202 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



taxes. They hardly sowed corn, had no clothing but skins, and no 

 property in wives. They spent the day in tending their herds, or in 

 labouring the ground. At night, they met in little companies of ten 

 or twelve, men and women, in bowers covered with boughs of trees. 

 They never made war, or travelled, but contentedly lived all their 

 days in their native country, and never set foot out of it." 



At the present day, three important Muslim-Negro kingdoms are 

 found along the southern border of the Desert; Darfour, Bornou, and 

 Soudan. An account of the two last, may be found in the work of 

 Denham and Clapperton. Darfour is less known; although in the 

 eye of the Egyptian Arab, it ranks as one of the three great political 

 powers which divide the earth ; the two others being, Persia and 

 Constantinople. 



At Singapore, I saw two Negroes in the shop of the Abyssinian- 

 Arab ; who, in their deportment, in their air of resolution and self- 

 respect, seemed a different class of beings from those of their race I 

 had previously met with. On inquiry, I was informed, that "the 

 black Arabs come chiefly from Sennaar;" and on regarding the two 

 individuals more closely, I thought I could distinguish the costume of 

 Bornou, as figured by Denham and Clapperton. It appears however 

 from Burckhardt, that pilgrims very rarely come from as far west as 

 Bornou; and the probable origin of the above individuals, may have 

 been Kordofan or Darfour. The head was habitually uncovered, and 

 one had the wool so close as fairly to justify the appellation of ' pepper- 

 haired ;' which is so universally applied to the race in Eastern coun- 

 tries. They had , doubtless come by the way of Mocha. But I did 

 not meet with the same costume on my recent journey. 



