234 SOCUL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 



Utterance to his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows. All 

 the sovereigns are attended by crowds of singing men and 

 singing women, who, whenever any interesting event oc« 

 curs, celebrate it in songs, which they repeat aloud and in 

 public. Flattery, of course, must be a standing reproach 

 against this class of bards ; yet from this imputation theit 

 European brethren are not exempted ; while, from Major 

 Laing's report, it appears that there is often present a sable 

 TyrtiBUs, who reproaches the apathy of the prince and people, 

 and rouses them to deeds of valour. Specimens are want- 

 ing of the African muse ; yet, considering that its effusions 

 are numerous, inspired by nature, and animated by na- 

 tional enthusiasm, they seem not unlikely to reward tho 

 care of a collector. The few examples actually given fa- 

 vour this conclusion. How few among our peasantry could 

 have produced the pathetic and affecting lamentation which 

 was uttered in the little Bambarra cottage over the distresses 

 of Park ! These songs, besides, handed down from father 

 to son, contain evidently all that exists among these na- 

 tions of traditional history. From the songs of the Jil- 

 limen of Soolimani, Major Laing was enabled to compile 

 the annals of this small kingdom for more than a century. 

 In their reUgion, the negroes labour imder the disadvan- 

 tage of being left to unassisted reason, and that, too, very 

 little enlightened. Man has, perhaps, an instinctive senti- 

 ment that his own fate and that of the universe are ruled 

 by some supreme and invisible power ; yet he sees this only 

 through the medium of his wishes and imagination. He 

 seeks for some object of veneration and means of protection, 

 which may assume an outward and tangible shape. The 

 negro reposes his faith in the doctrine of charms, which 

 presents a substance stamped with a mystic and superna- 

 tural character, capable of being attached to himself indi- 

 vidually, and of affording a feeling of security amid the 

 many evils that environ him. The manitou of the native 

 Americans is founded upon the same principle ; and the 

 similar use, by Catholics, of images, beads, and relics, per- 

 vertedly employed even under a pure and exalted religion, 

 shows the strength of this propensity in the human mind. 

 In all the Moorish borders, where writing is known, it forms 

 the basis of feticherie ; and its productions, rendered more 

 brilliant and sensible by being enclosed in golden or orna 



