nts on the coast of Africa. As they seemed to
us very interesting, we shall examine, but briefly, the places themselves,
and the advantages that might be derived from them.

These details will be a happy digression from the sad accounts of our
misfortunes, and as the object of them is of great public utility, they
will not be out of their place at the conclusion of a work, in which, we
have thought it our duty, less for our own interest, than that of the
public service, to employ our humble efforts for the disclosure of the
truth.

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_.

Let us remark, however, before we go any further, that, notwithstanding the
sterility of this part of the coast; it is not without importance, on
account of the rich produce of the sea which bathes it. _The agriculture of
the waters_ as a celebrated naturalist has said, offers too many
advantages, for the places that are adapted to it, to pass unobserved: this
part of the sea, known by the name of the Gulph of Arguin, is especially
remarkable for the immense quantity of fish which visit it, at different
seasons, or which continually frequent these shores. This gulph, included
between Capes Blanco and Merick and the coast of Zaara, on which, besides
the isle of Arguin which was formerly occupied, there are several others at
the mouth of what is called the river St. John, is as it were closed
towards the west, in its whole extent, by the bank which bears its name.
This bank, by breaking the fury of the waves, raised by the winds of the
ocean, contributes by securing the usual tranquillity of its waters, to
render it a retreat for the fish, at the same time that it also favors the
fishermen. In fact, it is from this gulph, that all the fish are procured
which are salted by the inhabitants of the Canaries, and which constitute
their principal food. They come hither every spring in vessels of about 100
tons burden, manned by 30 or 40 men, and they complete their operations
with such rapidity, that they seldom employ more than a month. The
fishermen of Marseilles and Bayonne might atte