but is found in the greatest plenty on the sandy soil of Kaarta, Ludamar, and the northern parts of Bambarra, where it is one of the most common shrubs of the country. I had observed the same species at Gambia, and had an opportunity to make a drawing of a branch in flower, of which art,” engraving is given. The leaves of the desert shrub are, however, much smaller ; and more resembling, in that particular, those represented in the engraving given by Desfontaines, in the Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, 1788, p. 443. As this shrub is found in Tunis, and also in the Negro kingdoms, and as it furnishes the natives of the latter with a food resembling bread, and also with a sweet liquor, which is much relished by them, there can be little doubt of its being the lotus mentioned by Pliny, as the food of the Lybian Lotophagi, An army may very well have been fed with the bread I have tasted, made of the meal of the fruit, as is said by Pliny to have been done in Lybia ; and as the taste of the bread is sweet and agreeable, it is not likely that the soldiers would complain of it. We arrived in the evening at the village of Toorda ; when all the rest of the king’s people turned back except two, who remained with me as guides to Jarra. Feb. 15th. I departed from Toorda, and about two o’clock came to a considerable town called Funingkedy. As we approached the town the inhabitants were much alarmed ; for, as one of my guides wore a turban, they mistook us for some Moorish banditti. This misapprehension was soon cleared up, and we were well received by a Gambia Slatee, who resides at this town, and at whose house we lodged. ■ Vf ¡I i l l
27f 60
To see the actual publication please follow the link above