Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/179

 The Wolofs are thoroughly devoted to the French cause, and display the greatest courage and heroism whenever called upon to perform any deed of prowess in the service of the whites.

The Serers, southern neighbours of the Wolofs, belong to the same stock, and in many places form with them half-caste communities, sometimes even adopting their language and usages. Elsewhere they have intermingled with the Mandingoes, to which conquering race belong most of their reigning families. But the proper domain of the pure Serers is still sharply delineated by the waterparting of the Gambia and Salûm, comprising all the basin of the latter river and thence to the Tanma Lagoon at the neck of the Cape Verd peninsula. In this extensive territory of nearly 5,000 square miles, the Serers are subdivided into numerous shifting groups reducible to two main divisions—the None Serers in the north-west, and the Sine Serers (the Barbarians of the early Portuguese writers) occupying all the rest of the country. The latter are by far the most numerous, and their language, which presents many close analogies with Wolof, has been the best studied.

Of all the seaboard Nigritians the Serers are the tallest, men of 6 feet 6 inches being by no means rare. The chest is well developed in proportion to the stature, and their figures might be described as Herculean if the lower corresponded to the upper extremities. Somewhat less black than the Wolofs, they present more Negro features, with broader nostrils, more flattened face, and thicker lips. As amongst their neighbours, wives are purchased of the father, but do not belong to their husband until a form of make-believe abduction is gone through.

Although the influence of Islam has been of late years increased by intercourse with the Wolofs and the conquest of the Salûm basin by a Fulah Marabout, the bulk of the people still practise pagan rites. The gods are worshipped at the foot of the trees, and at the new moon the spirits of air and night are conjured with mysterious incantations. The two supreme deities are Takhar, god of justice, and Tiurakh, god of wealth, the former appealed to against the injuries of others, the oppression of the great, the magic arts of the weak, the latter implored for the success of all undertakings, even when iniquitous and disapproved of by the beneficent deity himself. The snake also held a high place in the national pan- theon, and was often known to appear, in various disguises, even "assuming the uniform of an aged officer of the empire." Formerly he received offerings of living animals, especially cattle and poultry ; but zeal having waned since the spread of the new ideas, he has to be satisfied with the remains of the animals consumed at the public feasts. Most of the natives believe in the transmigration of souls, which explains many features in their funeral observances.

The predominant Negro element in the middle Senegal region, formerly known as the "Galam" country, are commonly known by the name of Sarakolé. They