232 TRADE OF FUNDAH. 



eastward. In all rude states of society the pro- 

 fession of the blacksmith is held in high estima- 

 tion, and the Vulcans of Fundah are no excep- 

 tion to this rule ; they rank next to the king 

 in importance, and are quite as consequential. 



The trade of Fundah is trifling ; the tyranny 

 of the king, and the number of years in which 

 the country has been in an unsettled state, are 

 sufficient reasons for this. If the accounts of 

 the natives can be believed, it was formerly a 

 place of considerable trade — a sort of entrepot 

 where the Arabs and Felatahs exchanged Euro- 

 pean goods for slaves. Whether this tradition 

 be true or not, the town of Fundah bears inter- 

 nal evidence that it was founded by a race of 

 men superior to those who now inhabit it. The 

 people who built the walls and dug the ditches 

 that surround the town must have been either 

 in themselves superior, or governed by a much 

 superior set of men to any I met there. 



The subject which interested me most, and on 

 which I made many enquiries from every person 

 whom I thought likely to give me information, was 

 the course of the Shary. The answers invariably 

 were, that it came from Lake Tehad ; and one man, 

 a native of Kooka, offered to take me up there 



