Narrative of discovery and adventure in Africa, from the earliest ages to the present time

Front matter

wmamm

Glass,

-A

Chapter II. Knowledge Of Africa Among The Ancients

Northern Africa well known— Obstacles opposed by the Desert— Description given by Herodotus— by Diodorus — by Strabo — Ancient Accounts of the Nile— of Ethiopia— of Abyssinia— Expedition sent by Necho — Journey of the Nasamones— Voyage of Sataspes — ofHanno — Voyages of Eudoxus— Periplus of the Erythrean Sea 22

CHAPTER m.

SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS.

Their Influence on this Continent— Migration into Central Africa- Ghana— Tocrur — Kuku— Wangara— Uiil— Eastern Africa— Travels of Ibn Batuta — Description by Leo Africanus 40

Chapter VIII

park's first journey.

Park undertakes to explore Africa — Departure — III Treatment at Bondou and Joag— Kooniakary— Captivity among the Moors— Escape — The Niger — Sego — Sansanding — Silla — Obliged to return — Various Misfortunes— Distressed State— Finds Relief at Kamalia— Arrival in England 83

Chapter IX

park's second journey.

Views under which he was sent out— Departure— Overtaken by the Rainy Season — Great Sickness and Distress — Embarks on the Niger- Negotiations with the King of Bambarra— Obtains Permission to build a Vessel — Sansanding — Sets sail — Accounts of his Death 100

CHAPTER X. VARIOUS travellers

Horneman— Nicholls— Roentgen— Adams — Riley 108

Chapter XI. Government Expeditions

Great Expedition planned under Tuckey and Peddie — Captain Tuckey reaches the Congo— Difficulties encountered — Great Sickness — Disas trous Issue — Major Peddie arrives at Kakundy — His Death — Captain Campbell advances into the Foulah Territory— Obliged to return— His Death— Gray— Laing— Ritchie and Lyon— Death of Ritchie 121

Chapter XII. Denham And Clapperton

Arrangements with the Court of Tripoli— The Travellers arrive there- Journey to Mourzouk — Difficulties — Agreement with Boo Khalloom— Departure — The Desert- -Tibboos and Tuaricks — Arrive at the Lake Tchad— The Yeou—Kouka— Visit to the Sheik— The Sultan— Description of Bornou— Denham's Excursion to Mandara — Great Range of Mountains— Disastrous Expedition — War against the Mungas — Excursion to Loggun — Expedition against the La Salas — Biddoomahs — Clapperton's Journey into Houssa— Appearance of that Country — Kano— Sackatoo— Sultan Bello— Return of the Travellers 126

Chapter XIII

clapperton's second journey, &c.

Objects of this Journey— Departure from Badagry — Death of Pearcs and

CONTENTS. IX

of Morrison— Kingdom of Yarriba— Eyeo— Kiama— Wawa— Boussa— Particulars respecting Park— Nyffee— Koolfu— Zaria — Kano — Siege of Coonia— Violent Conduct of Sultan Bello— Sickness and Death of Clapperton at Sackatoo— His Servant Lander 'returns, partly by a new Route— Laing's Expedition— He reaches Timbuctoo— Assassinated— Caillie undertakes a Journey — Reaches Jenne — Timbuctoo — Aroan — The Desert— Arrival at Tangier 17C

Chapter XIV. Western Africa

General View of this Coast — Dahomey; Norris and M'Leod— Foota Jallo ; Watt and Winterbottom— Ashantee ; Embassies of Bowdich and Dupuis ; War — Adams' Account of Benin and Waree 197

Chapter XV. Southern And Eastern Africa

The Cape— Settlement of the Dutch— Kolben— Hope, Sparrman, Le Vaillant— Barrow ; Caffres ; Bosjesmans— Trutter and Sommerville — Dr. Cowan and his Party — Their Assassination— Lichtenstein— Campbell's (the Missionary) First and Second Journeys — Burchell— Thompson- Invasion of the Mantatees— Zoolas 207

Chapter XVI. Social Condition Of Africa

Distinction between Native and Foreign Tribes— Natives— Agriculture — Manufactures — Trade — Domestic Accommodations — Intellectual Character — Superstitions— War and Slavery — Some amiable Features — Forms of Government— Foreign Races — Mohammedan Converts — European Colonization — Cape of Good Hope — Albany District - Sierra Leone 22*7

CHAPTER XVn.

GEOLOGY OF AFRICA.

Form and Situation of Africa— Its great Natural Regions or Divisions.— 1. Geology of the Atlas or Northern Region — Age of the Atlas Mountains.— 2. Geology of the Sahara Region— Subterranean Villages near Tripoli ; in Spain and France— Tertiary Rocks of Benioleed — Soudan or Black Mountains— Petrified Wood in the Desert — Horrid Consequences of the Slave-trade — Human Skeletons in the Desert — Natron and Salt Lakes— Desert of Bilma — Sultan of Fezzan and a Slaves — On what Formation does the Sand of the Desert rest ?— Description of a Trona or Natron Lake — Fulgurite and native Meteoric Iron in the Desert — Observations on the Sand of the Desert— Moving Pillars of Sand— Sand-wind— How the prevailing Winds affect the Sand of the Desert— What is the Geognostical Age of the Sahara? — 3. Geology of the Region to the South of the Sahara, and to the North of the Great Table-land — African Gold. — 4. Geology of the Great Table-land of Africa— Geology of the Coast from Sierra Leone to Cape Negro — Cape of Good Hope District — Distribution of its Chains of Mountains, Plains and Valleys, or Kloofs— Description of the Karroo Plains—

X CONTENTS.

Geognosy of the Peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope— The Lion's Rump — Lion's Head — Table Mountain— Devil's Peak— To what Class of Rocks do those of the Cape Peninsula belong?— At wbat Period did the Cape Rocks rise above the Level of the Sea 1 — Vegetables incrusted with Calcareous Sand confounded with Coral, and adduced as a Proof of the very recent Emergence from the Ocean of the Lands supporting them — Geology of the Table-land, properly so called — Account of the Sibilo of the Africans— Geological Survey of the Karroo Ground recommended— Rivers— South African Lakes — South African Springs — Remarks on the Importance of a Knowledge of the Natural! History and Chemical Composition of Springs— Geology of Caffraria. Natal, &c. — Conclusion 244

Chapter XVIII. Natural History Of The Quadrupeds Of Africa

Introductory Observations — Orang-outang — Monkeys — Baboons — Lemurs — Galagos — Bats — Shrew-mice — Cape Mole — Tenrec — Ratel — Otter — Jackals and Wild Dogs— Civets — Lion — Panther and Leopard — Lynxes — Squirrels — Marmots — Sand Mole — Gerboa— Rats and Mice — Dormice — Porcupines — Hares and Rabbits — Cape Ant-eater— Manis —Elephant — Rhinoceros — Ethiopian Hog — Hippopotamus — Zebra — Quagga — Camel — Dromedary — Red Deer — Giraffe — Antelopes of various kinds— Gnu — Cape Buffalo— Egyptian Goat and Sheep 290

Chapter XIX. Natural History Of The Birds Of Africa

Introductory Observations — Vultures — Serpent-eater — Eagles — Hawks — Owls— Butcher-birds— Thrushes— Buntings— Colius— Beef-eaters— Rollers — Goat-suckers — Swallows — Hoopoes — Promerops — Creepers — Bee-eater — Kingfishers — Hornbills — Woodpeckers — Cuckoos — Honey-guide— Parrots— Pogonias— Trogon — Musophaga— Touraco —Pigeons — Guinea Fowls — Quails— Partridges, &c. — Ostrich— Bustards — Balearic Cranes— Flamingo — Gigantic Stork — Umber — Snipe and Woodcock — Sandpiper — Courier — Plover — Penguin — Pelican — Plotus — Tern — Gull — Albatross — Cape Petrel — Spur-winged Goose — Mountain Goose— Egyptian Goose — Sheldrake— Musk-duck 323

Chapter XX

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE REPTILES, FISHES, SHELLS, INSECTS, &C. OF AFRICA.

Introductory Observations — Crocodiles — Lizards — Chameleon — Serpents — Frogs— General Observations on Fishes — Muraena — Gobius — Coftus — Scorpaena— Zeus— Remora— Labrus — Mackarel — Surmullet — Flying Gurnard— Electric Silure— Salmon— Polypterus — Argentine — Flying-fish — Polyneme— African Herring — Carp — Mormyrus— Ray — Ostracion— Tetrodon— Pipe-fish— Fossil Fish — General Observations on Shells — Various African Species— Remarks on the Distribution of Insects — Goliathus, &c. — Paussus— Mantis — Locusts — Butterfly Tribe — Bees — Scorpions — Centipedes — Zoophytes — Coral — Sponge — Guinea Worm 342

ENGRAVINGS.

Map of Africa To face the Titlepags,

Vignette — Caravan in the Desert.

Group of Figures — Chief, Jillemen or Native Musicians, and Gree-

gree Man or Magician Page 63

Female Negro Dancer 77

Park's Routes . 82

Tuarick on his Camel, with Male and Female Tibboo 134

Denham and Clapperton's Routes 137

Sultan of Bornou 142

Fishing in the River Yeou 145

Bornou Horseman, Kanemboo Spearman, and Munga Bowman 157

Timbuctoo according to Caillie . 195

Ashantee Warrior and Attendant 202

Queen of Lattakoo, Lattakoo Warrior, and two Bosjesman Hottentots 225

Negroes preparing the Manioc Root 230

Negro Palaver-house 232

Group of African Animals — In front, in the centre, the Rhinoceros ; —to the right, the Hippopotamus and Orang-outang. In the centre background, the Giraffe ;— to the left, Antelopes and Zebra 290

DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE

IN

AFRICA.

CHAPTER I. General View of the Natural Features of Africa*

Before following the caTeer of adventure and discovery in Africa, and viewing its kingdoms and regions under their varied aspects, it may be interesting to take a rapid survey of this continent in its original state, as it came from the hands of nature. Though immense, and abounding even with the most striking and surprising contrasts, yet, on a general view, a certain uniformity, approaching almost to monotony, appears to pervade it. From one end to the other, dreary wastes of almost boundless extent are spread over its surface, alternating with bright intervals of the most luxuriant vegetation. These arid tracts also have their borders embellished by shrubs and flowers tinted with the most brilliant hues ; while a profusion of animal life in all its forms distinguishes the more temperate latitudes.

Africa, considered in relation to her place on the map, forms an extensive continent, situated nearly in the centre of the earth, and obstructing the great highway across the ocean. Her coasts form the chief barrier to a direct maritime intercourse between the distant extremities of the globe. To perform the vast circuit of her shores, and to round her stormy capes, has tried the courage and hardihood of the greatest navigators. Could Africa cease to exist, great facilities would be afforded to the communication between the other continents, and many new channels of commerce would be opened up. As she, however, 8 has an existence likely to he coeval with theirs, our concern is with her actual condition, presenting as it does many peculiar claims to interest in the eyes of the philosopher and politician.

The physical peculiarities which distinguish Africa seem to depend chiefly on the circumstance that almost her whole territory is situated within the tropics. The other portions of the earth's surface which lie directly beneath the solar influence consist generally either of sea, or of narrow and insular lands, refreshed by breezes from the ocean. Bat the greatest breadth of Africa is under the immediate power and dominion of the sun ; and most of her people see that great planet, in its annual progress from tropic to tropic, pass twice over their heads, and thus experience a repetition of its most intense and perpendicular rays. The highest blessings of this sublunary world, when carried beyond a certain limit, become its deadliest bane. That parent orb, which cheers and illumines the rest of the earth, glares on Africa with oppressive and malignant beam, blasting the face of nature, and covering her with barrenness and desolation. Sometimes it converts the soil into a naked desert, sometimes overspreads it with a noxious excess of animal and vegetable life. The soil, when not watered by copious rains or river inundations, is scorched and dried up till it is converted into a dreary waste. Hence it is, that in Africa plains of sand form a feature so truly alarming. The Great Desert, with the exception of the narrow valley of the Nile, reaches across the entire continent, exhibiting an expanse of burning surface, where for many days the traveller finds not a drop of water, nor sees the least vestige of animal or vegetable nature.

He pursues his dreary route amid loose hills, continually shifting, and leaving nomarks to guide his course. Every breeze is filled with dust, which enters the mouth and nostrils, and penetrates between the clothes and skin. Sometimes it drives along in clouds and whirlwinds, beneath which it was once thought that caravans and even armies had been buried ; but it is now ascertained that the numerous bones which whiten the desert are merely those of travellers who have sunk under famine, thirst, and fatigue ; and that the sand, which continually blows, has accumulated above them. Travellers over these tracts of shingle have been impressed with the idea of their being the bed of an ancient ocean. This is not the place to enter into a speculation on the formation of the earth. That every part of its surface lay once beneath the waters is sufficiently apparent ; but there is at least no historical proof that Africa emerged later than other continents. The earliest records represent her deserts to have been as extensive as they are in our days, and to have pressed equally close upon the cultivated belt along the northern coast, In general, all regions between the tropics, when not copiously watered, moulder into sand, alternating with a hard and impenetrable stratum of clay. The central wastes of Asia, those of Arabia and of Sindetic Hindostan, though inferior to those of Africa, are yet of similar character, and of immense extent.

In order to obviate the extreme effects of the tropical sun, which produces a desolation so dreadful, Nature has provided suitable remedies. Every country under this latitude has its rainy season, when, amid the blaze of lightnings and the noise of thunders rending the sky, heaven seems to open all her windows to pour an unbroken flood upon the earth. The ground is covered as with a deluge", and the dry beds of the rivulets are converted into torrents ; yet so intense are the sun's rays, that the moisture thus lavished upon the surface is quickly dried up. Great rivers, which, swollen by the rains, overflow their banks and lay the surrounding country under water, or at least afford the means of artificial inundation, are the principal source of that luxuriant fertility, that mighty growth of vegetable forms, which singularly characterize the tropical climates. It is to the W!> ^s which descend from the lofty precipices and eternal snows of the Himmaleh, that the plains of Hindostan and China owe their amazing fruitfulness. Africa, too, has elevated mountain-chains, which give rise to several rivers of great magnitude and most fertilizing influence. Atlas, along its northern border, presents even in so hot a climate pinnacles wrapped in everlasting snow. Still more extensive is that central range, which, amid its various local names, is most generally known under the poetical appellation of "The Mountains of the Moon." Yet these chains, besides being not altogether so gigantic as those of the other continents, labour under the peculiar disadvantage of extending across the breadth only of Africa. The Andes and the

Himmaleh, those stupendous heights of America and Asia, as they traverse these continents in the direction of their length, cover a much greater surface, and thus create fertility in the more limited plains which intervene between the mountains and the ocean. But the largest of the African rivers, directing their course through a vast extent of low land, reach the sea only by a very circuitous course. Several of them, too, diffusing their waters into lakes or marshes, expire in the very heart of the continent. The result is, that the enormous breadth of the Sahara, or Great Desert, is scarcely irrigated even by a streamlet. It depends entirely on the periodical rains ; and these sink into the sandy and porous surface, till being arrested at the depth of eight or ten feet, they form that " sea underground" which has been traced over a large portion of the waste.

Vegetable life, in consequence of this absence of moisture, is scantily diffused over a great extent of the continent. In the heart of the mountains, however, and in the kingdoms along their border, the soil is most profusely watered, and, under the influence of a tropical sun, produces, perhaps, beyond any other part of the world, that luxuriant growth and those gigantic vegetable forms, which distinguish the equatorial regions. The baobab, or great calabash, appears to be the most enormous tree on the face of the earth. Adanson assures us, that the circumference in some cases is equal to thirteen fathoms, as measured by his arms clasped round the trunk, that is, varying from seventy-four to seventy-seven feet. Branches extending horizontally from the trunk, each equal to a large tree, make the baobab a forest as it were in itself. The mangrove, too, which rises on the borders of rivers, or inundated spots, diffuses itself in a manner truly remarkable. The branches, dropping down upon the watery bank, strike root and grow ; hence the original plant, spreading farther and farther, forms over the stream a species of natural arcade. These mighty trees do not stand alone, but have their interstices filled up by numberless shrubs, canes, creeping and parasitical plants, which intersect and entwine with each other till they form a thick and impenetrable mass of underwood. To cut even a narrow path through these dense forests is a laborious process ; and as shoots are continually protruding inwards on each side, the track, without constant travelling, and the diligent use of the axe, soon becomes impassable.

As we approach the confines of the Desert these giants of the wood disappear, and vegetation presents a different and more pleasing aspect. It exhibits now the light and gay form of. the acacia, whole forests of which rise amid the sand, distilling those rich gums that afford an important material of African commerce. The lotus > a celebrated and classical shrub, the tamarisk, and other small and elegant trees, afford agreeable and nutritive berries, which constitute the food of several nations. Various flowering shrubs of the most delicate tints, rising in wild and spontaneous beauty, embellish the precincts of the waste. Thus the Desert, in its first approaches, and before vegetable life begins to expire, does not assume its sternest character, but wears even a peculiarly pleasing and smiling aspect.

The animal world* in Africa changes equally its nature as it pass-es from one to another of these opposite regions. In those plains which are inundated by the great rivers, it multiplies at an extraordinary rate, and often assumes huge and repulsive forms. Throughout all this continent the wild tribes exist in large and formidable numbers, and there is scarcely a tract which they do not either hold in fall possession, or fiercely dispute with man. Even the most denselypeopled countries border on wide forests and wastes, whose savage tenants find their prey occasionally in man himself, as well as in the domestic animals which surround him; and when the scent of human slaughter is wafted on the breeze, bands of hungry monsters hasten from every side to the feast of blood. These ferocious creatures hold, indeed, so commanding a position, that the colonist scarcely makes any attempt to extirpate them, or even to keep down their numbers. He wages against them only a defensive war, and employs his courage and skill chiefly in hunting the elephant, the antelope, and other peaceful species, by whose spoil he may be enriched.

The lion, that king of the desert, that mightiest among the tribes which have the wilderness for their abode, abounds in Africa, and causes all her forests to re-echo his midnight

* In the present chapter we allude only to a few of the more conspicuous and peculiar characteristics of African zoology. The subject is treated of at greater length in a subsequent part of this volume. B2 roar. Yet both, his courage and fierceness have, it is said, been overrated; and the man who can undauntedly face him, or evade his first dreadful spring, rarely falls his victim. Wider ravages are committed by the hyena, not the strongest, but the most ferocious and untameable of all the beasts of prey. These creatures, by moving in numerous bands, achieve what is beyond the single strength of the greater animals ; they burst with mighty inroad into the cities, and have even carried by storm fortified enclosures. The elephant roams in vast herds through the densely-wooded tracts of the interior, disputing with the lion the rank of king of the lower creation ; matchless in bulk and strength, yet tranquil, majestic, peaceful, led in troops under the guidance of the most ancient of the number, having a social and almost moral existence. He attacks neither man nor beast. The human being is more frequently the aggressor, not only with the view of protecting the fruits of the earth, but also in order to obtain the bony substance composing his tusks, which, under the name of ivory, forms one of the most valued articles of African trade. The prodigious strength of the elephant, his almost impenetrable hide, his rapid though unwieldy movements, render him a most perilous object of attack, even to the boldest hunters ; so that pits and snares of various kinds are the usual modes by which his capture is effected. Instead of the tiger, Africa has the leopard and the panther ; belonging, however, only to certain of its districts.

In the large and broad rivers of Africa, and through the immense forests which overshadow them, a race of amphibious animals of monstrous form and size display their unwieldy figures. The rhinoceros, though not strictly amphibious, slowly traverses marshes and swampy grounds, and almost equals the elephant in strength and defensive powers, but wants his stature, his dignity, and his wisdom. The single or double horn with which he defends himself is an article of commerce in the East, though not valued in Europe. A still huger shape is that of the hippopotamus, or river-horse, fitted alike to stalk on land, to march along the bottom of the waters, or to swim on their surface. He is slow, ponderous, gentle ; yet when annoyed, either by design or accident, his wrath is terrible ; he rushes up from his watery retreat, and by merely striking with his enormous tusks, can overset or sink a loaded canoe. But the most dreaded of ail the inhabitants of the African rivers is the crocodile, the largest and fiercest of the lizard tribe. He lies like a log upon the waters watching for his prey, attacking men, and even the strongest animals, which, however, engage with him in obstinate and deadly encounters.

We have not yet done with all the monstrous and prodigious forms which Africa generates. She swarms with the serpent brood, which spread terror, some by their deadly poison, others by their mere bulk and strength. In this last respect the African serpents have struck the world with amazement ; ancient history records that whole provinces were overrun by them, and that one, after disputing the passage of a river with a Roman army, was destroyed only by the use of a battering engine.

Emerging from these dank regions, where the earth, under the united influence of heat and moisture, teems with such a noxious superabundance of life, we approach the Desert. Here a change takes place equally singular and pleasing as in the vegetable world. Only light, airy, and fantastic forms trip along the sandy border ; creatures innocent, gentle, and beautiful, — the antelope of twenty different species, all swift, with bright eyes, erect, and usually elegant figures, preying neither on men nor animals, but pursued by all on account of the delicate food which they afford. Here, too, roams the zebra, with its finely-striped skin wrapped around it like a robe of rich cloth ; and the camelopard, the tallest and most remarkable of animal forms, with its long fore-legs and high-stretching neck of singular and fantastic beauty, crops the leaves of the African forest. Though a rare species, he is seen occasionally straying over a great proportion of that continent.

Nature, sporting as it would seem in the production of extraordinary objects, has filled Africa with a wonderful multitude of those animals which bear the closest alliance to " the human form divine." The orang-outang appears to constitute the link between man and the lower orders of living things. Standing erect, without a ftil, with flat face, and arms of not greatly disproportioned length, it displays in every particular a deformed resemblance to the lord of the creation. It seems even to make a nearer approach than any other animal to the exercise of reason. It has been taught to make its own bed, to sit at table, to eat with a knife and fork, and to pour out tea. M. Degrandpre" mentions one kept on board a French vessel, which lighted and kept the oven at a due temperature, put in the bread at a given signal, and even assisted in drawing the ropes. There was a strong suspicion among the sailors that it would have spoken, but for the fear of being put to harder work. The baboons, again, are a large, shapeless, brutal species, ugly and disgusting in their appearance, yet not without some kind of union and polity. The monkey tribe, now familiar in Europe, and attracting attention by their playful movements, fill with sportive cries all the forests of tropical Africa.

The insect race, which in our climate is generally harmless, presents here many singular and even formidable characteristics. The flying tribes, in particular, through the action of the sun on the swampy forests, rise up in terrible and destructive numbers. They fill the air and darken the sky ; they annihilate the labour of nations ; they drive even armies before them. The locust, when its bands issue in close and dark array from the depths of the Desert, commits ravages surpassing those of the most ferocious wild beasts, or even the more desolating career of human warfare. In vain do the despairing inhabitants seek with fire and other means to arrest their progress ; the dense and irresistible mass continues to move onward, and soon baffles every attempt to check its course. Whole provinces, which at at their entrance are covered with rich harvests and brilliant verdure, are left without a leaf or a blade. Even when destroyed by famine or tempest, they cover immense tracts, exhaling the most noxious stench. Yet they may be used as food, and are even relished by certain native tribes. The mosquito and its allies do not spread such a fearful desolation ; yet by their poisoned and tormenting stings they render life miserable, and not very unfrequently lead to its extinction. Even a swarm of wild bees, in the solitary woods of Western Africa, has put a whole caravan to flight, wounding severely some of its members. But perhaps the most extraordinary of all the insect races are the termites, or white ants, which display on a greater scale the arts and social organization for which their species have been so famed in Europe. They cover the plains with their conical huts from ten to twelve feet in height ; they are regularly distributed into labourers and soldiers, with others holding the rank of king and queen. This latter personage, when she is about to add to the numbers of the tribe, presents a most extraordinary spectacle, being then swelled to many times the amount of her natural dimensions ; and when the critical period arrives, instead of a progeny of two or three, she produces as many thousands. These ants are far from being of the same harmless description as the corresponding insects of this quarter of the world. On finding their way into a house, they devour every thing, clothes, furniture, food, not even it is said sparing the inmates, who are compelled to make a speedy retreat.

Such are the evils to which the people of this continent are perpetually exposed from the lower creation; and yet they experience in full force the truth of the pathetic lamentation of the poet, that "man is to man the surest, deadliest foe." Africa from the earliest ages has been the most conspicuous theatre of crime and of wrong; where social life has lost the traces of primitive simplicity, without rising to order, principle, or refinement ; where fraud and violence are formed into national systems, and man trembles at the sight of his fellow-man. For centuries this continent has seen thousands of her unfortunate children dragged in chains over its deserts and across the ocean, to spend their lives in foreign and distant bondage. Superstition, tyranny, anarchy, and the opposing interests of numberless petty states, maintain a constant and destructive warfare in this suffering portion of the earth.

Nevertheless, compelled as we have thus been to describe the ills of Africa, we should err very widely did we represent her as pervaded by one deep monotonous gloom. Throughout the picture there are bright lights interspersed, which shine more conspicuously from the vast blanks and deep shadows with which they are surrounded. In the heart of the most dreary and sandy wastes, there emerges many a little oasis, or verdant islet, which to the wanderer of the desert appears almost an earthly paradise. These spots have been painted in colours that belong not to the imperfect abodes of earth; as gardens of the gods, fairyseats, islands destined to be the future mansions of the blessed. In like manner, in the bosom of its wildest woods and mountains, there lurk, in many an unsuspected retreat^ scenes of the most soft and pastoral beauty. Even amid its moral darkness there shine forth virtues which wou,ld do honour to human society in its most refined and exalted state. A tender flow of domestic affection generally pervades African society. Signal displays, too, have been made of the most generous hospitality; and travellers, who were on the point of perishing, have been befriended and saved by absolute strangers, and even by enemies. These varieties of nature and of character, these alternations of wildness and of beauty, of lawless violence and of the most generous kindness, render the progress of the traveller through this continent more interesting and eventful, more diversified by striking scenes and incidents than in any other quarter of the globe.

CHAPTER II. On the Knowledge of Africa among the Ancients

Africa, so far as it extends along the Mediterranean, was not only well known to the nations of antiquity, but constituted an integral part of their political and social system. This coast forms, indeed, only a comparatively small portion of that great continent ; but while the sphere of civilization and the geographical knowledge of the Greeks were nearly comprised within the circuit of the Mediterranean shores, Northern Africa held in their view no inconsiderable importance. This region, which is now covered with thick darkness, and left so far behind in all the arts and attainments which exalt and adorn human nature, had at that early period taken the lead in these very particulars of all other nations. It included Egypt and Carthage, which, as the first seats of government and commerce, were the admiration of the ancient world. In the patriarchal ages, when Scripture history represents the Mesopotamian Plain, the scene of the future empires of Babylon and Assyria, as little more than a wide and open common, Egypt appears regularly organized, and forming a great and powerful kingdom ; and wh^n Greece was under the tumultuary sway of a multitude of petty chieftains, Homer already celebrates the hundred gates of Thebes, and the mighty hosts which in warlike array issued from them to battle. Egypt was illustrious also among the ancients as producing the first elements of learning and abstract science, — the first approach to alphabetical writing by hieroglyphic emblems, — the first great works in sculpture, painting, and architecture ; and travellers even now find that country covered with magnificent monuments, erected at an era when the faintest dawn of science had not yet illumined the regions of Europe. While Egypt was thus pre-eminent in science and art, Carthage equally excelled in commerce and in the wealth which it produces ; by means of which she rose to such a degree of power as enabled her to hold long suspended between herself and Rome the scales of universal empire. In that grand struggle Carthage sunk amid a blaze of expiring glory ; while Egypt, after having passed through many ages of alternate splendour and slavery, was also at length included in the extended dominion of Rome Yet, though all Mediterranean Africa thus merged into a province of the Roman world, it was still an opulent and enlightened one ; boasting equally with others its sages, its saints, its heads and fathers of the church ; and exhibiting Alexandria and Carthage on a footing with the greatest cities of the empire.