The Isle of Safal, belonging to Mr. Picard, offers the same advantages.  Its soil is fertile as that of the islands of which we have just spoken.  No drinkable water is found in any of them; but it would be easy to procure excellent water by digging wells about two metres in depth.

Cotton and indigo grow every where spontaneously; what then is wanting, to these countries, to obtain in them what the other colonies produce?  Nothing but some men, capable of directing the natives in their labours, and of procuring them the agricultural implements, and the plants of which they stand in need.  When these men are found, we shall soon see numerous habitations arise on the banks of this river, which will rival those in the Antilles.  The blacks love the French nation more than any other, and it would be easy to direct their minds to agriculture.  A little adventure, which happened to Mr. Correard, will shew to what a degree they love the French.

In the course of the month of September, his fever having left him for some days, he was invited by Mr. Francois Valentin, to join a hunting party in the environs of the village of Gandiolle, situated six leagues to the South, South East of St. Louis.  Mr. Dupin, supercargo of a vessel from Bordeaux, who was then at Senegal, and Mr. Yonne brother of Mr. Valentin, were of the party.  Their intention was to prolong the pleasures of the chace, for several days; in consequence, they borrowed a tent of the worthy Major Peddy, and fixed themselves on the banks of the gulph which the Senegal forms, since its ancient mouth is entirely stopped up, and a new one formed, three or four leagues higher up than the former.  There they were only a short league from the village of Gandiolle.  Mr. Correard directed his course, or rather his reconnaissances, a little into the interior, for he had conceived the idea of taking a plan of the coast, and of the islands formed by the Senegal.  He was soon near to Gandiolle, and stopped some moments at the sight of an enormous Baobob tree, the whiteness of which much surprised him:  he perceived it was covered with a cloud of the birds called aigrettes.[63] He advanced across the village to the foot of this tree, and fired two shot successively, supposing he should kill at least twenty of these birds.  Curiosity induced him to measure the prodigious tree, on which they were perched, and he found that its circumference was 28 metres.  While he was examining this monstrous production of the vegetable kingdom, the report of his piece had caused a great many blacks to come out of their huts, who advanced towards Mr. Correard, doubtless, with the hope of obtaining from him some powder, ball, or tobacco.  While he was loading his piece, he fixed his eyes upon an old man, whose respectable look announced a good disposition; his beard and hair were white, and his stature colossal; he called himself Sambadurand.  When he saw Mr. Correard looking at him attentively, he advanced towards him, and asked