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WEST AFRICA.
France even acquired the sovereignty of Bélé-dugu, a district on the Gambian slope where the Gambia and Falémé, with their auriferous affluents, are separated by a space of not more than 80 miles. Hence it has often been proposed to exchange the Gambia for some French territory nearer to Sierra-Leone or to Cape
Fig. 74. — Bathurst and entrance of the Gambia.
Coast, whereby the Salûm seaboard would be politically united with that of the Casamanza.
Topography.
Bathurst, or, as it was originally called, Leopold, capital of the English possessions, was founded in 1816, on the island of Saint-Mary, which forms the southern point of the lands at the entrance of the Gambia. The town was laid out with a certain elegance, houses and barracks being solidly built on a site conveniently
