Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/198

160 WEST AFEICA. Goree, tlie first European factory on this coast, appears to have been originally occupied by the Dutch, who gave it the name of Goeree, from the island at the southern entrance of the Harlingvliet. From the Dutch it passed to the French in 1677, and after having been twice seized by the English, it was finally restored to France in 1814. Lying about IJ mile from Dakar, the nearest point on the mainland, the islet of Goree is less than 1,000 yards long, with an area of scarcely 90 acres. It forms a basalt rock 120 feet high on its south side, enclosing an excellent roadstead from 30 to 60 or 70 feet deep, well sheltered during the dry season, but at other times exposed to the surf. Owing to this drawback and to its inconvenient 'insular position, Goree has, in recent times, been partially abandoned for the neighbouring town of DaJxar, which has the twofold advantage of a port completely sheltered throughout the year, and of a position close to Cape Verd, the westernmost point of the African continent. Here have consequently been erected the Government buildings, the barracks, and head offices of the trading companies ; here is the terminus of the Saint-Louis railway, as well as of the Atlantic cable, and hither the population continues to migrate from Goree. A first-class lighthouse stands on one of the crests of Cape Yerd, and other improvements have been undertaken ; but much remains to be done, especially in completing the harbour works, before Dakar can hope to replace Saint-Louis as the capital of the French Senegambian posses- sions. Since Goree has ceased to monopolise the local trade, the shipping has increased twofold. Men-of-war and the Transatlantic steamers ride in deep and smooth water at Dakar, while in fair weather small craft are able to visit the neighbouping port of RufsqiWy the Rio Fresco of the early Portuguese mariners, and the Tangue- teth of the Wolofs. In several respects this rising town, larger than Goree and Dakar combined, is badly situated on an exposed low-lying coast, where the sands accumulate in shifting dunes and the waters spread out in stagnant meres. Still it has the advantage of lying at the point where the railway from Dakar leaves the seaboard to penetrate inland towards Saint-Louis. Here also converge the routes from Cayor, Baol, and the Serer country, and here is the chief market for ground- nuts and undressed hides. Unfortunately both Rufisque and Dakar are extremely unhealthy places, exposed to dangerous miasmas and endemic marsh fevers of a virulent type. In this respect Goree enjoys a decided advantage over its con- tinental rivals, for which it has become a health resort much frequented during the winter season. Farther south follow the little ports of Fortmhd, N inning, Joal, former capital of the Barbacins, and in the same district Saint Joseph of Ngasohil, headquarters of the Catholic missions in Senegambia. Fatik, residence of the hii} or " King " of Sine, lies on the river of like name, a tributary of the Salum ; and in this basin the chief factories are the French fortified station of Kaolak and Fdndikn, opposite the Sine confluence. Along the lower reaches of the Senegal the only noteworthy places are WarJihor, capital of the Wolof state ; Richard Toll ( " Richard's Garden " ), a fishing village at