121452 982

530

137610

567 11006

1405

19

14

32

245

800

The imperial gardens are described as equalling whatever has been delineated by poets; they are laid out in the European style by a gardener from Lisbon. This is a vague word, and we know not what is meant by European, whether English, French, Dutch, or Portugueze. They abound with fountains and cascades, and the collected waters form a large river, which runs into the Sabu. Eolian lyres are placed upon the noras, the water wheels which supply the reservoir. Where these noras are common, their creaking is enumerated by the nation as one of their rural delights; though to an English ear, unused to the association of pleasure with whatever is connected with water and coolness, the sound is very irksome; indeed, we cannot conceive how an Eolian harp could be heard near one. We are ever more disposed to err from credulity than from suspicion, yet we confess that the following passage has staggered our faith in the traveller's veracity:

"I took my usual walk on the terrace, having my pockets filled with fruit. The

Fez is called the holy city, because Mohammed is said to have resided there; by a fiction in the same catholic spirit, he was once said to have been born at Cordova. The present emperor has erected a building over the grave of a saint, who vies in miracles with any in the martyrology: he heals all diseases; and when Mr. Curtis expressed his wonder to the panegyrist of the wonderworker, that so many miserable objects were to be seen in the streets, though his chapel was always full, he was told, "there cannot be room for all." So suspicious is the emperor, that he would not take a dose of salts until he had seen its effects on another person. His taster's place must be something more than a sinecure. This precaution was carried farther in Egypt: when Bruce prescribed for a bey, the wretched patient required him to exhibit the operation of the medicine on himself first.

Mr. Curtis was unfortunate enough to be taken prisoner on his passage to Gibraltar, and stripped of all he brought The little volume is from Barbary. eked out by observations on the gum trade of Senegal, which is transcribed from Golberry's Travels (see the next article) merely to swell the book.

AT the peace of 1783 the French were once again the acknowledged masters of their ancient possession, the Senegal; and every facility appeared to have been afforded them of penetrating into the interior, and of being the first

to explore the unknown regions of Africa. They were sole masters of one of the largest of its rivers, the Senegal; had an establishment at Galam, to which great power might be given; and an extensive influence, by which, according

to M. Golberry, they might progressively have established themselves in the country of Bambouk, and have proceeded even to Tombouctou and Tocrrur. All their enterprizes in this river were carried on with secrecy and safety; they had also a much-neglected right of navigating those of Salum, of the Gambia, of Casamanca, of St. Domingo, of Rio Grande, of Nuno Tristo, of Sierra Leona, of Sherbro, and of Cestos; their connection with the Moors of Zaara; their ascendancy over many great king. doms of Western Africa; and lastly, continues Golberry, "our social qualities, which inspire these African nations with a natural affection for us; do not all these form an immense resource of means by which to penetrate into the very heart of Africa? and yet France remained indifferent to all these exalted and noble enterprizes, of which every thing promised success."

In the year 1785 M. Boufflers was ap. pointed governor of Senegal, and M. Golberry accompanied him as his first aid-du-camp, instructed at the same time to perform the functions of chief engineer of the whole of this government, and appointed to reconnoitre that part of it which was formed by the western and maritime countries.

The instructions which M. Golberry received were of so comprehensive a nature, that he had occasion to reside in many of the principal countries of that part of western Africa, contained between Cape Blanco and Cape Palmas: he tells us that he had seen and conversed with twenty different black nations; that he has made "numberless observations;" and collected from the English of the Gambia and Sierra Leone, and from various other quarters, a body of documents and memoirs, forming the materials of a very minute work, which, since his return to France, has unceasingly employed his attention. The vast number of plans, maps, designs, &c. which were to have accompanied this minute performance, retarded the execution of it so long, that the author buffered his information to be anticipated by an English traveller. "It was not, therefore, without great regret that I beheld the voyages and discoveries of Mungo Park published in 1799, and which yet awarded to the English the merit of having made the first success ful advances in this path, which I had

considered as peculiarly belonging to us."

In consequence of this grievous disappointment, the present is merely a collection of fragments and extracts from that large work which has cost so much labour and expence! M, Golberry. surely must be endued with a diffidence, which is by no means characteristic of his countrymen, to have suppressed the publication of a book of travels through the interior of Africa, because one solitary individual had explored those regions, and communicated to the public the narrative of his journey. An instance, this, of very singular diffidence!

"His

To give any thing like a regular account of the contents of these volumes would be scarcely possible: they abound rather with particular than general information, which will be considered as of more value in France than in Eng land. The merits of Golberry are so fairly estimated by his translator in a single paragraph of his preface, that we are induced to transcribe it. details on the commerce, connections, establishments, &c. which relate to Africa, are often highly important; and he appears to have been indefatigable in procuring such authentic information as might be of use to the commercial interests of his own country, and indeed Europe in general. But his antiquarian disquisitions are not perhaps so valua ble; and in his conjectures relative to the origin of many of the African nations, he indulges too much in hypothesis, seldom referring to known facts, but endeavouring to build a Utopian foundation by the aid of conjecture."

"Indeed when every merit is allowed the work, which accuracy, and information, and labour, and research, can justly entitle it to, it may still be said, that he mars its general excellence by the introduction of false and idle theo ries. Nor can I conceal another very prominent defect, which is, a disgusting and tedious repetition of similar facts. Thus we are twice told in one page that Cape Verd derives its name from the boababs that grow on its summit; twice we are told that the palm-date produces clusters which are called diet; thrice and more we are told that the Moors nourish themselves principally with gum, and many other such instances of use less tautology."

In twenty different places we see M,

Golberry doing homage to the superior genius of the English; perpetually regretting the commercial inertness of his own government, he acknowledges with a sigh the spirit of industry and research, the enterprize and activity of our countrymen. He is extremely anxious to enlarge the limits of the government of Senegal; he would have the supreme administration of it situated in the island of St. Louis, and thinks that its influence might be extended over all that portion of western Africa, which is com. prehended between the thirtieth and fortieth degree of north latitude, and be tween the Atlantic ocean and the thirtieth of longitude of the island of Ferro.* The advantages which would result to France from such an extension of territory are enlarged on, and a plan is chalked out, considerably in detail, for the establishment of factories, commercial intercourse, and government, Golberry says that the precipitate abolition of slavery, and the slave-trade of the blacks, has reduced the French affairs in Africa almost to nothing: to re-establish them, therefore, it will be necessary to discover new sources of commercial wealth, and to direct their stream towards the coasts. He wishes the slave-trade to be put under some better regulations, but can scarcely check his just indignation in deploring the consequences of those cruel theories" -referring to the "chiefs of a sect" which arose in London and Paris, for the purpose of abolishing slavery, "which have caused so many misfortunes, so much destruction, and which bave cost such deluges of blood and tears." It is curious enough that in a few pages afterwards, (vol. II. p. 240 et seq.) M. Golberry should represent these Africans, whom he dooms to slavery with so much complacency, as the hap piest set of people in the world.

"The climate and character of the African blacks, assimilate in such a manner, as to render them singularly happy.

"Gifted with a carelessness, which is totally unique, with an extreme agility, indolence, sloth, and great sobriety; the negre exists on his native soil, in the sweetest apathy, unconscious of want, or the pain of privation, tormented neither with the eares of ambition, nor with the devouring ardour of desire."

After a description of this mode of life, he continues:

"Thus all the wants and pleasures of a negro are gratified without occasioning to him the least trouble either of mind or body; his soul hardly ever rouses itself from its quiet and peaceful indolence; all violent passions, inquietudes, and fears are almost unknown to him; his fatalism makes him neither hope nor dread any event; he never murmurs, but submits to all, and his life passes in unruffled calmness, in voluptuous indolence, which constitutes his supreme pleasure; hence we may reckon the negro among the most favoured and happy produc

tions of nature."

So much for Mr. Golberry's refined ideas of human happiness!

The most interesting chapters in this work are those which give an account of the gold mines of Bambouk, and of the gum, and gum-trade of Senegal; these are really curious, and the latter particularly so.

The gold mines of Bambouk are a national property, over which the kings or farims have no other personal authority than that of watching over and protecting them: the inhabitants work those which are situated within their own territory. The country of Bambouk is represented as being strictly an auriferous earth; but the four principal mines are those of Natakon, Semayla, Nambia, and Kombadyrie. The working of the mines is carried on during the eight months of dry weather, and ceases when the rainy season commences. As all the gold is obtained by ablution, those blacks who best understand the method of working it obtain the greatest quantity of gold. They obtain it by digging pits about six feet in diameter, and varying in depth from thirty to forty feet. The earth is brought up by baskets, taken to a rivulet, and undergoes a thorough ablution. When they have dug about four feet deep, they meet with a fat argillaceous earth, intermingled with small grains of iron ore, of loadstone, and emery, all which are covered with little particles and All the rivulets of spangles of gold. the valley of Natakon convey gold with their water; the sands and mud which form the bed of them are also full of the same metal; the soil composing the bed of the Colez-Rio-d'oro produces a

considerable quantity of gold, as does also the whole plain of Natakon. From all these circumstances M. Golberry is' induced to believe, that the mountains surrounding Natakon contain in their beds and caverns the real gold mine; while the monticule of Natakon itself is nothing more than an emanation from the main body.

In the year 1786, M. Golberry carried on a small trade for gold at Galam; that which he received was made into ear-rings and other ornaments. It was assayed at Paris, in 1788, and, according to the account of the assayer, it was twenty-three carats fine. It was sold at the rate of twelve francs per drachm: and a gold ear-ring, from the mine of Natakon, in the form of a heart, of three inches in length, weighing more than seven grains of fine coloured gold, was examined by M. Sage, professor of mineralogy, and one of the directors of the mint, and discovered to be gold of the purest quality.

Without noticing the plans which M. Golberry has suggested to his country, relative to Bambouk and its gold mines, we shall proceed to abstract his account of the gum, and gum-trade of Senegal.

This vegetable secretion, so useful in a great variety of manufactures, was formerly brought from Arabia to Marseilles, by way of Egypt; the gum from Arabia being the only one in request, till the Dutch introduced that of the Senegal into Europe, at the commencement of the 17th century. When the French became masters of this river, and of the harbours of Arguin and Portendick, they soon found that in the southern parts of the great desart of Zaara, near the Senegal, amidst sandy and uncultivated regions, there existed three considerable forests of gum trees. These were minutely examined, and va. rious experiments evinced that the gum itself might rank with the best gums of Arabia. Some subsequent experiments made by the merchants of Bourdeaux and Nantz, have even decided its superiority. These experiments were made public; they stamped a value on the gum collected by the Moors of Zaara, which became celebrated, and is at the present moment one of the most important articles of commerce. Itis employed in the manufacture of silks, gauzes, lawns, hats, cambrics, printed linens, &c.; it is used by painters, and gilders; and is

moreover employed in confectionary and medicinal preparations. Senegal can furnish Europe with an annual supply of two millions of pounds weight; to col lect this, and convey it to France, would require a large capital, and employ a number of vessels and sailors. This quantity of gum, at the average price of 35 sols per pound, will produce a sale of 3,500,000 livres, and a profit of nearly 3,000,000.

The tree which yields this gum is a species of mimosa, and called by the Moors and negroes near the river, Uereck, when it produces white gum, and Nebucb when it yields the red.These two species are the most numerous, and grow abundantly on those white quicksands along the coast_from Cape Blanco, of Barbary, to Cape Verd; and on those to the north of the Senegal, from Galam to the factory called the Desart There are many other species besides these two, which, however, are the most valuable as well as the most numerous; and of which there are three large forests, those of Sahel, Al-Fatack, and El-Hiebar, situated at the southern extremity of Zaara, at about an equal distance from the Senegal and the sea.

The gum-tree of the Senegal is generally about 18 or 20 feet high, and about three feet in circumference: it is crooked, irregular, and inelegant; the stocks of a year old rather resembling bushes than shrubs. This effect is attributed to the aridity and badness of the soil; but more particularly to the keenness and malignity of the east winds, which prevail here throughout the winter. The leaves of the tree are alternate and bifid, very small, and of a dry dirty green: the branches are thorny, from the part where the leaves project; the flowers are white and very short; the trunk is full, hard, and dry; the bark smooth, and of a dark green colour. They who desire more detailed information relative to the gum-trees of the Senegal, are referred to the works of M. Adanson, who resided in Senegal upwards of fifty years, and has given a description of every species which grows in the countries between the twentieth and fourteenth degree of north latitude, and from the borders of the Atlantic Ocean to the eighth longitudi nal degree from the island of Ferro.

The Moorish tribes, who frequent the western part of the Senegal, for the pur

pose of selling their gum to the French, are three in number, the Trarshaz, Brachknaz, and Ouled-El-Hagi or Dar. marcko; who appear to have enjoyed, for many centuries, the possession and commerce of the southern countries of Zaara, in the desart of which they have fixed establishments.

The tropical rains do not fall in the western countries of Africa till towards the beginning of July; the return is so regular, that it rarely happens in the countries watered by the Senegal, that the rainy season begins much before the first of July, or that it is prolonged be, yond the first days of November.

when

"When the lands have been abundantly saturated, by these heavy rains; the waters begin to disappear, and when the sands begin to dry, which is towards the 15th of November, then also we may perceive oozing from the trunk, and prineipal branches of the gum trees, a gummy juice, which at first has no consistency, but trickles down the trees; at the end, however, of fifteen days this juice becomes inspissated, adhering to the incision whence it issued, sometimes twisted in a vermicular form, but most commonly in round or oblong drops: these are white when proceed ng from the white gum tree, and of a yellowish orange colour, bordering a little on the red, when proceeding from the red gum

tree.

"The drops are always transparent, and brilliant at the part where they are broken off; when they are held for a short time in the mouth, they possess all the clearness, transparency, lustre, and limpidity of the finest rock crystal.

These gummy exudations are entirely natural, and the Moors solicit them by no kind of artifice, or any sort of incision.

These precautions would indeed be superfluous, because the variations of the atmosphere in the season immediately succeeding that of the heavy rains, alone in creases infinitely the clefts on the surface of the bark, and by means of these, which answers every purpose, the gums find a natural and easy passage.

"Towards the 10th of November, the easterly winds begin to prevail, or rather those of the north-east. These winds are dry and blighting; they are burning two thirds of the day, and cold during the night and morning."

The drops are usually about the size of the egg of a partridge: they are occasionally, however, both larger and

smaller.

"About the beginning of December, the three Moorish tribes quit those habitations which they have formed, in the vast salitudes

of Zaara, and where they have collected their families, their flocks, their camels, and their wealth, and each tribe begins its march towards their respective forests of gum

trees.

"At the different oases, they suffer to remain only decrepid old men, imbecile women, children, and young girls; all those who are employed in tending the flocks, in educating the horses and camels, and other indispensible occupations; the black slaves are also left behind.

"All the rest form an immense army, the

disposition of which is equally confused and savage; it is a wild assemblage of men, women, young girls and boys, children at the breast, and an innumerable number of camels, oxen, and goats.

"The kings, princes, and the rich people, mount their horses, and their camels; others ride on oxen, and some again proceed

on foot.

"After a march of twelve or fifteen days each tribe arrives at its respective forest, and at the borders of which they pitch their

The king and the principal officers of the Trarshaz, treat for their tribe separately; while the king and principal men of the Brachkraz and the Darmarko, treat for their two tribes conjunctly.

While the chiefs of these tribes are con

ferring relative to the price at which the shall be sold, the Moors remaining behind քսու at the camps, load their cargoes, and commencing their march, halt about two days journey from the river; here they wait the conclusion of the conferences between their

chiefs and the overseers of the government of the Senegal, and with the French merchants.

"These preliminaries superinduce numerous delays, debates, and embarrassments ; there is no kind of trick which these Moors do not employ, no lies and imposture which they do not inrent, to obtain for their gun,