Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 1, A-AME

A F R [ 272 1 A F R
Africa, cliiefs of the different diftri£ls. The miners are indo-
lent and unlkilful : They never penetrate beyond 10
feet in depth, though the quantity of gold increafes
with the depth of the mine. They regard gold as a
capricious and malevolent being, who delights in delu¬
ding the miners j on which account they never attempt
to recover a vein wrhen it difappears. The govern¬
ment of Bambouk fludluates, like that of many of the
Negro Hates, between monarchy and ariflocracy, and
the power of the king or fupreme chief is extremely
limited.
The frontiers of the Negro kingdoms ufually confift
of a wild or defert trad:. Thus the kingdom of
Woolli, which is on the north-weft of Bambouk, is fe-
parated on its eaftern boundary, by a wildernefs filled
with wdld beafts, from the kingdom of Bondou, which
lies to the north of Bambouk. Fattecondi is the capi¬
tal of Bondou, at which the king refides. The king
caufed Major Houghton, an Englifh traveller employ¬
ed by the African Affociation, to be plundered 5 and he
begged from Mr Mungo Park his blue coat, which
that traveller was under the neceflity of giving him,
to avoid bad ufage. His revenues, however, are con-
fiderable. His authority is firmly eftablifhed, and his
power is formidable to his neighbours. He was fo
well pleafed with obtaining Mr Park’s blue coat,
adorned as it was with yellow buttons, that, on the
following day he prefented to him fomewhat more than
half an ounce of gold, exempted his baggage from ex¬
amination by the tax-gatherers, and allowed him to pay
a vifit to the women of his feraglio. The country at
large is covered with wood, and, as it is in an elevated
fituation, and confequently fomewhat lefs expofed than
elfewhere to the burning heat of the climate, it is
abundantly fertile. The frontier town of the kingdom
eaftward is called Joag. It contains 2000 inhabitants,
is furrounded by a high wall with holes for mufkets,
and is in 14° 25' N. Lat. and 90 12' W. Long.
To the north eaft of Bondou is the Mandingo
kingdom of Kaffon, in which this peculiar cuftom or
fuperftition prevails, that no woman is allowed to eat
an egg. Kooniakary, the capital, lies in N. Lat. 14*
34', about 59I- geographical miles to the eaft of
Joag. To the fouth-eaft of Kaffon is the kingdom of
Kaarta, w'hich is bordered on the eaft by Bambara,
between which and Kaarta there are very frequent
wars 5 a circumftance which renders travelling through
thefe and other Negro ftates not a little difficult. The
people are induftrious : The cultivation of corn is car¬
ried on to a great extent, efpecially in Bambara. They
are Mahometans, without the intolerant fanaticifm of
that religion ; and accordingly they are hofpitable to
ftrangers, though of a different faith. The neigh¬
bourhood of the Moors, however, renders the country
unfafe ; and, to guard againft their incurfions, the Ne¬
groes, when employed in agriculture, are under the ne-
ceffity of carrying their arms to the field.
Sego. Sego, the capital of Bambara, lies in N. Lat. 140 10',
and W. Long. 2° 26' j and contains about 30,000 inha¬
bitants. It was here that Mungo Park at laft beheld
the long-fought majeftic river Niger glittering to the
morning fun, as broad as the Thames at Weftminfter,
and flowing flowly from weft to eaft. The river is
here called the Joliba by the natives. From the times
of the Nafamonian explorers prior to the days of He¬
rodotus, during 2300 years, no certain intelligence Africa,
concerning this river had been obtained by the Euro- T-*'
pean nations, and its very exiftence had been doubted
by the moft intelligent writers. Mr Park is the only
European traveller who fince that period can boaft of
having reached it. Sego confifts of four diftinft towns j
two of which are on the north and t\yo on the fouthern
part of the Niger. They are furrounded by high mud
walls. The houfes are of a fquare form ; they are built
of clay, and have flat roofs. The ftreetsare narrow 5 and,
as the Moors form a confiderable proportion of the in¬
habitants, their mofques appear in every quarter. The
language, however, is a dialed of the Mandingo. The
authority of the Negro king of Bambara is not a little
reftrained here by the influence of the Moors •, and, to
avoid giving offence to their intolerant fpirit, he was
under the neceffity of fending Mr Park immediately
out of the city to a village in the neighbourhood.
The weather was ftormy, but fome Negro women con-
dueled him into a hut, gave him food, and thereafter
began to their accuftomed labour of fpinning cotton.
During their work they amufed themfelves with a
fong, compofed upon the occafion, which one of them
fung to a plaintive air. The tranflation of the fong
is in thefe terms : “ The wind roared and the rains
fell; the poor white man, faint and weary, came and fat
under our tree. He has no mother to bring him milk,
no wife to grind his corn. Chorus. Let us pity the
white man, no mother has he,” &c.
The current money of this place confirfs of cowries,
a kind of fhells (cyprcea moneta Lin.') which are alfo em¬
ployed in the fame way in Bengal. A man and his horfe
can fubfift during 24 hours upon the provifions that
100 of them will purchafe. The king of Bambara
prefented Mr Park with 5000 cowries, and defired him
to leave the neighbourhood of his capital, that he
might not be deftroyed by the Moors. This traveller
perfevered in advancing eaftward down the river to an¬
other town called Si/la, fituated in N. Lat. 140 48', Silla.
and W. Long. l° 24', about 1090 Britifh miles eaft of
Cape Verd. This formed the utmoft limit to which
he was able to advance, and therefore remains the
boundary of our certain knowledge of the countries in
that direction. He learned, however, that Silla ftands
within 200 miles of the city of Tombudfoo, which is
upon the fame river, and had long been an obje£t,of
fearch of the Portuguefe, the French, and Englilh.
He was informed, that the country is very populous in
that diredlion. He was alfo told, that about two days
journey below Silla, where he flopped, there is a larger
town than Sego, called Jenne, which ftands on a fmall
ifland in the Niger ; and that two days journey below
Jenne, the river expands into a large lake called Dib-
bie, from which the water iffues in two large branches,
infulating a fertile and fwampy country called Gin-
bala ; and that the two great branches of the river re¬
unite at Kabra, which is one day’s journey to the
fouth of the city of Tombuftoo, of which it is the port.
The government of Tombuftoo is faid to be in the
hands of the Moors j and that place is the principal
emporium of the Moorifli commerce in Africa. Be¬
low Tombu&oo, to the eaftward, is the Negro city of
Houffa, the capital of a great kingdom, and poffeffed
of extenfive commerce. The Niger paffes to the fouth
of Houffa at the diftance of two days journey 5 but Mr
Park