They now possess only some -remote districts of the country
which belonged to them before the invasion of -the Fulahg
and Iolofs. He thinks the original Ffilahs, were red, and
that the present Poules are a mixed people, descended;from
intermarriages with' the Negro nations bordering on the
Flflah states.*
The Iolofs, whose history is by this relation connected
with that of the Fulahs, are a race of jet-black Negroes.
We shall perceive, in a future section, that there are tolerably
good grounds for. concluding them to be a cognate^ people
with the Serreres. We cannot; therefore, easily admit that
they are a race originating from a remote part of the African
continent, and from a region where no Negro nations exist.
The FulabsHbemselves have been known, from the first discovery
of the Senegal, among the most numerous settled inhabitants
of the countries lying to the Southward of that rivesif
In 1697, when the Sieur de Brue sailed up the Sanaga, ®§
visited Gumel, the capital of the Siratikyisituated. ten leagues;
.from the river, where he was surprised by the magnificence of
the Fulah)sovereign. The people at that period were-proba-
bly as dark in complexion as the race termed Black Poules
are at the present day, since we find them-always.termed^
groes, though it is occasionally intimated that they were
fairer than the neighbouring tribes. The queen of Gumel
was, according to the Sieur de Briie, of an olive complexion,
but had handsome features. All the old writers describe
the Fulahs, who were the subjects of the Siratik, just as
their descendants are described by Mollien, Park, and Durand.
Of the --people of King Temala, in the mountainous country
near the sources of the Rio Grande, we have no very particular
description, but there is no reason to believe that they
differed from the present Fulahs of Fjonta-jallo.
On reviewing all the historical information that we can collect
respecting the Fulahs, we find that there is no ground for
the opinion that they emigrated with the Iolofs from northern
Africa. Both Iolofs and Fulahs appear to have been
* Mollien, Voyages en Afrique, tom. i. pp. 329, 2-72; tom. ii. pp, 166, 113,
179, 185.
very ancient inhabitants of,the jepuntries beyond the Senegal,
the Ffilalfffbf the. high .mountain-plains, and the Iolofs of
the, low countries near the sda^coast. Like many other mountain
tribes in Africa, the Fulahs are of -much -lighter colour
than the- Negro'S nation^ and have, in other respects, different
physical character^: they, are mor.e civilized- than any other
neighbouring .nation, with the, exception of the Mandingos.
We have no know-1 pdge^M apy^|^c6nn^ct,ed with the his-
tpry of the Fulahs which, indicates them.,to^ ;be of more
repent origin in the region which they inhabit than any other
African race ; their language -i‘S peculiar to themselves, but it
may probably-be ranked ampng African languages.* It appears;
that soipe tribes of Ffkafs^ are of much lighter colour
than osiers, hut the blacker,tribe s^qr the, Black,Poules,;<,as
Mollien terms them, '.are, very-different .from Negroes they
haye^strgLigh-t hair, and peculiar features; they'do npl, thp-re^
fore, appear to.be even the mixed,offspring of a stock.
. ItSeems that the red or copper-coloured Fulahs,-'as |Kose of
Fouta-jallo, -are natives .nl^mp^&^layuted districts, than thos4
familiesa9r<.tribe&,of the samewrpce who are of a darker complexion.
IV.—Of tk^ inferior Races inhabiting the region
be&oeen the Senegal and Cape Palmas.
The region of Africa nbqve defined, including both Sene-
gambia and Western Guinea,, contains many Ipfher rapes;fjof
people? besides the Mandingos and Fulahs, soi^u pf which
are scarcely known. except by name. I shall not/attempt to
make a complete; enumeration of them, but shall ■ mention
the most; "remarkable, with .the ad^ition/ofc such notices.ipr-
specting their history .as I can {Collect, and think worthy of
* By referring ti)l the table of numerals at* the end of .tins chapter; and comparing
it with ’'the ’numerals of the natiohs..bf-th4/ifitdrior of Africa,/ip/the following
chapter, the reader may observe, that the numbers up/fl^ten appear to be in some
of the African idioms, original and distinct words, while other nations have only
repeated the term for five, adding one, two, three, and four, in order to express the
higher numbers. These last are generally'the least cultivated r&ces; the Mandingos,
the people of 'Tombuktfi and Ilausa, belong to the other class. The Fblahs
and Felatahs, however, coincide in this particular with the most barbarous.