Chapter VIII

Countries South of the Niger.

The account which the Shereef has given of such of the kingdoms to the South of the Niger as he himself has visited, is too deficient in geographical information to furnish a clear and determinate idea of this part of his travels: and though the names of the principal States in whose capitals he traded, or through whose dominions he passed, may be used with advantage as the means of future enquiry, and are therefore inserted in the map which accompanies this Narrative; yet the places assigned them must be considered as in some degree conjectural. That the line of his journey was towards the Gold Coast, there is, however, the strongest reason to believe; and the following brief account of his remarks may lead to conclusions which are neither uninteresting nor unimportant.

From that part of the Niger which forms the southern limit of the great Empire of Cashna, to the Kingdom of Tonouwah, which borders on the coast of the Christians, and of which the Town of Assenté is said to be the capital, a succession of hills, among which are mountains of a stupendous height, diversifies or constitutes the general face of the country. Most of the lands are described as already cleared, but some particular districts are still incumbered with woods of a vast extent; and though for the most part the highlands are pastured by innumerable stocks of sheep, and by herds of cows and goats, and the vales exhibit the captivating view of successive villages, encompassed with corn and rice, and fruits of various kinds, yet there are places of native sterility and eternal barrenness.

The combined occupations of the shepherd and of the husbandman compose the general employment of the people; while the cotton cloth, and the goat-skins of the red and of the yellow dyes, that are offered in several of the towns for sale, announce the rudiments of future manufactures, and perhaps of an extensive commerce.

Exempted by the nature of their climate from many of those hardships from which, in other countries, dress is the principal protection, a large proportion of the inhabitants wear only the covering that decency requires. But most of the Mahometans, as the mark of a religion which they are proud to profess, adorn their heads with the folds of the turban, and also adopt, at least in some of the States, the cotton shirt, which is so much worn in the empires of Cashna and Bornou.

Tents, which are formed of the hides of cows or of buffaloes, and which are peculiarly suited to the shepherd life, are the only dwellings of multitudes of the Negros; while the huts, which others erect with the branches of trees, are of a construction almost equally simple.

Several of the towns are described as surrounded by walls; and bows and arrows are mentioned as the common instruments of war.

In the description of their Governments, a few instances of small Republics are given; but most of their States are monarchical; and of these, the inhabitants of the Mahometan Kingdom of Degombah are distinguished by the custom of taming the Elephant, and by that of selling for slaves the prisoners they take from such of the bordering nations as motives of religion or of avarice prompt them to invade.

Such, however, is the mildness of the Negro character, that even the asperities of religious disagreement appear to have no effect on their general conduct; for there is reason to believe, from the Shereef’s account, that the Musselman and the Pagan are indiscriminately mixed, that their cattle feed upon the same mountain, and that the approach of evening sends them in peace to the same village: and though the nations who are attacked by the people of Degombah punish with death, as guilty of atrocious injustice, such of the invaders as the chance of war throws into their hands, yet those of the Mahometans who visit them for the purposes of trade, are received with protection and respect.

To the Merchants of Fezzan, who travel to the southern States of the Negros, the purchase of gold, which the dominions of several, and especially of those of Degombah, abundantly afford, is always the first object of commercial acquisition. The other articles which they obtain, consist of

Slaves,

Cotton Cloth,

Goat-Skins, of a beautiful dye,

Hides of Buffaloes and Cows, and

A species of Nut—which is much valued in the kingdoms to the North of the Niger, and which is called Gooroo. It grows on a large and broad leafed tree that bears a pod of about eighteen inches in length, in which are inclosed a number of nuts that varies from seven to nine. Their colour is a yellowish green; their size is that of a chesnut, which they also resemble in being covered by a husk of a similar thickness; and their taste, which is described as a pleasant bitter, is so grateful to those who are accustomed to its use, and so important as a corrective to the unpalatable or unwholesome waters of Fezzan, and of the other kingdoms that border on the vast Zahara, as to be deemed of importance to the happiness of life.

No commercial value appears to be annexed to the fleeces which the numerous flocks of the Negro kingdoms afford; for the cotton manufacture, which, the Shereef says, is established among the tribes to the South of the Niger, seems to be the only species of weaving that is known among them. Perhaps the dark colour of the fleece, as disqualifying it for the dye, may be one reason, and its coarse and hairy nature may be another, of the little esteem in which it appears to be held.

In return for the articles which they sell to their foreign visitors, the Negros receive—

Salt, from the Merchants of Agadez,

Dutch Knives,

Sabre Blades,

Carpets,

Coral,

Beads,

Looking-Glasses,

Civet,

Imperial Dollars and Brass—from both of which the Negro artists manufacture rings and bracelets for their women.

Fire Arms are unknown to such of the nations on the South of the Niger as the Shereef has visited; and the reason which he assigns for it is, that the Kings in the neighbourhood of the coast, persuaded that if these powerful instruments of war should reach the possession of the populous inland States, their own independence would be lost, have strictly prohibited, and by the wisdom of their measures, have effectually prevented this dangerous merchandize from passing beyond the limit of their dominions.