APR 



«eglcf\cJ ; and that the- iniiitipiil advanf.ige derived from it 

 fliouia bo of ih.u kind, which entails war and wrctchedaofj 

 on the Africans thfrnfelrcs, which perpetuates the digra- 

 dation and miU-ry of fo great a part of the human fpeeies, 

 and u-hicl\ reflects indehble difgrace on thole enhglitened 

 and chrillian empires of the globe, that, aniidll all tiw; 

 improvements of modern times, and various laudable attempts 

 i'or amehurating the condition of mankind, have not, at the 

 couimincement of the mneUcnlh century of the christian 

 a-va, abolilhed \ traluc, long known and long lamented, 

 under the denomination of the S L A v E -//W<:. 01 the nature 

 of thie trade, and of the ciTortr. that have been made for 

 rellraining, regulating and abolilhing it, an account will be 

 given under that article. The principal branches of the 

 African trade are Haves, gold and ivoiy, which is earned 

 on with the Gimkk.\ or wellern coall, by the exchange ot 

 u-ooUcn »nd linen manufiiAures, hard-ware and ipirituous 

 liquort. The Dutch and Frendi, as well as the Englilh, 

 -have their different fettlements for this purpofe. See 



^jVuM CoMPAtJV; GOLD, GRAIb), IVORY and SLAVE 



..foajlf, and Sikrra Leona. The Pomiguefe are in pofleilion 

 ^f"'tli« eaft and well coalts of Africa, from the tropic of 

 fapiicorn to tlie Equator; which immenfe tract they be- 

 iC-anie mailers of by their fuccellive voyages and fortunate 

 ^ifcovcry of the Cape of Gotid Hope, From the coall of 

 Zanguebaj-, on the eaftern fide, they trade not only for the 

 aiticlet above-mentioned, but likcwiie for feveral others, as 

 iciia, ^ocs, civet, ambergriie and frankincenfe. The Dutch 

 ■jiavc had alfo fettlements towards the fouthern parts of the 

 jcoiitinent, in the country called CafTraria, or the land of 

 the Hottentots ; and they were long in pufTcffion of the 

 tape Town, which is we'll fettled and fortified, till it was 

 icaptured by the Engliih in 1797, but rcllorcd and made 

 a free port' by the peace of 1801 ; and here their ftiips 

 iiound for India were accullomcd to pat in, and trade with 

 the nativi-s for their cattle, in exchange for which they 

 jijave them fpirituous liquor:*. Some laudable attempts 

 have been lately made for etlablifliing colonics on the weilern 

 /■oatt of Africa, with a view of civilizing the inhabitants, 

 ihtroducing commerce among them, and graduallj abolilhlng 

 the (lave-trade. M. Wadftrum in his Eflay on Colonization, 

 pul.'liihed ill two parts in 1794 and 1795, has given a par- 

 ticular account of thcfe attempts ; but we are forty to 

 obferve tliat their permanent utility is very doubtful and 

 precarious. See Aquapim, Bulam, Sierra Leona, 

 and SLA\E-tra</e. — With refpecT; to the inland parts of 

 Afnca, ibey feem in all ages of the world to have been in 

 the fame barbarous and tincivilizcd ilate in which we find 

 them at prefent. Tn account for this fact an ingenious 

 writer oblerves, that there are in Africa none of thofe great 

 inlets, fuch as the Baltic and Adriatic feas in Europe, the 

 Mediterranean and Euxine feas in both Europe and ACa, 

 ;md the (r.ulphs of Arabia, Pcrija, India, Bengal, and 

 Siam, in Alia, for carrying maritime commerce into the 

 interior parts of that great continent ; and the great rivers 

 of Africa are at too great a diftance from one another to 

 give occafion to any confiderable inland navigation. Befides 

 the commerce v.hich any nation can carry on by means of 

 a river, which does not break itfelf into any great number 

 of branclits or canals, and which runs into another territory 

 before it reaches the fea, can never be very confiderable ; 

 becaufe it is always in tlie power of the nations who poflefs 

 .that other territory to obftru£l the communication between 

 the upper country and tiic fea. Smith's Wealth of Na- 

 tions, vol. i. p. 32. The chief capes on the African coaft are 

 Box, Blanco, Cantik, Geer, Nok, Bojador, Barbas, 

 Vjcap, MoKTE, P.iLMAs, 27j/w Points, Coast, Fok- 



'3 



A r R 



M05A, Lo?r7, Nlcro, Good Hope, Fumoe, Co- 

 RiF.NTKs, Sp.dastias, Delgado, ajid Guardafui. 

 There is but one llrail in Africa, vhich is called Babel- 

 MANDEL. Modern geographers are not agreed about 

 the divilion of Africa. Some have divided it into two 

 genieral parts, under the denominations of the countiy of the 

 wliites and that of the blacks. The former comprehend; 

 Eg)'pt, Barbary containing fix fubdivifions, viz. Barca, 

 Tunis, in which is Tripoli ; Tremecen, in whicli is Algiers ; 

 Fez, Morocco ; Dara, Biledulgerid, and Zaara or the Defert. 

 The countiy of the blacks contains the following provinces 

 on the fea-coaft, viz. Nigritia, Guinea, Congo, Cafiraria, 

 Sofala, Abcx, Ajan and Zangucbar ; and in the interior 

 parts, Nubia, Ethiopia or Abyflinia, Moenomugi and 

 Monomotapa. Tiie following general dillribution will.di- 

 reft the reader to thofe articles in this diftionaiy, where he 

 may find a further account of the feveral kirigdoms and 

 ilates of which it confills, viz. 1. Egypt. 2. Upper Ethio- 

 pia, comprehending NuiiiA, Abyssinia and Abex. 

 3. ZANOt'EiiAR, with Anmaw Or Ajan, which lie on the 

 tall of Africa. 4. Loiuer Ethiopia, in the interior 

 part, MoESOMUGi, Monomotapa and Caffraria, 

 callcdbyfome the land of the Hottentots, which lie oil 

 the fouth. 5. Guinea, upper andlower,'on the fouth-weft. 

 6. Nigritia or Neoroland, in die middle of Africa, 

 extending ahnoll quite through the couRtry, from eaft to 

 weft, on both fides of the river Niger. 7. Sahara or 

 Zaara, or the Defert, to the northward of Nigritia. 8. 

 Biledulgerid, to the northward of Sahara. 9. The 

 empire of Fez and Morocco, containing the north-welt 

 part of Africa. 10. The coall of Barbary, on the north, 

 containing the countries of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli 

 and Barca. Major Rennell in his Geographical Illullra- 

 tions of Mr Park's journey, reprefents north Africa as 

 compofed of three diftinft parts. The firjl and fmalleil is a 

 fertile region along the Mediterranean, commonly diftin- 

 guilhed by the nnme of Ba'bary ; and which, on the fuppo- 

 lition that the Mediterranean was once dry land, with the 

 exception of a lake for the furrounding rivers, might be re- 

 garded as a part of Europe ; becaufe it poflefTes more of 

 the European than of the African charafter. The fecond 

 part is what may be deemed the body of nortli Africa, 

 comprifed between Cape Verd and the Red Sea, on the well 

 and ea'.l ; and having the Great Defert or Sahara and its 

 members, on the north ; the Ethiopic ocean and fouth 

 Africa on the oppofite fide. The prominent feature of 

 this immenfe region is a vail belt of elevated land, generally 

 running from well to eaft about the tenth degree of latitude, 

 and extending from CapeVerd, its weftern extremity, to the 

 mountains of Abyfiinia, the eaftern extremity ; which has 

 on the north fide a lofty tract, that turns the Nile to the 

 noi-tluvard beyond Abyifinia, and on the fouth a multitude 

 of rivers, ioine of them very large, that defcend from 

 that fide, and join the Atlantic and Ethiopic feas, from the 

 Rio Grande on the v.eft to Cape Lopez on the eaft. A 

 fimiiar ridge ilretches to the fouth, through the middle of 

 fouth Africa, and forms an impenetrable barrier between 

 the two coafts ; on this account the Portuguefe in Congo 

 and Angola have never been able to penetrate to the coaft 

 of the Indian Ocean. From Mr Bruce (Travels, vol. iii. 

 p. 668.) we alio learn, that a high chain of mountains from 

 6° runs fouthwards through the middle of Africa ; and he 

 fuppoles the gold of Sofala to be drawn from thefe moun- 

 tains. Major Rennell fuppofes, that the furface of the Sa- 

 hara has a general dip to the fov.thward, whilll it declines 

 alfo to tlie ealtward ; and that the rivers receive all their 

 fupplies fio«i the fouth, no Ih-eams of any bulk being col- 



lecled 



