NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
" »Mote I.
Qn the terms.Berber, Barbaria, Barbarize, with reference fop. 15.
Several. considerations!1 itn.portajitj.t0i ejtb nogr^phy^fa^ftoo^nected
with the application of*the"term Barbarx)fiBarbart,fp different nations,'
and with that of Barbaria to different parts of,Africa,, and the
subject deserves some inquiry.
Barbary,; or >, Barbaric.-; as 3appliqd’' to ||S|,porthern , Region of
Africa, is a eemparativelyi modern name. ^ It dsisilpposed to be derive^
from the designation of.the Berber people.. On this I shall
cite a-curious passage from Leo African us :
“ Our cosmographers and Historians affirm,v says Letbi* “ that in
times' past, Africa was. altogether uninhabited, except that part
which is" called the Land of the^egrbHs; and' most certain it is,
that Barbary and Numidia were for many/gg^s^estitute of inhabit-!
ants. The tawny people,—gentes^ubfusci coldriss—©f the'sanlsfe-
gionwere called by the name of Barbar, derived from the. verb bar-
bar a; which, in their tonguepsignifies to>murmur^'because.the African
language sounds in the ears of an Arabian not otherwise than
the voice of brutes Others will have Baibar to be" one’woid twice
repeated, for as much as bar in the Arabian tongue signifies, a desert
; for they say that wh§n King ■ Iphricus,. being by the Assyrians
or Ethiopians driven put of his own kingdom, travelled towards
Egypt, he, seeing, himself SOtmuch oppressed by his. enemies ƒ
that he knew not what should become of himself and bis followers,
asked his people hpw it was possible .to escape, who answered him
‘ Bar-bar,' that is,—‘ To the desert, , ton. the desert,’ giving him to
understand by this expression* that he eould have no safer refuge
than to flee over the* Nile into the desert of Africa.^ This reason,”
says Leo, “ agrees with those who affirm the Africans to be.de-.
seended from the people of Arabia.” *
*. JohfILeon. Afric. Descriptio Africa; Rerumque. in ea memorabilium, lib.. L
p,. 4, prims editionis. 1 hsvc followed in part Puxfihfl^is translation, but
have altered it with reference to. the text of Leo.