were unanimous in declaring these mountains to extend southward for two months’ journey; and in describing them, Yusuf called them “ kou kora, kora, kantaga,”—mountains large, large, moon mountains. And from the increased love of enterprise apparent in our rising generation, we may one day hope to be as well acquainted with the true character of these stupendous mountains as with the lofty peaks of the Andes. ^ The extreme southern peak which I could discern was that called Mendify, which rose into the air with singular boldness. It was said to be a distance from Musfeia of two long days’ journey,- say thirty-five miles. At that distance, it had all the character of an alpine peak, of a most patriarchal height. I could perceive with a glass other mountains extending from its sides, the forms of which bore a tranquil character, compared with the arid and steep peaks which overlooked them. I t resembled very much in appearance “ Les Axguilles,” as they appear looking at them from the Mer-de- Glace. The following outline may serve to show their shape and character. Iron is found in abundance in all the Mandara hills; but no o t h e r metal, that I was informed of. All the houses or huts at Mandara have outer doors to the court, which are made of pieces of wood, hasped together with iron. They make hinges, small bars, and a sort of hoe used to weed the corn, and send them for sale to the Bornou towns. The iron they use is mostly brought from the west hear Karowa. I went to the house of a blacksmith, for the purpose of seeing some of the metal in its natural state, and found four men with a very rude forge, formed by a hole in the sand : the bellows were two kid skins, with an iron tube fixed in each, which tubes were conveyed underneath the fire. The wind was produced by a man blowing these skins, which were open at the top to let in the air. Their hammers were two pieces of iron, weighing about two pounds each, and a coarse piece of the same metal for an anvil; and considering their implements, they worked with some tact. I regretted much that I had not an English hammer to give them. Large masses of the iron, as nature produces it, were lying about; and they appeared to me as so many rusty earthy masses. In appearance, the people of Mandara differ from the Bornouese, or Kanoury (as they call themselves); and the difference is all in favour of the former. The men are intelligent and lively* with high though flat foreheads, large sparkling eyes, wiry curled hair, noses inclining to the aquiline, and features altogether less flattened than the Bornouese. The women are proverbial for their good looks, —I cannot say beauty. I must allow them, however, all their acknowledged celebrity of form : they are certainly singularly gifted with the Hottentot protuberance; their hands and feet are delightfully small; and as these are all esteemed qualifications in the eye of a 'lurk, Mandara slaves will always obtain an advanced price. Certainly I never saw so much of them as when sporting in their native wilds, with not so much covering on as one of Eve’s fig-leaves. A man who took me to be a Moorish merchant led me to his house, m order to show me the best looking slaves in Mandara. He had three, all under sixteen, yet quite women ; for these are precocious climes; and certainly, for negresses, they were the most pleasing and perfectly formed I had ever seen. They had simply a piece of blue striped linen round their loins, yet they knew not their nakedness. Many of these beauties are to be seen at Eouka and Angornou : they are never, however, exposed in the fsug, but sold in the houses of u 2
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