institutions. They practise ag^icAuie, and have learnt the
necessary* and even some of the ornamental arts of life-, arid
dwell in towns of considerable extent, many of which are
said to contain 10,000, and even 30,000 inhabitants,* a circumstance
which implies a considerable advancement in industry
and the resources of subsistence. All these improvements
were introduced into the interior of Africa three or
four centuries ago, and we have historical testimony,^
that in the region where -trade and agriculture now prevail,
the population consisted, previous to the introduction of
Islfim, of savages as wild and fierce as the natives further
toward the south, whither the missionaries of that religion
have never penetrated, It hence appears that human:society
has not been in all parts of Africa stationary and unprogres-
sive from age to age. The—first impulse to civilization was
late in reaching the interior of that continent, owing to^local
circumstances which are easily understood, but when; it
had once taken place, an improvement Jias re s d ^ l which is*,
* In Mr. Park’s account of Sego, the capital ofBambara, which contains about
30,000 inhabitants, the houses have two stories and flat roofs:, Mosqiies.sire
seen in every quarter, and ferries conveying men and horses over the Nigér. ** THe
view of this extensive city,” says Mr. Park, “ the numerous canoes upon £he
river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding coun-
try, tom«! ahog^ber a prospect of civilization and magnificence which I little expected
to find in the bosom of Africa.” To the eastward he passed a large town
Kabba, situated, as he says, in the middle of a beautiM and highly cultivated
country, bearing a greater resemblance to the céntre-:of England thanrèS
what he should have supposed to exist in the middle of Africa.^See Park’s
Travels, chap. 2.
+ Leo Afi-iraring describes the condition of the Pagan Negro countries in the
midst of SMan as very similar in his time to the present state of the people further
southward, where idolatry and absolute barbarism still subsist. This appears
to have been the universal condition of the black tribes of Africa shortly before
the age of Leo. I shall cite the words ,of this celebrated traveller:
« 'NKgritanrm raginnia maxima incolarum copia beluinam prorsus ducqnt
vitam, nullum neque regem, neqne principem, nullamque adeo rempublicam
habent, vix agriculturam noverunt, pellibus quibusdam vestiuntur, proprias veró
mulieres non habent: interdiu pecus cogunt'; sub noctem in tnguriolis quibusdam
deni aut duodeni tam viri quam fceminae conveniunt, pellibus lecti vice utuntur,
sibique earn sumit quisque mulierem, quae magis arridet. Nulli belfcm inferunt,
nec extra limites aliud regnum qmerunt. Horum nonmilli solem simul atque
exortus est, summe venerantjir; alii ignem adorant, cujusmodi sunt ftualat®
populi.”
STATE ;pF THE NEGRO RACES. 47
perhaps, proportional to the early progress of human culture
in jOjther more-favoured,regions-'of the world-,.
The chiefkbarrier^ which hqfcg&A a hmit to the progress of *
Mohammedan conquest and -the introduction of foreign culture
into the more remote, and^s yet unknown, parts of
Africa, is supposed to be„a cj^aingof almost impassable mountains,
which-forms thegnörthem border £&a> highland region
or table-land <?f great extent, and runs nearly across the Continent,
from east, to west, .-about the 10&c£ northern latitude.
In the.eastern part, it ,p^sps,..to the,.southward of the
Alps fof Abyssinia. The. western parts of;this chain join,
in like manner, the high mountains o f. Seriegambia, where
the Senegal and Gambia take thgia^ rjs&civ, They terminate
in the Kong, the long range 0 hillsbehind Dahomé
and the Gold Coast. In the interior, the central chain rises
above the low plains o r Sudan, Bornu, and Begharmi. It
separates, the^ comparatively civilized region, : containing the
Mohammedan states or empires of Africa,. from, the .vast and
unknown wilderness to the; southward, from which camels
and caravans, the ships and fleets of-the desórt, are excluded,
and where, even the twilight of Islhm has never, penetrated
the darkness of African barbarism.
IB S Pliny and the ancient geographers,: the Mountains of
the Moon were known by name, and they have been hut
little ‘better' known in modern times. Recent travellers have,
however, approached, the feet of,these moiuitains, and have am-
quired more correct .information respecting some parts of them.
In the late expedition of Clapperton and Denham .fix the
empire of Bomb, the latter of these travellers obtained a
near view of a chain of hills, which bear the name of Jebel
Kumra. He visited the valley of Mandara, to the .southward
of Lake Tschad, and at the - southern margin of the level region
of Africa. This valley is overhung by mountains,
whose recesses contain the abodes of numerous and barbarous
races, comprehended under the general name of Kerdeis
or Pagans. Their dwellings were everywhere seen in clusters
on the sides and even on the tops of the hills, which immediately
overlook Mandara. “ The fires,” says Major