The Kingdom Of Woolli Is Bounded By Walli On The West, By The Gambia On
The South, By The Small River Walli On The North-West, By Bondou On The
North-East, And On The East By The Simbani Wilderness.
The country every where rises into gentle acclivities, which are
generally covered with extensive woods, and the towns are situated in the
intermediate valleys.
Each town is surrounded by a tract of cultivated
land, the produce of which, I presume, is found sufficient to supply the
wants of the inhabitants; for the soil appeared to me to be every where
fertile, except near the tops of the ridges, where the red iron stone and
stunted shrubs sufficiently marked the boundaries between fertility and
barrenness. The chief productions are cotton, tobacco, and esculent
vegetables; all which are raised in the valleys, the rising grounds being
appropriated to different sorts of corn.
The inhabitants are Mandingoes; and, like most of the Mandingo nations,
are divided into two great sects, the Mahomedans, who are called
_Bushreens_, and the Pagans, who are called indiscriminately _Kafirs_,
(unbelievers,) and _Sonakies_, (_i. e._ men who drink strong liquors.)
The Pagan natives are by far the most numerous, and the government of the
country is in their hands; for though the most respectable among the
Bushreens are frequently consulted in affairs of importance, yet they are
never permitted to take any share in the executive government, which
rests solely in the hands of the _Mansa_, or sovereign, and great
officers of the state.
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