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TH E VVO RLD
IN MINIATURE;

FREDERIC SHOBERL.

gfrita,

CONTAINING

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS,
\VITH SOME HISTORICAL PARTICULARS

or THE.
MOORS OF THE ZAHARA,

AND OF THE

‘ 132mm flatinna
BETWEEN THE RIVERS SENEGAL AND GAMBIA:

ILLUSTRATED WITH TWO MAPS,
AND
Forty-Five Coloured Engravingt.

VOL. 111.

 

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR R. ACKERMANN,101, STRAND,
And to be had ofall Booksellers.

LONDON:
C. Green, Leicester Street, Leicester Square.

flax .: o
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A F R I C A
in Miniature.
CHAP. I.

CHARACTER OF THE NEGRO NATIONS
BETWEEN THE RIVERS SENEGAL
AND GAMBIA.

THE country situated between the
rivers Senegal and Gambia is occupied
by four principal nations—the VVolofs,
the Sereres, the Mandingoes and the
Pulahs or Fulahs.

The blacks of St. Louis and‘ of Goree
are Wolofs, as well as the inhabitants

VOL. III. B

 

2 . AFRICA

of a large portion of the west coast of
the continent. The Wolofs are tall
‘ and well shaped, and the handsomest of
the Negro race in Africa. They have
curled woolly hair, with much more
prominent noses than the other blacks;
some of them indeed are rather aqui-
line. Their_ lips are thick, but not
excessively so: they hold their heads
high, and have a bold 100k, yet their
features indicate a mild disposition and
win confidence. They are in general
honest, hospitable, generous, and faith-
ful. The women are remarkable for
their fine shape and are not destitute of
gracefulness and elegance. The sweet-
ness of their voices imparts a powerful

charm to the Wolof language which is

lN MINIATURE. 3

sonorous and easy to he learned. They
are cleanly and attentive to their dress,
but nevertheless have in common with
all other blacks a peculiar smell which
is extremely disagreeable to Europeans.
The Wolofs are Mahometans and min-
gle the grossest superstitions with the
doctrines and ceremonies of that reli-
gion.

A people called Laobehs, whose man-
ners resemble those of the gypsies, in
Europe, are found intermixed with the
Wolofs. Leading a. roving life and_
having no permanent habitations, their
only employment is the manufacture
of wooden vessels, mortars, and bed-
stcads. When they remove to a new
situation, they select a well wooded spot,

132-

4 A FRICA

fell a few trees, form huts with the
branches, and work up the trunks. For
this privilege they pay a kind of tax to
the sovereign in whose dominions they
fix their quarters. They are said to
possess considerable wealth though their
appearance denotes abject poverty.
Both men and women are mostly ugly
and very slovenly : yet the latter are in
great request among the Negroes, from
a. notion that the favours of fortune are
a certain consequence of such a con-
nexion. If the Laobehs have not the
features, neither have they the stature
of the Wolofs, whence it is reasonable
to infer that they are of a distinct race
from the other Negroes. They enjoy

exemption from military service; they

1N MINIATURE. 5

are idolaters, speak the Pulah lan-
guage, and like the gypsies, pretend
to tell fOrtunes. The only animals
they possess are asses upon which they
travel. In their peregrinations they
collect the dung of cattle for the pur-
pose of making fires, round which both
sexes spend their leisure time in smok~
ing.

The Sereres are believed to be colol
nies of the Guiola nation which still
exists on the banks of the Gambia. .,
This opinion seems to be confirmed by i I
various resemblances in language, maul
nets and customs. From this once
powerful but now almost annihilated
nation, proceeded several centuries ago
colonies which peopled the ISeaPCoast as

B 3

6 AFRICA

far as Cape Roxo, and spread consider-
ably inland. One subdivision of these
was denominated Nones Sereres. The
Sereres inhabit the country of Salum,
Baol, Sine, and a small part of Cayor.
Though subjected by the Wolofs, they ‘
have not become blended with that
nation, and if they have made but slight
efforts to recover their liberty, they
have however; retained their peculiar
language, manners, customs, and reli-
gion, which last seems to be no other
than fetichism ; though they admit the
existence of a. Supreme Being, the dis-
penser of good and evil, and believe in the
immortality and transmigration of the
soul. They are more savage and perhaps

less susceptible of civilization than the

1N MINIATURE. 7

Wolofs, though they are not so indolent
and more addicted in particular to agri-
cultural occupations. Their skin is
neither so black, nor are their features
so regular as those of the Wolofs.

The Mandingoes, who are spread
over the country of Bambuk and the
banks of the Gambia, where they have
formed several powerful states, are
sprung from a. great nation occupying
the country beyond the sources of that
river. These blacks, intelligent, sup-
ple, cunning, equally skilful and inde-
fatigable irrcommercial pursuits, have
embraced Mahometanism, which has
been introduced among them by cara~
vans, and which they have not a little

contributed to diffuse over great part of

S AFRICA

Africa. They are of a black colour,
intermixed with yellow. Their features
are regular, and their disposition frank,
generous, and hospitable. The women
are handsome, and their features are
not so strongly marked as those of the
VVolofs, to whom they are not at all
inferior in gracefulness.

The Fulahs or Pulahs, whose origin
has already been described, occupy the
country of Bondu, and an extensive
territory on the banks of the Senegal.
They are a colony of that great nation
by which a large portion of the north of
Africa is peopled. The Fulahs of the
Senegal are partly black and partly red.
The former, though not so black, differ
but little from the other Negroes, and

IN MINIATURE. 9

seem to be the relics of the conquered
nation; they are generous, robust, and
good soldiers. The others, of a copper
colour, and of a weak constitution, have
long, meagre faces, large arched noses,
and lank hair. They are intelligent,
but indolent, crafty, perfidious, and
cruel—a disposition which the Fulahs
of the banks of the Senegal derive
perhaps from the Moors, their neigh-
bours, with whom they have an habitual
intercourse, and whose religion they
have embraced. They are very zealous
Mahometans.

The language of these people is soft
and pleasing to the ear ; the letters f and
r are seldom employed in it. The
Pulah women are slender and handsome

figures; their eyes are very fine but

10 AFRICA

languishing, and their voices soft. Their
airs are pathetic, and they sing in a
tasteful and pleasing manner.

Beyond the sources of the Senegal
and Gambia is an extensive and very
populous country, called Bambara. Most
of the slaves sold at Galam and on the
river Gambia, come from this country.
Many of the children of this nation
remain at the Senegal, and become
domestic slaves, that is to say, they
cannot be sold except for crimes. These
Negroes are not so black as the Wolofs;
they have round heads, very curly hair,
. coarse features, flat noses, high cheek-
bones, thick lips, and handy legs. They
are stupid, superstitious, robust, indus-
trious, faithful, and good-tempered.

Their language is rude and savage.

IN MINIATURE. 11

CHAI’. II.

FORM OF GOVERNMENT.

The monarchical government prevails
in most of the countries treated of in
these volumes; but the power of the
prince is every where balanced by that
of the great vessels, and he can under-
take nothing of importance without
consulting them. These vassals are the
governors of provinces, whose posts are
almost always hereditary, and who,
having a particular interest in sparing
the countries under their command,

defend the rights of the people against

l2 AFRICA

the sovereign. Almost all the states of
this part of Africa are, therefore, sub-
Eect to a species of feudal system, and
in some of them even the authority
of the chief is so circumscribed, that
the form of government approaches
nearer to aristocracy than to a mo-
narchy.

It isftherefore, erroneously, that most
travellers and writers on these countries
have represented the power of the
chiefs as the most odious despotism:
they were not acquainted with the cus-
toms of the country, and the facts
which they adduce in proof of their
assertion are not calculated to refute
the statements here advanced: for those

facts relate to a class of persons who

IN MINIATURE. 13

must not be confounded with the
people.

The population of most of the states
of Africa. is composed of two classes of
inhabitants, free men and slaves: the
former dwell in the villages and hamlets,
the latter follow the princes, grandees,
and opulent individuals wherever-they
go, and are attached to their fortunes;
These slaves have either been taken in
their childhood, or born in the habita-
tions— of their masters and never known
any other protectors. They cannot
dispose of their own persons, nor are
they ever sold by their masters, unless
for some crime. The power of the
great consists in the number of these
slaves, which the chiefs, in order to

VOL. III. C-

 

14 AFRICA

render that power' the more formidable,
are constantly striving to augment.
On those in whom theyhave the greatest
confidence they confer particular offices
in their household: these are the domes.
tics of the prince. One has the title of
high steward of the palaceéfara—caba,
another that of chief huntsman, fara-
caye, a third is his cupbearer, and. so
on. These domestics or slaves, when
they possess the confidence of the prince,
frequently enjoy considerable influence
in the state, and are flattered and ho-
noured by the great vassals, who find it
to be for their interest to conciliate
their good-will, in order to obtain the
favour of the sovereign: but on, the

other hand, when these attendants have

IN MINIATURE. 15

fallen into disgrace with their master,
they are frequently precipitated from
the post of honour and sold to the
Europeans.

The people are. quiet enough while
they pay their taxes regularly, and above
all in those provinces, the governors
of which are powerful or bold enough
to make the sovereign fear and respect
them. If a thinly inhabited province
prospers by its industry, and refuses to
pay the imposts laid upon it, such a
country must expect to be pillaged, and
to draw upon itself all the calamities
that vengeance and jealousy can inflict.

The power of the governors of pro-
vinces is moderated like that of the
prince by a council of notables ; so that

e 2

EL,

16 AFRICA

among most of the tribes of this part of
Africa, we meet with an order and
institutions indicating a certain progress

in civilization.

1N MINIATURE. 17

CHAP. III.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

Among the Wolofs the princes or
their representatives are the supreme
judges in all cases that can be visited
by heavy punishment. When the prince
is about to administer justice, a. mat is
spread in the middle of one of the courts
in the interior of the palace. He seats
himself upon it, accompanied by five
or six counsellors, in whom he places
the most confidence. The contending
parties plead their own cause and then
withdraw, leaving the prince to delibe-
rate with his council. Judgment is

03

18 AFRICA

pronounced and carried into immediate
execution. Robbery, adultery and mur-
der, are punished with slavery. The
profit is divided between the injured
party and the sovereign, who receives
the largest share. The only indulgence
sometimes granted to the culprit is to
allow him to furnish a slave in his stead ;
but this favour is very rarely shown,
and the severity with which the sen-
tence is generally executed renders
crimes rather uncommon.

Persons suspected of sorcery are
obliged to submit to the ordeal of fire.
An eye-witness of this ceremony thus
describes it. The accused was bound to
a tree in the open place in the middle

of the village of Portudal; near him

IN MINIATURE. 19

was a. very brisk charcoal fire, in which
an iron about six inches long was
heated. When all the people had assem-
bled, the fitor, one of the prince’s ofli-
cers, took up the iron with a pair of
pincers and held it before the culprit:
the latter boldly passed his tongue three
times over the iron, and then exposed
it to the view of the bystanders. The
marks of the red hot iron appeared but
too plainly upon it, and he was sen-
tenced to be sold. Some nevertheless
come 06? triumphantly from this trial,
either as it is believed, because they
use the juice of certain herbs which
prevents the effect of the fire, or, which
is" more probable, because they are

favoured by the chiefs of the village.

20 AFRICA

_ The ordeal by water is also practised.
Some Negroes accustom themselves to
drink great quantities at a time ; and it
is related that Charles Cornier, mayor
of Senegal, swallowed ten quarts, which
he threw up again without experiencing
any inconvenience.

Inithese countries the only cases that
require the interference of justice are of
a. criminal nature. The land being
common property and more than suffi-
cient for the wants of all, quarrels
respecting possessions are unknown,
and any petty differences that arise are
terminated either by single combat or
by the interference of the elders.

Causes are laid before the prince by

the chief officer of justice, who assumes

IN MINIATURE. 21

the title of guerafpz'nk, and who has
the superintendence over all the inferior
judges, styled guemfs. Every village
of any consequence has one of the lat-
ter. It is impossible to define precisely
the limits of their authority and the
extent of their, jurisdiction. Their
power varies according to the influence
which they enjoy. Their chief duty is
to decide petty disputes and to investi-
gate more important causes and report
upon them to the chief judge. These
public officers are appointed by the
prince or by his agents.

Among the Mandingoes, in every con-
siderable town there is a chief magis-
trate, called the alcade, whose office is

hereditary, and whose business it is to

22‘ AFRICA

preserve order, to levy duties on travel-
lers, and to preside at all conferences in
the exercise of local jurisdiction and
the administration of justice. These
courts are composed of the elders of the
town of free condition, and are termed
palavers ; and their proceedings are
conducted in the open air with sufficient
solemnity. Both sides of a. question are
freely canvassed, witnesses are publicly
examined, and the decisions which fol-
low, generally meet with the appro-
bation of the audience.

As the Negroes have no written lan-
guage of their own, the general rule of
decision is an appeal to ancient custom ;
but since the system of Mahomet has

made so great progress among them,

IN MINIATURE. 23

the converts to that faith have gradually
introduced, with the religious tenets,
many of the civil institutions of the
Prophet; and where the Koran is not
found sufficiently explicit, recourse is
had to a. commentary called Al Sharm,
containing a complete exposition or
digest of the Mahometan laws both civil
and criminal, properly arranged and
illustrated.

This frequency of appeal to written
laws with which the Pagan natives are
necessarily unacquainted, has given rise
in their palavers to what we should little
expect to find in Africa, professional
advocates or expounders of the law, who
are allowed to appear and to plead for

plaintiff or defendant, much in the same

24 AFRICA

manner as counsel in the law courts of
Great Britain. They are Mahometan
Negroes who have made, or affect to
have made the laws of the Prophet their
peculiar study, and who are not always
surpassed in the arts of confounding
and perplexing a cause by the ablest
pleaders in Europe. While Mung-0
Park, from whom the preceding obser-
vations are extracted, was at Pisania, a
cause was heard which furnished the
lawyers with an admirable opportunity
of displaying their dexterity. An ass
belonging to a Serawoolli Negro, had
broken into a field of corn belonging
to one of the Mandingo inhabitants,
and destroyed great part of it. The

Serawoolli thereupon called a palaver,

1N MINIATURE. 25

or as we should say, brought an action,
to recover damages for the loss of his
beast, on which he set a high value.
The defendant admitted that he had
killed the ass, but pleaded a set-off,
insisting that the loss which he had
sustained by the ravage in his corn was
unequal to the sum demanded for the
animal. To ascertain this fact was the
point at issue, and the learned advocates
contrived to puzzle the cause in such a
manner, that after a hearing of three
days, the court broke up without coining
to any determination upon it, and, adds
the traveller, a second palaver was,I

suppose, thought necessary,

von. 11]. _ D

26 AFRICA

CHAP. IV.

IMPOSTS AND REVENUES OF THE
SOVEREIGN.

In the countries bordering upon the
sea-coast, or upon rivers frequented
by the Europeans, the revenues of
the sovereign consist of the du-
ties or customs which he receives
from the whites, the plunder of ves-
sels that are wrecked, and the im-
posts levied upon his subjects. We
have already seen that the customs
demanded from the Europeans, are
paid for the right of procuring salt

from the salt-works, and supplies of

1N MINIATURE. 27

provisions, wood, and water, on the
coast, and for liberty to traffic in gum,
slaves, or any other commodity. These
customs were originally very low, but
they have been successively increased
through the weakness of the whites,
who always comply with the importu-
nities of the Negroes, and thus suffer
the latter to claim as a. right what was
at first on their part but more gene-
rosity.

The right of pillage rests on no other
foundation than the claims of the Ne-
groes, who have always maintained,
that every vessel belonged to the sove-
reign of the country on the coast of
which it might be wrecked. Several
governors of the Senegal entered into

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28 AFRICA

palavers with the damel of Cayor, who
possesses the greatest tract of coast, to
persuade him to relinquish his preten-
sions to such of the king’s ships as
should happen tobe in this predicament.
He always returned evasive answers;
but not the least accommodation could
ever be obtained for merchant vessels.
The sum paid for the ransom of each
sailor was fifteen bars (nearly two
pounds sterling), and twice as much
for an officer. In an interview which
the Chevalier de Boutflers had with the
damel in 1786, he prevailed on him to
consent that a delay of twenty—four
hours should be allowed to the crews
of such vessels as should strike, to try

to get them off again. An opportunity

IN MINIATURE. 29

soon offered for putting this article of
the treaty in execution. A vessel
which had lost her anchors in a violent
squall, while her whole crew, except
two men, were on land, was driven on
shore near the village of Dacar, oppo-
site to Goree. The Negroes, allured
by the prospect of plunder, assembled
in great numbers, but by the timely
assistance of a detachment of French
troops dispatched from Goree, she
floated off with the next flood-tide, and
was carried into the road of Goree, to
the great disappointment of the Jamel.
That prince soon afterwards claimed
the vessel in spite of the stipulation,
and availed himself of this pretext to
break the treaty, and to declare war

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IN MINIATURE. 31

CHAP. V.

01" THE ARMY—MANNER OF MAKING
WAR—PILLAGE.

Each state is divided into several
governments. Those who are invested
with the chief authority over them do
not hold it of the prince; they are
merely his vassals. The power is he-
reditary in each family. Among
the Wolofs these chiefs are styled
lamanes, a very ancient title which ex-
isted before the foundation of the mo-
narchies. Each lam-ewe keeps in his
service a certain number of soldiers

whom he furnishes With arms and

 

32 AFRICA

horses. Several remain about his per-‘
son, and are then maintained at his
expense 5 the others reside in the vil—‘i
lages ; but are obliged to march when-
ever they are required. They have no
regular pay,>but presents are made to
them, and they have a share in the booty
that is taken in war. The fidelity of
these soldiers frequently makes the
lamanes so many petty tyrants, who
oppress the people. At the command
of the sovereign, they and their train
are obliged to take the field, and to join
what are called the King’s slaves, that
is the persons of his household. In case
of invasion all‘the people are required
to take up arms.

Soldiers have a particular dress, com-

IN MINIATURE. 33

posed of a tunic of orange-coloured cotton
cloth, with wide sleeves, and an opening
at the top for the head to pass through.

This tunic is covered with grisgris,
wrapped and sewed in scarlet cloth or
leather, and which, in the opinion of the
Negroes, render them invulnerable——-
They wear cotton drawers of the same
colour as the tunic, as represented in
the engraving, Vol. ii. p. 41. The cap,
sometimes yellow, at others blue or red,
is adorned with the hair of elephants’
tails, or with the claws of lions or tigers.
Most of the soldiers are armed with
muskets and pistols, purchased from
the Europeans. The others have only
zagayes, or lances, clubs, sabres, bows
made of bamboo, quivers furnished with,

l’arbed, and sometimes poisoned arrows.

34 AFRICA

The poison, said to be very deadly, is
prepared from a shrub called lemma, (3.
species of whites), which is very com-
mon in the woods. The leaves of this
shrub, when boiled with a small quantity
of water, yield a thick black juice, into
which the Negroes dip a cotton thread ;
this thread they fasten round the iron of
the arrow, in such a manner that it is
almost impossible to extract the arrow,
when it has sunk beyond the barb,
without leaving the iron point and the
poisoned thread in the wound. It is
cured by eating and applying pounded
ground-nuts to the wound. The cavalry,
composed of picked men, are better
armed, as may be seen in the plate, Vol.
ii. p. 56.

The Negroes, when they fight with

1N MINIATURE. 35

one another, display great bravery, but
they can never withstand the whites,
unless the latter suffer themselves to be
enticed into the woods. In their battles,
each grapples hand to hand with one of
the enemy, ‘and endeavours to throw
him down. Frequently without ever
using any other weapon, they fire a few
musket-shot, and the fall of a dozen
men decides the contest. The van-
quished betake themselves to flight, and
the victors conduct their prisoners to
their chief.

A sovereign is seldom made prisoner;
he is either put to death by the enemy,
or prevails upon some of his attendants
to perform that friendly office for him
on the field of battle. The free-men

36 AFRICA

taken prisoners are frequently ransomed
by their families, who give a more ro-
bust slave, or perhaps two, in exchange
for each. Such prisoners as were pre-
viously slaves are rarely ransomed, and
are then sold to the Europeans.

The most frivolous causes are fre-
quently made the pretexts for war; and
as a campaign seldom lasts longer than
seven or eight days, the army never
takes with it any, supply of provisons,
but lives at the expense of the villages,
whether belonging to friend or foe,
through which it passes.

In the interior, in those countries
where the huts are built of earth, the
Negroes surround the villages with

walls and fortifications of mud and

1N MINIATURE. ’ 37

wood ; they have even fortresses, called
fate, with battlements, which enable
them to sustain sieges and to make
vigorous resistance.

There is on the coast of‘Africa another
kind of warfare, the object of which is
nothing but plunder. It is engaged in
merely for the purpose of obtaining
slaves to sell to the Europeans, and

.usually takes place on the confines of
states. The villages at a distance from
the centre, and on the borders of forests,
frequently refuse to pay tribute, and
with the more reason, as they are ac-
quainted with the excesses of despotism,
with which they are incessantly threa-
tened, and of which they are frequently
the victims- These villages, in some

VOL. III. E

33 AFRICA

measure independent, are plundered by
the two bordering powers; and their
predatory expeditions are conducted in
be following manner :—

The prince determines with his coun-
cil what place to surprise. Troops are
collected, but the purpose of their as-
semblage is kept profoundly secret:
they march the Whole night, and some-
times several successive days, without
knowing the place of their destination.
The march is so regulated that they
arrive at day—break at the village, the
destruction of which is decreed: they
surround it just when the women are
beginning to pound millet, and the men,
invited by the coolness of the air, have re-

signed themselves to sleep. They enter,

IN MINIATURE. 39

and fall upon the surprised and terrified
inhabitants. Such as make any resist-
ance are massacred ; the others are
loaded with chains and divided among
the prince and his vassals, by whom
they are sent to the different European
factories to be sold.

Sometimes, however, the inhabitants
of a village, apprized by their friends or
countrymen who are about the prince,
contrive to avoid the impending danger.
When a Negro learns that his village is '
threatened, he sneaks away, and informs
the people of the approach of the army,
whose operations are frustrated, either
because their attack is repulsed with
bravery, or because the people, retiring
into the woods with their cattle, leave

1.2

4o AFRICA

behind in their huts such persons only
whose age and infirmities protect them
from slavery.

In the interior, depredations of this
kind are often committed by governors
of provinces, and sometimes by villages,
familes, and even by individuals, who hear
a grudge against some not very distant
village of a difl'erent nation. Such ex-
peditions are generally undertaken after
the rainy season, when the harvest is got
in; they are frequently followed by re-
prisals, and hence results a. continual
state of petty warfare between nations.

A curious fact connected with a hos-
tile expedition of the French against the
Pulahs of Futatoro, is thus related by
M. Mollien:

m MINIATURE. 41

Since the beginning of the present
century, M. Ribet, at the head of twenty_
five European soldiers and four hundred
Senegal Negroes, had, by way of re-
prisal, plundered all the Pulah villages
bordering upon the river. On reach-
ing Gaet, one of their large towns, not
a Negro appeared to Yoppose them.—
The inhabitants were all concealed
behind their palisades, and thus en-
trenched fired upon the enemy. In the
mean time two field-pieces, which Ribet
had brought with him, made great
havoc among the Pulahs; but at the
moment when he thought himself cerc
tain of victory, a bull leaped over. the
palisades and furiously rushed upon
his men. A divinity descending from

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t . h WW '1'5'“

42 AFRICA

heaven could not have produced a
stronger effect. The Negroes of the
Senegal, persuaded that their lives de-
pended on that of the bull, stopped the
French soldiers who were about to fire V
at him, exclaiming that if they killed
the animal, all sorts of misfortunes
would infallibly overwhelm them. The
stratagem of the Pulahs, for it was
they who had let loose the bull, was
completely successful. The Negroes
dispersed and fled in confusion towards
the vessels- The twenty-f1 ve Europeans
who accompanied M. Ribet, would have
thought it a disgrace to run away from
blacks; unsupported, they sustained the
fire of six thousand Pulahs, and fell

victims to their bravery.

IN MINIATURE. 43

CHAP. VI.
RELIGION.

The religion most widely diffused
among the inhabitants of the countries
bordering upon the Senegal, and lying
between that river and the Gambia, is
the Mahometan. It was introduced
among them by the Moors, who, as
much from policy as from attachment
to their faith, have made the utmost
efforts to extend it. Through its means
they have obtained free access to the
Negro nations, and secured to them-
selves the greatest part of the commerce

with their countries.

”my;

44 AFRICA

Most of the Negroes, as we have seen,
though professing Mahometanism, are
not very rigid observers of its precepts ; \
they have not renounced the use of
spirituous liquors, and if they submit
to circumcision, it seems to be rather
as an operation of cleanliness, rendered
necessary by the heat of the climate,
than as a religious act.

The Mahometan Negroes celebrate
annually four great festivals, called
gamon, coreh, tabaslzi, and tampcara.

The first, which is regulated by the
new moon, happens about the end of
December or the beginning of January.
In the first days of the moon, the
guiriots beat their drums: balls and

dances of armed men take place every

IN MINIATURE. 45

day; each person appears in his best
attire, and all the grandees of the coun-
try give entertainments to their vassals
and dependents. The last three days
are the most brilliant, and it is then also
that spirituous liquors are drunk in the
greatest abundance.

The tabaski is the Easter of the
Negroes: it is preceded by a month’s
fast, called bairam or ramadan. During
the month, the marabouts and such of
the blacks as wish to appear devout,
observe most strictly the fast prescribed
by the law,'and eat nothing in the day
time: some even carry their scruples
so far as not to swallow their spittle

till sun-set, after which they make

46 AFRICA

ample amends for the abstinence of the
day.

The tabaskz' and the core}; are cele-
brated with the same rejoicings as the
gamon, excepting that at the first-men-
tioned of these festivals several oxen
are killed, and distributed among the
‘common people. The cord: is held in
the month of October.

The tampoam, which falls in the
month of April or May, is distinguished
by a custom which is annually repeated,
and is kept up by the imposture of some
of the Negroes and the credulity of
others. During this festival, among
the nations on the banks of the Gambia

there appears a personage to whom

1N MINIATURE . 47

they give the name of Tampcara. The *

Negroes, who know not whence he
comes or whither he goes, consider him
as a supernatural being, to whom they
pay the profoundest respect. He never

appears but at night, yet at all times

his door is open to the women. Their ,

husbands must not manifest the least
sign of jealousy: the slightest murmur
would draw upon them the displeasure
of Tampcara, who would not fail to
make them feel it most severely by his
emissaries. Such is the influence which
this Tampcara possesses, that he is not
afraid to defy the authority of princes
themselves: in short, he is allowed to
do whatever he pleases, as will appear

from the following account given by

'.ua.._‘ F‘A‘J‘d-Av .. A

48 AFRICA

M. de Veimbré, a French gentleman,
formerly resident on the Gambia :—

In 17 76, says he, I was at the factory
of Albreda, with five Negroes only, who
were attending me, when, at two o’clock
one morning, Tampcara, accompanied
by two hundred men, made his appear-

‘ance. My people, who, on any other
occasion, would have attempted to make
some resistance, fled at the name of
Tampcara, and I was left by myself.
The troop was armed with javelins,
muskets, and daggers, and their chief
had a sabre. Nothing but the greatest
firmness could save me at this juncture.
The pretended daemon audaciously de-
manded a great quantity of goods out

of the warehouses committed to my

IN MINIATURE. 49

care, and on my refusal he made two
cuts at me with his sabre, which I par-
ried with my sword. I told him, in bad

'olof, that I would call my people and
order them to fire at him, if he did not
instantly depart: and after some discus-
sion I gave him to understand, that out
of regard for his person, I would agree
to present him with three muskets and
some brandy. He then retired quietly,
and by this small sacrifice I got rid of
him. As these assemblages are held
only at night, I caused some of Tamp-
cara’s companions to be apprehended
the following day and put in irons till
my property should be restored: They
admitted the violence and robbery, but
alleged in their justification that they

VOL. 111. ‘ F

Hgmim; A

30 AFRICA

had but obeyed the commands of Tamp-
eara. I succeeded, however, in reco-
vering my muskets, and took the best
precautions for preventing similar out-
rages in future.

To counterbalance the power of Tamp-
eara, who seems to favour the women,
the Mahometan Mandingoes have their
Mumbo Jumbo, whose mysteries are
celebrated only in the'night-time. About
the middle of the year, a great noise
prooeeding for several nights from a.
certain wood, armounces his coming,
and gives notice to the men to go and
receive him. Mumbo'Jumbo at length
appears: "he makes a hideous ~. figure
dressed in the bark of trees and pro-
vided with a stick. He is preceded

by his band. The women meanwhile

IN MINIATURE. 5-1

assemblein the midst of the village,
range themselves in a circle and with
fear await his arrival. Songs. accom-
paniedby the sound of instruments are
presently heard : and Mumbo Jumbo
sings a very pleasing air, which will be

found in a. subsequent part of this work;

and to which the men and women
answer in chorus. The most profound
silence follows the singing. Mumbo
Jumbo sits down and points out such
of the women whose conduct during
the preceding year has not been satis-
factory. They are» dragged away, tied
to a post, stripped, and scourged with
more or less severity according to the
nature. of their offences, by Mumho,
r 2

rug.) isthmus“ _

rem“.-m_ A r

5'2 AFRICA

who is provided with a rod for the pur-
pose. This formidable personage, is
supposed to be no other than the hus-
band of one of the culprits or a friend
of his: but the secret of the institution
has been so carefully preserved that a
king who was coaxed by a young wife
to communicate it to her, was after-
wards prevailed upon to put to death
all his wives to prevent them from be-
traying what their companion might
have imparted to them. It is asserted,
however, that the contrivance is not
designed merely for a check upon the
conduct of the women, but that Mumbo
Jumbo has more than once braved the

power and curbed the ambition of a

IN MINIATURE. 53

despotic prince. The dress which he
wears may be seen in many places hang-
ing up in trees.

The Sereres, though subject to the
Mahometan Wolofs, have preserved
their religion and their peculiar customs.
They believe in a Supreme Omnipotent
Being, since they sometimes address
their prayers to him: but they have
very few external signs of religion.
Being compelled to admit the separation
ofthe soul firom the body, they con~
ceive that the 'former continues to
hover for a. long time about its late
abode, that it subsists upon a subtile
matter which evaporates from the food
presented to it, and that it afterwards
passes into some body or other, ani-

r 3

A. m;-fim—$M._... , ,_

mr‘hu g... .

 

 

54 AFRICA

mate or inanimate. Hence their respect
for lizards, various species of serpents,
and certain trees. When they are in
trouble they pretend to call forth the
dead for the purpose of consulting th‘gm;
are careful to gratify their supposed
desires when they have appeared to
them in a dream 3 and give into all the
erroneous notions that superstition can '
engender.

The Negroes in general swear by the
name of God—Arbaca Ly Alla. The
greatest insult that can be offered them,
and which cannot be washed away but
with blood, is to reflect upon their pa-
rents or ancestors. An African will
sooner forgive a blow than a term of

reproach applied to his ancestors or to

IN MINIATURE. 55

her who gave him birth. “ Strike me,
but do not curse my mother,” is acom-
mon expression even among the slaves.

They are charitable, as much from
natural disposition as from religion:
but .in Africa no other beggars are
to be seen than the blind, who, as-
sembling in greater or less number,
make their daily rounds in the villages,
singing verses of the Koran. Millet
and other things are given to them;
these they put into a little bag which
they carry at their back, and as they
go away loudly proclaim the praises of
their benefactors.

The Negroes are prejudiced against
doing any thing on a Friday. If they

are forced to set out on a journey on

 

 

 

56» - AFRICA

, that day, they will presently stop
under a tree and there halt till it is over.
Every Negro has his lucky or unlucky
days in the week. The unexpected
meeting with an animal or any object
is taken for a favourable or unfavourable
omen.

They believe in spectres, and fre-
quently tell of a. prince who dwells in
the river Senegal, and sometimes deigns
to Show himself; and also of a croco-
dile, a good-natured, generous creature,
which lives in the upper part of the
same river, and carries off all the
Negroes he can seize, in order to
make them partakers of eternal hap-
piness.

The Negroes in general, to whatever

MINIATURE. ' 51

nation they belong, believe in a Su-
preme Being and ‘a future life; but if
they are closely questioned on these
subjects, they wave the conversation,
and consider as frivolous all questions
relating to matters so far above the
reach of their understanding.

They calculate years by the number
of rainy seasons, or by remarkable
events, the months by the moon; and
divide the days into morning, noon, and
evening. At the time of the new moon,
which they suppose to be then newly
created, they recite a short prayer,
which seems to be intended to express

thanks to the Deity for favours received

~ during the past moon. They await

L h. .‘.A “magnum. .am‘. ugh-4““ .A-n l e

 

58 AFRICA

with impatience the appearance of the
new one 3 but. there is good reason to
believe, that it is less from‘a religious
prhiciplesthani because the return of
that luminary brings with it a- renewal
of their pleasures.

They are terrified by eclipses of the
sun and moon,- which they consider as
the effect. of' magic: the stars never
engage their attention; They have no
notion of astronomy or of the figure of
the eanh. A French writer says, that
be several times questioned the Boun-
Salum on this subject : he drew in the
sand‘the figure of his dominions, which
he consider-ewes much more extensive

than; the neighbouring states, but was

1N MINIATURE. 59

at a loss where to place the sea and
Europe. This prince nevertheless pos-
sessed a good understanding, and was
regarded by the Negroes as extremely

well informed.

 

60 AFRICA

CHAP. VII.
MARABOUTS—GRISGRIS.

We have already made mention of the
talbes or Moorish priests. The mara-
bouts, in Wolof serime, or Mahometan
negro priests, are only disciples of the
Moors, and have a great resemblance
to them ; for which reason we shall be
obliged occasionally to repeat in our
description of the one what we have
said concerning the other.

The marabouts are in general more so.
ciable and more civilized than the rest of
the nation to which they belong. Their

morals appear to be austere, and their

IN MINIATURE. 61

manner reserved r they never speak but
in parables and comparisons, which
render their conversation tedious and
tiresome. They are addicted to com.
merce and afi‘able to strangers; but
implicit confidence must not be reposed
in these friendly appearances : extreme
hypocrisy enables them to plan and
execute the most horrible revenge on
those who are so unfortunate as to
incur their displeasure.

They strictly observe the fast of Ra-
madan, never drink strong liquors, c0n.
sider the hog as unclean, and pray five
times a day. While at prayers, they
turn toward the east, sometimes raising
their hands to heaven, at others pros-
trating with their faces to the ground,

VOL. 111. a

S
s
a
!

 

 

65 AFRICA

and at others again kneeling in profound
meditation. They put off their gar-
ments when repeating the prayer called
salum from the frequent repetition in it
of the Arabic words salum malicum, sig-
nifying—I salute thee, Lord! Women
are not allowed to be present at the
salum, neither do they join in the
prayers offered up at certain periods of
the month.

When several mar-abouts are assem-
bled, the eldest of them begins the
prayer and the others repeat it after
him in a loud voice.

They always intermarry among one
another; their children become mara-
bouts like their fathers, so that there

are whole villages of persons of this

 

w» M ARAJB> u um s a

I

V? ,
; '.\ L.

 

 

 

 

1N MINIATURE. 03

professicn. Their mosque, called in
the Mandingo language miasoura, is an
uncovered inclosure of straw, forming-
an~oblong square; at the firther side of
which is a quadrangular recess for the
priest: who leads off the prayer, as may
be seen in the engraving opposite to
thin page. All of them, on entering,
perform their ablutions, washing their

hands and face with fresh water. When

they have no water for these ablutions
they use sand, but never employ
sen-water, which they deem a pollu—
tion. They make apoint of ransom-
ing all persons of their own profession
from slavery.

Their knowledge extends to reading
and writing Ambic,and the medicinal

G2

I
r}
l
'l
:‘E

 

 

64 AFRICA

use of certain plants. The urine of
the dromedary, burned cotton-seeds,
butter, and earth diluted in water, are
their chief ’topical applications, and
notwithstanding the simplicity of these
remedies, they are tolerably succesful
in their treatment of surgical cases.

If the patient is in a. very dangerous
state, they besmear him with ablack
substance resembling pitch, which they
bring in a little pot: they cover the
dying with grisgrz's, and leave the rest
to the will of heaven.

Their children learn by fire-light les-
sons from the Koran, which their fathers
write for them on boards. As they
grow older, they exercise themselves

in co in the sacred volume of the
FY g

IN MINIATURE. ' 65

Mahometans, which they carry with
them in all their journeys.

The mar-abouts owe the high respect
in which they are held to the grisgris,
in Wolof, (ere/1, and in Mandingo,
saplu',‘ with which they supply their
ignorant countrymen. These charms
consist of passages from the Koran,
which the Negroes profoundly venerate,
enclosed in little cases of morocco
leather. They are adapted alike to
all wants and to all fears. The Jamel

it It is a singular circumstance, that a nation
so far distant from this part of Africa as the
Morluchians should ‘wear the same kind of
charm ; and still more extraordinary, that
their name for it, zapi, should so closely cor-
respond with the term used by the Mandingoes.
-See Illyria and Dalmatia, Vol. ii. p. 90.

G3

66 AFRICA

of Cayor has so many as to load two
camels with them when he goes to
war. Some are made to protect the
wearer from musket—balls, and they are
well suited to the purpose, being large,
containing two or three quires of paper,
and forming a kind of shield, the virtue
of which cannot, however, be implicitly
relied on, as the following anecdote will
serve to show :—

A marabout brought a grisgris to a
Frenchman, boasting that it was a safe—
guard against fire-arms. He offered to
sell it for five bars, or about twelve
shillings. The Frenchman agreed to
buy it on condition that the marabou!
should submit to a trial of its efficacy

.in his own person. The terms were

IN MINIATURE. 67

accepted. The Frenchman loaded his
piece with small-shot instead of ball.
At the distance of forty-five paces he
fired; ‘ the marabout, overcome with
fear, instantly fell, not without receiving
fifteen or eighteen shot, and afterwards
insisted that the white was a sorcerer.
There are grisgris, the price of which
amounts to the value of several slaves-
Some are known to have cost five oxen.
They are made into necklaces, or bound
round the head; they are worn also in
the hair, at the hands and feet, or fas-
tened to the clothes. They are of all
shapes, and of all sizes. The very
horses and dromedaries have them tied
round their necks 5 they are fixed over

doors and in. the huts; and, with the

68 AFRICA

exception of the Sereres, a Negro is
rarely seen without some of them at.
tached to his dress. A grisgris which
has been worn in war, and the owner of
which has returned unhurt, is neversold,
whatever price may be offered for it.
The mambouts pretend that they can
recOver any thing that has been lost or
stolen, and the communication which
they keep up with one another causes '
them to be frequently successful in their
researches. They also pretend to be
able to predict future events. Having
~(ii-awn various lines in the sand, they
appear to be meditating on them, and
then tell, in the style of parables, what
they fancy they canldiscover in them.

To give their benediction, they spit

IN MINIATURE. 69 '

thrice in a person’s hand, at the same
time laying their own upon his head,
and muttering certain mysterious words.
So tenacious are they of their reputation
for predicting What is to happen, that if
they foretel that such or such a but will
be burned at a certain time, they will
set it on fire themselves, in order to
fulfil the prediction.

The Negroes hold these priests in:
such veneration, that the princes alWays
have some of them at their courts.—
They serve them in the capacity of am-
bassadors to the neighbouring sove-
reigns, accompany them to'war, give
them their benediction at the moment
of battle, and sign treaties. Even; in

time of war, the marabouts frequently

70 AFRICA-

pur from one country into another
without feeling any apprehension of
being made slaves-

The Negroes attribute virtues not only
to grisg'ris composed of the passages of
the 'Koran, but also to small bits of dif-
ferent kindsof wood, to the hair of the
elephant, lion, and hyena, to the teeth
and claws of the tiger, to the heads of
eagles or other birds of prey, and to
the horns of oxen, all of which they-
enclose in leather of different colours.
They consider them as emblems of
strength and courage, which remind
them incessantly of the virtues of the
accomplished man, and serve them for
models of velour and bravery. The
fishermen wear strings of shellatfvastenedf

I'N MINIATURE. '71

round their waists, as a protection
against the veracity of sharks.

Mungo Park relates, that, on one
occasion, the master of the hut where
:he had lodged, begged of him, at his
departure, a. lock of his hair. Hehad
been told, he said, that white men’s hair
made a caphi, that would .give to the
possessor all the knowledge of white
men. “ I had never before'heard,”
says he, “ of so simple a mode of edu-
cation, but instantly complied with the
request; and my landlord's thirst for
learning: was such, that with cutting and
pulling, he cropped one side of my head
pretty closely, and would have done the
same with the other, had I not signified
myl disapprobation. by putting on my

 

72 AFRICA

.hat, and assuring him that I wished to
reserve some of this precious merchan-
dize for a future occasion.”

The master of another house where
the same traveller was entertained, on
learning that he was a Christian, imme-
diately thought of procuring a saphz',
and for this purpose brought out his
walha, or writing-board, promising the
traveller a supper if he would write him
a saphi, to protect him from wicked
men. The proposal was, at the moment,
of too great consequence to be refused.
Park, therefore, wrote the board full
from top to bottom ; on which his land-
lord, to be certain of having the whole
force of the charm, washed the writing

from the board into a calabash with a

IN MINIATURE. 73
little water, and having said a few
prayers over it, drank this powerful
draught : after which, lest a single word
should escape, he licked the board till

it was quite dry.

VOL- I“. 11

 

74 AFRICA

CHAP. VIII.

MARRIAGE.

Among the W'olofs,'when a young
man wishes to obtain a girl in marriage,
the family of the latter meet in the
public place of the village. The young
couple are surrounded by a circle of
relatives. The man makes his offers,
which consist of gold, merchandize,
oxen, and. slaves. The business is dis-
cussed, and the affair settled like an
ordinary bargain. The consent of the
girl is not necessary for marriage: if

she refuses after being promised by her

IN MINIATURE. 75

parents, and is given to another, the
first lover is authorised to claim her for
his slave. When the parties are agreed,
the lover pays down the stipulated price ;
and the same evening, or by day-break
next morning, the bride, having her face
covered with a white veil of her own
weaving, and surrounded by her rela-
tives, is conducted to the bridegroom’s
but. The festivities on the occasion
last eight days, during which the guests
are profusely supplied with palm wine,
brandy, and other liquors.

Among the Sereres, when a young man
takes a fancy.r to a girl, and has obtained
the consent of her family to their union,
he summons his friends to assist him to
carry off the bride. The latter shuts

H2

76 AFRICA

herself up with her companions in her
hut. Here they stand a regular siege,
and it is not till they have made an ob-
stinate resistance that the place is sur-
rendered to the assailants.

In Bambuk, when the hride, escorted
by her family, has reached the door of
the but of her future husband, she takes
ofic her sandals. A small calabash full
of water is then put into her hand. She
knocks at the door, which is opened to
her, and finds the bridegroom surrounded
by the elders of his family. She goes
up to him, falls upon her knees, and
pours the water contained in the calabash
over his feet, which she wipes with her
pug-n9, in token of submission.

Besides the women who are married

IN MINIATURE. 77

in this manner, and are the only legiti-
mate wives, the Negroes take as many
concubines as they can maintain, and
repudiate them when they please. The
children of the latter do not enjoy the
same rights as those of the other wives,
nor have they any share in the gifs and
favours bestowed by the father upon his
legitimate offspring. The property left
by the father, however, does not descend
to the children, even though legitimate,
but devolves .to the sister of the de-
ceased, or her issue, probably from
motives of distrust, which are scarcely
to be found among any other nation.
The first wife, lawfully married, is
mistress over the others, but she loses
her rights if she has no children. In
H 3

’78 ‘ AFRICA

general these women live in great har-
mony together: the established custom
serves to promote peace among them. ;
for whatever preference a husband may
entertain for any particular one, he is;
obliged to share his time equally among
all g and in like manner, each wife is
expected in her turn to dress her hus-
band’s vietuals, and perform the other
menial offices.

Adultery among the Negroes is pu-
nished with slavery. Sometimes the
husband who has obtained proofs of his
wife’s infidelity sacrifices her paramour
to his rage. The wife is sold, and this
punishment is inflicted with the greater
rigour, as the produce is divided between

the sovereign and the grandees of the

IN MINIATURE. 79

country. The husband who has taken
this revenge, collects .presents to the
value of a slave, falls at the feet of the
prince and resigns himself to his dis-
cretion. If the latter is satisfied with '
the presents, he grants him his pardon,
if not, the supplicant is thrown into
irons. Every man who is not rich
enough to purchase pardon in this man— ,
ner, is obliged to seek refuge in a
foreign country; hut as he has still
reason to fear that he shall be appre-
hended there as a fugitive, he goes into
the house of the most distinguished
person in the place, falls at the feet of
the master and voluntarily acknowledges
himself his slave. In this quality, he

can never be sold, and is considered

80 AFRICA

rather as part of the family than as one
of the slaves. It is frequently the case
that the whole family of the culprit is
obliged to flee the country, each of the
individuals belonging to it being re-
sponsible for the crime, and consequently
liable to be under this pretext reduced
to servitude.

Women, instead of observing a thou-
sand precautions, which are perhaps
less necessary in their hot climate than
with us, wash themselves and their
children as soon as they are born in
cold water. They then lay them upon
a mat, without any other covering than
a cotton cloth loosely thrown over them.
When they are twelve or fifteen days

old, they carry them about on their

 

 

Km

 

r

li'egro ‘Vfimmem W§Tmfimg ‘flhmms tmflc§ ,.

.Publ’vszd-a'mdnnklow‘cm .521 ,

 

IN MINIATURE. ' 81

backs, placing their legs astride, and
fasten them in that position with a cloth,
which atthe same time serves as a pet-
ticoat for the mother, as may be seen in
the annexed engraving. In this state
they keep their children almost the
whole day, while they are engaged in

their usual occupations. The bow legs.

and flat noses of the Negroes are

ascribed in the country to this practice;

and those who" have seen these infants"

      
     

heads and Messiifisp continually .

against their mow I ks, will not
> , ’ t' ‘ . “9,4

hesitate to icoinciél', .nfiy's notion.’

They frequently suckle theg‘for two or
three years.
A child receives aname when it is

eight days old. Among the Mandin-

 

 

 

82 A FRICA

goes a paste, called dega, is prepared
for the occasion. The mambout school-
master recites a prayer over the dega,
takes the infant in his arms, invokes
the blessing of heaven upon it, mutters
a few words in its ear, spits three times
in its face, pronouncing aloud the name
that is given to it, and then returns it to
the mother. He afterwards divides the
dega among the persons present at the
ceremony, and sends some of it to the
sick, if there be any in the place. Among
some nations the infant is tattooed, that
is to say, various figures are marked in
an indelible manner, upon its face, im-
mediately after the ceremony. The
people of Bambarra are all tattooed.

The affection of mothers for their

IN MINIATURE. 83

children is unbounded, so long as they
cannot run alone, and preserve them-
selves from the first dangers to which
infancy is exposed 5 but after that they
neglect them, and bestow no trouble
whatever on their education. The
Mandingoes, however, are an exception
to this rule ; for among them, mothers _
take pains to develop the moral facul-
ties of their sons, and in particular to
inculcate in them a rigid adherence to
truth.

The children of both sexes do nothing
till the age of puberty, but run about
and sport on the sands. Such as live
on the seashore are accustomed to be
plunged continually in the water 5 and

these exercises strengthen their consti-

S4 AFRICA

tutions to such adegree that they are
almost strangers to any other disease
than the small-pox.

The Negroes in general have a much
stronger affection for their mothers
than for their fathers. This arises
from the practice of polygamy, which
weakens paternal love by dividing it
among the ofl‘spring of different wives,
whereas the attachment of the mother

is concentrated on a single point.

“5.

IN MINIATURE . Sf)

CHAP. IX.

FUNERAL CEREMONIES.

The moment a Negro has breathed
his last, his wife runs out tearing her
hair, and by her cries summons her
neighbours to join in her lamentations,
which soon bring together the relatives
and friends in the hut of the deceased.
They inceswltly repeat the words 005
mane/z! “VVo is me i” which excla-

.mation is accompanied with every de-
monstration of grief and affliction. Two
or three marabouts then wash the body

with water mixed with different herbs,

VOL. III. I

36 AFRICA

and rub it with oil, at the same time
repeating certain prayers in Arabic.
The corpse is laid upon a bed of state
and covered with cloths; each person
then comes and addresses the deceased
as though he were still living. In a
few moments they all retire, saying
dena, “he is dead.” Their cries do
not cease till the next day, when the
corpse is removed for interment.
Among the Wolofs, the body, after
being wrapped in straw mats and cotton
cloths, is carried by two men to the
place of burial. The ceremony is attended
by the greatest part of the village, the
men armed, and the guirz'ots beating
drums and singing the praises of the

deceased. Women, hired for the pur—

IN MINIATURE. 87

pose, set up loud cries and shrieks.
The men-abouts whisper some words in
the ear of the corpse, which is then
deposited in a hole of an oval form, and
covered with earth and stones or sur-
rounded with thorns to prevent the
wolves and hyenas from digging it up
again.

When the ceremony is over, the
women return howling to the hut, and
only cease their cries to pronounce a
panegyric on the deceased. They enter
the hut, where they are complimented
by the family and persons present, if
they have performed their parts well,
and are treated with palm wine or spi-
rituous liquors. For eight successive
days these women repair at sun-rise

12

83 AFRICA

and sun-set to the grave, where they
renew their lamentatiOns, saying to the
deceased: “ Hadst thou not wives, and
arms, and horses, andpipes, and tobacco?
Wherefore then didst thou leave us?”
They go regularly every night to receive
payment for their services.

During the eight days the relatives
, and friends of the widow remain with
her for the purpose of diverting her
grief. Each has his food and palm
wine brought to him, eats, drinks, and
begins again on the arrival of a fresh
supply.

The Sereres build a hut under ground, ‘
similar to those in which they live; in
this hut they place 'a bed on which the
torpse is laid. . The top of the hut only

 

~ , _ 7, 7, H (Graves of Ifllnc Sermres .,

     

 

IN MINIATURE. 89

projects above the surface, and is covered
with earth or straw ; over it are generally
fixed the lance, bow, and arrows of the
deceased, in the manner represented in
the engraving. They take care also to
place at his feet a pipe and tobacco, a
vessel full of water, and half a calabash
containing couscou. Sometimes too they
carry the same things for several days
into the chamber which the deceased
used to occupy. These Negroes believe
that the soul continues for some time
to haunt its former abode, and that it
afterwards passes into some other body.

On the very day of interment, that
affliction, of which they exhibit such
strong demonstrations, is suddenly chan-
ged into mirth and joy. At the sound

1 3

 

 

90 AFRICA

of the drums of the guirz‘ots, all begin
to sing the praises of the deceased, and
conclude with an entertainment, at which
they drown the recollection of their loss
together with their sorrows. The heirs
of the deceased sell part of the property
left by him, if they cannot otherwise
procure brandy and other liquors to
make merry with. Four or five days
afterwards the nearest relative kills an
ox,'and sends part of it to the poor of
the village and to the friends of the
deceased. At the entrance of his but is
suspended one of the animal’s horns
wrapped in linen, together with certain
passages from the Koran to prevent en—
chantments; Over some graves are

placed a pestle and mortar, and over

 

x
V

IN MINIATURE. 9 1

others a lance, bow, and arrows; the
former denoting the grave of a woman,
and the latter that of a man. The Nc-
groes hold the graves of their ancestors
in the utmost veneration, and never dare
to destroy them.

Funerals are attended with some other
ceremonies, according to the age and sex
of the person. On the death of a young
girl, the body, after being washed and
rubbed with palm oil, is dressed in all
her finery, placed upon a bed, and a
dance follows, all the movements of
which seem to refer to the deceased,
who is then interred in her best cloths.

When a young,r man dies, his comrades
run about the village with drawn sabres,

as if in search of him, and clash their

w 7“ r

92 AFRICA

weapons together when they meet. All
funerals conclude with an entertainment
and ball, for such is the termination of
even the most mournful of ceremonies.

The Sereres believe that the dead
possess the power of injuring them.
When they have paid the last duties to
a great hunter or a celebrated fisher-
man, and they are afterwards unsuccess-
ful in fishing or the chase, they sup-
pose that his irritated spirit requires to
be appeased. But if, after some
prayers have been said, the spell still
continues, the most resolute descends
into the grave, in hopes, that by certain
charms he shall overcome the spirit
which scares away the game or the fish.

Sometimes, sufl'ocated by the foul air,

 

IN MINIATURE. 93

he falls a victim to his generous self-
devotion. Lucky accidents, by render-
ing the fishery or chase more produc-
tive, have so firme established this
prejudice, that nothing would be capa-
ble of destroying it.

If the deceased appears to any of the
family and acquaints him with his wants,
they are immediately supplied. If he
requires clothes, and any personhappens
to die just at the time in the village:
the presents are interred with him and
he is charged with this commission
for the other world: if not, they are
carried at once to the grave of him who
demands them.

On the death of princes, the same

ceremonies are observed as at the de-

 

 

94 AFRICA

cease of private individuals, excepting
that they are buried in their own habi-
tations and on the very spot where they
expired. All the pieces of wood which
supported their dwelling are collected,
and an enclosure formed with them.
This enclosure generally contains a
large vessel full of brandy or palm wine.
Their most faithful servants or subjects
shave their heads or tear their hair.
The reigning prince celebrates every
year the anniversary of the death of his
predecessor: attended by his whole
court, mounted 011 horseback, he visits
the tombs of his ancestors, oifering up
prayers and throwing millet into the
enclosure which surrounds them. This

ceremony" is followed by great rejoic-

IN MINIATURE. 95

ings: the grandees assemble to display
their address in horse-racing, and to
attend the dances and wrestling-matches
whichtake place on the occasion.

If a prince is killed in battle one of
his confidential domestics buries him on
the field, but the spot remains unknown.

Park relates, that in his second
journey he observed a large heap of
stones, at the foot of a high rocky hill,
near the town‘ofMadina in Satadu. On
enquiring about it, he was informed that
the town was some years ago stormed
by the Kaartans, and that the greater
part of the inhabitants fled to this hill.
Some, however, were killed on the road,
and these stones were collected over the

grave of one of them. He was told that

 

, .mavmqu‘» 1-. x

96 AFRICA

there were five more such near the hill,
and that every person in passing, if he
belongs to the same family or contong,
thinks himself bound to throw a stone
on the heap, to perpetuate the memory
of his friend. These heaps, he remarks,
are precisely what in Scotland are called

Cairns.

IN MINIATURE. 97

CHAP. X.
I-IABITATIONS AND FURNITURE.

Most of the huts of the Negroes are
round, the largest being twelve or fifteen
feet in diameter. The frame-work is
constructed with young palm trees,
seven or eight feet high, which are dri-

‘ven into the ground to the depth of a.
foot or eighteen inches. These poles
are bound together by several lianes, a.
kind of strong creeping plant, which is
carried round the circumference of the
hut; and the intervals between them
are filled with reeds placed upright and
strongly fastened in handfuls with

VOL. 111. K

 

98 AFRICA

stripes of undressed leather. The roof,
which rests upon the poles, is of a coni-
cal shape and thatched with reeds. The
huts in the vicinity of Goree are much
better built than those in the villages
near the Senegal, being spacious and
airy, and the roof covered with straw,
and so curiously interwoven‘with the
stalks of palm leaves, as scarcely to be
excelled by any basket-work produced -
in Europe. The door is lofty and large ;
whereas in other parts the huts are
always full of smoke and have doors
not more than three feet high. In these
habitations there is never any other
aperture than the door, excepting in
such as belong to Negroes who have in

some measure adopted the manners of

 

IN MINIATURE. 99

Europeans. The air, having afree pas-
sage through these straw huts, keeps
them cool and healthy.

Each hut forms but a single apartment,
and their number is more or less consi-
derable according to the circumstances
of the owner. The stable, kitchen, store-
house, and bedchamber, occupy so many
distinct huts, which frequently commu-
nicate with one another by means of
small uncovered passages. All of them
are surrounded by one general enclo-
sure of reeds or thorns, and the whole
is denominated a. tapade. The poor
have but two huts : one of them is used
for a kitchen and the family sleep in
the other.

The dwellings of princes, or if the

x2

 

100 AFRICA

reader prefers the term, their palacbs,
differ in no respect from the habitations
of private individuals except in the
number of the huts and the area which
they occupy. At the entrance there is
a spacious court, at the door of which
is stationed an armed sentinel. The
visitor has to pass through several courts
to reach the apartment of the monarch,
and the way into each of these courts is
through a but, which serves for a guard—
house. The but of the sovereign is at
the farthest extremity of the enclosed
area: close to it is a court of considera-
ble extent, where he frequently gives
audience. On the right and left are
the huts of his wives, those of the mara-

bouts and of his attendants, the store-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mam of film Resiaflemce «bf Kline Bomr Slime ant Joan]. “

IN MINIATURE. 101

houses, kitchens, and stables. The
residence of the dame! of Cayor at
Gingis, comprehended at least eighty
huts.

The annexed plate represents a plan
of the residence of the Bow-Sine at"
Joal. A, marks the entrance; B, the
courts; C, the hut, communicating
between the courts and where guards
do duty; D, the but of the Bow,-
E, huts for his wives ; F, the court where
he receives ambassadors; G, that in
which he eats ; H, the huts of his ser—
vants 3 I, those of the marabouts, and of
his other attendants.

In the evening a fire is always made
in the sleeping hut, either because the
intense Wt of day is succeeded by

K 3

5M

 

102 AFRICA
cold damp nights, or for the purpose
of driving away the bugs, which are
very troublesome, with the smoke. The
fire is made in the centre of the hut;
the-smoke at first. affects the eyes, but
they gradually become accustomed to
it.. Though, as it has been observed,
the huts are built of straw and reeds,
yet as care is taken not to raise a flame,
accidents from fire are very rare.
Villages are composed of several
impedes, and in general of several quar-
ters, at_a considerable distance from one
another. The streets are always so
‘narrow that there is scarcely room

enough for a man to pass through them

  

on horseback. In each

villages, and especially t_ y y:

IN MINIATURE. 103

coast, there is a large shed called the
bentang', which answers the purpose of
apublic hall or town-house: it is com-
posed of interwoven canes and is gene-
rally sheltered from the sun by being
erected in the shade of some large tree.
It is here that all public affairs are
transacted and trials conducted; and
here the lazy and. indolent meet to
smoke their pipes and hear the news of
the day.

In the interior of the country, the
huts, which are every where of the
form described above, are built of
earth beaten up with chopped straw.
The Negroes frequently make a fire in

the inte ' them to burn the earth

  

, wall more solid. The

 

1 04 AFRICA

inside is white-washed with a mixture of
bones, calcined and pulverized, and gum-
Water. Some villages are surrounded
with walls, having battlements, and built
with such solidity as to be capable of
rEsisting hostile attacks.

The villages of the Fulahs are dis-
tinguished by their arrangements from
those of inost of the other nations in this
part of Africa. Their streets are broad
and regular, and their houses, though
only of clay, and roofed with straw, are
always kept very clean and neat by the
women. These villages are surrounded
by lofty palisades, within which they ‘
grow the cotton that they manufacture
themselves into cloth. On the outside

of these enclosures are, on the one

 

 

 

IN fllINIA'PpRE. 1%

hand, the plantations of maize, and
other kinds of grain 5 and on the other,
the cattle, driven from the rich pastures
where they graze in the day, are penned,
for security, during the night. In the
centre of this space stands a watch:
house, which enables their keepers the
more easily to perceive the approach of
robbers, or rapacious beasts. The
whole is encompassed by a thick fence,
of strong thorny shrubs, through whfi
there are two entrances, closed with
hosts and cross-bars, instead of gates._.
I A view of one of these villages is given
in the annexed engraving.

. No where do we meet with any build-

, ing or monument designed to transmit

'

 

1 06 AFRICA

the memory of any remarkable person
or event to posterity.

The furniture of the Negroes is but
scanty, consisting of a bed, called guin-
din, formed of six or eight stakes driven
into the ground, and forked at the top
to receive three or four cross-pieces of
wood that support a hurdle, on which
are laid several mats, or the tanned hide
of an ox, or the skin of some ferocious
aiilmal. Sometimes there is in acorner
of the hut a crazy chest for stowing away
various things.

The household utensils are, a wooden
mortar and pestle for pounding millet,
some wooden bowls or halves of cala-

bashes for dressing food, and a few

 

/ ’r, r/l,»

 

     

19/21/72); v ,c

I 74/5 "an? TVM'f/VWZ/Z/zn :

 

M v 2’12;-

”"x/{L My; «1 "m1" 2

14’ ’11 41/ ‘e‘ (:dxz/

an {127/zd'n‘1/J V

me.

1N MINIATURE. 107

unglazed vessels of baked earth, and
nearly of a spherical form. These
vessels, called canaris, are used for
holding water and making couscou. A
large wooden ladle, and some small
gourds cut in two, which serve for
measures, spoons, and drinking vessels,
complete the stock of utensils of an
ordinary hut. The inhabitants of the
country bordering on the Gambia make
very pretty mats and baskets either with
straw or with the fibres of palm-leaves;
and the wealthy Negroes in other parts
are seldom without some of these ar-
ticles.

In the annexed plate are represented
the following implements :-—a pestle and

mortar; a table-mat; a canari, or large

 

 

 

108 AFRICA

~ earthen vessel for dressing food and

, holding water; a basket; heaters for

giving a gloss to stuffs; and a small
bench on which the stuff is laid to un-

dergo that operation.

IN MINIATURE. 109

CHAP. XI.
CLOTHING.

Almost all the men. wear the same-
kind of dress. It consists of a pair of
drawers, reaching no lower than the
middle of the thigh, and puckered round
the waist, where they tie in front with
strings; to which they add a shirt or
tunic, open at top for the head to pass
through. Over the tunic 'is thrown‘a.
pagne or piece of cotton cloth, blue or
white, two yards and a half wide and
one broad; but this pagne is never used
excepting out of the house or tapade
Sometimes it covers the whole body,

701.. "I. L

1119 AFRICA

at others it passes over the left shoulder
where it is tied, leaving the right arm
and shoulder at liberty. When the
Negro works he is almost naked ; and
when he goes to fish he‘ has seldom
more than a small piece of cloth fas-
tened round his waist. The common
people wear eaps,which cover the whole
head excepting the face, and tie under
the chin: but the marabouts and per-
sons of distinction have others of a dif-
ferent fo‘rm, which are placed on the
top of the head. They adorn their hair
with grisgris, and wear on their feet
leather sandals fastened with two
thongs; During the rainy season they.
have very high wooden sandals to pre-

serve themselves from the wet. The

IN MINIATURE. Ill

military habit of the Negroes, which is
a sort of orange-coloured tunic, has
already been described. With the ex.
ception of this colour, which is exclu-
sively worn by the soldiery, the dress
of the blacks is always indigo blue or
white, or a. cloth striped with those two
colours, but never of any other, though
their pagnec are indeed sometimes, but
very rarely, bordered with redfand white
(woollen stufl‘.

The Pulahs, who differ from the
other Negroes in their features and
their colour, which is red, have long hair,
into which they plait a great number of 7
small mats that fall down over their
shoulders. They usually wear a large
linen cap which covers the cheeks, and

L :2

113 AFRICA

the top of which ends in a point.
These caps are always greasy and
dirty. I

The dresé of the women consists of
two pagnes ; one, ayard and ahalf long,
is tied round‘ the waist and serves for a
petticoat ; and the other, two yards and
a half long, covers the shoulders, and
one end of it is turned up over the left
shoulder like a mantle.‘ When they are
in action, they tie the latter round the
neck, leaving the arins at liberty, or
throw ' it aside altogether. Women
in easy'circumstances frequently wear
under this pagne a chemise, which
does not c0me up higher than thebosom,
and has no sleeves.

It is upon their headtdress that the

1N MINIATURE. 113

females of all these countries bestow
the most pains. The hair on the top
of their heads is in general cut quite
close: that behind, which is naturally
woolly, they comb and twist in small
tufts round straws. These they grease
with Butter, which soon gives them e
disagreeable smell. After some tithe
they take out the straws and the hair
is left in a. number of sum]! curls.
Coral heads and grains of gold and
silver are entwined in the little hair
which they keep in front, and play
about the forehead and cheeks. Awhoie
day is scarcely sufficient to dress the
hair in this form, which it retains fer
eight or ten days. Young females
adopt a. more simple style, which is 10
1. 3

l 14 AFRICA

plait the hair into tresses, which they
arrange in various ways upon the head,
in the manner represented in the fron-
tispiece.

When the dressing of the hair is
finished, they wrap round the head
three or four stripes of linen, each four
or five inches broad, and about two yards
long. The stripes, stretched upon a.
stick fixed on the top of the head, rise
to the height of about a foot, in the
form of a. truncated cone, which is
sometimes covered with a coloured
handkerchief.

In the interior of the country, the
head-dress varies. In Kasson, the ladies
decorate their heads in a very tasteful

and elegant manner with white sea-

IN MINIATURE. 115

shells. In Bondu, the head is encircled

with strings of white beads, and a small

plate of gold is worn in the middle of
the forehead. In Kaarta and Ludamar,

the women raise their hair to a great

height by the addition of a pad, which

they decorate with a species of coral,

brought from the Red Sea by pilgrims

returning ftom Mecca, and sold at a.
high price.

The gold ornaments of the women
are in general more to be admired for
their weight than their workmanship.
They are massy and inconvenient, par-
ticularly the ear-rings, which are com-
monly so heavy as to pull down and
lacerate the lobe of the ear; to avoid

which they are supported by a thong

11,6 AFRICA

of red leather, which passes overthe
head from one ear to the other. The
necklace displays greater fancy; and
the proper arrangement of the difi'erent
beads and plates of gold. is the great
criterion of taste and elegance. When
a lady of consequence is in full dress,
her gold ornaments may be worth alto-
gether from fifty to eighty pounds ster-
ling. In the frontispiece to this volume
the figure marked 1, represents a brace-
let, 2, a necklace, and 3, an ear-ring.
To heighten the animation of their
eyes, they stain the lids with black lead,
and redden the palms of the hands and
the nails of the fingers and toes with
the juice of an herb similar to the henna

of the Egyptians. They are continually

1N MINIATURE. 117

rubbing their teeth, which are extremely
white, with a small stick of tamarind-
wood, Which they call cation, and which
they hold between the lips, like a tooth-
pick.

Instead of setting off their shape to
the best advantage, females load their
waists with thirty or forty rounds, either
of the vertebrae of sharks, or of beads
of all kinds and colours, many of them
being as large as a pigeon’s egg. These
beads are placed next to the skin, and
when they walk make a clinking, which
denotes a woman of fashion. According
to Mollien, they also wear small silver
bells, and he observes: “ If diamonds
draw attention in Europe to the females

who wear them, the women of Futatoro

{18 AFRICA

attract not less notice by the jingling
made by these bells when they walk. In
every country coquetry has invented
some expedient for captivating the eye
and pleasing.” The females who 00-
casioned this remark were the sister and
niece of his guide, a marabout, whom he
describes as having oval faces, fine fea-
tures, elegant and graceful figures, and
a. skin as black as jet. “ I was charmed,”
he proceeds, “ with the modesty of these
women ; whenever I looked at them they
cast down their eyes, and covered their
faces with their muslin veils. I thought
it my duty, as a gallant Frenchman, to
praise them to my marabaut; but this
African philosopher whispered to me :—
You cannot imagine how deceitful the

IN MINIATURE. 1'19

women of our country are; this modesty
which they affect, joined to the beauty
of their features, and the lively passion
they seem to feel for their lovers, in-
flames the latter to such a degree, that
they eat them up—meaning that they
ruin them. Thus it is pretty nearly the
same here as in Europe.” The style of
dress is nearly the same among different
nations. Some of the Sereres have a
practice of filing their teeth to make
them shampointed-

Children of both sexes go naked till
the age of ten or twelve years ; from
twelve to sixteen the daughters of. rich
families wear a duo, which is a kind of
necklace, composed of coral, intermixed

with beads of gold and silver, which

120 AFRICA

crosses below the breast, and at the
back, under the shoulders. They wear
at the same time a small piece of stuff,
which is fastened round the waist, and
descends half way down the leg. The

rest of the body is uncovered.

IN MINIATURE. 121

CHAP. XII.
noon, AND MODES or woman

Though the Negro is extremely fru-
gal, yet the preparation of his food
occupies the women the greatest part
of the day. Instead of wheat they have
in this portion of Africa three sorts of
grain—great millet, which is a Izolcus:
small millet, a. species of arundo; and
rice. The latter is chiefly cultivated
on the upper part of the Senegal, and
on the banks of . the Gambia. The
Negroes make two meals a day, one
in the morning, and the other after
sun-set.

VOL. I”. M

122‘ . AFRICA

The chief dish of the .Negroes is
called requereh in Wolof, and in the
Moorish language couscou, by which
. appellation it is known to the Euro-
peans. It is prepared in the following
manner :——Long before day-light the
women pound millet in a wooden mortar,
from fifteen to eighteen inches deep,
with a pestle of hard wood, five feet
long. They reduce it to meal and
winnow it on small mats called lag/03,
by dropping the pounded millet from
a considerable height, when the wind
carries the bran to the distance of two
or three feet, and the meal being heavier:
falls directly upon the mat. This meal
is put into a large wooden bowl; 3.

little water is added to it, and it is

IN MINIATURE. 133

stirred with the hand till it assumes
the form of small grains. It is then
removed into one of the earthen vessels,
nearly ofa spherical form, called canarz's,
the bottom of which is perforated with
a great number of little holes. This
vessel is placed over that in which the
meat, fish, or vegetables are cooked.
Being nicely luted together with paste,
they are set on the fire. The steam
from the meat or fish penetrates the
meal, and gives it an agreeable taste.
When the whole is done, the meal is
moistened with the broth, and eaten
with the addition of salt, butter, and
Jule, which is the dry powder of the
leaves of the tree, known by the name
of M05116, and called by the French
in 2

124 AFRICA

monkey’s bread. This dish is very whole-
some and nutritious, and the habitual
use of it would preserve Europeans
from most of the diseases incident to
the climate.

Couscou possesses the quality of
keeping a long time, whence it is very
serviceable in journeys : but in this case,
instead of being steeped, it should be
exposed to the sun, till perfectly dry,
and deposited in a dry place. It is
steeped in the ordinary way preparatory
to being used, and the steam of the
broth makes it swell exceedingly.

The Negroes have another dish
which is called sangleh, and in Wolof
laclalo. It is composed of millet meal,
mixed with milk or broth. This is the

IN MINIATURE. 3‘25

mess given in preference to the sick.
yTo make it nourishing, it is prepared
with broth. To render it cooling, it
is boiled to the consistence of gruel
in a decoction of tamarinds, or of the
pulp. of the fruit of monkey‘s bread.
The Europeans sweeten it with syrup,
and the Negroes with honey; but it is
frequently taken merely diluted with
whey.

They are not long in serving up the
repast. The women bring it in a large
wooden bowl, which they set down
either in the court or in the middle of
the hut. The men squat round it, and
all eat out of the same dish. They have
neither spoons nor forks, but take up
themuscau with the right hand—wthe left

M 3

126 AFRICA

being reserved for-more ignoble pur-
poses—and squeeze it into little balls
which they pitch into their mouths.
When there is a fowl upon the dish,
one seizes it by a wing and another by
a leg, and pull it till each has torn off
his joint: fish is treated in the same
manner. They speak very little during
meals, and never drink till they have
done eating. Their wives scarcely ever
eat in company with them. After the
repast, one of the women brings water
in a wooden vessel, and presents it to
each of the guests for the purpose of
washing his hands and mouth.

In the interior of the country the
Negroes eat dried fish, which the inha.

bitants of the coast are very skilful in

IN MINIATURE. 127

curing, and which forms an. article of
trade with them. The butter made of
cream is in‘general very bad: the Ne-
groes churn it, like the Moors, in lea-
ther Bottles.

The ordinary diet of the Negroes
consists, besides couscou, of fish with
those dwelling near the coast, and game
of all sorts with the natives of the inte-
rior. They have also fowls, ducks, and
wood-pigeons, which build their nests
in forsaken wells. The hog is abundant,
and his flesh of good quality, but many
refuse to eat it from religious motives.
Upon the whole they consume little
animal food, which they reserve for
festive occasions or family entertain-

ments.

128 AFRICA

In many parts, however, the inha«
bitants are much less scrupulous. The
people of Kasson, for example, though
they possess both cattle and corn in
abundance, are not over-nice in articles
of diet: rats, moles, squirrels, snakes,
locusts, 8w. are eaten without scruple
by the highest and lowest. Park’s com-
panions were one evening invited toa
feast at the town of Teesee, where,
after making a hearty meal of what they
thought fish and couscou, one of them
found a. piece of hard skin in the dish
and brought it along with him to shew
what sort of fish they had been eating.
On examining the skin, Park found that
they had been feasting on a large snake.

Another custom still more extraordinary

lN MINIATURE. 129

is, that no woman is allowed to eat an
egg. This prohibition, whether arising
from ancient superstition or from the
craftiness of some old bushreen, or
Mahometan priest, who loved eggs him-
self, is rigidly adhered to, and nothing
will more affront a woman of Teesee
than to ofi‘er her an egg. The custom
is the more singular, as the men eat
eggs without scruple in the presence of
their wives, and Park never observed
the same prohibition in any other of the
Mandingo countries.

The same traveller relates,that in his
second journey, the horse of lieutenant
Martyn, one of the European officers
who accompanied him, died at Sullo,

in Konkodu. This, says he, was a God-

!30 AFRICA

send to the people of Sullo, who cut
him up as if he had been a bullock, and
had almost come to blows about the
division of him—so much is horse flesh
esteemed at this place. He also informs
us, that at another town the avidity
of the natives for animal food, or per-
haps their peculiar taste, induced them
to ‘eat an ass, the bowels and heart of
which had previously been devoured by
wolves, .

The mhst common sorts of culinary
vegetables are a very small kind of bean,
and some roots, such as that of a species
of palm, which has a very agreeable
flavour, yams, and potatoes. Honey is
very abundant, of excellent quality, and

always liquid. Fruit is in general ex-

IN MINIATURE. 131

tremely acid; and all sorts, with the
exception of the tamarind, which will
keep a whole year, are common only at
the end of the rainy season. The banks
of the Gambia produce some lemons and
bananas, as well as the gum-telz, or
ground nut, which is slightly roasted,
and resembles the hazel-nut in taste.
The palm-tree, called lion/com, furnishes
small dates of :a very pleasant flavour.
The dates of the desert are_ rce in
Guinea. The cocoa-nut is figment
fruit, either when the kernel has arrived
at maturity, or when it contains only a
saccharine liquor, and a mucilage ad-
hering to the shell, which is the rudi-
ment of the kernel. The fruit of the

species of palm which yields the wine

1 3'2 AFRICA

called singa, furnishes a vegetable oil or
butter of a very deep saffron colour:
the kernel of this fruit is also fit to eat.

The Negroes usually drink nothing
but water at their meals 5 they have ne.
vertheless various liquors. Park assures
us that he met with beer among them,
fully equal to the best he ever tasted in
England. It is brewed with the species
of millet called by botanists holcus spi—
catus, hich is converted into malt, just
as barfiis with us, and instead of hops
they use a root which communicates to
the beverage a pleasant bitter.

They obtain other liquors from the
expressed juices, of different kinds of
fruit, and also by incision from various

species of palm-trees: but the palm-

\

IN MINIATURE. 133-

wine called in Wolof singa, is their
most common drink. It is extracted
from the tops of the trees, which are
from sixty to eighty feet and frequently
more in height. In order to ascend one
of these trees, they make a hoop with
branches of the palm hardened by fire.
They are very particular in the choice
of these branches, for if the hoop were
to break while a person is using it he
must inevitably perish. These branches
are of sufficient length to encoifiiass a
man and a tree, and to leave an interval
of at least two feet between them. In
this position the two ends are strongly
fastened together. The “Negro rests his
back against the hoop and his feet
against the trunk of the tree, stepping

VOL. III. N

 

 

134 AFRIC‘A,

forward first with one foot and then
with the other, while with his hands he
slides the hoop up higher and higher,
in the manner represented in the an-
nexed engraving, till he has thus
reached by degrees the top of the tree.
Then, seated on his hoop, he takes a
sharp iron instrument contrived ex-
pressly for the purpose, and after
making an incision in the tree near the
spot where the fruit is situated, he in-
trodii v a few leaves to serve as con-
ductors of the sap, which falls from
them drop by drop into a calabash,
which he leaves attached to the near-exit
branches to catch the liquor; Having
finished this operation he take“? we

 

the caiabashes, placed there the pre-

 

 

       

 

"MEL/LC,

 

 

1N MINIATURE. 135

ceding day, and new full of juice,
and descends in the same manner as he
climbed up. A good palm-tree ge-
nerally yields ten or twelve quarts of
wine. When first taken from the tree,
it affords a mild beverage, of a white
colour, somewhat saccharine, and yet
slightly acid, sparkling, and very much
resembling white Champagne into which
a. little sugar has been put. In this
state Europeans think it delicious: it
does not affect the head unless drunk in
immoderate quantity, and it is extremely
cooling. In twenty four hours, it fer-
ments so briskly that it turns sour, and
expels the corks of bottles with a. loud
noise. It is then that the Negroes pre-
fer it'; but it is highly intoxicating, and
N 2

1 36 AFRICA

occasions violent head-aches when drunk
to excess. In three or four days it
becomes bad vinegar. To accelerate
the fermentation the Negroes mix with
it a small quantity of millet flour.
When the rainy season arrives, the
Negroes, with a view to spare their
trees, cease to extract from them the
Wine which they call singa ; substituting
in its stead the tionkom, which they ob-
tain from the foot of another species of
palm, while yet young. This liquor
has the same taste and colour as the
the preceding. Its quality also nearly
resembles that of the sing-a, except that
it sometimes induces dysentery, so that
it is necessary to be much more cir-

c

cumspect in the use ofvit.

IN MINIATU RE. 137

In the interior salt is so scarce as to
be a. luxury of the wealthy. Children
may be seen sucking lumps of saline
gum as they do sugar-candy in Europe.
’l‘o persons who have been accustomed
to the use of salt, the privation of that
substance is more distressing than can

possibly be conceived.

i3?

138 AFRICA

CHAP. XIII.
AGRICULTURE.

Europeans are incessantly reproach-
ing the Negro with indolence and sloth,
but were they to see him during the
four months in which he is engaged in
the labours of agriculture, they would
be tempted to believe that there is not
a more industrious nation on the face of
the earth. Being compelled to provide
for his most urgent wants, he shakes
off that indolence, which all the rest of
the year seems to be his chief delight.
There is then no rest for him, and he

scarcely takes suflicient sleep to recruit

“1,,“

IN MINIATURE. 1,39

his strength : which proves that his in.
dolence at other times arises solely from
his having nothing to desire, and con-
sequently thinking that his trouble will
be thrown away. Introduce civiliza-
tion among these people, soften their
manners by making them practically
acquainted with the benefits resulting
from security of person and property,
teach them new wants, accompanied
with enjoyments, and you will obtain
from them much more than you ever
did by means of slavery.

About a month before the rainy sea-
son, that is, at the beginning of June,
the inhabitants of the village assemble,
each family chooses the piece of ground

that lies most convenient for itself, and

140 AFRICA

nearest to its habitation. As there is
always much more land than they can
cultivate, no quarrels ever arise con-
cerning their respective limits. The
ground being cropped only every three
years, the surface is covered with weeds
or thorns, which are cut down, collected
into heaps, and burned. The ashes
serve to manure a. soil naturally fertile ;
for the land in Africa is much better
than the appearance of the coast would
in general seem to indicate, as may be
plainly perceived by the luxuriance
of the forests. The population is al-
ways thickest in the most fertile spots.
The industrious Negroes choose a
larger piece of ground, in Wolof, Zougan,

than their own necessities require, and

IN MINIATURE. 141

sell the surplus of their produce either
to their neighbours or to the whites.

At the time of the rains, when the
ground is properlyAcleared, they sow
their Seed. The men with a. small iron
spade, in the form of aheart, and having
a very long handle, make holes about
six inches deep,’ and at the distance of
eighteen inches, or thereabout, from one
another. Women, having pug-ms full
of the seed of small millet fastened
round their waists, drop three grains
into each hole: and boys, with their
feet, cover them over with earth. About
the middle of July, that is, about three
weeks after this first sowing, the larger
millet is «put into the ground in the

same,manner, and in the same field, in

142 AFRICA

the vacancies left for the purpose. The
maize or Turkey corn is sown at the
same time, and French beans are plant-
ed in the intervals. It is necessary to
weed the fields three times till the mil-
let has attained a. certain height: to-
wards the end of September it ap-
proaches maturity. The fields are then
covered with flocks of birds which
threaten the crops with destruction. To
preserve them from their rapacity small
platforms are erected upon poles about‘
six feet high , at intervals, over the whole
of the ground that has been sown.
Here are stationed women and children,
who, whenever a flock of birds comes
to alight upon the corn, frighten them

away by loud cries to some other place,

IN MINIATURE. 143

where they are received in the same
manner. As the birds in time become
accustomed to this noise, the Negroes
are at length obliged to disperse them
with guns, nay even to surround each
ear of millet with a handful of leaves
or straw to prevent their depredations.
The birds are not the greatest ene-
mies of the Negro husbandman, whose
fields are liable to the ravages of wild
boars and still more of elephants. It
frequently happens that three or four
of the latter unwieldy animals break
into a field at night and lay it entirely
waste by the enormous quantity that
they either consume or tread down with
their clumsy feet. The only method

of keeping of these unwelcome visitors

M4 AFRICA

—a method too which often fails,—is to
kindle fires at night near the lougans
when the crops are nearly ready for
reaping.

The harvest takes place about the
[middle of October: instead of sickles,
knives are used to cut off each ear
of millet, which resembles Turkey
corn, excepting that the grain is closer
and much smaller. These ears are
made up into bundles, which are car— .
ried to the village by the women and
children. After they have been dried
in the air, they are piled very neatly
upon one another and surrounded vvith
a kind of basket-work made of the in-
terwoven branches of trees, of a cylin-

drical form, four or five feet high, and

1N MlNIATURE. 145

thatched at top with straw. This has-
ket-work is raised upon wooden posts
or stones; sometimes it is plastered
with clay softened with water, to pre-
serve the corn from a species of termite
called vaguevague.

The large millet is reaped about a
fortnight after the small, and in the
same manner. The Negroes do not
thrash their grain, but put the ears
and straw together in a mortar, and, by
pounding, separate the corn from the
chaff. The little stacks just described
are placed near the villages, but yet at
at such a distance that they are in no
danger from fires.

These four or five months devoted
to agriculture are a very fatiguing time

VOL. III. 0

146 AFRICA

for the Negroes. It is at this season
that they die in the greatest numbers,
which cannot appear surprising, when
it is considered that this is also the
season of the greatest heat, and of con-
‘ tinual rains. When their labour is
finished, the Negroes make great re-
joicings, leave the earth uncultivated
for the rest of the year, and return to
their former inactivity. A very small
number of them grow cotton and indigo,
which thrive almost without cultivation.

VThe Negroes have large herds of
horned cattle and goats. The former
ere~small and lean, excepting in the
country of Sine and other fertile tracts.
They are remarkable for a large excres-

cence on the withers, which is very deli-

IN MINIATURE. 147

cate eating. The dung of these animals
is never used for manure.

The goats, which are extremely nim-
ble, have very short hair. The sheep of
this country have hair instead of wool :
they are met with only in the vicinity of '
the Senegal, few being kept in the in-
terior. The ass, which resembles the
European, is very common in this part
of Africa, and is used as a beast of
burden.

The industry of the Fulahs in the
occupations of pasturage and agriculture g
is every where remarkable. Even. on the
banks of the Gambia the greater part of
the corn is raised by them, and their
herds and flocks are more numerous
than those of the Mandingoes. They

02

iii

148 . AFRICA

display great skill in the management
of their cattle, making them extremely
gentle by kindness and familiarity. On
the approach of night, they are collected
from the woods, and secured in folds,
called korrees, which are constructed in
the neighbourhood of the different vil-
lages. In the middle of each korree is
erected a small hut, wherein one or two
‘of the herdsmen keep watch during the
night, to prevent the cattle from being
stolen, and to keep up the fires which
are kindled round the korree to frighten
away the wild beasts. The cattle are
milked in the mornings and evenings:
the milk is excellent, but the quantity
obtained from any one cow is by no

means so great as .in Europe. The

IN MINIATURE. 149

Fulahs use the milk chiefly as an article
of diet, and that not until it is quite
sour. The cream which it affords is
very thick, and is converted into butter
by stirring it violently in a large cala~
bash. This butter, when melted over
a gentle fire and freed from impurities,
is preservedin small earthen pots, and
forms a part in most of their dishes : it
serves likewise to anoint their heads,
and is bestoyved very liberally on their
faces and arms. But although milk is
plentiful, it is remarkable that the =Fu-
lahs,«and indeed the inhabitants of all
this part of Africa, are fital‘ly unac-
quain'ted with the art of making- cheese.
The heat of the climate and the great
scarcity of salt ar'e held forth by them
0 3

150 AFRlCA

as unanswerable objections; but Mr.
Park seems disposed to attribute their
rejection of this process to a strong
prejudice against every thing that looks
like innovation-

There is a tribe of Fulahs, inde-
pendent of the almamy, who follow no
other profession than that of herdsmen.
All the princes and persons of dis-
tinction in this part of Africa have them
in their service, to take care of their
horses and other cattle.

Tobacco is generally cultivated in
all the countries comprised between
the Senegal’and the parallel of Cape
Palmas. The Negroes indeed grow it
but in small quantities, and on spots

contiguous to their huts. When the

IN MINIATURE. 151

plant has arrived at maturity, they strip
off the leaves which they hang up to
dry. When thoroughly dry they reduce
them to a fine powder, by pounding
them in a wooden mortar: and with
this powder they mix other vegetable
productions pulverised in like man-
ner. The whole is moistened with a
Compound of the juices of difi'erent
herbs; it is dried once more, and the
produce is a very fine snuff, which
the natives prefer to that of Europe:
its flavour is weak, mild, and very
agreeable.
Q

152 AFRICA

CHAR III.
ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.

Among the Negroes, the arts are still
in their infancy. They make, however,
tolerably well whatever requires nothing
but patience. In some of the arts they
have indeed received lessons from their
neighbours; the Moors; in regard to I
others necessity has been with them,
as with other nations, the mother of
invention.

Their smiths have learned from the
Moors to work all kinds of metals. The
Negroes. on the coasts being chiefly
supplied with iron by the European

!

 

 

 

 

lN MINIATURE. 153

traders, never attempt to manufacture
it themselves ; but in the interior where
there are iron mines, the natives smelt
this useful metal in quantities sufficient
not only for their own consumption,
but even to make it an article of com-
merce with some of the neighbouring
states. They manufacture spades, sap
bres, knives, daggers, arrows, bits for
horses, stirrups and lances. In the an-
nexed engraving are represented one of
theirspades, a horse’s bit, and a nap/2a,
or portfolio, described in another chap-
ter of this volume. '

It is worthy of remark, that aspade,
nearly resembling in shape the implement
used by the Negroes, is also common in

some parts of our own country, for in-

154 AFRICA

stance, Cornwall. The latter only differs /
from the other in this respect, that it
forms a longer triangle ; and it is furnished
with along straight handle, like that of
the Africans. This spade at first sight
has an uncouth appearance: but it is
said to be much more convenient than
the ordinary kind, especially because
the length of the handle relieves the
labourer from the necessity of stooping
to his work, and the fatigue consequent
on a continuance of that posture.

Such of the smiths as possess supe-
rior skill and intelligence neglect the
coarser works, and make trinkets of
gold and silver, as chains for the neck
and feet, rings, bracelets, and ear-rings.

Though destitute of the most necessary

 

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‘ IN MINIATURE. 155

tools, these goldsmiths execute their
work very neatly, as may be seen by
the trinkets represented in the frontis-
piece to this volume.

When 'a person wishes to have some
,trinkets made, the goldsmith carries his
tools and sets up his workshop before
the but of his employer. His imple-
ments consist of an anvil, one or two
hammers, a few files, a pair of pincers,
and a pair of bellows, composed of two
goat skins, as shown in the plate. The
gold or silver is weighed out to the
itinerant artisan, what works under a
shed or inthe shade of some tree. The
fire is made in a hole ; the journeyman
keeps up a constant blowing, by pressing

first on one of the skins and then on

156 AFRICA

the other. The master drives his anvil
into the ground, and works in the pre-
sence of his employer, who ought not
to leave him while he is melting the
gold, otherwise he might mix aquantity
of alloy with it. They make mat gold
and silver, by dipping them while quite
hot in tamarind-water mixed with salt.
Their gold is always of a pale colour,
because they never use any other alloy
than silver. They are particularly suc-
cessful in fillagree work ; and though
it requires more care and time, the
price of the workmanship is not con-
siderable. They likewise draw the gold
into wire and form it into a variety of
ornaments, some of which display great

taste and ingenuity. In the process of

 

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IN MINIATURE. 157

smelting this metal they use an alkaline
salt, obtained from a ley of burned corn-
stalks evaporated to dryness. These
artisans travel about the country, taking
various articles of gold and silver in
payment for their work, and returning
annually to the village where they are
domiciliated.

Among the arts of these people may
be reckoned the manner in which the
women prepare, beat, and spin cot-
ton. They separate the seeds from the
wool with a thick iron spindle, hold-
ing it at both ends and rolling it
over the cotton, which is laid upon a
smooth stone or solid piece of wood. ,.
This very simple process is attended
with no other inconvenience than being

VOL III. P

158 AFRICA

very tedious, when compared with the
operation of our machinery. Cards
are unknown except in the European
settlements : the negro women there-
fore produce a. similar efi'ect, by laying
the cotton when cleared of the seeds upon
a close mat, and beating it violently for
the purpose of separating the fibres, in
the m’armer shewn in the engraving
opposite the preceding page.

They are not acouainted with any
other method of spinning than with the
distafl'. .It has been found impossible
to introduce the use of the wheel, even
in the European colonies. Each spinner
makes her thread more or less fine, ac-
cording to her dexterity, and the pur-

pose for which it is intended. In ge-

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IN MINIATURE. 159

neral the thread is not very fine, but
well twisted, and makes a. durable cloth.
Awouuan with common diligence will
spin from six to nine garments of this
cloth in a year.

To give a gloss to .stufi‘s they fold
the cloth While damp, press, and then
dry it ; after which they beat it for a
long time on a very smooth piece of
wood a foot high, fifteen inches broad,
and two feet long. The head of the
heater is of an oval form, ending ina
point, and is attached to a handle seven
or eight inches in length. A repre-
sentation of these implements is‘é‘iven
in the plate opposite to p. 107, of this
volume.

The weavers manufacture cotton

P 2

160 AFRICA

cloths which are never more than six or
nine inches broad, and two yards or two
yards and a half long. At Goree they
make stuffs half of wool andhalf of cot-
ton, ornamented with very pretty de-
signs. The wool is brought from Eu-
rope : and they use it only of three co-
lours, chocolate, yellow, and green, the
two latter for nothing but borders.
These cloths are highly valued in the
country and form part of the merchan-
dize necessary for the slave-trade. When
the different stripes that are to compose .
pagne, or a piece of stufl' of the requi-
site fiimensions for a garment, are
finished, they are collected and neatly
sewed together. The weaver follows,

his trade in the manner represented in

 

 

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IN MINIATURE. 161

the plate, sitting upon the ground,
having dug a hole for the legs and for
working his loom, which he sets up on
four forked poles, having frequently
a mat thrown Over them to skreen him
from the sun. The warp is fastened to
a large stone which he draws nearer to
him from time to time. The loom and
shuttle differbut little from ours. The
guiriots, or public singers, are the hes:
weavers.

A prejudice, entertainedby the Wolofs,
and common among most 'of the neigh-
bouring nations, is such a thorough
contempt for smiths, Weavers, shoe-
makers, and guirz‘ols, or musicians, that
even a slave will not marry into a
family which has followed one of these

r 3

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162 AFRICA

professions : nay, persons of the latter
class are excluded from the honour of
burial. Their bodies are deposited in
hollow trees; for the received notion
is, that if a guiriot were interred in the
- earth, the crop of millet would inevita-
bly fail.

The women spin and make the nets
which their husbands use in fishing.
They also make their garments and the
sails of their canoes.

The women moreover dye cloth of a
rich and lasting blue colour by the fol-
lowing simple process. The leaves of
the indigo, when fresh gathered, are
pounded in a wooden mortar, and mixed
in a large earthen jar with a strong ley

of wood ashes, to which urine is some-

IN MINIATURE. 163

times added. The cloth is steeped in
this mixture-and allowed to remain
till it has acquired the proper shade.
. In Kaarta and Ludamar, where indigo
is not plentiful, they collect the leaves
and dry them in the sun; and when
they wish to use them, they reduce a
sufficient quantity to powder, and mix
it with the ley as before mentioned.
Either way, the colour is very beauti-
ful with a fine purple gloss.

With an insect ‘of the carabus family,
and fatty substances, they make a soap
of bad quality, which they employ for
want of that made in Europe.

The manufacturers of leather, called
in Mandingo karrankea, frequently tra-

vel through the country in the exercise

‘1,
fit: .

164 AFRICA

of their art, which they have carried to
a high degree of perfection. They tan
and dress leather with very great ex-
pedition, either with the bark of the '
mangrove, or by steeping the hide first
in a mixture of wood—ashes and Water,
till it parts with the hair, and afterwards
by using the pounded leaves of a tree
called goo as an astringent. They are
at great pains to render the hide as soft .
and pliant as possible, by rubbing it
frequently with their hands, and beating
it upon a stone. Thehides ofbullocks are
converted chiefly into sandals, and there-
fore require less care in dressing than
the skins of sheep, goats, and antelopes.
The latter are commonly dyed of a. red

or yellow Colour—the red by means of a.

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
   

 

  

 

 

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IN MINIATURE. 165

decoction of millet stalks reduced to
powder, and the yellow, by the root of a
plant, the name of which is unknown. The
skins thus prepared are used for covering
quivers and sapkz's, which, as we have
already observed, are of a variety of
of shapes, some being worn like collars,
others on the feet and hands, and others
again as girdles. These artisans also .
make, with great skill, saddles, bridles,
portfolios, called mpfia, sheaths for
swords and knives, belts, pockets, and
a variety of ornaments.

The potters, without mould, or any
other implement than their hands, make
large circular vessels, which are called
canaris, and are used for holding water

and dressing couscou. These vessels

we. AFRICA

are nearly spherical, so that they must
be sunk into the sand to make them
stand. They are open at top ; the
aperture being half the diatheter of the
vessel, or thereabout. The same work-
‘ men make, with a species of red clay,
very handSOme tobacco-pipes, which
they glaze by means of sand. Some of
. these pipes are large, and have four
tubes ; so that four persons may smoke
at once out of the same pipe. They»
bestow the more pains on the making of
these articles, because they are in daily
use among the Negroes.

Among the persons who follow par-
ticular professions may also be reckoned
the manufacturers of mats and‘haskets.
) The inhabitants of the banks of the

 

 

 

 

 

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IN MINIATURE. 167

Gambia excel in works of this kind,
which they execute with a neatness and
taste not at all inferior- to those of Eu-
rope.

We may adduce, as an example of the
ingenuity of the Negroes of the interior,
the singular manner in which they
build bridges across rivers ofvconsider-
able breadth. Park. in his first expedi-
tion, near a town called Manna, met
with one of these bridges constructed
of bmnboos across the Ba Fing. The
river at this place is smooth and deep
and has very little current. Two tall
trees, when tied together by the tops,
are sufficiently long to reach from one
side to the other; the roots resting

upon the rocks and the tops floating in

168 AFRICA

the water. When a few trees have
been placed in this direction they are
covered with dry bamboos, so as to
form a floating bridge, with a sloping
gangway at each end, where the trees
' rest upon the rocks. The bridge is
carried away every year by the swelling
of the river in the rainy season, and is
constantly rebuilt at a spot where there
happen to be trees suitable for the pur.
pose, by the inhabitants of Manna, who
on that account expect a small tribute
from every passenger. A bridge of

this kind is represented in the plate.

END OF VOL. II].

 

GREEN, LEICESTER STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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