Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/206

 attacks of all the surrounding populations. In the same country of the Jallonkés are the two large towns of Tamba and Gonfudé.

Much better known is the region about the sources of the Bafing, which since the time of Mollien has been visited by Hecquard, Lambert, De Sanderval, Gouldsbury, Bayol, Ansaldi, and others, and which must soon become one of the most frequented districts in Senegambia, thanks to its excellent climate, picturesque scenery, varied produce, and the interest presented by the inhabitants and their institutions. The communities are grouped in the upper river valleys, which

diverge in all directions round about the central uplands, and the chief of which are the Bafing, Falémé, Gambia, and Niger.

Timbo, capital of Futa-Jallon, lies 2,560 feet above sea-level in a hilly district encircled by the semicircular valley of the Bafing and traversed from south to north by one of its head streams. This royal capital is not a large place, consisting only of some groups of cone-shaped huts half buried in verdure at the foot of two neighbouring hills. The descendants of the original founders, who came from Massina less than two centuries ago, have alone the right to reside in Timbo, where,