Chapter XXX: Letter XIX (4)

That civilisation would be the result of commerce, and that the
trade in slaves would decrease with the increase of our commerce
with these people, there can be little doubt; and, independent of
the advantages of an extensive commerce, the consolation would be
great to the Christian and to the Philosopher, of having converted
millions of brethren made in the perfection of God's image, and
endowed with reason, from barbarism to civilisation, if not to
Christianity!!!

Let us hope, then, that some of the intelligent readers of your
luminous and interesting pages will direct their attention to this
great national object, and produce ah eligible and well-digested
plan for the cultivation of a mutual intercourse _through the
medium qf commerce with Africa_, and for the civilisation of that
hitherto neglected continent.

VASCO DE GAMA.

_Eton, 28th May, 1819_.
264

_On Commercial Intercourse with Africa_.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE.)

Sir,

The plan of your correspondent, for opening a commercial
intercourse with the interior of Africa, appears to me so direct
and simple, that I am only surprised it has not been thought of
before. The Moors are the merchants of Africa; the chain of
communication that runs from the states of Barbary to the negro
kingdoms, and from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.
To judge of the humanity of these people from the accounts of
shipwrecked sailors, whom they have dragged into slavery, and then
liberated for money, would be not less fallacious than to estimate
the character of the English nation from the plunderers of the
wrecks on their coast. From such accounts, the name of Moor has
inspired us with horror; and Park's detention at the camp of Ali,
one of their chiefs, has contributed to confirm it. Park, however,
so far from endeavouring to conciliate his captors, endeavoured, by
his own confession, to appear as contemptible as possible in their
eyes; and yet, with this disadvantage, the greater part of the
miseries he endured proceeded from the climate and the irritation
of his own mind.

The Arabs of Sahara are the carriers of merchandize throughout
North Africa, and the Moors are in the constant habit of selling
265 gum to the French on the Senegal. The French say they are
perfidious; but they give no proof of it that I have seen. I have
met with a French traveller, who owns that his countrymen deceive
them either in the weight or measure of the gum they purchase.

Bruce found a friend in every Moorish merchant, and integrity and
intelligence in all. And where should these qualities be found in a
country like the interior of Africa, in which learning has no place
but among merchants?

So much for the proposed carriers of English goods to Timbuctoo.
Now for the road. The fertile parts of Africa are hot and humid,
unwholesome and dangerous; and the kings are often at war with each
other. Park experienced both these evils; and the wonder was, not
so much that he perished on his second journey, as that he returned
from his first. The Desert is dry and heathful. It is sprinkled
with fertile spots, which form a succession of known
resting-places, and the distance between each requires a certain
number of days to travel. The Moors are at home in Sahara; and,
when they go long journeys, the fertile spots are their inns. The
road from the coast of Sahara is also the shortest that has yet
been pointed out to Timbuctoo.

If the means of executing the plan appear sufficient, it is not
necessary to say any thing in favour of the object: the exchange of
British manufactures for gold, speaks for itself. But there is no
266 time to be lost. The French settlement of Galam is advantageously
situated for commerce with Timbuctoo: a Frenchman has already
travelled from Galam to that city, I believe on a commercial
speculation, and he has returned safe.

CATHERINE HUTTON.

_Impediments to our Intercourse with Africa_.

When we consider the maritime strength of Great Britain; her
command of the ocean; the vicinity to Europe of West Barbary, one
of the finest countries in the world; the rich and valuable produce
which is cultivated in this country;--when we consider that our
garrison of Gibraltar is in its vicinage, and but a few hours' sail
from it, we are naturally astonished that our communication with
this country is so limited. That we have less commercial
communication with Barbary, than we have with countries that do not
open to us any thing like the commercial advantages that this
country offers, though they are thousands of miles from us. It
appears relevant, therefore, to inquire, whence originates this
impeded intercourse? There are two great impediments to our free
intercourse with Sudan through Marocco: viz., a general ignorance
of the Arabic language, as spoken in the latter country; and the
repugnancy of the Muhamedan religion to that of Christ. With
respect to the first of these impediments, it is remarkable that
this learned language is so little known in Europe,--this language,
267 the most prevalent in the world, a language which is spoken or
understood almost without intermission from the western shores of
Africa on the Atlantic ocean, to the confines of China,--a language
understood, wherever Muhamedans are to be found, throughout all the
populous and commercial regions of Africa, from the Western Ocean
to the Red Sea, and from the Mediterranean to the country of
Kaffers,[178] in the vicinage of the Cape of Good Hope. With
respect to the second of these impediments, the repugnancy of the
Muhamedan religion to that of Christ, it may justly be observed,
that this is not really so great as we are apt to imagine; the
moral principles of Muhamedans being not unlike those of the former
Christians, being in fact a composition of Hebrew and Christian
morality. They acknowledge Jesus Christ to be a prophet, and tell
us, that, in this respect, they are on the safe side, as we impute
no Divine authority to Muhamed. But a most violent repugnance to
Christians has been propagated by the (_Fakeers_) Muselmen saints,
or holy men. They have industriously circulated the belief of an
old superstitious prediction which they have on record, viz. that
the Christians will invade the Muhamedan countries, take their
268 cities and towns, and establish the Christian religion on the ruins
of that of Muhamed, and take possession of the country. These
reports, propagated, as before observed, by the (_Fakeers_)
Muhamedan saints, among the lower orders, have kindled a high
degree of rancour and animosity, (equal to that which the Catholics
formerly indulged towards their protestant brethren,) which will
never be extinguished until a friendly alliance and extensive
commercial intercourse be established with them; which alone can
soften this rancour and animosity into peace and amity. This
animosity has been increased also by the rancorous anti-christian
disposition manifested towards these people by the writings of
Roman catholic priests and others.[179] If these uncharitable
opinions of each other could be eradicated, the blessings that
would result to the Africans would be incalculable; a reciprocal
exchange of good offices might pave the way to purchase of the
Emperor of Marocco the port of Agadeer or Santa Cruz, aptly
denominated, from its contiguity to the Sahara (_Beb Sudan_) "the
gate of Sudan," which, in the hands of the English, would be the
key to the whole of the interior of Africa, and an effectual link
269 in our chain of communication with the interior of that
undiscovered continent; it would moreover secure to us the entire
commerce of those extensive and populous regions, to the exclusion
of our Moorish competitors of Cairo, Alexandria, Tripoli, Tunis,
Algiers, and other ports of Barbary, who supply the people of Sudan
with European merchandise at the fourth, fifth, and sixth hand.

[Footnote 178: _Kaffer (or Caffre_) is an Arabic word which
signifies infidels or unbelievers (in Muhamed); the very name
has been given by Muhamedans, and therefore it is to be
presumed that the Muhamedans approximate the countries
contiguous to the Cape.]

[Footnote 179: See Martin Martinius. Abraham Ecchellensis.
Maccarius, Theolog. Polemic. Peter Cevaller. Robert de Retz,
translator of the Koran. See also the support of this assertion
in Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, enlarged
edition, published by Cadell and Davies, Strand, from p. 196.
to 208.]

The abolition of the slave-trade cannot be effected until we shall
have substituted some commerce with the Negro countries, equivalent
at least, or that shall be more than equivalent to it, otherwise
the negro sovereigns of Sudan will never be induced to relinquish
so great a source of profit. Every naval officer in His Majesty's
service knows, that if we were to have thirty sail of the line
continually off the coast of Guinea, it would not be sufficient to
annihilate this abominable traffic, or to deter people from
embarking in a trade that yields such extraordinary profits. This
being admitted, as it certainly will be by every intelligent man,
it follows, that the system now in operation by the British
government for the abolition of the slave-trade, will be attended
only with an unnecessary expense to this country, without the
possibility of effecting the desired object; but, on the contrary,
judging from recent events, there is every reason to presume, that
this detestable commerce will increase, as it has continued to
increase, these last two or three years, in spite of all our
270 operations to prevent it; the Spaniards alone having imported into
the island of Cuba more slaves in 1818 and 1819, than in the four
preceding years. The result has been, that that island has
produced, in 1819, more than double the produce of the former year;
their waste lands, accordingly, are in progressive cultivation,
and, if they go on thus improving, that island, in a few years
hence, will produce coffee and sugar sufficient for the supply of
all the markets of Europe.

Finally, Slavery will never give way to any thing but civilisation;
the civilisation of Africa can never be accomplished but through a
great and extensive commercial intercourse, a commerce that will
_enrich the negroes, and enable them, by a supply of arms, to
contend with and gain an ascendancy over their Muhamedan
oppressors_, who want no other pretext for attacking them, than
that of their being idolaters, which idolatry, it is asserted,
authorises the Muselman to make them slaves. Thus, _the abolition
of slavery must depend on the Africans themselves_; and although it
is in our power to supply them with the means for _their
emancipation_, yet it is absurd to suppose that we can effect it by
our naval operations. If all the great sovereigns of Europe were to
agree to make the trading in slaves piracy, they would not prevent
it. WE cannot emancipate them; _that only can be accomplished by
their own energy_, awakened in them by commercial intercourse, and
its accompanying civilisation.
271
Much might be done if all the African societies were to unite their
interest, knowledge, and abilities for this desired object. If the
African Company would unite their energies with the African
Association, and with the African Institution, such an union would
promote the civilisation of the African continent, and the
conversion of the Negroes to Christianity.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE MOSQUES.

The architecture of this country is of the Gothic character. The
mosques are built somewhat like our churches: the body of the
mosques are covered with green glazed tiles; the steeples are
invariably an exact square, the sides being ten or twelve feet, not
tapering as those of Coventry, but the top having the same
dimensions as the base. At the top is erected a smaller square,
with a flag-staff similar to a gallows, to which is suspended every
day at noon, a white flag, the signal of preparation for prayers;
but on Fridays, the Muhamedan Sabbath, a dark-blue one is
substituted for the same purpose. Some of the mosques are paved
with white and black chequered marble, some are tessellated
pavements, consisting of white, blue, and green glazed tiles, about
two inches square, a very pretty mode of paving, extremely clean,
and has a very cool appearance; others are terrassed, which is lime
272 and small stones beaten down with wooden mallets. They excel in the
art of making terras. The houses are all flat roofed, so as to
resist the heaviest rains: the declivity of the terrasses is so
imperceptible, that it is just sufficient to give the rains a
tendency to the great conduit or pipe that leads to the mitfere
underneath the house, which is underground, and has a terras
bottom, impervious to the water. Here is collected water sufficient
for the family or household during the year; the lime that washes
into the mitfere from the terrassed roof, purifies the water, and
preserves it from worms and other insects. They have no ornaments
in their mosques; but the place where the Mufti or Fakeer reads
prayers, is covered with mats or carpets; the rest of the floor is
bare, and the respective individuals prostrate themselves on the
bare floor, or on an antelope's or _Elhorreh_[180] skin, or the
skin of a lion or tiger, prepared in a superior manner by the
tanners at Marocco, the leather of which is made soft as silk, and
white as snow.

[Footnote 180: For a description of this curious animal, see
Jackson's Marocco, page 83, Chapter on Zoology.]

The bodies of the dead are never laid in the mosques or near them,
but are invariably carried out of the town, to some coba[181] in
273 the vicinity. The bodies of the dead are washed, and covered with
lawn, and placed on an oblong wooden machine, resembling a box
without a cover, called a _kiffen;_ it has four legs about six
inches long, to uphold it from the ground, and two horizontal
projections at each end, to place on the shoulders of four men,
generally the nearest relations of the deceased, who thus carry the
body to the grave, chaunting with the whole company, amounting
sometimes to some hundreds, _La Allah, ila Allah wa Muhamed Rassule
Allah_, "There is no God but God, and Muhamed is the prophet of
God." This repetition may appear extraordinary to the English
reader; but let it be observed that the Muhamedans never use the
pronoun for the name of the Omnipotent, but invariably the noun.
The body is taken out of the bier, and laid in the ground, the face
upwards, without any coffin or box, the legs towards Mecca, and
then covered with earth, so that it might, at the resurrection,
rise with its eyes towards (_El Kaaba_) Muhamed's mausoleum. No
money is paid for the ground, nor is any expense paid for a
monument: a stick or a stone stands erect at the head, and another
274 at the feet. If the deceased lived a moral, inoffensive, and
exemplary life, the public, at its own expense, oftentimes erects
(_kaba_) a cubical building with a dome at the top to the departed,
and he is thence denominated (_fakeer_) a saint.

[Footnote 181: A coba is a cubical building, about forty or
fifty feet square, having a dome on the top, inhabited by a
fakeer; the ground adjacent to this building is consecrated for
the dead, but is never inclosed. The living reverence the dead
by never, riding over these grounds; but travellers, in passing
stop and repeat a fatha. When the ground has been consecrated
to the dead, and the _coba_ has an inhabitant, who must be a
sanctified person, he immediately assumes the name of fakeer or
priest, and the building, and cemetery attached to it, becomes
a _zowia_ or sanctuary.]

The palaces of this country generally consist of a perfect square
wall, containing from two to forty acres of land, or more; for the
imperial palace at Mequinas covers about two square miles of
ground. At each corner of the square is a cubical building, with an
angular top, of green glazed tiles, having four windows, one in
each side; in the centre of the square is the palace, surrounded by
a colonnade one or two stories high. The pavement is either
tessellated or of chequered marble; some of the walls of the rooms
are also tessellated with arabesque, borders, the ceilings are
painted with gay colours, viz. scarlet, sky-blue, green, yellow,
and orange, in arabesque, and some of them are very elegant. The
houses of the opulent are diminutive imitations of the palaces. The
house of (_the Talb Câduse_) the minister of the Sultan Seedi
Muhamed ben Abd Allah at Marocco, is a building, elegantly neat.
Abd Rahamen ben Nassar's house at Mogodor, is well deserving the
investigation of an European architect, and his magnificent new
house at Saffee, is a model of a particular style of architecture.
Some of the houses of the princes and the military at Mequinas are
275 handsome buildings, and many of the houses of the opulent merchants
at Fas, who have their commercial establishments at Timbuctoo, and
other countries of Sudan, are extremely neat and truly unique,
having beautiful gardens in the interior, ornamented with the
choicest and most odoriferous flowers and shrubs; with fountains of
running water, clear as crystal, delectable to behold in this warm
climate, and such as are not to be seen in any part of Europe.

276

FRAGMENTS, NOTES,
AND
ANECDOTES;

_Illustrating the Nature and Character of the Country_.