Chapter XXIX: Letter XIX (3)

That it is a Christian duty to attempt, by lenient measures, to
propagate the Christian religion among the Idolaters and Muhamedans
of Africa, I think cannot be doubted; but this propagation will not
spread to any considerable extent until, (in that country,) the
morals of Christians in general shall approach nearer than they
actually do to the standard of Christian perfection. It is,
however, most certain that there never was a more promising, or a
more favourable opportunity of subverting paganism in Africa, and
establishing Christianity on its ruins, than at this present
period; and I think the best method to effect this desirable
purpose is through the medium of commerce, which must, in that
continent, necessarily precede science and civilisation. It is well
225 known, by all men of penetration who have resided in Muhamedan
countries, that the principles of the religion of Muhamed are not
so repugnant to Christianity as many, nay, most persons have
imagined. Various causes, however, tend to increase the hostility
that exists between the two religions. First, it is augmented by
the fakeers, and by political men, who are ever active in bringing
to their aid superstition and enthusiasm, to increase the
hostility. Secondly, it is augmented by the very little intercourse
which they have with Christians, originating, for the most part, in
our ignorance of the Arabic language, an ignorance which has been
lamented by the emperor[164] Seedy Muhamed ben Abdallah himself.
Thirdly, the hostility of these two religions is augmented by a
very ancient tradition, that the country will be invaded by the
Christians, and converted to Christianity, that this event will
happen on a Friday (the Muhamedan sabbath), during the time that
they are at the (_silla dohor_) prayers at half past one o'clock,
226 P.M.; so that throughout the empire they close the gates of all the
towns on this day, at this period of time, till two o'clock, P.M.:
when the prayers are over, and the people go out of the mosques,
the gates are again thrown open. This tradition, which is
universally believed, acts on the minds of the whole community, and
fans the embers of hostility already lighted between Christians and
Muhamedans, bringing to the recollection of the latter the hostile
intentions of the former to invade and take their country from
them, when an opportunity shall offer. On the other hand, what
tends to reconcile the two creeds is, the influence that European
commerce, and the principles of the Christian doctrine, have had on
the muselmen of Africa. This influence extends as far as the
commerce with Europeans extends. Wherever the Europeans negociate
with the Moors, the great principle of the Christian doctrine is
known and discussed,--that principle which surpasses every doctrine
propagated by the Grecian philosophers, or the wise men of the
East,--that truly noble, liberal, and charitable principle, "Do as
you would be done by," influences the conduct of the better
educated muselmen who have had long intercourse and negociations
with Christians; and they do not fail to retort it upon us,
whenever _our conduct_ deviates from it. Thus, the minds of
muselmen, wherever European commerce flows, are tinctured with this
great principle of the Christian doctrine. And, to an accurate
227 observer of mankind, it will appear that this principle, from its
own intrinsic beauty, has in many superseded the muselman
retaliative system of morality, originating in the Mosaic law,--"An
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." For I have heard
muselmen, in their individual disputes with one another, advance
this precept as a rule of conduct. If, therefore, this divine
principle be recognised by muselmen, who have had intercourse and
commercial negociations with Europeans, in defiance of the
obstacles to this doctrine suggested by the fakeers and political
men; what might we not expect from the due cultivation of an
extensive commerce, upon a grand national scale, with this
interesting continent? Might we not expect a gradual diffusion of
the principles of Christianity among the muselmen, as well as among
the pagans and idolaters, of Africa? I would venture to assert,
that in the event of the British government engaging, with energy
and determination, to cultivate a commercial intercourse and
extensive connection with Africa, that the negroes, and possibly
even the Muhamedans, might gradually be converted to Christianity.
This event would take a long time to accomplish, but its gradual
progress, most probably, would be more rapid than was the progress
of Muhamedanism during the life of the Arabian prophet.

[Footnote 164: When this Emperor, for the purpose of satisfying
his people that he administered retributive justice, ordered
two teeth of an English merchant to be drawn, he repented so
much of what he had done, that he offered to make any amends
that the merchant might require, expressing his wish that he
had an English consul with whom he could converse colloquially,
without the inconvenience of an interpreter; and for this
purpose the Emperor, after granting him considerable favours,
urged him to accept of the British consulship; adding, that he
himself would secure him the appointment, and that he would
then refuse nothing, but whatsoever the English should ask of
him, they should have.]

Associations have been formed in this philanthropic country,
through the medium of extensive subscriptions, for the civilisation
228 of Africa, and the abolition of the slave trade: the greatest merit
is due to the individuals who have subscribed to such institutions;
their motives have been unexceptionable, but we grossly deceive
ourselves, and the whole is an illusion! The French, as it were,
have taken the staff out of our hands; and whilst we are in vain
endeavouring to abolish the trade in slaves, _by the capture of
slave-ships at sea_[165], they are insidiously cultivating the
growth of cotton, coffee, sugar, indigo, and other colonial
produce, on the banks of the Senegal river; insomuch that if we
shall continue thus supinely to disregard their important African
agricultural operations, the result in a few years will probably
be, that they will be able to undersell us in West-India produce,
in the markets of continental Europe; for they can cultivate, with
free negroes at Senegal, colonial produce at considerably less
expense than our West-India cultivation. The voyage, also, is not
half the distance; so that the continental market for the sale of
West-India produce will be shortly supplied from Senegal, from
229 whence it is more than probable that colonial produce will be
imported to Europe at little more than half the expense of
importing it from the West Indies: thus Great Britain may be driven
out of the market for colonial produce, except for what may be
sufficient for her own domestic supply.

[Footnote 165: Many naval officers concur in thinking, that to
suppress the slave trade, by interrupting the ships, would
employ all the navy of Great Britain; and entail a war-expense
on the nation; besides the enormous expense that will be
necessarily incurred by the various commissions dispatched to
Sierra Leone, Havannah, &c. &c. for the adjudication of
slave-causes. To which may be added, our expensive presents to
Spain and Portugal, to induce those powers to coalesce in the
abolition; which there is too much reason to apprehend will be
evaded by the subjects of those powers.]

This has been a favourite scheme of the French, who have now begun
to taste the fruits of it: they have had it in view and in
operation _ever since we gave them possession of Senegal_. It was
the system of her late Emperor, Bonaparte, suggested to him by the
arch and brilliant genius of Talleyrand, to indemnify the loss of
St. Domingo.

Moreover, the French, who are cultivating the territory of Senegal
with indefatigable industry, will be, in a few years, not only able
to supply the continental markets of Europe with colonial produce,
but they will become masters of North Africa, establish another
Ceuta at the African promontory of the Cape de Verd, and, in the
event of a war, annoy incalculably our East-India trade, and
enhance the price of East-India produce in the British dominions;
whilst they will, by the aid of the Americans, who will be always
ready to assist them, form a depot for East-India goods at the Cape
de Verd, and from thence introduce them into Africa and France, to
the almost total exclusion of Great Britain. If we are to prevent
these events from taking place, we must adopt different measures
230 from what we have adopted; we must move in a very different sphere
from that in which we have been accustomed to move; we must be much
more energetic, more vigilant, and more active than we have been,
with respect to African matters. It is presumed that these
suggestions are well deserving the consideration of His Majesty's
ministers. May they view with the eye of an eagle and the wisdom of
the serpent the insidious encroachments that are thus making on our
colonial markets!!

The Africans, by which term I mean the natives, viz. the Moors, the
Arabs, the Berebbers, the Shelluhs, and the Negroes, (not the Jews,
who, although numerous in this country, yet, as they are and have
been ever since their Theocratical Government, a distinct race, and
their customs and manners well known, I do not include them in the
term Africans, although from their birth they are entitled to the
appellation,)--the Africans, I say, are seldom met with in closed
rooms, but are constantly in the open air, transacting their
business in _dwarias_, which are detached rooms, or apartments,
with three sides, the fourth being supported by pillars; this
custom of living continually in or exposed to the external air
renders them strong and healthy, wherefore their bodies, by an
_antiperistasis_, have the natural heat repelled and kept within,
increasing by this action their appetite for food, which is always
strong. They live in a frugal manner, seldom eating but of one
231 food: the prevailing dish throughout North Africa is cuscasoe, a
granulated paste, cooked by steam, and garnished with vegetables,
and chickens, or mutton; this is a very nutritive, palatable, and
wholesome dish. They are not incumbered at their meals with a
variety of dishes; but a large bowl, or spacious plate, is
introduced on a round table, supported by one pillar, like the
_Monopodia_ of the ancients, rather larger than the bowl or dish,
and about six inches high. Half a dozen Moors sit round this
repast, on cushions or on the ground, cross-legged; a position
which they remain in with perfect ease and pliability from custom
and the loose dress they wear. When the company have seated
themselves, a slave or a servant comes round to the guests, to
perform the ceremony of (_togrêda_) washing of the hands; a brass
bason or pan, which they call _tas_, is brought round to all the
company, the slave holding it by his left hand, while, with the
right hand, he pours water on the hands of the guests from a
(_garoff_) pitcher, in the form of an Etruscan vase, having
(_zeef_) a towel thrown over his shoulder to dry their hands. This
ceremony is performed before and after meals. The master of the
feast, before they begin to eat, pronounces (_Bismillah_) the grace
before meat, which signifies, "In the name of God;" after the
repast, he says (_El Ham'd û lillah_) "Praise be to God." Each
guest eats with the fingers of his right hand, none ever touching
the food with their left. If a piece of meat, or a joint of a fowl
232 or chicken is to be divided, two of the guests take hold of it, and
pull it till it is divided. This is somewhat repugnant to an
European's ideas of delicacy; but if we consider that the hands are
previously washed, and that they never come in contact with the
mouth in decent or respectable society, there is not so insuperable
an objection to this way of eating as might otherwise appear. Each
person in eating the granulated flour or cuscasoe, puts his two
fore-fingers into the dish before him, and by a dextrous turn of
the hand converts the quantity taken up into the form of a ball,
which he, with a peculiar dexterity, jirks into the mouth. The
Africans never drink till they have done eating; when dinner is
over, a large goblet, or _poculum amicitiæ_, of pure water is
passed round, and each person drinks copiously; the washing is then
repeated, and the repast is terminated. Afterwards coffee is
introduced, without milk: the cup is not placed in a saucer, nor do
they hand you a spoon, for the sugar is mixed in the coffee-pot;
the cup is presented in an outer cup of brass, which preserves the
fingers from being burned. They use no bells in their tents; but
the slaves or servants are called by the master when wanted, one
generally standing in the corner of the tent to superintend the
others. The pipe is sometimes introduced after the coffee, but this
is by no means a general custom, except among the negroes. The pipe
is of rose-wood, of jasmin, or of rhododendrum wood: great
233 quantities of the latter are conveyed across the Sahara, for
pipe-tubes for the negroes of Timbuctoo, and other territories of
Sudan, bordering on the Nile el Abeed, or Nile of the Negroes
(Niger).

Passing through this territory of encampments, when travellers are
disposed to sleep at a douar, one of the party presents himself at
the confines of the encampment, and exclaims (_Deef Allah_) "The
guest of God." The sheik of the douar is immediately apprised of
the circumstance; and after investigating the rank of the
travellers, he enquires if they have tents with them; if they have
not, he has his own or (_kheyma deâf_) the guest's tent
appropriated for the travellers. If they have their own tents,
which persons of respectability generally have, the sheik comes and
directs the servants where to pitch them; the camels and mules are
disburdened, and the sheik declares (_atshie m'hassub alia_) "For
all this baggage I hold myself accountable." Europeans travelling
in this country generally follow their own customs: accordingly,
among the English, tea is ordered; a most delectable refreshment
after a fatiguing journey on horseback, exposed to the scorching
rays of the African sun. If the sheik and a few of his friends are
invited to tea, which these Arabs designate by (_elma skoon û el
hadra_) hot water and conversation, they like it very sweet, and
drink half-a-dozen cups at least. Nothing ingratiates travellers
with these people so much as distributing a few lumps of sugar
234 among them: sugar, honey, or any thing sweet, being with these
Arabs emblematical of peace and friendship. Some of the women of
the Arabs are extremely handsome; in all the simplicity of nature
"when unadorned adorned the most." To fine figures they unite
handsome profiles, good and white teeth, and large, black,
expressive, intelligent eyes, like the eyes of a gazel; dark
eye-brows, and dark long eye-lashes, which give a peculiar warmth
and softness to the eye. They concern themselves little about time,
and will sometimes come to converse after midnight with the
Europeans. When the guard of the tent informs them they cannot go
in, that the Christian is a-bed and undressed, they are not less
astonished than we are to see them sleeping in the open air at
night, on the ground, with their clothes on. When candles are
brought into the tent at night, the servant wishes the company a
good evening: he says "_M'sah elkhere_," the literal meaning of
which is "_Good be with you this evening_;" which salutation it is
courteous to return, even to a slave; and if any one, however great
his rank, were not to return it, he would be considered a bad
muselman, a disaffected and inhospitable barbarian. The morning
salutation is (_Alem Allah sebak_,) "May your morning be
accompanied with the knowledge of God;" or, (_Sebah el khere_, or
_sebahk b'elkhere_) "Good morning to you," or "May your morning be
good." Equals meeting, touch hands, and then each kisses his own
235 respectively; they then say, (I now speak of the middle order of
society,) "And how are you, and how have you been: how long it is
since I saw you! and how are you, and how are your children; (_ûhel
Dar'kume_,) and the people of your family, how are they, certainly
you are well:" and so they will go on, sometimes for a quarter of
an hour, repeating the same thing. If an inferior meets a superior,
he kisses his hand or his garment and retires, when there is a
greater disparity of rank, the inferior kisses the stirrup of the
superior; or prostrates himself if the superior is a prince, a
fakeer, or a bashaw.

Another salutation among respectable individuals is, by each
placing his right hand on his heart, indicating that part to be the
residence of the friend!

The Jews of this country retain the customs of their ancestors more
pure and unmixed than those in other countries.

When a Jew dies he is interred the same day, or the day after at
farthest. The female relations and the friends of the deceased
assemble round the corpse, and utter bitter lamentations, tearing
their faces and their hair in a most woeful manner; they disfigure
their faces with their finger-nails, till they bleed, and during
the whole time keep stamping or moving their legs, beating time, as
it were, with their feet; these lamentations are continued, with
occasional intermission, till the body of the deceased is carried
236 away for interment. The performers of these bitter lamentations
appear to have all the marks of hideous grief inscribed on their
faces, but most of them feel no real concern; some of the girls,
young and handsome, near akin to the deceased, are ambitious to
disfigure themselves, and they lacerate their pretty faces most
lamentably. The more wounds these bear on their cheeks the greater
is their grief considered to be. But the corpse being removed the
mourners regale themselves with _Mahaya_, or African brandy, and
make up for their lamentations, by converting their bitter strains
into conviviality.

There is a strange resemblance between this custom and that
practised by the inhabitants of New Zealand; insomuch that we might
imagine the latter to be one of the lost tribes of this
extraordinary people. It is true that we have no record of such a
perfection of navigation as to enable us to conjecture how a tribe
of Jews could reach New Zealand: but many things remain in great
obscurity even in this enlightened age; and we have had no
historical record transmitted to us from the ancients of many
extraordinary discoveries that recently have been made in Egypt.

237

INTEREST OF MONEY.

_Application of the Superflux of Property or Capital._

In this country the law allows no interest of money; the
consequence is, that the country is overwhelmed with usurers, who
exact, generally, an oath of secrecy, and lend money on pledges of
valuable and convertible merchandise: the interest paid on these
negociations is most exorbitant; I have known five, six, eight,
ten, and even twelve per cent, per month paid for the use of money!
There is no paper money in this country; but a bank might be
established at Mogodor, for the convenience of internal trade: the
_sine qua non_ of the bank should be, AN ADEQUATE CAPITAL. The
advantages that would necessarily result from an establishment of
this kind are incalculable; the paper of a bank, _thus
established_, would be current in a short time, UNDER JUDICIOUS AND
INTELLIGENT MANAGEMENT, in all the territories of Sudan, through
the heart of Africa, through Bambâra, Timbuctoo, Houssa, Cashna,
Wangara, Bernôh, Fas, and Marocco, and various other countries. The
238 immense advantages of the carriage of paper through the Desert and
through Sudan, _convertible_ into cash at every commercial city,
port, or district in a country like this, would greatly facilitate
the operations of commerce; this must be evident to every political
economist acquainted with the nature of commercial negociations in
Africa.

The superflux of coin, consisting principally of Mexico dollars,
and doubloons, (over and above the quantum necessary for the
circulating medium of commercial negociations,) is either buried
under ground by the owner, or converted into jewels for the ladies
of his family; there is a general propensity to these subterraneous
hordes; the bulk of the people, the lower classes in particular,
have an idea that they will enjoy in the next world what they save
in this; which opinion is not extraordinary, when we consider how
many cases there are, wherein we see the sublimest capacity
prostrate at the shrine of an _early imbibed_ superstition. Many of
these erring philosophers, therefore, attentive to the accumulation
of riches, retire from this sublunary world with an immense
immolated treasure, wherewith to begin, as they imagine, their
career in the world to come!

"We," they say, "convert our superflux to jewels and costly apparel
for our females, and we have the gratification of seeing them well
apparelled and agreeably ornamented. Moreover, a great part of our
possessions is appropriated to the sacred rites of hospitality,
239 which you Christians know not how to practise; for you worship the
idol of ostentation; you invite your friends to dinner; you incur
an intolerable and injudicious expense, and provide a multiplicity
of dishes to pamper their appetites, sufficient for a regiment of
muselmen; when nature and national beings, which men were born to
be, require only one dish. Moreover, your sumptuous entertainments
are given to those only who do not want; therefore is it an
ostentatious and a wanton waste! We, on the contrary, that is to
say, every good Muselman, gives one-tenth of his property to the
poor; and moreover much of his substance is appropriated to the
support, not of the rich and independent, who do not want it, but
to (_deefan_) strange guests who journey from one country to
another; insomuch that, with us, a poor man may travel by public
beneficence and apt hospitality from the shores of the
Mediterranean to the borders of Sahara, without a fluce[166] in
(_hashituh_) the corner of his garment.[167] A traveller, however
poor he may be, is never at a loss for a meal, several meals, and
even for three days entertainment, wherever he travels through our
country; and if any man were to go to a douar in any of the Arab
240 provinces of our Sovereign's empire, and not receive the
entertainment and courtesy of a brother, that douar would be
stamped with a stigma of indelible disgrace! Pardon us, therefore,
if we say, you have not such hospitality in your country, although
the great principle of (_Seedna Aisa_) our Lord Jesus, is
charity." [168] I should, however, observe that this hospitality is
shown almost exclusively to Muhamedans.

[Footnote 166: A fluce is a copper coin, one hundred of which
are equal to sixpence English.]

[Footnote 167: In the corner of his garment:--The Africans have
no pockets; they carry their money in the corner of their
garment, and tie it with a knot to secure it.]

[Footnote 168: The Muhamedans acknowledge Jesus Christ to have
been a Prophet that worked miracles; the indelible proof of his
mission.]

Respecting women and horses, speaking of the treatment of them in
England, they remark, that "England is a paradise for women, who
are there exalted beyond the fitness of things; and it is
(_gehennum_) a hell for horses, for those poor ill-treated animals
in the hackney coaches and carts, need only to be seen to be
pitied; the hard blows which they receive from their cruel masters
are calculated to impress our minds with an opinion that we are in
a land of barbarians, whereas you call yourselves a civilised
people: You say you are such; your actions deny the fact, and we
judge by actions, not by words or self-commendations. When,
therefore, you pride yourselves on your superiority and
civilisation the whole is a delusion; and when we hear you set
forth these absurd pretensions, we are compelled to commiserate our
common race, and to exclaim, Alas, poor human nature!" This is the
241 verbatim reply that a very intelligent but irritated Muselman made
to my animadversions on the absurdity of burying treasure. This
gentleman's father had been ambassador from the Emperor of Marocco
to Great Britain, and to France; and had seen much of French,
Spanish, and English manners, among the higher orders of society in
those countries.

Too much cannot be said in commendation of this generous,
open-hearted philanthropy of the Arabs, here described: but the
intelligent reader will understand, that it applies particularly to
the Arabs, or cultivators of the plains, in the empire of Marocco;
and, in its large and unlimited extent, to the Bedouin or roving
Arabs of the Sahara, and of Lower Suse, from whose (_kabyles_)
clans, the Arabs cultivators are early emigrations; almost all of
them having their original stock in the Sahara. It is also
confined, almost exclusively, to Muhamedans, and does not, like the
divine doctrine of Jesus Christ, with universal benevolence embrace
all mankind, without distinction of party, sect, or nation;--a
doctrine which has lately been put in considerable practice in our
own country, by institutions supported by voluntary subscriptions
for the destitute, for foreigners in distress, and for negroes; by
institutions in aid and support of all needy persons labouring
under sickness, or having need of surgical aid; by institutions for
the encouragement of industry, for the refutation of vice and
242 immorality; by institutions that reflect immortal honour on this
country, and cast a lustre on the respective individuals who have
contributed to all these heart-approving institutions, which are
calculated to afford relief to almost every description of
suffering humanity!!

Itinerant (_tebeebs_) doctors travel through the country to
administer to the sick; which, however, are seldom found. They
carry over their shoulders a leathern bag, containing their
surgical apparatus, which consists of a lancet, a scarifying knife,
and a caustic knife, or knife for burning: they scarify the neck,
the forehead, or the wrists. The caustic knife is an instrument of
very general application. They convert all gun-shot and other
wounds, as well as sores, into burns, by heating the knife in the
fire, and gently touching the circumference of the wound with it.
This produces acute pain; but the Africans bear pain heroically:
they say that this method prevents inflammation and festering. They
perform, by caustic, extraordinary cures. I imagine this method
would not agree with an European body, pampered with a variety of
high food and luxurious living.

The inhabitants of this country break their fast with (_el hassûa_)
barley-gruel; they grind the barley to the size of sparrow-shot,
this they mix with water, and simmer over a slow fire two or three
hours. This food is esteemed extremely wholesome, and is
243 antifebrile. The Emperor takes this before he drinks tea in a
morning: his father, Seedi Muhamed ben Abdallah, also, who drank
none but fine hyson tea, never would drink that beverage till he
had first laid a foundation of _el hassûa_.

The Arabs and Shelluhs, with whom _el hassûa_ is generally used,
urge its salubrity, by reporting that a physician alighted in a
strange country, and when he arose in the morning, after performing
his matins, he seated himself with some of the inhabitants, and,
conversing, asked them how they lived, and with what food they
broke their fast? "With _el hassûa_," was the reply: "Then,"
rejoined Esculapius, (_Salam û alikume_,) "Peace be with you; for
if you eat _el hassûa_ in the morning you have no need of a
doctor:" and he immediately departed.

When I established the port of Santa Cruz, and opened it to
European commerce, the gratitude and hospitality of the Arabs and
Shelluhs of the province of Suse, was demonstrated in every way: so
rejoiced were they to see their port, after an inactivity of thirty
years, again re-established. If I rode out to visit any part of the
country, the women, on my approach to a douar, would come out to a
great distance with bowls of milk on their heads; others with bowls
of honey, with thin scrapings of butter in them, and bread or
244 cakes[169], similar to pancakes, baked in five minutes, on stones
heated with the embers of charcoal. These greetings I received by
tasting every bowl of milk, and dipping a bit of bread in the honey
and eating it. The milk thus presented is emblematical of peace and
amity; the honey of welcome: to refuse eating or tasting what is
thus presented, is considered, among this patriarchal people, a
great breach of good manners, an inexcusable want of courtesy,
which they say none but a _kaffer_[170] would commit. They would
then say, _Birk eeaudee, birk attajar u straha_, "Alight, I pray
thee, alight, merchant! and rest yourself."

[Footnote 169: See a similar custom in Genesis, xxiii. 5--8.]

[Footnote 170: Kaffer is the Arabic term for Infidel. All the
idolatrous Negro nations are, by Muhamedans, denominated
Kaffer, (or Caffres). Sing. Kâffer--plural Kaffer.]

In these halcyon days, these grateful people never knew when to
cease offering presents. They sat on the ground in the refulgent
meridian sun, and when I dismounted to walk to the shade of a tree,
to partake of their hospitality, they would exhort me to shun the
shade, (_lie ê drab'k elbird_) for fear it should give me cold.
245 These Bedouin[171] Arabs of Suse and Sahara are the descendants of
the ancient Arabs, whose bold and figurative language is the same
that was spoken in Arabia twelve centuries ago, in the time of
Muhamed.

[Footnote 171: The Arabs of the vast plains of the empire of
Marocco, who live in douars, or encampments, are emigrations
from the original stock or clan in Sahara; who are the pure or
Bedouin Arabs. Being established in the beautiful and
productive plains of West and South Barbary, they soon forget
their Bedouin customs, change their wandering, plundering
habits, and become cultivators, and stationary; for the immense
produce of their labour in these plains, which require no dung,
nor any preparation but the plough, soon rewards their
industry, so as to determine them to continue this new mode of
life.]

Passing early one morning by a douar, in the territory of
Howara,[172] I was invited to join a party to hunt the wild boar.
The plains of Howara, between the city of Terodant and Santa Cruz,
abound with boars: we started, in a few hours, seven of these
animals, two of which were taken and killed. The dogs best
calculated for this sport are what they call _sereet telt_, or the
third race of greyhounds, which is a very strong dog. One of these,
I observed, attacked the boars by the nape of the neck, and never
left his hold till the other dogs came up to the attack: although
the boar would toss him about in all directions, he never left his
hold. The Arabs of Suse are very dextrous and active at this sport:
they hunt with javelins; some have guns, which they fire when
opportunity offers, but they never expend their powder and shot
(_batâl_) vainly, as they express it, but always make sure of their
246 mark. I could not but admire this celebrated (_slogie_) greyhound;
which the Arab to whom it belonged observing, insisted on my taking
it home to Santa Cruz, adding, that whenever I wished to hunt, to
let him know, and he would accompany me. I offered him a present of
money for the dog, which is what I never had refused before in the
provinces north of Suse; but he declined the offer, saying he was
more than recompensed already by the establishment of the port of
Santa Cruz. "Myself, my family, my kabyl," said he, "hail you as a
father; (_e moot alik_) they will die in your cause." No favour
could have equalled that of re-establishing the commerce of
Agadeer. These circumstances serve to show what reception might be
expected from these people, if the British Government would
negociate with the Emperor for the purchase of the port of Agadeer,
or Santa Cruz, preparatory to the establishment of a commerce with
Timbuctoo, and other regions of Sudan.

[Footnote 172: In the 815th year of the Hejira, an emigration
from the Howara Arabs attacked, took possession of, and
destroyed the city of Assouan, in Egypt.]

247

PLAN
FOR THE
GRADUAL CIVILISATION OF AFRICA.

_On the Commercial Intercourse with Africa, through the
Sahara and Ashantee._

To cultivate an extensive commercial intercourse with Africa, I
have already observed, that the best method, the simplest, and that
which is, from contingent circumstances, the most likely to
succeed, is the plan which I have pointed out in the following
prospectus. I shall now offer several reasons why this plan is
superior to any other hitherto suggested.

The riches of the Arabs of Sahara generally, as well as of that
part which I have contemplated as a convenient spot for
establishing a colony, and for opening a communication with Sudan,
consists exclusively in camels. The independence of a man is there
ascertained by the number of camels he possesses; it is not said,
how many thousand dollars has he? or, what quantity of gold does he
possess? or, what land has he? but, how many camels does he own?
The master of these, aptly denominated, ships of the Desert, is
248 urged by interest to let on hire his camels, as the master of a
ship of the ocean is urged by interest to seek freight for his
ship. And it is observed, that the ferocious appearance among the
Arabs, (which is too often assumed,) subsides in proportion to the
intercourse they have with merchants, who negociate with them for
the transport of their goods. Thus, at the _depôts_ for camels
between the cultivated country and the Desert, viz. at _Akka,
Tatta, Ufran,_ and _Wedinoon_, the ferocity of the Arabs is greatly
lost in the commercial spirit and endeavour to let their camels on
hire to the merchants. The Mograffra, the Woled Abbusebah, and the
Tejakant Arabs, therefore, who possess the Sahara, from the shores
of the Atlantic to the confines of Timbuctoo, would act in concert
with the colony, and would have a joint interest in promoting their
commercial views. The Brabeesh Arabs who receive, occasionally,
tribute from Timbuctoo, would also find it expedient to promote the
commerce of Sudan, and the prosperity of Timbuctoo; both which
would necessarily be united to their own interest, and would
provide a demand for their camels.

If the profits of this commerce, when once established and secured
to the British, were to be cent. per cent., the whole would remain
a bonus to the colony. There would be no shereef of Fezzan, or
bashaw of Tripoli, to take their share of the profits, in any
shape, in exchange for the privilege of being suffered to pass
249 through their country. But, on the contrary, the Arabs of the
Mograffra and other tribes would find it so evidently their
interest and advantage to be friendly with us, that we might
absolutely have the entire command of the Desert, from the shores
of the Atlantic to the city of Timbuctoo, which would eventually
throw such a weight of power into our hands, as to make even that
city itself, in a manner, tributary to us.

A plan of this kind should be executed _upon a grand national
scale_, and be pursued with discretion and perseverance.

An attempt to penetrate to Timbuctoo, through Ashantee, and
establish a commerce through that country, might meet with
temporary success; but I apprehend that we should labour under the
same inconveniences, and be subject to the same arbitrary imposts
and exactions, whether in the shape of duties, part of the profits,
or otherwise, as we should, by opening a communication through
Tripoli. There would be a present or douceur to the king of
Ashantee; others to the princes of the adjoining territories; and,
finally, (taking the character of this king to be as represented by
the late traveller in that country, Mr. Bowdich), might we not
reasonably anticipate that, on the first dispute respecting the
division of the profits, the king of Ashantee would order all the
English out of his country, and, to terminate the dispute, plunder
them of their property? But, perhaps the establishment of a colony
in Ashantee, _conjoined_ to one in Sahara, might not be
250 objectionable. We should then have two routs to the grand emporium
of central Africa: if one failed, the other would remain open for
our countrymen to recover their property and to return by; and
thus, in establishing a commercial intercourse with the interior of
Africa, through two routes, we should secure, at the same time, our
retreat, by one of them, and not remain at the mercy of the
barbarous king of Ashantee, or any other African potentate, who
might be urged, from jealousy or avarice, to sacrifice our people,
when once he had them in his power!

251

PROSPECTUS OF A PLAN
FOR FORMING A
NORTH AFRICAN OR SUDAN COMPANY,

To be instituted for the purpose of establishing an extensive
Commerce with, and laying open to British Enterprise, all the
Interior Regions of North Africa.

* * * * *

OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY.

1_st_. To lay open the interior regions of North Africa to British
enterprise--to supply those vast and unexplored countries with
British manufactures, with East-India goods, and with colonial
produce.

2_dly_, To encourage our manufactories, by opening a new market
calculated to improve the revenue of the country, to provide
employment for the labouring poor, and to enrich the mercantile
community; _the genial influence of which sources of prosperity
will necessarily diffuse itself through all classes_.

3_dly_, To facilitate, through the medium of commerce (_the only
medium by which it can possibly be effected_), the exploration of
the interior regions of Africa, (_which have remained to this day a
sealed book, notwithstanding the many adventurous expeditions that
252 have been undertaken_,) by opening a communication with the natives
of that vast and little-known continent, and BY CALLING TO OUR AID
THE CO-OPERATION OF THE NATIVE CHIEFS, BY HOLDING OUT TO THEM THE
BENEFITS WHICH THEY WILL DERIVE FROM COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE AS A
REWARD FOR THEIR ASSISTANCE AND EXERTIONS IN PROMOTING THIS
DESIRABLE OBJECT.

For these purposes it is proposed--

That the funds to be raised be one hundred thousand pounds, in
shares of one hundred pounds each. Ten shares to constitute a
director.

The spot proposed to be fixed on as the point of communication, and
commercial depôt, between Great Britain and the interior of Africa
is SAFE AND HEALTHY: it will afford a _direct communication with
Timbuctoo and the interior regions of Sudan_, without being subject
to the uncertainty of securing the favour and protection of the
various sultans and sheiks of the respective territories of the
interior, through which the merchants and traders may pass--a
measure which would have been indispensable in every plan that has
hitherto been suggested for the discovery of those interesting
regions.

The plan now to be adopted, on the contrary, will be subject to
none of those impediments and uncertainties; but the merchants and
travellers will pass through territories where they need fear no
hostility, but will be received with hospitality and attention by
the natives, who will give them every assistance and accommodation
253 in their progress through their country.

Connected with this plan, a school for instructing the British
youth in African Arabic, so as to initiate them in the rudiments of
that language previously to their departure for Africa, might be
established, under the direction of JAMES GREY JACKSON, professor
of African Arabic, &c.

The present scheme has been many years in contemplation, but no
favourable opportunity of making it thus public having hitherto
occurred, it is now offered to the public, in consequence of the
energies lately manifested by France and by America for African
colonisation, and also by Holland.

The projectors, for the honour of their own country, are anxious
that Great Britain may not, through supineness, suffer this
important discovery to be wrested from her by any foreign power,
but that she should _at least share the glory_ due to this
important achievement, the completion of which would _immortalize
the prince who should cherish it to its maturity_.

Capitalists, and gentlemen resident in Great Britain, desirous of
further information on this subject, may address themselves to
JAMES GREY JACKSON, whose residence, at any time, may be known at
Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London.

TO THE BRITISH PUBLIC.

London, 31st March, 1819.

The above plan is ingenuously, liberally, and disinterestedly
254 submitted to the consideration of British capitalists and merchants
of respectability. The advantages to be derived from such an
establishment as is here contemplated, if not evident to Great
Britain, is clearly visible to Holland, to France, and to America.

The projector, therefore, without mentioning the offers that have
been made to him by a foreign maritime power, and _without
courting_ the suffrages of British merchants in support of this
plan, has it in contemplation, (_provided no attention is paid to
it in England_,) to lay this eligible scheme open to a foreign
power. If, therefore, the projector should accept employment in
this undertaking from a foreign power, it will be in the
conviction, that _it is more to the interest of mankind in general,
and to Europe in particular_, that this plan for opening an
_extensive, lucrative, and beneficial commerce with Africa_, (which
would necessarily lead to its civilisation,) should be known to,
and adopted by, _a foreign power_, than that this vast and
little-known continent should, (to the indelible disgrace of
civilised Europe,) _still continue to remain_ an useless and an
undiscovered country to the present generation!

JAMES GREY JACKSON.

_Appendix to the foregoing Prospectus, being an Epitome of the
Trade carried on by Great Britain and the European States in the
Mediterranean, indirectly with Timbuctoo, the Commercial Depôt of
North Africa, and with other States of Sudan_.

Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, and other commercial ports of France
255 and Italy, as well as of Spain, send to Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli,
and Egypt, _for the markets of Sudan_, manufactured silks, damask,
brocade, velvets, raw silk, combs of box and ivory, gold-thread,
paper, manufactured sugar, cochineal, and various other
merchandise.

Great Britain sends to the Barbary ports in the Mediterranean, and
to Mogodor on the Atlantic Ocean (which are afterwards conveyed to
Timbuctoo), for distribution at the several markets of Sudan--

_East India Goods, viz._--Gum benjamin, cassia, cinnamon, mace,
nutmegs, cloves, ginger, black pepper, Bengal silk, China silks,
nankeens, blue linens, long cloths, and muslins (mulls).

_West India Produce_.--Pimento, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, and
manufactured sugar.

_Linens_.--Dimities, plattilias, creas, rouans, Britannias,
cambrics, and Irish linens.

_Hardware_.--Iron nails, copper ditto, brass ditto, sword blades,
dagger ditto, guns, gunpowder, knives, &c. &c.

_Cloths_.--Superfine, of plain brilliant colours, not mixtures, and
cassimeres. And various other articles of merchandise.

Immense quantities of salt are also sent to Timbuctoo, which is for
the most part collected at the mines of Tishet and Shangareen, (see
the map of northern and central Africa, in the New Supplement to
the Encyclopaedia Britannica,) through which the caravan would pass
to Timbuctoo.
256
The following are the articles purchased by the Moors and Arab
traders, and are the returns brought back to Barbary from Sudan;
viz.

Gold dust, and trinkets of pure Wangara gold, of various fashions,
of the manufacture of Housa and Jinnie.--_B'Kore Sudan_ (fumigation
of Sudan), a kind of frankincense highly esteemed by the Africans.
Ostrich feathers (the finest in the world). Elephants' Teeth.
_Korkidan_, so called by the Arabs, being the horns of the
rhinoceros: these are a very costly article, and are in high
estimation among the muselmen, for sword-hilts and dagger-handles.
_Guza Sarawie_ (Grains of Paradise). Gum Copal Assafoetida, and a
great variety of drugs for manufacturing uses, and various roots
for dyeing. Ebony. Camwood. Sandal wood. Indigo, equal to that of
Guatimala: to which may be added, the command of the gum trade of
Senegal.

All the foregoing merchandise being first landed at Alexandria,
Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Tetuan, and other Barbary ports in the
Mediterranean, _as well as at Mogodor on the western coast of
Africa_, are afterwards sold to the Muhamedan merchants, who sell
them with a very good profit to other Moors. These goods frequently
go through three, four, and five hands, before they reach the
consumer in Sudan, subject to a profit gained by each holder of
from twenty to thirty per cent.; the last purchaser, who conveys
257 them through the Desert, however, expects, and generally obtains,
from fifty to sixty per cent. profit on them, to which he considers
himself entitled, from the fatigue and privations of his passage
through the Desert, during a journey through a country, for the
most part barren, of above fifteen hundred miles in length; through
various kingdoms and principalities, subject to a charge for
(_statta_) convoy at the exit and entrance of each respective state
or district on each side of the Sahara, as well as in the Sahara
itself.

But, according to the plan here suggested to the commercial
community, all these various articles, instead of passing through
five several hands, would now pass through only two hands, viz.
through those of the shippers in England, and those of their agents
established on _the western coast of Africa_, who would sell them
directly to the Timbuctoo trader, which latter, instead of having
several principalities and kingdoms to pass through (at the exit
from each of which, as well as at the entrance of them, he would
have a charge for protection or convoy, called _statta_, levied on
the goods), would have no convoy-charge, or statta, to pay; he
would have but ten hundred, instead of fifteen or sixteen hundred
miles to go, being about two-thirds of the distance of the road
from Tunis or Tripoli, through Fezzan, to Timbuctoo.

N.B. There is an immense bank near the contemplated depôt, or port
258 (abounding in fish, which now supplies the _wahs_, or cultivated
spots in the desert, as well as the territories on the southern
confines thereof), which produces fish sufficient to supply the
whole of the interior of Africa, as well as the shores of the
Mediterranean, &c. &c.

_Letter from Vasco de Gama, in elucidation of this Plan_.

Sir,

The Society of Encouragement for National Industry in France, has
granted prizes for various discoveries in the arts and sciences;
but I wish government, or some society of our own country, would
offer a liberal prize for the best mode of colonising Africa, and
for meliorating the condition of the inhabitants of that vast and
little known continent. A well-digested plan for the discovery of
this continent might be followed by the most desirable events. The
efforts of the African Association have, to say the least, been
lamentably disastrous; little good can be anticipated from the
efforts of solitary or scientific travellers in a country where
science is not cultivated, and where the travellers know little or
259 nothing of the[173] general language of Africa, or of the manners
and dispositions of the natives.

[Footnote 173: The general language of North Africa is the
Western Arabic, with a knowledge of which language, a traveller
may make himself intelligible wherever he may go; either in the
negro countries of Sudan, in Egypt, Abyssinia, Sahara, or
Barbary.]

A knowledge therefore of the _African Arabic_ appears indispensable
to this great undertaking; and it should seem that a commercial
adventurer is much more likely to obtain his object than a
scientific traveller, for this plain reason,--because it is much
easier to persuade the Africans that we travel into their country
for the purposes of commerce and its result--_profit_, than to
persuade them that we are so anxious to ascertain the course of
their rivers!

Accordingly, it was aptly observed by the Negroes of Congo, when
they learned that Captain Tuckey came not to trade nor to make war;
_"What then come for? only to take walk and make book?"_

I do not mean now to lay down a plan for the colonisation of
Africa, or for opening an extensive commerce with that vast
continent, but I would suggest the propriety of the method by which
the East India Company govern their immense territories. _I would
wish to see an African Company formed on an extensive scale, with a
large capital_. I am convinced that such a company would be of more
service to the commerce of this country than the present India
trade, where the natives, _without being in want_ of our
manufactures, surpass us in ingenuity. But the Africans, on the
contrary, _are in want_ of our manufactured goods, and give immense
260 sums for them. According to a late author, who has given us the
fullest description[174] of Timbuctoo[175] and its vicinity, a
_Plattilia_ is there worth fifty Mexico dollars, or twenty _meezens
of gold_, each meezen being worth two and a half Mexico dollars; _a
piece of Irish linen_ of ordinary quality, and measuring
twenty-five yards, is worth seventy-five Mexico dollars; and a
quintal of _loaf sugar_ is worth one hundred Mexico dollars. Now if
we investigate the parsimonious mode of traversing the Desert, we
shall find that a journey of 1500 English miles is performed from
Fas to Timbuctoo at the rate of forty shillings sterling per
quintal, so that loaf sugar (a weighty and bulky article) can be
rendered from London at Timbuctoo through Tetuan and Fas, including
the expense of a land-carriage of 1500 miles at about 6£. per
quintal, thus:

Refined sugar on board in London for _s. d._
per cwt. 70 0

Duty on importation in any part of
Marocco, ten per cent. 7 0

Freight, &c. five per cent. 3 6

Land carriage across the Desert on camels
to Timbuctoo 40 0
-----
s. 120 6
-----

[Footnote 174: See new Supplement to the Encyclopedia
Britannica, article Africa, page 98.]

[Footnote 175: See the account of Timbuctoo appended to
Jackson's account of Marocco, published by Cadell and Davies,
London, Chap, 18.]
261
So that if 100 lb. of loaf sugar rendered, at Timbuctoo cost
120_s_. 6_d_ and sells there for 100 Mexico dollars at 4_s_. 6_d_.
each, or for 22£. 5_s_. there will result a profit of 270 per cent.

The profit in fine goods, such as the linens before mentioned, is
still more considerable, not being subject to so heavy a charge for
carriage. The immense quantity of[176] gold dust and gold bars that
would be brought from Timbuctoo, Wangara, Gana, and other
countries, in exchange for this merchandise, would be incalculable,
and has, perhaps, never yet been contemplated by Europeans!!--In
the same work, above quoted, 3d edition, page 289, will be found a
list of the various merchandise exportable from Great Britain,
which suit the market of the interior of Africa or Sudan: and also
a list of the articles which we should receive in return for those
goods.

[Footnote 176: The Kings, David and Solomon, extracted from
Africa to enrich the temple of Jerusalem upwards of
800,000,000£. sterling, a sum sufficient to discharge the
national debt; see Commercial Magazine for May 1819, page 6.;
which is eight times as much gold as the mines of Brazil have
produced since their discovery in 1756. See Commercial Magazine
for the same month, page 44.]

Plans to penetrate to the mart of Timbuctoo (which would supply
Housa, Wangara, Gana, and other districts of Sudan with European
merchandize) have been formed; but if a treaty of commerce were
made with any of the Negro kings, these plans would be subject to
various impediments.
262
The goods, in passing through hostile territories, (these
sovereigns living in a state of continual warfare with each other,)
would be subject to innumerable imposts; _it would therefore be
expedient to form a plan whereby the goods should reach Timbuctoo
through an eligible part of the Desert_: but some persons who have
been in the habit of trading for gum to _Portandik_, have declared
the inhabitants of Sahara to be a wild and savage race, untractable
and not to be civilised by commerce, or by any other means. This I
must beg leave to contradict: the Arabs of Sahara, from their
wandering habits, are certainly wild, and _they are hostile to all
who do not understand their language_; but if two or three
Europeans capable of holding colloquial intercourse with them, were
to go and establish a factory on their coast, and then suggest to
them the benefit _they would derive_, being the _carriers_ of such
a trade as is here contemplated, their ferocity would be
transferred forthwith into that virtue in the practice of which
they so eminently excel all other nations, _hospitality_; and the
most inviolable alliance might be formed with such a people. I
speak not from the experience of books, but from an actual
intercourse, and from having passed many years of my youth among
them.
263
An advantageous spot might be fixed upon on the western coast, in
an independent district, where our alliance would be courted, from
which the Kafila[177] or Akkaba would have to pass through only one
tribe with perfect safety, and subject to no impost whatever;
neither would they be subject to any duty on entering the town of
Timbuctoo, as they would enter at the _Beb Sahara_, or gate of the
Desert, which _exempts them_ from duty or impost.

[Footnote 177: Caravan.]