AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 



AGAP^E. 



Ml duty. Some persons are of opinion that this ' 

 has arisen from the possessive pronoun kit, as in such a phrase Gnd kin 

 irill, iii'.in his 'I "-iii ; but we are of opinion that this final ' is to be 

 referred to the German and Anglo-Saxon genitive termination es. 

 When we hear people vulgarly say him,, hern, for hii, her, the n is the 

 remnant of the syllable en, which in these instances marks a kind of 

 pronominal adjective, akin to the genitive or possessive case; as we 

 may still observe in the German forms (lessen, &c. 



In the Latin and Greek, and many other languages, there is the same 

 system of affixes of which we have given examples in the words treiy/tty, 

 : and in these languages the different cases of nouns, and adjec- 

 tives, and the different tenses and persons of the verbs, are also formed 

 l>y affixes. Thus the nominatives Pintlaru-i, Uomfra-i, Lilians, Anto- 

 <re the true Roman forms of these names, which, in the accusa- 

 tive. i 1 ., rni /''ii'l"ru-m, Homeru-m, &e., respectively, and so on in the 

 other cases. With the English it is the common practice to shorten 

 all these words to Pindar, Homer, Livy, Antony ; and yet we are not 

 ''lit in this practice, for we say Tibulliu, jUmilita, &c., keeping, 

 in these instances, the genuine form just as it is in the language to 

 which these names belong. The irregularity depends upon the greater 

 familiarity of the names. With the French, the changes are 

 .still more violent. 



AFRICAN ASSOCIATION, a society which was formed in London, 

 in the year 1788, with the design of encouraging men of enterprise to 

 explore the interior of Africa ; of acquiring by their means a knowledge 

 "t the character of the native inhabitants; and of being enabled to 

 introduce among them the arts of civilisation. The association, during 

 the period of its labours as a distinct body, commissioned for their 

 objects several travellers, whose zeal and ability have furnished the 

 best evidence of the correctness of the association's choice. 



The first person thus commissioned was John Ledyard. While 

 preparing himself for his undertaking, in August 1788, Mr. Ledyard 

 " was seized with a bilioua fever, and died at Cairo. His successor was 

 Mr. Lucas. 



The next person engaged by the association was Major Houghton. 



ived at the mouth of the river Gambia in November 1790, and 



alter various adventures attended with severe privations, died at Jarra, 



in September 1791, not without strong suspicions of having been 



uiurdeml. Without being discouraged by these repeated disap|*>int- 



, the association sought for some other person to prosecute their 



nd were fortunate in meeting with Mungo Park, who sailed in 



.May 1795. The second journey of this adventurous traveller, in 



1804, was undertaken at the expense of Government. 



Tlit: association subsequently engaged Mr. Hornemann, a German ; 

 Mr. Xicholls ; and a young German named Roentzen. The last 

 nary of the association was John Lewis Burckhardt. He sailed 

 for Aleppo in March 1809, and died at Cairo in 1817. 



.ited failures appear at length to have discouraged the association 

 I mm engaging other missionaries. A great deal of information, con- 

 nected with the geography of Africa, was collected by them from 

 various sources during the period of their active labours ; and this 

 itiou was communicated to the public in the occasional printed 

 reports of their proceedings. The association has merged in the 

 Geographical Society, into which body its few remaining 

 members were admitted in 1831. 



( l':'irceding of the Anociatioa, from 1794 to 1805 ; Leyden's History 

 i,f \'i,ii,i'iif ini'l !>;.<,-: ,1-erict in Africa, edited by H. Murray; and 

 Jiinrii'il nf lln I ,'. Fur. vol. i. p. 257.) 



AFRICAN CD. Ml 'ANY, a regulated trading company, established by 

 i 23 Geo. II. c. 31 (1754). In the course of time it happened that 

 tlie whole exiicnse of the Company came to be defrayed by the public, 

 and lor this reason the charter of its incorporation was recalled by Par- 

 it in 1821 (142 Geo. IV. c. 28). The possessions of the Company 

 '>n the west coast of Africa were by this act annexed to and made 



le.ncies upon the colony of Sierra Leone. 



.U'KICAX INSTITUTION, a society established in London, in 

 April, 1807, the declared object* of which were to collect accurate 

 int'nrmation respecting the African continent and its inhabitants, to 

 'ult.ivate friendly relations with the African people, and to introduce 

 4 them the arts of civilisation. As an important instrument for 

 promoting these objects, the members of the institution were invited 

 'te their individual attention and united influence to obtain the 

 ment of the law, then recently passed, for abolishing the 

 n slave trade, and to expose all attempts to evade its provisions. 

 In this part of its functions the vigilance of the institution was un- 

 ceasing ; and the exertions of the directors were successfully applied 

 towards obtaining an Act of Parliament declaring the trading in slaves 

 to be felony. 



The British and Foreign Antislavery Society, and the Church, the 



London, and the Wesleyan Missionary Societies, which have each esta- 



ions and schools in various parts of Africa, were established 



"in ]*riods, and made the civilisation of the Africans one of the 



bject* of their "j^inis.-ition. Ill 1839, was founded in London 



i of the Slave Trade and the Civilisation of 



Africa, whose first public meeting was presided over by Prince Albert 

 in .fun" i ' .jnct of the society was to seek and make known 



t means of civilising Africa, but they did not undertake to nend 

 , though it WM on it recommendation that the unfortunate 



expedition to explore the Niger was undertaken in 1841. 

 principal members was Sir T. F. Buxton ; 



One of its 



and its organ ' The Friend 



of Africa,' published monthly, which first appeared in January 1841, 

 placed before the world several plans for the amelioration of the 

 negro. 



In the United States of America, likewise, several societies have 

 been established for similar purposes. In 1774, Rush and Pemberton 

 formed a society in Pennsylvania, for the abolition of slavery, and to 

 relieve helpless and oppressed negroes ; and which, after some inter- 

 ruption, was re-established in 1787, under the Presidency of Franklin, 

 with renewed vigour ; and another was formed with the same object, 

 in 1785, by President Jay. In 1791, an association was formed for 

 transporting the slaves to Sierra Leone ; but their right to do this was 

 resisted by the English government, and it resulted eventually in the 

 establishment of Liberia. Whatever might have been the motives of 

 the founders, it is certain that the effect has not been to lessen slavery 

 or its ill consequences within the limits of the United States, but 

 rather to perpetuate it, by giving opportunities of getting rid of sickly, 

 turbulent, or dangerous individuals ; and in ithing has been done to 

 decrease or ameliorate the state of slavery within the home dominions 

 of the States. 



AFTER-MATH is the grass which grows after the hay has been 

 made ; it is also called latter-math, rowen, or rowctt, and when left 

 long on the ground it is called fogg in some places. Where the land is 

 rich and hay valuable, the after-math is often mown and made into 

 hay. This hay is inferior in value and nourishment to the first crop, 

 which contains the flower-stalks of the grass. It is not good for horses, 

 especially those which are driven fast and work hard ; it is thought 

 injurious to their wind. Cows and sheep are fond of it, and with them 

 it is not liable to the same objection. Whether it be more profitable 

 te cut a second crop of hay, or te feed off the after-math, mu?t depend 

 on circumstances and situations. Unless the meadows can be irrigated, 

 or well manured, taking off two crops of hay in one year exhausts 

 them, and is apt to produce moss, which the tread of sheep and cattle 

 prevents. 



There is a practice with some farmers to leave the after-math on the 

 ground from hay-making time till the next spring ; this is then called 

 /</.'/ , and the young grass, springing up through the old, makes it 

 palatable to young cattle. Arthur Young mentions this practice with 

 some commendation, as a resource in spring ; but it does not accord 

 with a well-regulated system of husbandly, in which all food should, it' 

 possible, be given in its most perfect state. The fogg, half rotten by 

 a wet winter, cannot be wholesome food ; besides, slugs and various 

 insects breed in it. The after-math should be fed off clean before 

 winter. A good farmer should have hay, straw, and roots sufficient 

 for his stock. Swedish turnips, mangel wurzel, carrots, &c., can be 

 stored in winter, and strewed xipon the pastures in spring, by which 

 the stock will be better fed, and the land improved. 



AGA, the name of a dignity, and also an epithet of respect, among 

 the Turks. The word is said to be of Tatarian origin, and signifies 

 literally a great man, a lord, or a commander. In Turkey, the Aga of 

 the janissaries, while that corps subsisted, was their commanding 

 officer or colonel, whose place was one of high authority and dignity in 

 the state. There is also the spahilar-aga, that is, the colonel of the 

 spahis, or cavalry ; the topd-schilar-aga, or commander of the artillery ; 

 and the kisslar-aga, or guardian of the harem. Aga is likewise the 

 common epithet of civility used in addressing or speaking of the 

 eunuchs employed in the seraglio ; and their chief is distinguished by 

 the title of Capi Aga. The Capi Aga, or Capi Agassi, as he is often 

 called, is one of the principal officers of the eourt of Constantino] >le. 



AOAPJE (iydTrcu), the plural of the Greek aydirri, which signilU 1 .- 

 love, or charity. In the history of the Christian church, the agap;e 

 were those meetings of the early believers, where they sat and ate, at 

 a common table, of food which had been provided by the voluntary 

 contributions of the members of the society, the entertainment being 

 concluded with the holy kiss. These meetings, which were usually 

 held in the same house or apartment in which they assembled for 

 divine worship, are mentioned in the 12th verse of the epistle of Jude,, 

 where it is said of certain unworthy brethren " these are spots in your 

 feasts of charity." It is probable also that St. Paul alludes to them in 

 1 Cor. xi. 20, where his language would seem to imply that the agapcu 

 were connected with the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. They arose 

 from that charity towards the poorer brethren which was so strongly 

 inculcated upon the first followers of Christianity, both by the religion 

 they professed and the circumstances in which they were plaeed. 

 Even in the days of the apostles, however, these meetings had been 

 occasionally perverted from the purpose of their institution, and in 

 time they gave occasion of scandal to the enemies of the faith. The 

 reader may find an account of the accusations of which they were made 

 the groundwork by some of the pagan writers in the 16th chapter of 

 Gibbon's History. They seem to have been generally celebrated for 

 several centuries. Ecclesiastical writers mention three kinds of them : 

 first, those which took place at marriages, called the nuptial or 

 connubial agapa?, to which the bishop or jiastor was usually invited ; 

 second, the anniversary, or, as they were called, natal agapse, which 

 were held in the churches on the festivals of the martyrs ; and, third, 

 the funeral agapic, at the interments of members of the congregation. 

 The celebration of the love-feasts in the churches was at length 



