145 AFRICA. 



gold, we have not only the testimony of the Portuguese, the Dutch, 

 the English, and the French, who have settlements on the coast o^ 

 Africa, but that of the most authentic ancient historians. It is, how- 

 ever, the misfortune of Africa, that, though it has 10,000 miles of sea- 

 coast, with noble, large, deep rivers, it should have no navigation, nor 

 receive any benefit from them : and that it should be inhabited by an 

 innumerable people, ignorant of commerce, and of each other. At 

 the mouths of these rivers are the most excellent harbours, deep, 

 safe, calm, sheltered from the wind, and capable of being made per- 

 fectly secure by fortifications ; but qtiite destitute of shipping, trade, 

 and merchants, even where there is plenty of merchandise. In short, 

 Africa, though a full quarter of the globe, stored with an inexhausti- 

 ble treasure, and capable under proper improvements, of producing 

 so many things, delightful as well as convenient, within itself, seems 

 to be almost entirely neglected, not only by the natives, who are quite 

 unsolicitous of reaping the benefits which nature has provided for 

 them, but also by the more civilized Europeans who are settled in it, 

 particularly the Portuguese. 



Africa once contained several kingdoms and states eminent for the 

 liberal arts, for wealth and power, and the most extensive commerce. 

 The kingdoms of Egypt and Ethiopia, in particular, were much cele- 

 brated ; and the rich and powerful state of Carthage, that once formi- 

 dable rival to Rome itself, extended her commerce to every part of 

 the then known world ; even the British shores were visited by ker 

 fleets, till Juba, who was king of Mauritania, but tributary to the re- 

 public of Carthage, unhappily called in the Romans, who, with the 

 assistance of the Mauritanians, subdued Carthage, and, by degrees, 

 all the neighbouring kingdoms and states. After this, the natives, 

 constantly plundered, and consequently impoverished, by the govern- 

 ors sent from Rome, neglected their trade, and cultivated no more of 

 their lands than might serve for their subsistence. Upon the decline 

 of the Roman empire, in the fifth century, the north of Africa was 

 overrun by the Vandals, who contributed still more to the destruction 

 of arts and sciences ; and, to add to this country's calamity, the Sara- 

 cens made a sudden conquest of all the coasts of Egypt and Barbary, 

 in the seventh century. These were succeeded by the Turks; and 

 both being of the Mahommedan religion, whose professors carried 

 desolation with them wherever they came, the ruin of that once flou- 

 rishing part of the world was thereby completed. 



The inhabitants of this continent, with respect to religion, may be 

 divided into three sorts; namely, Pagans, Mahommedans, and Chris- 

 tians. The first are the more numerous, possessing the greatest part 

 df the country, from the topic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope ; 

 and these are generally black. The Mahommedans, who are of a 

 tawny complexion, possess Egypt, and almost all the northern shores 

 of Africa, or what is called the Bafbary coast. The people of Abys- 

 sinia, or the Upper Ethiopia, are denominated Christians, but retain 

 many Pagan and Jewish rites. There are also some Jews in the north 

 of Africa, who manage all the little trade that part of the country is 

 possessed of. 



Though we are little acquainted with the boundaries, and even with 

 the names of many of the inland countries of Africa, that continent 

 may be divided according to the following table. 



