1824.] 
are crushed by some tremendous and un- 
looked-for misfortune. 
Some bounds, however, are set by 
the legislature, to the observance of 
these harsh, rude maxims. 
The rigorous circumstances attendant 
on the times of mourning ought not to be 
pushed too far,so as to impair the sight or 
hearing, or to let the body grow too 
meagre. In case of receiving any hurt or 
wound in the head, it may be washed and 
dressed; when overheated, the bath may 
be taken ; in case of indisposition, suitable 
viands may be eaten and wine drank; 
but, on the re-establishment of health, the 
mourning observances should be resumed ; 
to neglect them, would be to outrage 
natureand abjure filial piety. On reaching 
the age of fifty, the abstinence of mourning 
need not go to the length of becoming 
meagre ; and, at sixty, but little, as to arti- 
cles of living, will require retrenchment. 
At seventy, mourning apparel will suffice ; 
at that age, meat may be eaten, wine 
drank, and sleeping in the usual apartment 
may be allowed. 
In China, the mourning for a 
father lasts three years ; many passages 
in the Li-Ki, which is the fourth of the 
great works called the King, refer to 
this custom. 
Tsea-Tchang asked if it was true, as 
related in the Chouking, that Koa- 
Soung had passed three years without 
conversing with any, and had only en- 
tered into the administration of affairs 
after the expiration of that term. 
“No doubt,” replied Confucius, ‘and 
it was right that it should be so. In 
ancient times, on the death of the em- 
peror, the heir to the throne was sc- 
eluded from all public business, and 
left the management wholly to his 
minister.” This, also, is an extreme 
that calls for animadversion; the me- 
mory of good princes would have been 
more honoured by its breach than its 
observance. 
Little can be said of the Yo-King, 
or the part which treats of music ; this 
is the last of the Canonical Books of 
the first class. The book, itself, is lost, 
but the following fragment of it has 
been preserved in the Li-Ki. 
In the temples, and in the halls of our 
ancestors, music was subservient to the 
purposes of religion, inspiring its senti- 
ments into both the prince and his sub- 
jects. In public festivals, and in the as- 
semblies of parents, it breathed a spirit of 
condescension towards the old and towards 
the young; in families, and the affairs of 
the household, it inculcated love and ten- 
derness to fathers and to children, to the 
eldest brothers, and to the youngest. ‘The 
more we investigate the nature of music, 
Account of a Tribe of People called Kroomen, 
491 
either as to what forms the essence of it, 
or only its accessories, we find its principal 
object is to strengthen the bond which 
unite father to son, prince to subject, avd 
men one to another. 
All that is known of the Yo-King is, 
that it was taught in the schools, that 
its canticles were sung in the religious 
ceremonies, and that the musicians 
were obliged to learnit by heart. This 
monument of the ancient religion ap- 
pears to have been lost at the time 
when China was overrun by the sects of 
Fo and Tao-hee, which were also all 
powerful at court. 
—=ii— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT of @ TRIBE of PEOPLE called 
KROOMEN, inhabiting a small DISTRICT 
of the GRAIN COAST of AFRICA; by the 
late THOMAS LUDLAM, ESQ. formerly 
GOVERNOR of SIERRA LEONE, and one 
of the COMMISSIONERS of AFRICAN 
INQUIRY. 
O less than 800 Kroomen were 
estimated to be working as la- 
bourers at Sierra Leone in the year 
1809; and Kroomen are to be found, 
though not in such large bodies, yet in 
considerable numbers, at every fac- 
tory, nay at almost every village, in 
the intermediate space, which is an 
extent of 350 miles. Besides this, they 
are employed by all the vessels trading 
between Cape Mount and Cape 
Palmas, to carry on their trade, as 
factors and interpreters, and also to 
assist in the work of navigation, and 
particularly in manning boats. ‘They 
are also to be found, though in inferior 
numbers, on other parts of the coast. 
The Kroomen who thus employ them- 
selves, either as traders, sailors, or 
labourers, at a distance from home, 
are seldom less than fifteen years of 
age, or more than forty. Those who 
remain at home are chiefly employed 
in agriculture, and a few in fishing. 
They rear also a few caitle. The arti- 
cles which they cultivate are rice, 
cassada, yams, and plantancs. The 
land seems to form a common stock, 
and not to descend by inheritance. 
Each man settles, or rather cultivates, 
where he pleases. Agricultural la- 
bour is conducted chietly by women, 
though sometimes by domestic slaves, 
They have long been the exclusive 
intermediate merchants, or rather 
factors, between the vessels trading 
on this part of the coast and the peo- 
ple of the interior ; and, while the slave- 
trade flourished, this employment occu- 
pied 
