exacts costly presents from his female subjects for putting them in condition to be able to marry. ”

“ The whole land may here be said to be grouped round the central mass of the Futa-Jallon highlands, whence the running waters flow in divergent beds towards the encircling main streams. The whole region, to which in its widest sense may be given the name of Senegambia, including the Saharian slope of the Senegal, and even some dried-up basins sloping southward, has a total area approximately estimated at 280,000 square miles. Sufficient data are still lacking to give any trustworthy estimate of the population, so that the current calculations naturally present the greatest discrepancies. ”

“ In the intertropical region, high elevations of surface, as they produce a cooler climate, occasion the appearance of light complexions. In the higher parts of Senegambia, which front the Atlantic, and are cooled by winds from the Western Ocean, where, in fact, the temperature is known to be moderate, and even cool at times, the light copper-colored Fulahs are found surrounded on every side by black Negro nations inhabiting lower districts ”

“ 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. ”

“ In Senegambia, on the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, in Zanzibar and Mozambique, in Australia, Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Tahiti, Sumatra, and South and Central America, there are powerful commercial organizations aiding the Empire. From Vladivostock to Singapore, on the mainland of Asia, and in many of the world's most productive islands, the influence of German money and thrift is felt. ”

“ A classical example is the seizure of Thetis by Peleus, and Child quotes a modern Cretan example. The dipping in milk and water, p. xviI may add, has precedent in ancient Egypt (in The Two Brothers) , and in modern Senegambia. ”

“ Introduction Gambia, The Background: The Gambia gained its independence from the UK in 1965; it formed a short-lived federation of Senegambia with Senegal between 1982 and 1989. In 1991 the two nations signed a friendship and cooperation treaty. A military coup in 1994 overthrew the president and banned political activity, but a 1996 constitution and presidential elections, followed by parliamentary balloting in 1997, completed a nominal return to civilian rule. ”

“ In Borneo albinos are objects of fear, as beings gifted with supernatural power; in Senegambia, if they are slaves, they are given their freedom, are exempted from all labour, and are cheerfully supported at others' expense. ”

“ Louis (q. v.) in Senegambia proper, is considered the capital; ground-nuts, gums, india-rubber, &c., are the chief exports.
Seneschal, an important functionary at the courts of Frankish princes, whose duty it was to superintend household feasts and ceremonies, functions equivalent to those of the English High Steward.
Sennaar (8) , capital of a district of the Eastern Soudan, which lies between the Blue and the White Nile, situated on the Blue Nile, 160 m. SE. of Khartoum. ”

“ The local officials are not to be blamed for this miserable system, this niggardly colonial policy of the modern economical school, which contrasts so poorly with the lavish republican expenditure in French Senegambia. They have, to their honour be it said, often protested against the taxes raised from struggling merchants and a starveling population, poor as Hindûs, being expended upon an 'imperial policy.' But economy is the order of the day at home, and an Administrator inclined to parsimony gladly seizes the opportunity of pleasing his 'office.' The result is truly melancholy. ”

“ In the voyage up the river beyond Bammaku we passed the districts in which the principal towns are Nyamina, Sansanding, and Segu, in which are the large cotton-fields, from the produce of which the beautiful fabrics known as pagnes de Segu are made, which are in140 great request in Senegal and the markets of Timbuctoo. Near Segu is an establishment known as the School of Hostages, instituted by the explorer Faidherbe for the education of the sons of kings and chiefs of Senegambia, to enable them to take part in home government, or to enter the civil and military services of Senegal and Sudan. ”

“ Independence: 18 February 1965 (from UK) ; The Gambia and Senegal signed an agreement on 12 December 1981 (effective 1 February 1982) that called for the creation of a loose confederation to be known as Senegambia, but the agreement was dissolved on 30 September 1989
Constitution: 24 April 1970
Legal system: based on a composite of English common law, Koranic law, and customary law ”

“ Natives entering a station should be compelled to leave their weapons with the policeman at the nearest guard-house.
The Wólofs, a name formerly written Joloff, also dwell in Senegambia, between the Senegal and the Gambia, and their habitat is divided into sundry petty kingdoms. As early as 1446 they were known to the Portuguese, and one Bemoy, of princely house, soon afterwards visited Lisbon, was baptised, and did homage to D. João II. More like the Abyssinians than their Mandenga neighbours, they are remarkable for good looks, pendent ringlets, and tasteful dress and decorations. ”

“ Subsequently the upper Senegal country and the states included in the bend of the Niger were formed into a separate administration and were given the title of “French Sudan.” Administrative divisions.As the result of further reorganization (October 18, 1899) the colonies of French Guinea, Ivory Coast and Dahomey were given their geographical hinterlands, and in October 1902 the central portion was created a protectorate under the style of the Territories of Senegambia and of the Niger. ”

“ They are also very tall even for Negroes, and the Serers especially may claim to be "the Patagonians of the Old World," men six feet six inches high and proportionately muscular being far from rare in the coast districts about St Louis and Dakar.
Primitive Wolof Speech.
Their language, which is widespread throughout Senegambia, may be taken as a typical Sudanese form of speech, unlike any other in its peculiar agglutinative structure, and unaffected even in its vocabulary by the Hamitic which has been current for ages on the opposite bank of the Senegal. ”

“ A more useful bird is the dohine, or black stork, which preys freely on all kinds of reptiles, lizards, venomous snakes, the green adder, and even small boas. In the rivers and lagoons are found the electric fish and two species of crocodile, '* one that eats man, and the other eaten by man." Inhabitants of the Senegal Basin. In its ethnology as well as its flora and fauna, French Senegambia is a land of transition, where a sharp contrast is presented between the Arabised Berbers from the Mediterranean seaboard and the Nigritians from the heart of Africa. ”

“ Mill's History of British India, With Notes and Continuation. By H. H. Wilson. 9 vols. cr. 8vo. £2 10s.
Mitchinson (A. W.) The Expiring Continent; A Narrative of Travel in Senegambia, with Observations on Native Character ;Present Condition and Future Prospects of Africa and Colonisation. By Alex. Will. Mitchinson. With Sixteen full-page Illustrations and Map. 8vo. 18s.
Mitford (Maj. R. C. W.) To Cauhul with the Cavalry Brigade. A Narrative of Personal Experiences with the Force under General Sir F.S. Roberts, G.C.B. With Map and illustrations from Sketches by the Author. ”

“ With this large view of Africa his studies were continued with little intermission during the forty years which followed his first introduction into that continent. Even the World War itself was not exactly an interruption but permitted the author to extend the scope of his research by bringing him into closer acquaintance with certain of the western Semi-Bantu languages through the presence in France of contingents of Senegambian troops. ”

“ Hence it is that the farther they have penetrated southwards the farther have they become differentiated from the pure Negro type. Thus the light and clear brown complexion prevalent amongst the southern Tembu becomes gradually darker as we proceed northwards, passing at last to the blue-black and sepia of the Ama-Swazi and Tekeza. Even many of the mixed Fingo tribes are of a polished ebony colour, like that of the Jolofs and other Senegambian negroes. The Kaffir hair is uniformly of a woolly texture. ”

“ It will teach by example—the only way of teaching Africans—that work is not ignoble, but that it is ignoble to earn a shilling and to live idle on three-pence a day till the pence are exhausted. Its advantages will presently be felt along the whole western coast, and men will wonder why it was not thought of before. The French, as they are wont to do in these days, have set us an example. Already in early 1882 the papers announced that a first cargo of 178 Chinese—probably from Cochin-China—had been landed at Saint-Louis de Senegal for the proposed Senegambian railway. ”

“ They gets their nose a little lower one time an' then stands higher in the air another, than is possible to the next best buck. Them enthoosiasts ain't Osages at all; which they're niggers—full-blood Senegambians they be, who's done j'ined the tribe. These Round House festivals with the paint, the feathers, an' the bells, fills their trop'cal hearts plumb full, an' forgettin' all about the white folks an' their gyarded ways, they're the biggest Injuns to warm a heel that night. ”

“ Beyond Senga lies a range of mountains called Mashinga, to which the Portuguese in former times went to wash for gold, and beyond that are great numbers of tribes which pass under the general term Maravi. To the northeast there are extensive plains destitute of trees, but covered with grass, and in some places it is marshy. The whole of the country to the north of the Zambesi is asserted to be very much more fertile than that to the south. ”

“ It may not be granted that the same blood flows in all veins, or that all have descended from the same stock; but the traveller has no doubt that, practically, the white rogue and black are men and brothers.
Pangola is the child or vassal of Mpende. Sandia and Mpende are the only independent chiefs from Kebrabasa to Zumbo, and belong to the tribe Manganja. The country north of the mountains here in sight from the Zambesi is called Senga, and its inhabitants Asenga, or Basenga, but all appear to be of the same family as the rest of the Manganja and Maravi. ”

“ The chief of the Bakwains, Sechele, became a Christian, and exerted himself for the conversion of his people, restoring his wives to their fathers, and living in every respect a thoroughly consistent life.
The Dutch Boers, who had pushed forward to the confines of the country, proved, however, most adverse to the success of the mission, by carrying off the natives and compelling them to labour as slaves.
By the advice of Dr Laidley, Sechele and his people moved to Kolobeng, a stream about two hundred miles to the north of Kuruman, where Dr Livingstone formed a station. ”