lelt, v iz . shawls and sashes o f silk and gold, hayks o f silk, o f cotton and silk mixed, o f cotton and of w o o l; also an immense quantity o f (hayk filelly) T afile lt hayks, a particularly light and fine manufacture o f that place, and admirably adapted to the climate o f S ou d an ; to these may be added red woollen caps, the general covering o f the head, turbans, Italian silks, nutmegs, cloves, ginger, and pepper; Venetian beads, cowries, and a considerable quantity o f tobacco and salt, the produce o f Barbary and Bled-el-jerrede. T h e produce o f Soudan, returned b y the akkabaahs, for the above articles, consists principally in gold dust, twisted gold rings o f Wangara,* gold rings made at J in n ie ,f bars o f gold, elephants’ teeth, gum o f Soudan, (guza Saharawie) grains o f Sahara, called b y Europeans- grains o f paradise, odoriferous gums, called el b ’kor r’h Soudan, much esteemed by the Arabs for fumigating, to which they ascribe many vir tu e s ; a great number o f slaves, purchased at Timbuctoo, from the Wanga- reen, Houssonian, and other slatees,J who bring them from * I presented one of these rings, some.years since, to Mr. James Willis, ci-der vant consul for Seni-Gambia; they are of pure gold, twisted, and open at the extremity, for the purpose of inserting them in the middle cartilage of the nose; and such is the fashion, that it is esteemed more genteel to appear in rags with a nose-ring, than in fine garments without one, 1 saw a party of these W angareens whilst I was on a visit to the Viceroy of Suse, the Khalif Mohammed ben Delemy, who, when eating, threw the ring upwards, to prevent it from coming in contact with their mouth. The Arabs acknowledge the superiority of Europeans in mechanical arts, and allow that they excel the Africans in general, with the exception, however, of the working in gold, in which the natives of Jinnie do most eminently excel. I have seen trinkets, particularly a figure of an eagle, of such workmanship as would have been difficult to imitate either in England or France. X Slatee is a slave merchant, or seller of men. those regions w hich border on thè J ibbel K o t ffr a» or Mountains o f the Moon, a chain which, With little o rn o intermission, runs through the continent o f A fr ica from west to east, v i z . from Assentee in the west, to Abyssinia in the east. Ostrich feathers and ambergris are collected on thè confinés o f the Desert, and are added to the merchandize before mentioned. T h e gold jewels o f J in n ie f aré denominated b y thè Arabs E l Herrez, from the supposed charm they contain ; the y are invariably o f pure gold, and some o f them o f exquisité workmanship, and o f various forms, but ho llow m th é middle for the purpose o f containing the Hèrrez, or amulet, which consists o f passages from the Koran, arranged iti sòme geometrical figure, on paper, which being enclosed in the gold jew el, is suspended from the neck, or tied round the arms, legs, or elsewhere. These charms have várious and particular powers attributed to them, some insuring the wearer against the effects o f an evil eye, others from an e v il mind ; some are intended to secure a continuation o f prosperity and happiness, or to avert misfortune, whilst others secure to the wearer health and strength. T his superstition, and predilection for charms, pervades the greater part o f A fr ica : thus, in the northern * Sometimes called Jibbel Kumrie, or the W hite or Lunar coloured Mountains (see map the éd) ; so a white horse is called by the Arabs a moon-coloured horse (aoud kumri). . . . . t It may not be irrelevant here to observe, that the air of Jinnie is inimical to all but those ofSoudanic origin, that is negroes, on which account the Arabs, M oots, and others, denominated E l Horreh, carefully avoid entering thé town, but transact any business in the adjacent plains. The inhabitants, who are universally black, are adepts in the occult sciences, and hither men of all descriptions, who are infected with the worm of superstition, resort to gratify the phantasms of their heated imagination, by purchasing the charms, or incantations mentioned in the text.
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