180 INTERIOR COUNTRIES OF AFRICA. 



other particulars are added, for which we must refer to the work. 

 The population is described by the expression, a countless multitude. 

 We shall pass over the nature of their religion, which is Mahom- 

 medan ; of their government, which is an elective monarchy ; and 

 the singular mode of their electing a new king from among the chil- 

 dren of the deceased sovereign : but the account of the present sul- 

 tan, his wives and his children (p. 227) is too curious not to be ex- 

 hibited. 



' The present sultan, whose name is Ali, is a man of an unostenta- 

 tious, plain appearance ; for he seldom wears any other dress than 

 the common blue shirt of cotton or silk, and the silk or muslin tur- 

 ban, which form the usual dress of the countiy. Such, however, is 

 the magnificence of his seraglio, that the ladies who inhabit it are 

 said to be five hundred in number, and he himself is described as the 

 reputed father of three hundred and fifty children, of whom three 

 hundred are males; a disproportion which naturally suggests the idea 

 that the mother, preferring to the gratification of natural affection the 

 joy of seeing herself the supposed parent of a future candidate for 

 the empire, sometimes exchanges her female child for the male off- 

 spring of a stranger. 



" We are told that fire arms, though not unknown to the people of 

 Bornou, are not possessed by them. 



" South-east from Bornou lies the extensive kingdom of Begarmee ; 

 and beyond this kingdom are said to be several tribes of negroes, 

 idolaters, and feeders on human flesh. These, we are told, are an- 

 nually invaded by the Bergameese ; and when they have taken as 

 many prisoners as their purpose may require, they drive the captives, 

 like cattle, to Begarmee. It is farther said, that if any of them, 

 exhausted by fatigue, happen to linger in their pace, one of the horse- 

 men seizes on the oldest, and, cutting off his arm, uses it as a club to 

 drive on the rest. 



" We are not much disposed to give credit to this relation. That 

 the negroes, who are sold for slaves, are different from the other 

 Africans, is not probable ; and that they should be driven along with 

 the mangled limbs of their associates, utterly exceeds belief. 



" The empire of Cashna bears a great resemblance to that of 

 Bornou. 



"After perusing what is here related of the extent, population, 

 fertility, manufactures and commerce of these regions, we may be 

 permitted to wonder at their having remained altogether unknown 

 to Europeans. We cannot but suspect considerable exaggerations. 

 That the interior parts' of Africa are peopled, the caravans which go 

 from Cairo and Tripoli, and which are often absent three y ears > 

 sufficiently evince ; but that they are divided into regular and civiliz- 

 ed states, may be a question. A thousand towns and villages in one 

 empire, and thirty different languages spoken in the other, manifest 

 a disposition in the shereef Imhammed to enlargement, or, at least, 

 to retail loose reports. That they should be acquainted with, yet not 

 possess fire-arms, nor make any attempt to navigate the Niger, nor 

 even to take the fish that abound in its waters, but little accords with 

 the history of their commerce, and of their progress in manufactures." 



Under the patronage of the same society for making discoveries 

 in the interior countries of Africa, Mr. Mungo Park has since per- 

 formed a journey eastward from the mouth of the Gambia, to Silla, 



