INTnODUCTION. XV 



are now fouml. We may ailmit in advance tliat some of tlic evidence of tliis amalgamation ma)' be 

 spurious or donbtf'ul. For instance, king Belo of Sokoto may be mistaken, wlicn he asserts in his History 

 of Takroor* tliat Bornii was peopled by an Egyptian colony. Still it is undeniable that a strong Caucasian 

 intermixture extends from the Red Sea through Nubia and Darfur to the Shoas, south-west of lake Tsad ; 

 and it is just here, at the last named point, that we first meet with the red Pulohs, who extend through 

 llausa, Bambara, &c., to the Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean. 



Again, the brown men of the Desert belong to the white race. As a natural consequence of continual 

 Intercourse in peace and war, they often intermix with the blacks of Negro-land, and their half-caste 

 offspring are as light-colored as mulattoes in America. The color, however, is different, being, as before 

 observed, a more healthy and pleasing red, something between that of the mulatto and the North 

 American Indian. When these African mulattoes intermarry witli negroes, their children are more or 

 less black ; but their features and the texture of their skin afford unmistakable evidence that they are not 

 pure negroes. They assume, in fact, the very appearance of the Mandingoes, whose peculiarities liave 

 been attributed to climate. Now, if there had been no amalgamation of races to the eastward of Lake 

 Tsad, the intermixture constantly going on along the southern borders of the Desert is sufficient to account 

 for all the types of mankind found in Sudan. The red Pulohs, who are a numerous class, correspond 

 exactly to the half-breed offspring of negroes and the people of the Desert, while the darker Pulohs and 

 tlie Mandingoes correspond to the descendants of such mulattoes and negroes. It is a curious fact, 

 however, that some of the Pulohs at Iloriq are lighter colored and more of the white man in every respect 

 than any half-blood mulatto I have ever seen either in America or Africa. But even in tliese cases the 

 hair is woolly, although it grows sufficiently long for the women to plait it and tie it under the chin. 



Finally, the Saracens, who overran Sudan in the tenth century, left many descendants ; and these, of 

 course, were not pure negroes. In short, there is no Want of evidence that the light color of many 

 families and tribes in Sudan may have resulted from amalgamation. When we see that the children of a 

 brown Moor and a black woman of Yoruba or Nufe are red, we very naturally conclude that all the red 

 people in the countr}' are of mixed blood. On the whole, then, the origin of the red or mulatto-colored 

 men whom we find in Africa is more easily accounted for than the origin of the blacks. 



But we return to the Yorubas, who are certainly negroes, if we except a few red men or mulattoes. 

 The}' are not generally', however, such negroes as are frequenth' met with in the forests of Guinea and 

 again, it seems, on the Benue river, in the heart of the continent.f Many of the Yoruba people, like those 

 of Nufe and other countries, have handsome hands and feet, pleasing features, and well developed fore- 

 heads, and are altogether noble-looking men. 



The traditions of the Yoruba people as to the origin of their tribe are obscure and contradictory. 

 They generally affii'm that mankind were created at Ife, a considerable town in the eastern part of the 

 Yoruba countrj'. Sometimes they speak of Ife as being four months' journey distant, as though the 

 present town of that name were confounded with some other place of wdiicli the people retain an obscure 

 traditional recollection. The word Ife appears to be derived from fe, to e>ihiri/e ; in which ease it signifies 

 cnlarffeynent. 



Notwithstanding the prevailing belief that men were created at Ife, I have been informed by some 

 intelligent natives, that the Yoruba people once lived in Nufe beyond the Niger. They were driven from 

 this position by war, at a time wdien the river was much swollen and difficult to cross. After retreating 

 for some time, they founded the present city of Ife, whence colonies were afterwards sent, first to Igboho, 

 and then to Oyo,;j; Lander's Bohoo and Katanga or Eyeo. Igboho finally became the capital of Yoruba 

 as a kingdom independent of Ife. In subsequent times the seat of government was transferred to Oyo^ 

 where it remained till the city was destroyed by the Pulohs, about the year 1835. The king then 

 removed his residence to Ago-Odza, the Tent-Market, whicli at present is commonly called Oyo. 



It would seem that Yoruba proper was once divided into three pi'ovinces, Ibakpa in the west, Ibolo in 

 the east, and Oyo (Eyeo or Ilio) in the north. At least the three principal dialects of the language are 

 still called by these names. The Dictionary contained in the present work is chiefly in the Oyo dialect, 

 whicli is considered the standard by a majority of the natives. 



* See the extracts from BpIo's Hiatoi-y in tlie .Appendix to Denham and Clappertoii's Travels in Africa, vol. ii. 

 f Sfe Crowther's Journal of the Chadda Expedition in 1854 



X \g\>o, forest ; \\\6, sho'tting, clamor ; Ighoho, the clamorous or noisy forest, i.e. "the howling wilderness." Qyo, 

 probably escape, from yo, to escape. This might indicate that Oyo was their first settlement west of the Niger. 



