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 [ 273 ] ' A F R
uffa.
Africa. Park could learn nothing further concerning its courfe,
as the traders who arrive at Tombuftoo and Houffa
from the coaft can fay nothing more of it, than that
it runs towards the rijing of the fun to the end of the
utan and wor^‘ i^-ny fartber intelligence that has hitherto been
gritia. obtained, concerning Soudan or Nigritia to the eaft-
ward of the route of Mr Park, is extremely uncertain,
being merely the refult of inquiries made by Mr Hor-
neman among the merchants of Fezzan during his re-
fidence there. In the prefent imperfeft ftate of our
knowledge, however, this information is entitled to
attention. He obferves, that “ the Houffa are certain¬
ly Negroes, but not quite black ; they are the moll
intelligent people in the interior of Africa *, they are
diftinguifhed from their neighbours by an interefting
countenance $ their nofe is fmall and not flattened ; and
their features are not fo difagreeable as thofe of the Ne¬
groes, and they have an extraordinary inclination for
pleafure, dancing, and finging. Their chara&er is be¬
nevolent and mild. Induilry and art, and the culti¬
vation of the natural produftions of the land, prevail
in their country $ and in this refpedt they excel the
Fezzanians, who get the greateft part of their clothes
and houfehold implements from the Soudanians. They
can dye in this country any colours but fcarlet. The
culture of their land is as perfect as that of the Euro¬
peans, although the manner of doing it is very trou-
blefome. In fhort, fays Mr Horneman, we have
very unjuft ideas of this people, not only with refpeft
to their cultivation and natural abilities, but alfo of
their ftrength and the extent of their poffeffions, which
are by no means fo inconfiderable as they have been re-
prefented. Their mufic is imperfeft, compared to the
European j but the Houffanian wromen have fkill
enough to affefl their hufbands thereby even to weep¬
ing, and to inflame their courage to the greateft fu¬
ry againft their enemies. The public fingers are call¬
ed Kadankad'1
The fame traveller informs us, that to the eaftward
of Houffa are fituated the dominions of the fultan of
Bornou. The people are blacker than the Houffanians,
and completely Negroes. They are ftrong, patient of
labour, and phlegmatic. Their food is a pafte made
of flour and flefti, and their liquor is an intoxicating
but nourilhing kind of beer. Their bell natural pro-
duftion is copper. The low country of Wangara is faid
to be fubjedl to Bornou. It is periodically overflowed
by the Niger 5 but the courfe of that river farther eaft¬
ward is not known. Mr Horneman was informed that
it had at lead a periodical communication with the long¬
er branch of the Nile, called the Bahr Abiad or White
river, which rifes in the mountains A1 Komeri, or moun¬
tains of the Moon, about the feventh degree of N. Lat.
To the eaftward of Wangara, at the diftance of about
fix degrees of longitude, is the country ofDarfoor already
mentioned $ beyond which lies Kordafan, another bar¬
barous ftate ; and ftill farther to the eaftward is the
country of Abyflinia, in which the ftiorter branch of
the Nile, the Bahr A%rac or Blue river, takes its rife,
which was vifited and traced to its fource by our coun¬
tryman Mr Bruce. That traveller confidered the
Bahr Azrac as the Nile, whereas in truth it is only
one of its tributary ftreams.
1 he belt or ftripe of territory of which we have
therto taken notice is fituated between the 10th and
Vol. I. Part I.
'aou.
fc
17th degrees of N. Lat. To the fouthward of this Africa,
line the interior of Africa is ftill unknown, as it has y~n"
hitherto been vifited by no European traveller. We
only know that it contains various nations or tribes of
Negroes, of different charafters and degrees of civiliza¬
tion. It may be obferved, however, that to the fouth
of Tombuftoo and Houffa lies the kingdom of Gago, Gag0.
near a ridge of mountains which run from weft to eaft,
and give rife to many ftreams that flow northward into
the Niger. It produces much gold, and the people
are warlike. Their armies are compofed of cavalry j and
no warrior is permitted to take an enemy prifoner before
he has obtained, by the mutilation of perfons whom he
has flain, an hundred bloody trophies, fimilar to thofe
which, in the Jewifh hiftory, David is faid to have won
from the Philiftines and prefented to King Saul as the
price of his daughter Michal (1 Samuel xviii. 25.) In
Gago, when the general takes the field he fpreads a buf¬
falo’s hide upon the ground ; and pitching a fpear at each
fide, he caufes the foldiers to march over it till a hole
be worn through the hide, when the army is under-
ftood to be fufficiently numerous. The king is abfolute ;
but, when they are offended with his conduft, his fub-
jefls fometimes rebel and fend him a prefent of parrots
eggs, with a meffage, importing that “ his fubjedls,
confidering that he muft be fatigued with the trouble
of government, are of opinion that it is time for him
to indulge in a little fleep.” If the rebellion appear
too formidable to be refifted, his majefty takes the
hint, and defires his women to ftrangle him j upon
which he is immediately fucceeded by his fon.
To the fouth of Gago, and near to the gulf of Guinea, Dahom>
is the kingdom of Dahomy. The capital, called Abo-
my, ftands in N. Lat. 70 57'. The country is fertile and
cultivated, bearing every kind of grain, as well as indigo,
cotton, and fugar. The chara&er of the people is
ftrongly marked, and fome of their cuftoms are lingular.
In their wars they are bold, and even ferocious j but to¬
wards ftrangers they are hofpitable, without any mixture
of rudenefs. Their king poffeffes abfolute power in
the moft complete fenfe of the word. All children,
whether male or female, are confidered as his property.
They are early feparated from their parents, and receive
a fort of public education, with a view to deftroy from
their minds all family connections. The king’s dwell¬
ing occupies a fpace of about a mile fquare. It con-
fifts of a multitude of huts formed of mud -walls with
bamboo roofs ; and the whole is enclofed by a mud wall
of 20 feet in height. The entrance of the king’s apart¬
ment is paved with human Ikulls, and the fide walls are
ornamented with the jaw bones of men. On the thatch¬
ed roofs numerous human Ikills are ranged on wooden
flakes; and he declares wrar by announcing that his houfe
wants thatch. He has commonly about 3000 females
immured in this dwelling ; and about 500 are appropriat¬
ed to each of the principal officers. When a man wants
a wife he muft purchafe her from the king or fome of
thefe officers. He muft firft lay doAvn the price, which
is 20,000 cowries ; and muft then be contented with the
wife that is allotted to him. At his fucceffion the king
proclaims that he knows nobody, and is not inclined
to make any new acquaintance j that he will adminifter
juftice rigoroufly and impartially, but will liften to no
reprefentations againft his will; and that he will receive
no prefents except from his officers, who approach him
M m with