The Natives Were Employed In Fishing In Various Ways.
The Large Fish Were Taken In Long Baskets Made Of Split Cane, And Placed
In A Strong Current Which Was Created By Walls Of Stone Built Across The
Stream, Certain Open Places Being Left, Through Which The Water Rushed
With Great Force.
Some of these baskets were more than 20 feet long, and
when once the fish had entered one of them, the force of the stream
prevented it from returning.
The small fish were taken in great numbers
in hand-nets, which the natives weave of cotton, and use with great
dexterity. The fish last mentioned are about the size of sprats, and are
prepared for sale in different ways; the most common is by pounding them
entire as they come from the stream in a wooden mortar, and exposing them
to dry in the sun, in large lumps like sugar loaves. It may be supposed
that the smell is not very agreeable; but in the Moorish countries to the
north of the Senegal, where fish is scarcely known, this preparation is
esteemed as a luxury, and sold to considerable advantage. The manner of
using it by the natives is, by dissolving a piece of this blackloaf in
boiling water, and mixing it with their kouskous,
I thought it very singular at this season of the year, to find the banks
of the Faleme every where covered with large and beautiful fields of
corn, but on examination I found it was not the same species of grain as
is commonly cultivated on the Gambia; it is called by the natives Mania,
and grows in the dry season; is very prolific, and is reaped in the month
of January.
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