Part 17

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

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

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

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

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

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

237

INTEREST OF MONEY.

_Application of the Superflux of Property or Capital._

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

247

PLAN FOR THE GRADUAL CIVILISATION OF AFRICA.

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