resided some years at that town who pretended to the F dialis,
that he was a white man.*
M. Golberry, a very intelligent French traveller, who has
communicated much original information respecting the nations
near the Senegal and Gambia, has given the following
description of the Fólahs :
“ The genuine-Fdlahs,” meaning the Fólahs of Timbu. and
Pouta-jallo, “ are very fine men, robust and f. courageous.
They have a strong mind, and are mysterious and prudent;
they understand. commerce, and travel, in the capacity of
merchants, even to the extent-of the Gulf of Guinea: they
are formidable to their neighbours. Their women ' are handsome
and sprightly. The colour of their skin is a kind of
reddish blacky their countenances are regular, and their hair
is longer and not so woolly as that of the common Negroes,
their language is altogether different from that of .the nations
by whom they are surrounded—it is more elegant anff sonOr
rous.”
“ The tribe of Fulahs, which, under the name of Foules Joi*
Peuls have peopled the borders of the: Senegal between
Ppdhor and Galam, are black, with a tinge of red or copper
colour; they are, in general, handsome and well made'; the
women are handsome, but proud and indolent.”
“ All the Foules of the border of the Senegal are zealous
Mohammedans. They are intelligent and industrious;g but,
from their habitual commerce with the Moors of Sahara, they
have become savage, and cruel, and the French convoys from
Galam have more than once experienced their perfidy.
It would appear from this account, that there is much difference
between the different tribes of Fulahs, and that some are
of a redder hue, and more remote from the Negro characters
than others. The genuine Ffilahs, who are of a dark-red colour,
and of handsome and almost European features, are the natives
of Fouta-jallo, in the high region around Timbvi. The Peuls
of the Senegal are a degenerated race, but they are still distinguished
from Negroes by their traits, and particularly by their
* Winterbottom’s Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra
Leone; vól. i. p. 185.
-f Golberry, vol. i. p. 72.
hair, which is not wèbllyi These are the people described
by Park. I shall add one other account of this people from
M. Durand’frine.of’;the best informed of African travellers:
“ Lëë Foules ont la peau d’un noir peu foncé ; ils ne sont
ni aussi beaux, ni'au'ssi grahd^ hi .Aussi biën faits, que les
Iolofs.
“ Les Foulais- ont lès chevteux "soyeux, les traits petits et
agréables; leurs m'oeurs sont*-douées et -faciles ; ils aiment la
vie pastorale et agric'dië. Ils se' sont fépandusdans plusieurs
royaumes de TU; eôte sur la rivière’de Gambie, pour Ty être
.bergers ét laboureurs ; ils paient un tribut àü'sbuverain du
pays où ils1 se sont établis et dùfilS cultivent les-terres'.
“ Ils-sont originaires du royaûtUë^de Bondoü, sitjié entre Tes
rivières de Gambie ét^du Sénégal, près-de Bambouk. Comme
nos Auvergnats et nos Limousins; 'ils- sortent par bandes de
leur pays/ portent leur industrie dans Mës!contrées lointaines,
font fortuné, et rentrent chez eux pour y jouir du fruit dé
leurs travaux.”
M. Mbllièn;repofts, that the genuinfe Fûlahs, or Poules-is
hè term’s them, are of a red or copper colour. He thinks thé
black Fulah'S, Who, as he says, are now by far thdinbst numerous,
a mixed race’,1 or mulattoes, originating from intermarriages
of ife red éPoùtës with Negroes. His description
of théâe black Poules does not coincide with such an- hypothesis,
ëïfiëeit appears that the black FôüTës ‘make ;fio
approximation; except in the shade of their cdtiiplexion, to
the characteristics of the Negro races. ;
M; MpTlien has 'related; that a tradition is prevalent on The
Senegal, according to which both the Fûlahs and the Iolofs
formerly dwelt in the north of Africa. In that région they
were neighbours, as they are mow i&' Senegambia. Both nations
were expelled from- their1 country by the Moors; and
obligëd td bross the desert; and seek-refuge on the southern
bank of the Senegal, in counties previously occupied by
the Sërjreres, which they Seized and divided betweën them.
The Serreres, according to M. Molliën, are the aboriginal
inhabitants of all this part of Africa. Their language,is extremely
rude, and their manners display a primitive simplicity.