CHAPTER XIII.

* * * * *

_Sketch of Gaboon, and its Interior._

The River Gabon, or Gaboon, as the English pronounce it, is placed by some, N. 30’, E. 8° 42’, by others, on the equator and E. 9° 23’: the former longitude is certainly the more correct; judging from three reckonings of the vessel in which I visited it; unfortunately, I had not the requisites for an observation. The former latitude also, is, doubtless, the correct one of Cape Clara; for an observation, taken as we were beating in by Round Corner, gave 23’ N.; and another, taken about 35 miles up the river, 15’ N. From Cape Clara (which is not ‘very high land,’) to Sandy point, being an oblique line, may be about 25 miles, but the direct width of the mouth of the river, cannot be more than 18. From 22 to 25 miles up the river, lay Parrot and Konig islands, called by the natives Embenee and Dambee; the former (on which ships have been hauled to careen) 1¾ miles in circumference and uninhabited, the latter considerably larger, and having a village on the hill. The natives mentioned the ruins of a Portuguese fort there. Konig island is not more than a mile from Rodney’s or Oweëndo point, where there is a large bight; which, with the one opposite, within Eghirrighee point, makes the width of the river nearly thirty miles in this part. From these points it seems to form an inner basin, the greatest width of which, just above Goombena creek, is about twelve miles, judging from shots; for the work of the ship being heavy whilst in the river, and the crew suffering from the climate, (the first mate and carpenter dying,) no assistance could be spared for a survey. There are several large creeks in the river, Goöngway is the most so, and Goombena the second.

These names, being, of themselves, as uninteresting as the list of bearings would be, I shall reserve both the one and the other, with the outline of the river adjusted to them, for the Portfolio of the African Association; and also two or three sketches of the different parts of the river, not worth publishing, but, possibly, useful for the introduction of more accurate observers.[129]

About forty-five miles from the mouth, the river forms two arms. The one runs north eastwards, by a point called Ohlombompole by the natives of Gaboon, and Gongoloba by the Shekans or interior people; the entrance is about four miles wide. The other, runs apparently S.S.E. by a point called Quawkaw, and Quanlie by the two nations, and is about two miles broad. It was an inconsiderate observation of Mr. Maxwell’s, “If the Niger has a sensible outlet, I have no doubt of its proving the Congo, knowing all the rivers between Cape Palmas and Cape Lopez to be inadequate to the purpose.” The Volta may be thought so, but the Lagos certainly cannot, nor the Danger, or Gaboon; and, surely, the rivers del Rey, and Formoso are not; which are thus noticed, within a few pages of Mr. Maxwell’s observation, by the judicious Editor of Mr. Park’s last mission, “The Rio del Rey and the Formoso, are stated to be of considerable size, being each of them seven or eight miles broad at the mouth; and the supposed Delta, estimated by the line of coast, is much larger than that of the Ganges: consequently, the two streams, if united, must form a river of prodigious magnitude.”

There being little prospect of the ship completing her cargo (red wood and ebony) within two months, I determined to divert such a tædium under an insalubrious climate, by investigating and compiling the interior geography, as far as I could from the reports of the slaves, and traders. The most enterprising of the latter, and the greatest travellers in the interior, living on board the vessel during her loading, I conversed with them constantly, as they spoke good English; and I went on shore twice, passing a night the latter time, to Naängo or George’s Town, two miles up the romantic creek of Abaäga, about forty- five miles from the mouth of the river. I found the Governor (so his title was interpreted) a very hospitable and intelligent native, and speaking good English. He had travelled much in the interior, when young, was still very inquisitive for particulars, and produced me a troop of slaves for questioning, which furnished a native of almost every country I could hear of. I saw two young negroes, the sons of native rulers, who spoke and wrote French fluently. The one had been sent to that country for education, and the other in his voyage to England for the same purpose, was taken and carried to France, and generously educated and maintained by the owner of the privateer.[130] Each remained in France upwards of eight years before they were sent back to Gaboon, and professed to be very anxious to return to it, depicting the native habits not only as uncongenial, but disgusting to them. The Congo hypothesis, the primary stimulus to my enquiries, making geographical particulars the most desirable, I will defer those on other subjects, and submit the compilation of seven weeks investigation and inquiry under the above advantageous circumstances.

The native name of the country of Gaboon, is Empoöngwa; it dos not extend above the branching of the river, or more than forty miles in length; and is about thirty in breadth, including the river, which they call Aroöngo. We will pursue the north-eastern arm first. There is a sand-bank in the middle of the entrance, and three small islands, Soombëä, Ningahinga, and Ompoöngee, are just beyond it, where the water becomes fresh. About two miles further, is a larger island called Cheēndue, inhabited, and the women of which are constantly employed in fishing for white mullet, being abundant. They dress them with a kind of chocolate, which I shall notice presently. Several large trees grow out of the water, one, eminently high, is directly in the middle of the river; they are called Intinga, or the iron tree. The eastern banks of this arm are inhabited by the Sheekans, who, with all the nations of the interior, are called Boolas by the Gaboons, a term synonymous with Dunko in Ashantee. Adjoining Sheekan are the Jomays, who speak a dialect of the same language. The Sheekans bury their dead within the house, under their beds. The Gaboons prohibit these people from visiting the coast, lest they should deprive them of their profits, as the medium between the interior and shipping, whether for slaves or manufactures.

The Sheekans, like their neighbours, only reckon from 1 to 5, conjoining these numerals afterwards, as Mr. Park has shewn the Feloops and the Jaloffs to do.

One Ilwawtoe

Two Ibba

Three Bittach

Four Binnay

Five Bittah

Ten Ducoom

Twenty Eboomebba

Hundred Kama

The source of the north-eastern arm is unknown, it probably flows from the River Danger, called by the natives Moöhnda, which flows very far from the interior; and, though not so wide, is considerably deeper than the Aroöngo or Gabon. There is a creek passing Quaw Ben’s town in the River Gabon, which runs inland, within a short distance of the Moöhnda, so that traders proceeding so far by it, carry their canoes over the interval to that river. The Nokos, Apooks, and Komebays, inhabit the lower space between the Rivers Gaboon and Danger.

Having pulled up the N.E. arm for two days and nights, they land, leaving the river about one mile broad; and after two journies, (skirting Sheekan,) reach Samashialee, the capital of the country of Kaylee, (sometimes called Kalay,) and the residence of the King Ohmbay. Samashialee, is described as a considerable town, and Asāko, as the second to it; their houses are all of bamboo. The Kaylees manufacture iron from the ore, which abounds every where in this part of Africa; but they are very careful not to let the coast people see them do so, as knives, spears, mats, and bamboo cloth, are their articles of barter with them, for brass rods, cottons, and other European commodities. I procured some of the knives and spear heads, of their own iron. The bamboo-cloth has the appearance of coarse brown Holland. Their mats are very fine, and much varied in colors and patterns. It is remarkable, that the latter do not partake at all of their own wild character, but are of that chaste, simple outline which would be called elegant by civilized nations. These people are cannibals, not only eating their prisoners but their dead, whose bodies are bid for directly the breath is out of them. A father has frequently been seen to eat his own child. Fowls abound in their country, but they never eat them, nor will they goats, which are equally numerous, whilst human flesh is to be had. Salt fetches an enormous price. The people of Gaboon would be afraid to venture amongst them, even as traders, but for their musquets, and a strong body of Sheekans, always engaged to accompany them. Their country is mountainous and woody. There are people inhabiting a mountain close to the north-eastward of Kalay, who are said to see best in the night time, when they travel and work, sleeping most of the day, because the light hurts their eyes, which are remarkably brilliant. Ivory is plentiful. The Kaylee seems to be a dialect of the Sheekan.

One Woto

Two Ibba

Three Battach

Four Binnay

Five Bittan

Ten Duëoom

Northward of Kaylee, two journies, is Imbekee, adjoining the Moöhnda or Danger. One moon distant, in the same direction, passing through the countries, Beesoo (three journies from Imbeekee) Aösa, and Hetan, are the larger kingdoms of Badayhee, and Oongoomo; the King of the latter is Enjukayamoo, and the capital Mattadee, described as a very large town. The numerals assimilate to those of Kaylee.

One Woötta

Two Beeba

Three Bittach

Four Binnay

Five Bitten

Travelling (still northward,) through the small states of Oondamee and Bolaykee, in six journies they reach the extensive countries of Paämway, and Shaybee, which adjoin each other; and on their northern frontier is Bayhee, through which kingdom the River Wola or Wole flows; the largest river they had ever seen or heard of, and running eastward. My friend the Governor, always impressed on me, that this was the largest river in the world, and ran, to use his own words, “farther than any one, except God, knows, farther than Indee; all the great rivers in this country come from Wole.” The Moöhnda, he had always understood in the long course of his enquiries, to flow from it; but he could not speak so positively of that, as of the junction of the Ogooawai and the Wole, as he had himself been to a considerable distance up the Ogooawai, which, returning to Gaboon, we shall proceed to. All the nations on this route were said to be cannibals, the Paämways not so voraciously so as the others, because they cultivate a breed of large dogs for their eating; this seems the favourite meat in most parts of Africa.

Those who travel eastward, pull for a day and a half up the right hand or south-eastern arm of the Gaboon or Aroöngo, which arm is formed by the junction of several small streams, about sixty miles from its confluence with the north-eastern arm. Landing about thirty-five miles up it, two and a half journies are occupied in travelling over an uninhabited country, described as savannah, and called Woongawoonga; it is entirely open, and buffaloes are numerous. Here they reach the Ogooäwai, a rapid river, frequently as wide, and, generally, considerably deeper than the Gaboon; and which, as we shall presently see, runs to the Congo, of itself insignificant. One day up the Ogoöawai, is the small kingdom of Adjoomba, consisting but of four towns. One journey beyond, on the Ogooäwai, and north-eastward, is Gaelwa, a kingdom of more importance, its length three journies. The King’s name is Roiela, and the capital, a considerable town, Inkanjee: Goondemsie is second to it. Adjoining Gaelwa is Eninga, where the river widens considerably; this country is larger than Adjoomba, very populous, and composed of several small governments. The river winds very much; frequently they save time by carrying their canoes over the peninsulas; they are also opposed by impetuous currents. Hitherto the language is the same as the Empoöngwa or Gaboon. Twenty journies from the frontier of Gaelwa and Eninga, through the small state of Okota, is the kingdom of Asheera; and ten beyond it, that of Okandee, the greatest they know. The King’s name is Adoomoo, the capital extensive, and kept particularly clean: their law forbids any native of Okandee to be sold as a slave. None of the nations on the Ogooäwai are cannibals. On the eastern confines of Okandee this river is described to join or flow from the Wōla. The countries between the Moöhnda and Ogooäwai, are called Sappalah, Koomakaimalong, and Okaykay, and described as vast extents of savannah. Deeha was spoken of as a large country in the neighbourhood of the Wōla. I could not make these interior natives, or the people of Gaboon, understand what I meant by a Moor; there are none but pagan negroes throughout. The slaves recently arrived viewed me with affright; they said none in their country would believe there were white men.

I could hear of no great controlling kingdom, like Ashantee, in these parts of the interior, nor do I think any such exists eastward of Yarriba, or other than numerous small states, as far behind Dagwumba and its neighbours in civilization, as they are behind Europeans. The name,[131] situation, magnitude, and course of the Wōla, leave little doubt of its being the Kulla or Quolla; though I am not clear that they said there was a country of the name of the river, nor did I recognize the name of any of the countries I had before heard of, as being in its neighbourhood. With those on the northern banks of this large river they did not profess to be acquainted, and those on the southern may be intermediate between the Moöhnda and Ogooawai routes, which diverge from Empoöngwa, the former northward, the latter north-eastward. Forty journies from the Empoöngwa frontier to the Bahr Kulla agree very well with the distance. A strong argument, in addition to the above, for the Wōla and the Quolla being the same river, (recollecting my description of the Paämways, and all the nations on the line of the Moöhnda, as cannibals,) is suggested by the reperusal of the following remarks of Mr. Horneman, and Mr. Hutchison, already quoted in page 202: “The Yem Yems, cannibals, are south of Kano, ten days,” which agrees very well with the lowered course of the Niger, which I have been obliged to lay down. “It is to the King of Quallowliffa that the country in which Canna, Dall, and Yum Yum, where cannibals are, is subject.” It is true, that the character only, and not the names of the nations visited from Empoöngwa, can be identified with Mr. Hutchison’s Canna, Dall, and Yum Yum; but the Moorish pronunciation, or writing of negro names, especially those only known to them by report, is very incorrect and capricious. To Mr. Horneman, they were called Yem Yems; to Mr. Hutchison, Yum Yums, and sometimes Jum Jums. The names Bapoonoo, Okobella, Banginniga, Oonbamba, and Asango, may possibly be identified hereafter amongst the countries approximating to the Wōla.

We will return to Adjoomba, where the Ogooäwai divides itself; the smaller arm called Assazee runs to Cape Lopez, which is in the kingdom of Oroöngoo; the monarch, Ogoöla, from his power surpassing every other in the neighbourhood of the coast, has acquired the name of Pass-all with the traders who speak English. Between Oroöngoo and Adjoomba is the kingdom of Oongobai. The King’s name is Pendanga, and the numerals are,

One Rappeek.

Two Ramboise.

Three Mittasee.

Four Binnay.

Five Bittan.

Six Sambal.

Seven Bittooba.

Eight Bissamen.

Nine Bwoi.

Ten Deëoom.

An intelligent native of this country had fled to Gaboon to avoid execution.

The larger arm of the Ogooäwai, flowing south-eastward, as wide as the Gaboon, through the country of Tanyan, (the western frontier of which is five journies from that of Adjoomba,) runs into the Congo, (which is comparatively small before the confluence,) about ten days pull from the mouth of that river. A very intelligent man who acts as interpreter or trade man to the vessels which frequent the river Gaboon, confirming this account of the slaves and traders, I enquired into the circumstances to which he owed his knowledge. He is the son of the principal trader in Gaboon, called Tom Lawson, who speaks English fluently. Eight years ago, this young man, Wondo, went from Gaboon to the Congo, in the Nimble, Everett master. After the vessel had traded some time, as high up in the river as she might safely venture, the captain sent him and three or four other negroes in a boat with goods, to go up as much higher as they could. His account was, that they passed Evehelee and Cormee, when they came to a fall of water upwards of twenty feet high. A native, who preceded them in his canoe, directed them to enter a small channel to the east, which, by a considerable sweep, avoided it, but the natives, he persisted, both pulled their canoes up, and let them down this fall, by long fibrous roots twisted into cordage, and affixed to the large trees above; frequently, however, the most expert were victims to their intrepidity, generally in the descent; their canoes were made purposely in the shape of a bow. I expressed my doubts, questioned him with seeming indifference, at many different times, on this subject, and requested others to do the same; his account never varied. He was naturally very cautious in what he said, by no means given to the marvellous in recounting his travels, but a corrector of that disposition in others. To the last moment he persisted in this report. Just beyond this fall is the confluence of the Ogooawai and the Congo, which takes place in Tanyan.[132] From this point he described the latter as gradually dwindling to its source, (not more than six days distant, by Encombë and Eveheea,) so that the Congo owed its magnitude and rapidity entirely to the Ogooawai.[133] He mentioned a chief named Mangoff, to have been a principal man in the Congo, and he sung his boat chorus as a specimen of the language, “Malava napa, malava mabootay, mabootay.” He said, Mangoff lived at Barrima. He spoke of a place called Ohlobe, but I omitted to minute the particulars.

The master of a Liverpool ship, laying in Gaboon river, having visited the Congo annually for many years, I availed myself of an opportunity of conversing with him also. He mentioned Bōma as the principal place of trade, but he did not consider it more than forty miles up the river; it was so called after a chief, whose son has now succeeded him. Binda, a secondary place of trade, he reckoned to be ninety miles from the entrance of the river, on the north side; but there are so many arms or branches there, that it is very difficult to distinguish the Congo itself, which he had always understood to terminate soon afterwards.[134] The houses he described as wretched, and transportable, so that a trader buying one for a trifle, could have it moved to any part of the banks he pleased. Sea horse teeth were to be bought plentifully, they buried them with their dead, dedicating them as the Ashantees do gold, and generally sticking one erect on the grave, as a sort of monument. He spoke very ill of them from his own experience; they had frequently attempted to poison the water on board his vessel. A few months back they cut off a Portuguese vessel, destroyed the crew, and plundered her. I anxiously anticipate the perusal of Captain Tuckey’s journal.

Tom Lawson, who has as much, if not more influence than his brother the King, says he would provide an escort headed by his son Wondo, and guarantee the safety of any exploratory party to the river Ogooawai, and five days up it; that is as far as Okota. Two hundred pounds laid out in goods, I think, would defray the expenses, and presents, en passant, handsomely, and there are many opportunities by which two officers might be sent from Cape Coast to Gaboon for the purpose, and by way of the islands, return to it. A man of war might convey them, and call for them, on her cruise.

Kings are numerous in Gaboon, and scarcely comparable even with the petty caboceers of Fantee. The greatest trader, or the richest man of almost every small village assumes the title, and frequently suffers gross indignities from his subjects, from not having the power to punish them. The King of Naängo seems of acknowledged superiority, and is comparatively respectable, both in means and power; he is known to trading vessels by the name of King George. The brother succeeds before the son. The legislative and judicial power is vested in the Governor, controlled by the King, who may order the death of a man; but, if he assigns no good reason, the offensive party is generally allowed to retire elsewhere. All children share the property of the father in equal portions, except the eldest son, who has about half as much again as any other. If a man kills another, he has a public trial; and, if he cannot justify the act, which it seems he may in many instances, his own death is inevitable. If he kills one of his wives, (his rank is designated by the number,) he pays a fine to her family, who, and not the husband, are involved in all her palavers. The acknowledged heir to a property may bring a palaver against his father, or whoever may be possessor of it, for killing a slave unjustly, or otherwise injuring the property, and oblige him to make good the injury.

A man may not look at, or converse with his mother-in-law, on pain of a heavy, perhaps a ruinous fine; this singular law is founded on the tradition of an incest. It is a common custom to lend their wives to one another; if a man evades a promise of this kind, the Governor awards heavy damages to the plaintiff. If an applicant is refused, and is detected in intrigue, the whole of his property is forfeited to the husband of the woman, who, if it is not speedily delivered, may kill the man, and burn his house. I heard of no law so barbarous or disgusting, as this any where in the interior of the Gold Coast. They assured me they never made human sacrifices.

A man of consequence never drinks before his inferiors, without hiding his face from them, believing that at this moment only, his enemies have the power of imposing a spell on his faculties, in spite of the guardiance of his fetish. When a man dies, the door of his house is kept shut seven days. The whiskers of the men, and the side locks both of them and the women, hang down in narrow braids, sometimes below their shoulders, the ends commonly tipped with small beads, and the front locks are generally braided to project like horns. The women wear a number of thick brass rings (the trade brass rod twisted) round their legs. A woman of consequence has a succession of them from the ancle to the knee, which announce her approach when walking, and jingle when she dances. The female slaves support even the heaviest burdens from a broad band or string around the temples. Like other negroes, different families have different fetish, some will not eat a cock, nor others a hen. I could not discover any distinct ideas of the creation, or of a future life. They believe implicitly in the superior fetish of individuals from Sappalah and other countries in the interior.

Tom Lawson’s ‘fetish man,’ a native of Sappalah, has so thoroughly persuaded his master, by his address and fortuitous circumstances in war, that no bullet can injure him, strike him where it will, (either rebounding, or penetrating to be thrown from the stomach at pleasure) that this old man, who has lived almost the whole of his life in European vessels, always presses every stranger to become equally convinced by firing at him. His son bribed this man to endue him with the same fetish, and eagerly making trial of its virtue, received a musket ball, which fractured the small bone of his arm. The address of the fetish man accounted for this, to the entire satisfaction of every body, by declaring (being the most probable crime he could guess in the emergency) that it was at that instant revealed to him by the offended fetish, that this young man once had a stolen intercourse with his wife at an improper season; it was immediately confessed as a truth, and they are as obstinate believers as ever.

Naängo consists of one street, wide, regular, and clean. The houses are very neatly constructed of bamboo, and afford a ground floor of spacious and lofty apartments. They sleep on bedsteads encircled with musquito curtains of bamboo cloth. The manners of the superiors are very pleasing and hospitable, and a European may reside amongst them, not only with safety, but with comfort and dignity. I do not think the old and new town contain 500 inhabitants between them. From the sickness which prevailed on board the vessel, the climate must be very insalubrious. The density of the atmosphere from exhalation was even more oppressive than the heat, which was intense before the setting in of the sea- breeze, and at all times sensibly much greater than I had experienced on the Gold Coast, or in the interior: there was no thermometer on board. The Empoöngwa is the softest negro language I have ever heard, being characterized by the duplication of vowels, separately pronounced. Their numerals are;

One Hemoödee

Two Mban

Three Ntcharoo

Four Nahee

Five Nchanee

Six Oroöba

Seven Ragginnoömoo

Eight Ennanakee

Nine Enogoöm

Ten Hegoöm

They do not possess a single manufacture, depending for all their comforts and conveniences on the superior ingenuity of their inland neighbours, and the supplies of shipping. They plant but handfuls of corn, and rear a few goats and fowls. Cotton grows spontaneously. They make a good black dye from the mangrove and ebony shavings. They reduce the red wood to a very soft powder, by breaking a soft species of stone, and sprinkling the finest particles of it on a flat piece of red wood, which they rub violently against another flat piece; the mixed powders are then thrown into water, and that of the wood floating on the surface is strained and dried. They rub children with this powder for cutaneous eruptions.

The African Ourang-outan (Pithecus Troglodites) is found here, the one I saw was two feet and a half high, but said to be growing. I offered a fair price for it, considering they are not rare there, and would not give more when I heard of one being already in England. The native name is Inchego: it had the cry, visage, and action of a very old man, and was obedient to the voice of its master; its agony on espying the panther on board was inconceivable.[135] There is a curious variety of monkeys. The favourite and most extraordinary subject of our conversations on natural history, (which I introduce merely to excite enquiry) was the Ingēna, compared with an Ourang-outan, but much exceeding it in size, being generally five feet high, and four across the shoulders; its paw was said to be even more disproportionate than its breadth, and one blow of it to be fatal; it is seen commonly by those who travel to Kaylee, lurking in the bush to destroy passengers, and feeding principally on the wild honey, which abounds. Their death is frequently accelerated by the silliness which characterizes most of their actions: observing men carry heavy burthens through the forest, they tear off the largest branches from the trees, and accumulating a weight (sometimes of elephants teeth,) disproportionate even to their superior strength, emulously hurry with it from one part of the woods to another, with little or no cessation, until the fatigue, and the want of rest and nourishment, exhausts them. Amongst other of their actions, reported without variation by the men, women, and children of Empoöngwa and Sheekan, is that of building a house in rude imitation of the natives, and sleeping outside or on the roof of it; and also of carrying about their infant dead, closely pressed to them, until they drop away in putrefaction.[136] The larger birds in the creeks were uncommon, if not unknown. Pelicans abounded.

Chamelions were plentifully caught, but none lived more than a month on board the vessel, whether fed with flies, or not at all. The changes of those I watched seemed confined to the shades between a very dark, dusky green, and a bright yellow; when placed on any black substance they became the former, and when any thing light approached them, they changed to a bright green, which hue, if the substance was yellow, was interspersed with the most brilliant spots of that colour. I could not discern that they ever acquired a tinge of blue or red; when at rest in their cage, their color was dark green, mottled with still darker spots.

In my rambles about the environs of Naängo, I formed some idea of the general face of vegetation in Empoöngwa. Being the rainy season, of course it did not possess its usual beauty. The red wood trees abounded, with many which were new to me. The Mangroves clothed the banks of the creeks and river, even growing some yards from the banks in the water, and their lower branches frequently covered with oysters. The palm wine tree was plentiful. Like most parts of Western Africa, the woods were so covered beneath with shrubs and plants, that they seemed impenetrable. Immense runners, twisting together, dropped from the branches like large cables, generally covered with parasites; sometimes adhering to the parent stem, they became themselves a tree, and at others, shooting across to the branches of neighbouring trees, seemed to connect the forest in a general link. The climbing plants contributed to this entanglement, for, interlacing their tendrils amongst the trees, they enwreathed them in the most beautiful flowers, or dropping in festoons, formed a splendid drapery to the sober green of the canopy: amongst these the convolvolus cairicus was conspicuous, from its extreme variety, the flowers being not only of that beautiful lilac, so much esteemed in England, but of the brightest blue, dark brown, pale yellow, white, pink, buff with a purple eye, and all the shades which an opening flower presents from budding to decay.[137] I gathered a few specimens of the plants as I walked along, which may be acceptable to botanists. I can only lament that so many circumstances conspired to render my account of them imperfect; the rainy season, my slight knowledge of botany, and the absence of all instruments which might have enabled me to examine the very minute flowers which frequently presented themselves; but I am convinced many new species might be discovered. I will submit a few which were remarkable for their different virtues, and of which drawings or specimens are preserved.

The Cosa Cosa grew upon a tree about ten feet high, the flowers in clusters, but rarely two fully blown at the same moment, the corolla white, tube shaped, but cleft to the bottom, tinged at the top with crimson and yellow; a slightly tinged glutinous petal was fixed within the corolla, and adhered firmly to it; when separated, I found the two anthera fastened to it, without filaments, and between them laid the style, the stigma having a small hook at the back to fasten it between the two anthera. The juice is used for curing inflammations of the eyes.

The Endaägoo (_Cyperas articulatus_. _Linn._) had the appearance of a grass, the bulbous root was used as a worm medicine.

The Owallifa was not in blossom, the prickly leaf was applied to swellings when they wished to reduce them by bleeding; flogging the part affected, as boys frequently do their chilblains with holly.

The Edjamba (_a species of_ _Urtica_) bears a multitude of minute green flowers, the leaves wear the appearance of nettles, and when laid on the skin produce blisters.

The Eninda Aboönee (_Leea sambucina_) is an umbelliferous plant, the infusion of which is said to correct nausea.

The Oonkoolankolee (_Aneilema bracteolata_. _Br._) bears a very delicate lilac blossom, with only two petals, which fly back and expose the other parts of the flower; the least breath of air will disturb them. The natives wash their children with its infusion, if they are backward in walking.

The Econda Boomba (_Bidens_, probably a new species, but too imperfect to be determined) is anti-venereal, as an infusion; the flower resembles the chamomile.

The Shewawono bears a spike with leaves resembling those of Hedysarum. The decoction is said to cure rheumatism.

The tobacco grows spontaneously, but I do not consider this so strong a proof of its being indigenous to Africa, as that it grows in Inta. The Portuguese have probably introduced it into Gaboon.

The natives here as well as elsewhere have a number of fetish plants; the most remarkable seems the Ewelly welly, (the Aserumbdrue of Ashantee, a species of Piper related to Umbellatum) the broad leaf of which, when rubbed on a fetish man, is said to render him invisible.

The Eroga, a favourite but violent medicine, is no doubt a fungus, for they describe it as growing on a tree called the Ocamboo, when decaying; they burn it first, and take as much as would lay on a shilling.

The medicine they most prize is the Neoöndoo; a small quantity was spared to me reluctantly. Four nuts grow in a pod on a very large tree of the hardest wood; it is purchased greedily, only growing on the frontier of Empoöngwa, and is used successfully by those afflicted with gravel.

In killing elephants they use two poisons, both of which are the milky juices of the stalks of plants. Inquaw indjoo (a plant belonging to the natural order _Aroidea_, and referable to the Linnean genus _Arum_) bears a hard white berry in a spiral cluster. The Ygwan agwan berries are red, and in perfection at the time that the flowers are budding. These juices are rubbed on the muskets balls, spears, arrows, and knives, and the effect on the elephant is described as almost instantaneous.

They make bird lime from a tree called Epoowa.

Besides the pine apple, the common thread of Africa, they use that of two other plants, the Ezoönee (_Triumfitta elliptica_, _Nov. Sp._) and the Naängoo, an _Urtica_, or genus nearly allied to it. The former bears a yellow flower, too minute for my inspection. The top of the latter is surmounted by five or six delicate flower stalks; the blossoms were exceedingly minute, and of a lively green.

The governor of the town brought me two or three very harsh rough leaves, which he said were from the plant Egoögoo (a species of _ficus_) not then in blossom; they are used in planing wood, polishing and cleaning various articles of household furniture, and feel like emery paper. At the same time he gave me what they are very fond of chewing, a delicate little mimosa, (_Abrus precatorius_. _Linn._) the taste of which resembles liquorice.

A beautiful red pod, the blossom of which was out of season, contains small black seeds, in taste exactly resembling the cardamom. The natives of this place, and also of the interior, are very fond of them. In Booroom the plant is called Booroomma, and at Gaboon, Entoöndo.

The Caoutchouc is to be met with here; the natives describe it as the product of one tree only,[138] the olamboo; their method of collecting it is curious. After the incision is made in the tree, whence it oozes like a glutinous milk, they spread it over their arms and breasts with a knife, (having first shaved themselves, that the hair of the skin may not be torn up when it is taken off,) in the form of a plaister. It is either rolled up in balls to play with, or stretched over the heads of drums; they do not seem to apply it to any other use.

They make their torches from the wood (odjoo) of which they form their canoes, the resinous parts are broken in small pieces, and tied closely in very long leaves; the smaller end is fixed to an upright stick placed in the ground of the apartment; they afford a brilliant light, and the resin, when burning, emits a grateful odour.

The Odica, from which they make a kind of chocolate, is a very high and large tree, bearing an acuminate shining leaf. The nuts, which are white, are contained in a round pod with a bulb at the end, twice as large as a man’s fist, green without, and yellow within; the parts surrounding the nuts are squeezed into water, which they sweeten like honey. The kernels are strung and smoke dried, and then beat in water into large masses, having the appearance of coarse chocolate, but the flavour of a rank gross gravy. It might be more palatable otherwise prepared.

The vegetable butter (which certainly belongs to the natural order _Sapoteæ_) brought to the Ashantee market, is here well known by the name of Onoöngoo: it is a large tree, and the nuts are enclosed in a round red pod, containing from four to six: the flower is also red, from description. My servant, a native of Booroom, called the tree Kirrimkoon, and the butter Incoom; the Ashantees call the latter Sarradee; in Mallowa the tree is called Timkeëä. The nut is first boiled, and the oil or butter afterwards expressed; in Booroom and Mallowa it is skimmed from the surface. It tasted quite as good as fresh butter before any salt is added, and we relished the meat fried in it exceedingly. Being the rainy season I could neither get a sight of the flower or the pod of this or the odica, but I procured the nuts and produce of both. The curious may compare this butter with the specimen of the Ashantee grease. Before I understood them to be distinct trees, I concluded the odica and the butter both to be the produce of the cacao- nut, but the butter answers closely to Mr. Park’s description of the shea-tolu, though the tree did not resemble the American oak.

The Kolla nut grows on one of those trees which are supposed to sow their own seed; it is round, and the size of an Orleans plum, having a very hard shell, the kernel is white, and, after being exposed to the sun for a few days, becomes even sweeter than a filbert. The natives frequently soak them in salt water for a few weeks, and relish the rank flavour they then acquire. They form the principal food of the lower orders. They have a round orange coloured fruit, called Incheema, the size varies from that of a small cocoa nut to a large one; the capsule is very thick, and when cut yields a milky juice; a number of hard, dark brown seeds, surrounded by a pulp, are found within, the latter only is eaten, and when gathered fresh from the tree, is of a very delicious flavour, not unlike that of a green gage. If the fruit is suffered to fall from the tree, the bruise renders it unwholesome and unpalatable.

Every dark night, Tom Lawson was sure to direct me to look in the direction of what some foolish Europeans had persuaded him must be a diamond mountain. It lays about three days eastward of Empoöngwa in direct distance, but from the fear of the intervening people, he had been obliged to visit it by a circuitous route, which occupied seven days; he lost the pieces he procured, in a skirmish on his return; they illuminated a great circumference. It is considered a powerful fetish, and described as a very high mountain. I must admit, that when there was no moon, a pale but distinct light was invariably reflected from a mountain in that quarter, and from no other.

The red and yellow ochres brought to me, were dug in the neighbourhood of a savannah three journies south-eastward of Empoöngwa, where they insisted there were large pits of strata, not only of red and yellow, but of other colours. They believe, that if a man attempts to carry off different colours at the same time, he is paralyzed on the spot. Gold has never been found in this part of Africa.

[Illustration: Music score

EMPOÖNGWA SONG.]

[Illustration: Music score

EMPOÖNGWA SONG.]

[Illustration: Music score

Notes sung by the white Negro from Imbeekee.]

The music of Empoöngwa is, generally, very inferior to that I have before noticed. The enchambee, their only peculiar instrument, resembles the mandolino, but has only five strings, made from the root of the palm tree; the neck consists of five pieces of bamboo, to which the strings are fastened, and, slipping up and down, are easily, but not securely tuned; it is played with both hands; the tones are sweet, but have little power or variety. Long stories are recited to the enchambee in the moon-light evenings, in a sort of recitative; a favourite one, is an account of the arts by which the Sun gained the ascendancy over the Moon, who were first made of coeval power by their common father.

No. 1, (which, I imagine, commences in F major, and ends in G major) is an Empoöngwa air played on the enchambee. I do not know if the inversion of words is common in their conversation as well as in their songs. A native envies a neighbour, named Engaëlla, who has ivory to barter with a vessel.

Amorill injanja Engaëlla; impoongee m’adgillinjanja.

A brass pan he has got Engaëlla; ivory, I have got none.

Here again we find _me_ answers to the personal pronoun I.

No. 2, in G major, is a song in which the men sing the air alone, and the women join in the chorus. It is an old one, and the subject the first appearance of a white man. One verse will be quite enough to satisfy others and exculpate myself. At least half a dozen followed it.

Ma bengwoo ma bengwa baïa.

A fine strange thing, A fine strange thing, my mother.

Deboonga sai camberwoona nayennee.

Like the leaf of the fat tree,[139] true I say, so it is.

Sangwa moochoo, baïa.

I make you look to-day, my mother.

Baï yamgwan boonoo.

My mother fears this fetish man.

My patience during a series of dull Empoöngwa songs, was recompensed by the introduction of a performer, as loathsome as his music was astonishing. It was a white negro from the interior country of Imbeekee; his features betrayed his race, his hair was woolly, and of a sandy colour, with thick eye brows of the same; his eyes small, bright, and of a dark grey; the light seemed to hurt them, and their constant quivering and rolling gave his countenance an air of insanity, which was confirmed by the actions of his head, and limbs, and the distortions of his mouth. His stature was middling, and his limbs very small; his skin was dreadfully diseased, and where it was free from sores bore the appearance of being thrown on, it hung about him so loose and so shrivelled; his voice was hollow, and his laugh loud, interspersed with African howls. His harp was formed of wood, except that part emitting the sound, which was covered with goat skin, perforated at the bottom. The bow to which the eight strings were fixed, was considerably curved, and there was no upright; the figure head, which was well carved, was placed at the top of the body, the strings were twisted round long pegs, which easily turned when they wanted tuning, and, being made of the fibrous roots of palm wine tree, were very tough and not apt to slip. The tone was full, harmonious, and deep. He sat on a low stool, and supporting his harp on his knee and shoulder, proceeded to tune it with great nicety; his hands seemed to wander amongst the strings until he gradually formed a running accompaniment (but with little variety) to his extraordinary vociferations. At times, one deep and hollow note burst forth and died away; the sounds of the harp became broken; presently he looked up, pursuing all the actions of a maniac, taking one hand from the strings, to wave it up and down, stretching forth one leg and drawing it up again as if convulsed, lowering the harp on to the other foot, and tossing it up and down. Whilst the one hand continued playing, he rung forth a peal which vibrated on the ear long after it had ceased; he was silent; the running accompaniment served again as a prelude to a loud recitative, uttered with the greatest volubility, and ending with one word, with which he ascended and descended, far beyond the extent of his harp, with the most beautiful precision. Sometimes he became more collected, and a mournful air succeeded the recitative, though without the least connection, and he would again burst out with the whole force of his powerful voice in the notes of the Hallelujah of Handel. To meet with this chorus in the wilds of Africa, and from such a being, had an effect I can scarcely describe, and I was lost in astonishment at the coincidence. There could not be a stronger proof of the nature of Handel, or the powers of the negro.

I naturally enquired if this man was in his senses, and the reply was, that he was always rational but when he played, when he invariably used the same gestures, and evinced the same incoherency. The accompanying notes were caught whilst he was singing; to do more than set them down in their respective lengths, was impossible, and every notation must be far inadequate.

As regards the words, there was such a rhapsody of recitative, of mournful, impetuous, and exhilarated air, wandering through the life of man, throughout the animal and vegetable kingdom for its subjects, without period, without connection, so transient, abrupt, and allegorical, that the Governor of the town could translate a line but occasionally, and I was too much possessed by the music, and the alternate rapture and phrenzy of the performer, to minute the half which he communicated. I can only submit the fragments of a melancholy and a descriptive part.

Burst of a man led to execution,

Yawa yawa wo wo oh

Yawa waï yawa

What have I done? what have I done?

Bewailing the loss of his mother,

Yawa gooba shangawelladi yaisa

Wo na boo, &c.

My mother dies; who’ll cry for me now

When I die? &c.

Pahmbolee gwoongee yayoo, &c.

Which path shall I seek my love?

Hark! I know now,

I hear her snap the dry sticks,

To speak, to call to me.

Jiggledy jiggledy, jiggledy, too too tee too, often invaded or broke off a mournful strain; it was said to be an imitation of the note of a bird, described as the wood-pecker.

Three Portuguese, one French, and two large Spanish ships, visited the river for slaves during our stay, and the master of a Liverpool vessel assured me that he had fallen in with 22 between Gaboon and the Congo. Their grand rendezvous is Mayumba. The Portuguese of St. Thomas’s and Prince’s islands send small schooner boats to Gaboon for slaves, which are kept after they are transported this short distance, until the coast is clear for shipping them to America. A third large Spanish ship, well armed, entered the river the night before we quitted it, and hurried our exit, for one of that character was committing piracy in the neighbouring rivers. Having suffered from falling into their hands before, I felicitated myself on the escape. We were afterwards chased and boarded by a Spanish armed schooner, with three hundred slaves on board; they only desired provisions.

[Footnote 129: I believe no instructions for entering the River Gabon are in print, the following were compiled from the log-book of the Lord Mulgrave, which has been laden in the river the three successive years she has been chartered as a store-ship by the African Committee, and beat into it this time. When standing for the river, from the southward, it is best to give Round Corner a good birth, as a shoal or sand-bank runs off between that and Sandy point, and also in case of being becalmed, as the ground is foul and bad for anchoring. A channel goes in by Sandy point, but it is rarely used but by small vessels. Leave Round Corner about three leagues, and stand over for Cape Clara until you have the river well open, then steer for a bluff point about two miles inside of the Cape, where you will find from eight to ten fathom water. You may stand in, till you are about two miles from the above point, and then steer up the river, keeping the north shore aboard, and steering for the highest land you see, which lies above Quaw Ben’s town. In mid-channel, you will find nine fathoms, until you bring Sandy point on a line with Cape Clara bearing S.S.E. You are then in the narrowest part of the channel, which is not more than two or three miles wide, and your greatest soundings will be six fathoms. When you are well inside these bearings you may haul off from the shore at your leisure, and steer for Parrot Island. When athwart of Quaw Ben’s town, and about five miles off shore, you will find twelve and thirteen fathoms. In standing up from Quaw Ben’s, give Prince Glass’s town a good birth, as a shoal runs off to some distance, your soundings will be from seven to nine fathoms; you may anchor on any part of the north side, without danger. Between Konig and Parrot Islands, is very good anchorage in seven fathoms, and a soft, muddy, bottom; thence to Abraham’s town, you will have from seven to four fathoms at low water; and small vessels may go a considerable way up the river, for there are three fathoms at Naängoo or George-Town creek, about forty-five miles up the river. If you are turning into the river, when you are within the Cape, stand no further off than into five fathoms, for as you close the middle ground, the soundings are very irregular; you may have five fathoms; and, before the next cast, the ship may be ashore. The widest part of the channel, is not more than about 5½ miles, until you are nearly athwart of Quaw Ben’s town, when you may stand over to the south side, as you are then inside the bank. There is a very good watering-place at Rodney’s point. Ships unacquainted, may anchor off the Cape and wait for the sea breeze, which generally sets in before noon.]

[Footnote 130: I am sorry to say those whom their parents have been persuaded to entrust to English vessels for the same purpose, have invariably been sold as slaves, in violation of every assurance; an infamy of which the French have never been guilty in a single instance.]

[Footnote 131: Wōla is probably the Empoöngwa corruption of the original name Quolla or Kulla, for, presuming that name to be given to it in the Mallowa or Houssa country,[a] to denote its being a branch or arm of the great river, dividing into it and the Gambaroo after leaving the lake Dibbir, (Kulla being _child_ in the Mallowa,) it doubtless retains the same name in the country known at Gaboon; not only because Mr. Brown first reported the river Kulla (_Bahr Kulla_) and the kingdom (_Dar Kulla_) to be situated thereabouts, but because from the following observation of Mr. Hutchison’s, received since I wrote my geographical chapter, it appears, that the language of the kingdom which bears the name of the river, is at least a dialect of the Mallowa language. “I send you the numerals of Quolla liffa, as given me by the servant boy I have got lately, who comes from that country, which is near the cannibals:” see Appendix, Language.]

[Footnote a: The Jennë Moors however called it Quolla, which inclined me at first to derive its name from _Killi_, the numeral _one_ in the Bambarra, as if to denote it the first or greatest river; as Yahndi, the name of the capital of Dagwumba, implies its pre-eminence; _Yahndi_ being _one_ in the language of the country.]

[Footnote 132: “The information received here (at Mavoonda) of the upward course of the river, was more distinct than any we have yet had; all the persons we spoke to agreeing that after ten days in a canoe, we should come to a large sandy island, which makes _two channels, one to the north west, and the other to the north east; that in the latter there is a fall, but that canoes are easily got above it_; that twenty days above the island, the river issues by many small streams from a great marsh or lake of mud.” Captain Tuckey’s Narrative. In a map, “Regna Congo et Angola,” in Dapper’s Description de l’Afrique, 1686, a large arm is laid down, about two hundred and fifty miles up the Zaire, running to or coming from the north-east. As this book is scarcely known, there being but one copy in England, it may be interesting to the reader to see a description of the Congo and its source, according to the geographical opinions, a century and a half ago, for 1686 is the date of the translation from the German. Refer first to my copy of a part of one of the many maps in Dapper’s work, p. 211. Au midi de cette riviere (Niger) est le Zaire, ou la grande riviere de Congo qui prend sa source de trois lacs, au sentiment de Pigaser. Le premier se nomme Zambre d’où procede le Nil, le second Zaire d’où sortent les rivieres de Lelunde et de Coanze, et le troisiême est un lac formé par le Nil. Mais le principal est le Zambre qui est comme le centre d’où les fleuves de nord le Nil, au levant Cuama et Coavo, au midi Zeila et Manice ou Manhessen, et au couchant la riviere de Zaire, qui par divers bras arrose toute la partie occidentale de l’Afrique, situé au delà de la ligne, les royaumes de Congo, d’Angola, de Monomatapa, de Matamam, de Bagamadiri et d’Agasymba jusqu’au cap de bonne-esperance; pendant que le Nil, Cuama, Coavo, Zeila, et Manice traversent l’Abyssinie et tous les pais qui sont entre la mer-Rouge et Cuama. L’embouchure de Zaire est à cinq degrez quarante minutes de latitude Meridionale. Elle a trois milles de large et se décharge dans l’ocean avec tant d’impetuosité, que l’impression qu’elle donne à la marée, dont elle rend le cours ouëst- nord-ouëst et nord-ouëst au nord se ressent en pleine mer, à douze milles de la côte. Quand on a perdu la terre de vue, on découvre une eau noire, de la verdure, des cannes et des roseaux qui ressemblent à de petites îles, et que la violence de la marée entraine après soi du haut des ecœuils. De sorte qu’à moins d’un vent d’arrière il est fort difficile de resister au courant et d’aller jetter l’ancre dans la rade de Cabo Padron. On ne sauroit remonter ce fleuve plus de vint ou vint cinq lieues au-dessus de son embouchure, à cause des cascades qui sont au milieu de son lit et qui s’élancent du haut des rochers avec tant de bruit qu’on l’entend à deux ou trois lieues de là. Plusieurs ruisseaux se déchargent ou sortent de ce fleuve et arrosent le pais: ce qui est fort commode pour les marchands et les habitans qui peuvent aller commodément d’un village à l’autre sur des canots. Les peuples qui demeurent le long de ces ruisseaux sont des gens de petite taille.]

[Footnote 133: The following, which Baron Humboldt sketched before me, (and which is only laid down in Walker’s Map of the World on the globular projection) is a more extraordinary concatenation of rivers; considering the opposite courses of the Orinoco and Amazon when connected by the Casiquaire, which is more curiously situated than the south eastern branch of the Ogooawai, flowing, through Tanyan, into the Zaire.

[Illustration] ]

[Footnote 134: “Captain Tuckey could only learn that the paramount Sovereign was named Blindy N’Congo, and resided at a banza named Congo, which was six days journey, in the interior from the ‘Tall Trees,’ where, by the account of the negroes, the Portuguese had an establishment, and where there were soldiers and white women. This place is no doubt the St. Salvador of the Portuguese. The following is the description in Dapper: La province de Pembo est la plus considerable de tout le royaume dont elle contient la ville capitale, et forme comme le centre. Cette ville porte le nom de banza chez les Ethiopiens, les Portugais la nomment présentement S. Salvador, et Marmol l’appelloit Ambas Congo. Elle est presque au milieu de la province, située sur une roche fort haute, _à 76 lieues de France ou 150 milles de la mer_, au sud-est de la riviere de Zaire, et ombragée de Palmiers, de Tamarins, de Bacoves, de Colas, de Limoniers et d’Orangers. Le côtau sur lequel elle est bâtie est si haut, que de dessus son sommet on porte la vue aussi loin qu’elle se peut étendre, sans qu’aucune montagne l’arrête. Il n’y a point de murailles autour de cette ville, si ce n’est d’un côté de devers le Midi, que le premier roi chrétien donna aux Portugais pour les mettre à couvert des insultes. Il fit aussi fermer de murailles son palais et toutes les maisons royales qui sont aux environs, laissant une place vuide où l’on bâtit ensuite un palais et un cimétiere. La cime de la montagne est occupé par des maisons baties fort près l’une de l’autre: les personnes de qualité en possedent la plus grande partie, et sont des enceintes de bâtimens qui ressemblent à une petite ville. Les habitations des personnes du commun sont rangées de file, en diverses rues, elles sont assez grandes, mais les murailles ne sont que de paille; excepté quelques unes que les Portugais ont faites, dont les murs sont de brique & le toit de chaume. Le palais du roi est aussi grand qu’une ville ordinaire; il est fermé de quatre murailles, celle qui regarde sur le quartier des Portugais est de chaux & de pierre, les autres ne sont que de paille, mais travaillée fort proprement. Les murailles des sales & des chambres sont orneés de tapisseries de paille nattées avec beaucoup d’art. Dans l’enceinte interieure du Palais, il y a des jardins & des vergers embellis de berceaux & de pavilions fort beaux pour le pais, quoiqu’au fond ce ne soit pas grande chose. Il y a dix ou douze Eglises, la Cathedrale, sept chapelles dans la ville & trois Eglises dans le chateau du Prince. Il y a aussi un couvent de Jesuites, où trois ou quatre de ces Peres sent tous le jours le Catechisme au peuple, & des écoles où l’on enseigne le Latin & le Portugais. Il y a deux fontaines, l’une dans la rue de St. Jaques & l’autre dans une cour du Palais, qui fournissent abondance d’eau fraiche, sans qu’on se donne la peine de refaire les aqueducs ou de les entretenir. Outre cela il y a un bras de la riviere Lelunde, qu’on nomme Vese, qui sort au pié de la montagne, au Levant de la ville; son eau est fort bonne, le peuple en va puiser, & elle sert à arroser & rendre fertiles les campagnes d’alentour. On y a des pourceaux & des chevres; mais peu de moutons & boeufs; on les renferme la nuit dans des parcs qui sont dans la ville près des maisons.]

[Footnote 135: This panther or leopard, was sent to the Governor-in- Chief by the King of Ashantee, and was so perfectly tame as never to be tied up, but strolled at liberty through the apartments, playing with the servants and children. It was presented to the Duchess of York, and died at Exeter ’Change, a short time after it landed, of an inflammation on the lungs. The extraordinary playfulness and good humour of the animal, and the preservation of its health and tameness during a four months voyage, (during the colder part of which he banquetted sumptuously on dead parrots) made the loss very mortifying.]

[Footnote 136: The description the natives give of this animal agrees extraordinarily with that of the Quoja Morrou in Dapper.

Les Quojas Morrou, dont on a parlé dans le royaume de Quoja, naissent dans le royaume d’Angola. Comme cet animal tient beaucoup de l’homme, bien des gens ont cru qu’il étoit issu d’un homme & d’un singe, mais les Negres même rejettent cette opinion. Il y a trente ou quarante ans qu’on apporta en Hollande un de ses animaux, dont on fit present à son Altesse le Prince Frederic Henri. Il étoit de la grandeur d’un enfant de trois ans, _mais il avoit bien le double d’épais, étant d’une taille carreé_, fort vigoureux & agile: _car il levoit des choses fort pesantes & les portoit d’un lieu en un autre_. Le devant de son corps étoit nud, mais le dos étoit couvert de poil noir. Sa face avoit quelque chose d’humain, mais son nez étoit plat & retroussé. Ses oreilles, son sein, et ses mamelles, ses coudes ses mains, le bas de son ventre & ses parties naturelles, ses jambes & ses pieds resembloient parfaitement à ceux d’une femme, parce que c’étoit un animal femelle. _Il se tenoit debout & marchoit souvent tout droit; il buvoit fort proprement, portant, d’une main le pot à la bouche et le soutenant de l’autre; il se couchoit de même, mettoit sa tête sur un chevet, ajustoit la couverture sur son corps, & à le voir ainsi étendu on l’auroit pris pour un homme_. Aussi les Negres rapportent-ils des choses prodigieuses de cet animal; ils assurent qu’il force des femmes & des filles, _& qu’il ose s’en prendre à des hommes armez_. Et selon toutes les apparences c’est là ce Satyre si celebre chez les Anciens, dont Pline & les poëtes ont tant parlé par oui-dire & sur des rapports incertains.]

[Footnote 137: “Les Botanistes remarquent même très fréquemment ces accidens de couleurs dans les plantes venues en lieux agrestes. Je n’en citerai qu’un exemple entre mille. Sur les rives sauvages du Volga et du Samara, Pallas a trouvé l’_Anemone patens_ chargé de périanthes tantôt bleus, tantôt blancs, tantôt jaunes.”—Mirbel 1ère partie, p. 264.]

[Footnote 138: “India rubber is obtained from the milky juice of different plants in hot countries. The chief of these are, the Jatropha elastica and Urceola elastica. The juice is applied in successive coatings on a mould of clay, and dried by the fire or in the sun, and when of a sufficient thickness the mould is crushed and the pieces shaken out.” Nicholson.

“It has been discovered that caoutchouc is not exclusively the produce of the Heven caoutchouc, but that it is furnished by several other plants. We know it to be obtained in large quantities from the Jatropha elastica of South America, and Dr. Roxburgh has given us a description of an Indian plant (Urceola elastica) which affords a juice that when thickened has all the properties of the caoutchouc. We moreover know that the milky exudations of the Jack tree (Artocarpus integrifolia) the Banyan tree (Ficus Indica) and also that of the Arasum tree (Ficus religiosa) possess nearly similar qualities.” Ainslie’s Materia Medica of Hindoostan.]

[Footnote 139: The vegetable butter.]