109 



AFRICA. 



AFRICA. 



1TO 



no doubt, merely one of the great monarchies in the interior, in all 

 probability that called Ghana by Edrisi, and Kano by Clapperton, 

 which, although now much reduced, is represented as having been 

 formerly one of the most powerful in Africa. In 1487, also, two 

 persons were sent out from Lisbon to attempt to find out the 

 dominions of Prester John, and a route to India by land ; and one of 

 these, proceeding by Cairo and Aden, reached Goa in India, returned 

 thence by Sofala, and afterwards penetrated into Abyssinia, where he 

 was detained for some years. At Sofala he heard of the great island 

 of Madagascar, called by the Portuguese at first St.-Laurence, the 

 existence of which, however, had been long before made known to 

 Europe by Marco Polo. Several natives of Africa, likewise, were at 

 different times induced to visit Lisbon. Immediately before the 

 adventurers we have just mentioned set out on their enterprise, a 

 negro prince named Bernoi, from the nation of the Jaloffs or Yaloffs, 

 to the south of the Senegal, arrived in that city to solicit the assistance 

 of the Portuguese to replace him on his throne, from which he had 

 been driven by some rival This application afforded those to whom 

 it was made a favourable opportunity of introducing themselves into 

 this part of Africa, of which they immediately took advantage. They 

 soon formed various establishments in the space lying between the 

 Senegal and the Gambia, and along the banks of these rivers ; but 

 although they eventually spread themselves to such an extent in this 

 district as to create a large population of mixed Portuguese and 

 African blood, it is not exactly ascertained how far they actually 

 penetrated into the interior. They also, however, in course of time, 

 acquired important settlements farther to the south, along the banks 

 of the Zaire, and in other parts of Congo ; and the information which 

 WBB obtained during the earlier period of their domination here 

 respecting the geography of that and the neighbouring regions has 

 been more fully given to the world. It was derived principally 

 through the successive missions which were sent out, in the course 

 of the 17th century, to attempt to christianise the inhabitants. The 

 country actually traversed by the missionaries may be generally 

 described as extending along the coast from Cape Lopez Gonzalves, 

 in 44' S. lat., to the town of San Felippe de Benguela, in 12 14' S. 

 lat., and as far in the interior as to Concabella, on the Zaire, about 

 400 miles from the mouth of that river, and to Massignan, about 100 

 miles up the more southerly river called the Coanza. They also 

 obtained some information respecting parts beyond these points, 

 which they did not visit. Finally, this nation very soon also 

 established themselves along the east coast of Africa by the conquest 

 of Quiloa, Mombaca, and Melinda from the Arabs, effected in 1506, 

 and by the forts which they subsequently built on the island of 

 Mozambique (which became the capital of their eastern settlements), 

 and along the banks of the river Zambezi, a short distance to the 

 north of Sofala. From these positions they obtained accounts more 

 or lew accurate respecting the whole coast of Zanguebar and Ajan as 

 far north as to Cape Guardafui. They had also some intercourse 

 with the Macooa or Makooana, whose territory, lying some days' 

 journey from the coast, is described as extending from behind Melinda 

 as for south as to the Zambezi. On that river they have still factories 

 at Tete, nearly 400 miles from it* mouth, and at Zambo, which is 

 almost twice that distance inland. Manica, which is the principal 

 mart for the trade carried on with the natives by the Portuguese 

 settlers on the east coast, in gold, ivory, and slaves, is situated nearly 

 in 19 8. lat., 31 30' E. long. 



It has been maintained by some writer* that, long before Cape 

 Xnn was passed by the Portuguese, settlements had been formed on 

 the coast of Africa by the French, very far to the south of that cape. 

 The Abbe 1 Labat and after him the Abbd Demanet, in his ' Nouvelle 

 Hixtoire dc 1'Afrique Francaise,' 2 torn. 12mo, Paris, 1767, assure us 

 that so early an the middle of the 14th century, the merchants of 

 Dieppe had establishments and a trade to the south of Cape Verde, 

 and that by 1364 they had extended their intercourse as far as to the 

 river of Sierra Leone. What is more certainly known with regard to 

 the early intercourse of the French with the west coast of Africa is, 

 that they appear to have been in the practice of sending four or five 

 ships annually from Normnndy to the river Gambia, soon after the 

 middle of the 16th century. The company to whom these vessels 

 belonged were certainly also possessed of some settlement* in tlm 

 naehboariiood "f tli<> Senegal, when, in 1664, they were compelled to 

 Hell them to the \Wnt India Company, that year established by royal 

 charter. Tliia association, however, broke up in 1673, when its 

 African establishments fell into the hands of a new company. The 

 '< liad by this time obtained possession of the isles of Goree and 

 Arguin ; but they wcro driven from both, in 1678 and the following 

 year, by an armament sent from France under the conduct of the 

 Count d Estrees ; and at the peace of Nimeguen these conquests were 

 retained by the French king, who gave them up to the company. 

 Demanet state* that, by treaties with the native princes, possession 

 M lubfeouentM oMkifcad ,.f ..,n ! ooail )>. Cspe \',-r<l<- t,, thr 

 river Gambia,-! Atent of about 50 leagues and to the 



' 'iid. Kr-nch Africa, however, eventually com- 

 i,<|.. 1 ranch wi. I. T limits than these, stretching from Cape Blanco 

 to Sierra Leone, or over about thirteen degrees of latitude, and going 

 back also into the interior along the Senegal for some hundreds 

 of mile*. We do not mean that the company had acquired the 



sovereignty of all this territory, but that their settlements were 

 spread from one extremity of it to the other. 



The French African Company, however, repeatedly failed as a 

 commercial speculation ; and besides the one formed in 1673, which 

 became bankrupt in 1681, two others had been successively associated 

 and dissolved, when, in 1717, the trade was, by an edict of the crown, 

 transferred from a third to the famous Western or Mississippi Com- 

 pany then newly established. On the failure of this short-lived 

 scheme the African settlements were taken possession of by the 

 crown, and the trade left free. France still possesses, in this part of 

 Africa, some inconsiderable settlements. 



Several journeys into the interior were undertaken by the French 

 residents at the mouth of the Senegal about the close of the 17th 

 and the commencement of the 18th centuries, accounts of which 

 are given in Labat's ' Nouvelle Relation de 1'Afrique Occidentale,' 

 5 vols., 12mo, Paris, 1728. The most important of these were the 

 voyages performed up the Senegal by the Sieur Brue, the manager of 

 one of the companies, in 1697 and 1698. In the former year he 

 ascended the river for about 400 miles, when he landed at Ghiorel, on 

 the north bank, and proceeded across the country to Goumel, the 

 capital of the king of the Foulahs, about 30 leagues distant. On his 

 return from this journey he established a factory at Ghiorel. The 

 following year he again proceeded up the river, and visited several 

 more remote parts of the kingdom of Gallam. The town of 

 Dramanet, the principal port of that state, he found to contain 4000 

 inhabitants, who traded with Timbuctoo, which they described as 

 lying about 500 leagues farther inland. The French afterwards 

 established a factory at Dramanet. He extended his voyage up the 

 river an far beyond this point as to the cataract of Felu, and then 

 leaving the water, passed that barrier by land, intending to proceed 

 to the cataract of Govinea, 40 leagues higher up. But the appre- 

 hension of the water becoming too shallow from the heat of the 

 advancing season to carry him back, induced him to return without 

 accomplishing that object He heard, however, while in Gallam, of 

 the kingdom of Kasson, situated to the north-east of it, and of 

 Bambarra beyond that. East of Bambarra, he was told, lay Tim- 

 buctoo, and beyond that the kingdom of Ghingala. He was also 

 positively assured by some of his informants (although the statement 

 was contradicted by others) that the Niger, which he supposed to be 

 the same with the Senegal, flowed not towards the west, but towards 

 the east, as it passed Timbuctoo. 



It was not till some years after this time that the French appear to 

 have heard of the kingdom of Bambouk, lying to the south of 

 Gallam, although it had formed part of the conquests of the 

 Portuguese, whom however the natives had expelled after long 

 experience of their oppression. But no sooner was intelligence 

 obtained of the gold dust and mines in which it was said to abound, 

 than the avidity of the new colonists of the Senegal was powerfully 

 awakened, and every effort was employed to penetrate its frontiers, 

 an attempt rendered infinitely difficult and hazardous by the vigilant 

 jealousy of the inhabitants, who had not yet forgotten the miseries 

 of European tyranny. The perilous undertaking however was at 

 length accomplished in 1714 by M. Compagnon, who contrived to 

 traverse nearly the whole of the territory. It was afterwards 

 repeatedly visited by others of the French residents ; and in 1802 a 

 full account of it was given in the first volume of M. Golberry's 

 ' Fragmens d'un Voyage en Afrique.' The kingdom of Gallam was 

 also visited in 1785 by M. Saugnier, an account of whose journey 

 has been published. The kingdom of Hoval likewise, from which 

 gum Senegal is brought, and which occupies the space between 

 the Senegal and the Sahara, was early explored by the French 

 settlers. An account of a journey thither by the Sieur Brue is to 

 be found in Labat ; and much additional information respecting the 

 country is given in the work of M. Golberry. 



Settlements upon the west coast of Africa were also early made in 

 imitation of the Portuguese and French, first by the English and 

 afterwards by the Dutch and the Danes ; some of the English traders 

 repeatedly ascended to a considerable height on the Gambia. But it 

 is since the formation of the African Association, in 1788, that the 

 chief efforts have been made ip the prosecution of discovery in the 

 interior. The expeditions sent out by the Association and by 

 government, and those undertaken by individual adventurers, have 

 sought Timbuctoo and the Niger from various points. But no 

 considerable progress was made till the first journey in 1795 and 

 1796 of Park, who, on that occasion proceeding from the west coast 

 in the direction of the Gambia, till he left it and turned to the north 

 at Medina, after passing through the kingdoms of Bondou, Kasson, 

 and Kaarta, reached Sego, the capital of Bambarra, and there 

 beheld the Niger (called by the natives the Joliba, or Great Water) 

 "flowing slowly to the eastward." Park advanced beyond this point 

 to another town nained Silla, on the same river, and also acquired 

 some valuable information respecting the 'further course of the 

 Niger and the position of Timbuctoo, which he was told was not 

 more than 200 miles from Silla. He returned to the Gambia by a 

 more southerly tract, following the course of the Niger as far up as 

 Bammakoo, which was stated to be about ten days' journey from its 

 source, and then proceeding through the mountainous districts of 

 Manding, Konkodoo, and Dindikoo. On his second expedition, which 



