302 



B A R R A. 



Barra. 



duties, and he is always attended by a number of per- 

 sons who are very importunate : they are incessantly 

 asking for whatever pleases their fancy, and pursue 

 their demands with such ardour and perseverance, 

 that to get rid of them the navigators arc almost al- 

 ways obliged to satisfy their desires. 



The Mandingos are above the middle size, are well 

 made, robust, and capable of bearing great fatigue. 

 The women are stout, active, and pretty. The 

 clothes of both sexes are of cotton, which they ma- 

 nufacture themselves. The men wear drawers, which 

 hang half way down the thigh, and an open tunic, si- 

 milar to our surplice. They have sandals on their 

 feet, and cotton caps on their heads. The women's 

 dress consists of two pieces of linen six feet long and 

 about three wide ; the one is plaited round the loins, 

 and falls down to the ancle, forming a kind of petti- 

 coat ; while the other negligently covers their bosom 

 and shoulders. 



Their habitations, like those of all the other ne- 

 groes, are small and inconvenient hut?. A mud wall 

 about four feet high, over which is a conical opening 

 made of bamboos and straw, serves for the residence 

 of the rich man, as well as of the humblest slave. The 

 furniture is equally uncouth : their beds are made of 

 a bundle of reeds placed on pickets two feet high, and 

 covered with a mat or an ox's skin ; ajar for water, a 

 few earthen vessels for boiling their meat, with some 

 wooden bowls, calabashes, and one or two stools, 

 form the whole of their household goods. 



All the Mandingos in a free state have several wo- 

 men ; but they cannot marry two sisters. These wo- 

 men have each a hut ; while all the hovels belonging 

 to one master are surrounded by a lattice-work of 

 bamboo made with much art : an assemblage of this 

 kind is called Sirk, or Sourfc. Several of these en- 

 closures, separated by narrow paths, compose a town ; 

 but the huts are placed with much irregularity, and 

 according to the caprice of the person to whom they 

 belong. The only point to which they attend is to 

 have the door in a south-westerly direction, that it 

 may admit the sea breezes. 



In each town a spot is set apart for the assemblies 

 of the old men ; it is enclosed by interlaced reeds, 

 and generally covered by trees which protect it from 

 the sun. Here they discuss public affairs, and try 

 causes ; the idle and profligate also resort hither to 

 smoke their pipes and hear the news. 



In several parts they have missourates or mosques, 

 where they meet to say the prayers prescribed by the 

 Koran. 



The population of the free Mandingos, forms at the 

 utmost, about one-fourth of the inhabitants of the 

 country which they occupy. The remaining three- 

 fourths are born in slai ery, and have no hope of esca- 

 ping from it : they are employed in all servile la- 

 bours ; but the free Mandingo has no right to take 

 the life of his slave, nor to sell him to a foreigner, un- 

 less he has been publicly tried, and decreed to deserve 

 such a punishment. The prisoners of war, those im- 

 prisoned for crimes or debt, and those who are taken 

 from the centre of Africa and brought to the coast 

 for sale, have no right to appeal, as their masters may 

 treat and dispose of them according to their fancy. 



Another part of the population of the kingdom of 



Barra, is composed of the descendants of the Portu- 

 guese families who remain in the country, and of whom 

 we have already spoken. Such persons, or rather 

 those who take the title of Portuguese (for all the 

 Mulattos, and even men who are almost black, call 

 themselves Portuguese, and to doubt their origin is 

 an affront they do not pardon,) profess the catholic 

 religion, and have churches and priests in different 

 parts. They are recognised by their costume ; they 

 wear a great chaplet suspended from the neck, a very 

 long sword by their side, a shirt, a cloak, a hat, and 

 a poignard. 



Some of these people devote themselves to com- 

 merce and agriculture, and are generally adroit, brave, 

 and enterprising. They acquire property, live hap- 

 pily, and are much esteemed ; but by far the great- 

 est part live in the most complete state of idleness, 

 and in consequence of being poor, addict themselves 

 to thieving ; they also pass their time in the most 

 disgusting state of libertinism, and are equally despi- 

 sed by the Mahometans and the Christians. 



The industrious part of these people proceed to 

 the top of the river in the canoes or boats of the 

 country, and generally perform such voyages on ac- 

 count of the French, who entrust them with merchan- 

 dise, and pay them liberally. They have sometimes 

 been attacked in their voyage, but they always proved 

 that they knew how to defend their liberty and pro- 

 perty. They have also learnt from their ancestors 

 never to pardon wrongs nor injuries ; and if this be 

 not a precept of their religion, it is a command of their 

 fathers which necessity justifies. M. Durand is of opi- 

 nion that it is possible to employ, with great advan- 

 tage, these men so inured to the climate, to travel over, 

 and make discoveries in the interior of Africa. 



The Portuguese build their habitations according 

 to the plan of their ancestors, by which they are more 

 solid and commodious than those of the Negroes : 

 they raise them two or three feet above the soil, to se- 

 cure them from the damp, and give them a consider- 

 able length so as to divide each house into several 

 chambers. The windows they make are very small, 

 in order to keep out the excessive heat of the climate ; 

 and they never fail to build a vestibule open on all 

 sides, in which they receive visits, take their meals, and 

 transact their business. The walls are seven or eight 

 feet high, and, as well as the roof, are of reeds co- 

 vered en both sides with a mixture of clay and chop- 

 ped straw : the whole is coated with plaister. They 

 take care to plant latane, or other trees, before their 

 houses, or to build them on a spot where such trees 

 are growing, in order to enjoy the refreshing shade 

 which they produce. The king of Barra and the 

 greatest people of his kingdom have similar places 

 of residence. West Long. 16 45', North Lat. 13 

 40'. (u) 



BARRA, or Barray, one of the Hebrides, or 

 western islands of Scotland, about 6 miles long, and '2[ 

 broad, annexed to the county of Inverness. This 

 island, which is low and flat on the west side, and steep 

 and irregular on the east, produces barley and oats, 

 and is well stored with black cattle. Great quan- 

 tities of cod and ling are caught on the east coast ; 

 and in one year no fewer than 30,000 were sent to Glas- 

 gow, and sold for about five or six pounds per huflr 



Barra. 



