rations; they are .likewise grateful and affectionate towards
their friends and benefactors.* They go nearly naked, and
scarify their faces and bodies : they carry quivers full of poisoned
arrows. In stature they are small and short, but they
are strong and agile. Their hair is woolly and curled, but
not so short as that of many Negro tribes 5 they gather it on
the top of the head in a knot or tuft, which grows five or six
inches longhand their beards project many inches from their
chins. Their colour is a deep .black, and their skins are
rough. Their features are regular, and more like those of
Hindoos than of Negroes in general, f
2. To the southward of the Felonps are the habitations of
the Papels, who dwell in the country between the river of
St. Domingo and the Rio Geba, behind the Portuguese colony
of Gaeheo.
The Papels are a nation of savages who are always at war
with their neighbours and with the Portuguese: they are
fierce, cruel, and vindictive; are pagans, and sacrifice dogs
to an idol or fetiss, which they term Chine. J They are said
to have dull, gross countenances, and a ferocious appearanee.§
The natives of the isle of Bissao, southward of the river of
St. Catherine, resemble the Papels, and are probably a branch
of that tribe. These people are described by M. Brue, who
visited the island. It is divided into nine governments under
the Negro.king. The people sacrifice dogs, eocks, and fattened
oxen to their Chine or fetiss. H
3. Southward of the Papels, the isle of Bassi, and. the'
coast opposite, is inhabited by the Balantes, a tribe of ferocious
savages,_who exceed the Papels in ugliness :: their lan-
guage is said to be entirely different from the idioms of their
neighbours. They eat rats, which they consider a great delicacy
.^f
4. The archipelago of the Bissagos is inhabited by Negroes, *§
* Durand, tom. i. p. 133.
•f Park’s Travels, p. 63. Golberry, tom. ii. p. 295.
£ Durand, tom. i. p. 169.
§ Golberry, tom. i. p. 77* Mollien, tom. ii. p. 259.
|| Durand, tom. i. p. 212.
i f Mollien, tom. ii. p. 253. Durand, tom. i; p. 187. -
who are described as pagans, naturally cruel and ferocious.
Each island lias an independent chief The Bissagos are tall,
strong, and robust ; they feed on fish, and the oil and the
kernels of the palm ; they sell to Europeans the rice and
legumes which they collect for brandy, of which they are so
greedy, that parents sell their children, and children their
aged parents into slavery, in order to obtain the means of intoxication
: suicide is frequent among them. These remarks
apply fo the natives of all the islands : the people of each
have some peculiarities; they are described by M. Bine,
particularly the natives of Gazégat, of whom the following
'account js given by M. Durand:
- te Les femmes et les filles? de Caz,égat n’ont pour habit qu une
grande ;ceinture d’une espèce de frange faite dé joue, et ex-*
trémement épaisse. Elles portent des bracelets dé cuivre et
# étain aux bras et aux jambes, et ne manquent jamais de
frotter leur cheveux avec l ’huile do palme, afin de lès rendre
roux, gras, et doux,? ce qui est chez elles la plus grande çMi
"gance. En général les hommes .et les femmes sont de belle
taille ; ils ont la peau d’un noir si beau qu’elle semble lu^-r
trée. Les traits de leurs visages sont agréables ; ils n’ont ni le
nez écrasé ni les lèvres grosses,, qui semblent caractéristiques
en Afrique; ils ont de l’esprit, de l’adresse, & prendraient
habiles dans les arts s’ils étaient moins paresseux, et qu’on
pût cultiver leurs heureuses dispositions. Leur .caractère; na-r
turelleuient fier, leur rend l’esclavage insupportable, surtout
hors de leur pays; il n’y a rien qu’ils n’entrëprennent pour
en sortir. On ne peut trop prendre de précautions pour éviter
qu’ils ne se révoltent quand on les q, embarqués : les-femmes
sont aussi rédoubtables que les hommes; si les blancs n.églit
gent la plis® petite mesure de.sûreté, ik savent en proffter,; ils
les égorgent, s’emparent du bâtiment, le dirigent vers la côte»
où ils échouent ordinairement»et se sauvent à la nage.”
5. On the bank of the Geba, opposite Bissao, dwell the
Biafares or Tolas, who are the finest race of people on this
coast; their territory reaches in the interior as far as Koli.
6, This place is the frontier of the Basares, a nation vvho are
considered as cannibals. In the same vicinity are the Naloubes,
who are separated by the Rio Grande from the Biafares.
'6 2