A F R 



Karbnry, 30 lenjfucs fciitli-e.-ift from Tunis, N. lat. ^j° $6'. 

 F.. long, n'^ 10'. The fortifications were demolilhcd by 

 Cliarles V. 



Africa, \n jlnt'iquily, is reprefentcd on nicdnls by the 

 head of a woman, drcflcd in the flcin of an elephant, with 

 the trunk projecting forward in front. This kind of attire 

 is pccuHar to fcme queens of liyypt. Near tiie figure of 

 Africa we fretpiently lee a fcorpion, ferpent, or lion, animals 

 belonging to this part of the world, and mountains alluding 

 to the feven mountains of Mauritania Ting-itina. 



AFRICAN AJjoc'mtiGii was formed in 17S8, with a view 

 of promoting the dlfcovery of the interior parts of Afriea. 

 Out of 95 members, of which this fociety appears to have 

 coiififted, a committee of five gentlemen was elefted, for 

 directing its funds, conducling its correfpondence, and the 

 choice of the perfons to whom t!ie geographic mifiion was 

 to be afllgned. Thele gentlemen were Lord Rawdon, the 

 Bill'.op or I^andaff, (Dr. Watfon) Sir Jofeph Banks, 

 H. Beaufoy, Efq. and Mr. Stuart. The two firll per- 

 lons that were appointed for accompliihing the laudable ob- 

 ject of the fociety were Mr. Ledyard and Mr. Lucas. 

 Tiie former undertook, at his own defirc, the perilous tafl-c 

 of travcrfing from call to well in the latitude attributed 

 to tlie Niger, the wideft part of the- continent of Africa. 

 AVith this view he arrived at Cairo in Auguit 1788 ; but 

 death difappoiuted the hopes that were formed from his 

 projefted journey. For a Ihort account of the fingular ad- 

 ventures of this extraordinary man, lee Lebvard. Mr. Lu- 

 cas embarked for Tripoli in Oftober 1788, with inflruftions 

 to proceed over the defert of Zaara to Fezzan, to colleft, 

 and to tranfmit by way of Tripoli, whatever intelligence he 

 could obtain refpefting the interior of the continent, and 

 to return by way of Gambia, or the coaft of Guinea. The 

 peregrinations of this traveller terminated at Mefurata, in 

 JFeb. 7, 1789 ; and he was able to tranfmit to the fociety 

 only the refult of his conferences with perfons who were 

 travelling with him to Fezzan. See Ff.zzan, Bornou, and 

 Cashna. The objeft. of Mr. Park's miflion was to afcertain 

 the courfe, and, if poffible, the rife and tcnnination of the 

 "Niger, and to ufe his utmoft exertions for vifiting the 

 principal towns in its neighbourhood, particularly Tom- 

 BOCTOO and Houssa; and of the refult of it fome ac- 

 count is given in the preceding article, and will be farther 

 found under the feveral heads to which we have referred. 

 African Company. See Company. 

 African IJlands are diilributed into thofe which lie in the 

 Eallern or Indian Ocean, and thofe of the Weftern or At- 

 lantic Ocean. The former are Zocotra or Socotora, 

 Babelmandel, Comorra iflands, Mauritius, Mada- 

 gascar and Bourbon, The latter are St. Helena, As- 

 cension, St. Matt hew, St. Thomas, Ann a boa, Prince's 

 iiland, Fernando Po, Goree, Cape Verd iflands, Ar- 

 GuiN ifland, Canary iflands, Madeira, Porto Santo, 

 and the Azores. 



AFRICANUS, Julius, in Biography, an eminent chrif- 

 tian writer and chronologer, who flouriflied in the beginning 

 of the third century. It is not certain, whether he was a 

 native of Paleftine, or of Africa ; but as he was employed in 

 an embalTy to the emperor Heliogabalus, between the years 

 218 and 222, for the reftoration of Emmaus, which was 

 afterwards called Nicopolis, and as he attended the IcAlires 

 of Heraclas, at Alexandria, fbmc time before the year 231, 

 there can be no doubt concerning the time in which he lived. 

 Suidas fays he was of Africa ; but his more conftant relidence 

 feems to have been in Paleftine, where he was probably born. 

 The works afcribed to this author by Euftbius and Phoiius 

 Vol. L 



AFT 



are " the Coli," a colleftion of paflTages from variou? 

 authors, chiefly on phyfical topics, of which only a few 

 fragments remain ; " Chronology," in five books, containing 

 a recital of events from tlie creation 10 tlie year t>f Chrilt 

 221; and two letters, "one to Origen," concerning the 

 hiflory of Sufanna, annexed to the book of Daniel, which 

 he confiders to be a forgery, and " another to Arillides," for 

 reconciling the difagreemcnt between Matthew and Luke, 

 on the genealogy of Chrift. The Cetli is afcribed by Valefivis, 

 J. Scahger and Du Pin, to another perfon called Scxtus, 

 who was an African and a Gentile philofopher. Jerom doe* 

 not include it in tlie lift of the works of Africanus ; but 

 Vofiius and Wetftein beheve it to have been written by him. 

 Julius Africanus was undoubtedly a chriftian, nor does an- 

 tiquity juftify the opinion that he was originally a heathen. 

 The chronology is much commended by Photius, as concifc 

 and yet comprehending every thing necefi'ary to be related. 

 Some fragments of it are prcferved ; and have been freelr 

 ufed both by Eufebiws in his chronicle and byothcr hiftorians. 

 Of the letter to Ariftides, there is a large fragment ia 

 Eufebius's Eccleliallical Hiflory, and the entire letter to 

 Origen is extant, which is learned and critifal, and doc* 

 great honour to its author. Africanus affordi a valuable 

 atteftation to the two Gofpels of St. Matthew and St. I^uke ; 

 and we have fufficient reafon to believe, that this great and 

 learned man received as fcripture the books generally received 

 by Chriftians in his time. " We may glory," fays the ex- 

 cellent Dr. Lardner, " in Africanus as a chriftian. For it 

 cannot but be a pleafure to obfei-ve, that in thofe early days 

 there were fome within the inclofure of the church of Chrifl, 

 whofe Ihining abilities rendered them the ornament of the 

 age in which they lived ; when they appear alio to have 

 been men of unfpotted charatters, and give evident proofs 

 of honefty and integrity." Lardner's works, vol. ii. p. 431 

 — +41. 



Africanus, Leo. See L.t.o Africanus. 

 Africanus, Scipio. See Scipio. 

 AFRICERONES, a people, according to Ptolemy, of 

 Libya, a province of Africa. 



AFRICTA denotes a kind of wafers, which the ancients 

 ufed in their facrificts. Arnob. lib. vii. 



AFRIQUE, in Geography, a firall town of France, 

 in the department of Aveyron, fix miles eaft of Vabres. 



Afriqj/e, a mountain of France in Burgundy, extendinpj- 

 between Dijon and the fmall town of Chagni about ten 

 leagues. At the foot of thefe mountains the vines are found 

 which yield the Burgundy wine. 



AFSHAR, the denomination of a Turcoman tribe, 

 vhich is divided into two or three clans, of one of whicll 

 the father of Kuli Khan was chief. 



• AFSLAGERS, perfons appointed ty the burgo-mafters 

 of Amfterdam, to prefide over the public fales made in that 

 city. They muft always have a clerk of the fecretai-y's office 

 with them, to take an account of the fale. They correfpond 

 to our BROKERS, or auctioneers. 



AFT, the hinder part of the fhip, or that neareft the 

 ftern. See abaft. 



AFTER, is a term applied to any objeft in the hinder 

 part of the fhip, as after-hatchway, after-fails, &c. 

 After-birth, in Midwifery. See Placenta. 

 AFTFR-_fri7/j, or AFTER-maZ/i, in Agriculture, denotes 

 the fecond crop, or grafs which fprings up after mow- 

 ing ; or grafs-math that is cut after tome kinds of corn. 



AFTER-«5on, the latter half of the aitificial day, or that 

 fpace between noon and night. 



The aucicHt Roinws dedicated their sfternoons to diver- 



3 B 



fion, 



