OF THE HUMAN RACE. ' 227 



told us that tile Negro, like the white man, is still God's image, although 

 carved in ebony ?" 



Nor is it to a few casual individuals among the black tribes, appearing 

 in distant countries, and at; distant seras, that we have to look for the 

 clearest proofs of human intelligence. At this moment, scattered like their 

 own oases, their islands of»beautiful verdure, over the eastern and western 

 deserts of Africa, multitudes of little principahties of Negroes are still 

 existing, — multitudes that have, of late years, been detected and are still 

 detecting, vv^hose national virtues would do honour to the most polished 

 states of Europe : while at Timbuctoo, stretching deepest towards the east 

 of these principalities, from the western coast, we meet, if we may credit 

 the accounts we have received, with one of the wealthiest, perhaps one of 

 the most populous and best governed cities in the world ; its sovereign a 

 Negro, its army Negroes ; its people Negroes ; a ctty, which is the general 

 mart for" the commerce of western Africa, and wh^ trade and manufac- 

 tures seem to be equally esteemed and protected."^ 



We know not the antiquity of this kingdom : but there can be no doubt 

 of its having a just claim to a very high origin : and it is possible that, at 

 the very period in which our own ancestors, as described by Julius Caesar, 

 were naked and smeared over with paint, or merely clothed with the skins 

 of wild beasts, living in huts, and worshippmg the mistletoe, the black 

 kingdom of Bambarra, of which Timbuctoo is the capital, was as com- 

 pletely established and flourishing as at the present moment. 



What has produced the difference we now behold ? What has kept 

 the Bambareens, like the Chinese, nearly in a stationary state for, perhaps, 

 upwards of two thousand years, and has enabled the rude and painted 

 ^ Britons to become the first people of the world — the most renowned for 

 arts and for arms — for the best virtues of the heart, and the best faculties of 

 the understanding ? Not a difference in the colour of the skin ; — but, first, 

 the peculiar favour pf the Almighty : next, a political constitution, which 

 was sighed for, and in some degree prefigured by Plato and Tully, but re- 

 garded as a masterpiece, beyond the power of human accomplishment : 

 and, lastly, a fond and fostering cultivation of science, in every ramification 

 and department. 



Amidst the uproar and ruin of the world around us, these are blessings 

 which we still possess; and which we possess almost exclusively.! Let 

 us prize them as they deserve ; let us endeavour to be worthy of them. To 



* I follow Mr. Jackson's description, which is added to hisS "Account of the Ehipire of 

 Morocco," as by far the most circumstantiul and authoritative we have hitherto received. AC' 

 cording to him " the city is situated on a plain, surrounded by a sandy eminence, about twelve 

 miles north of the Nile El Abeade, or Nile of the Blacks ; and three days' journey (erhellat) 

 from the confines of Sahara ; about twelve miles in circumference, but without walls. The 

 town of Kabra, situated on the banks of the river, is its commercial depot or port. The king 

 is the sovereign of Bambarra : the name of this potentate, in 1800, was Woolo : he is a black, 

 and a native of the country he governs. His usual place of residence is Jiunie, though he has 

 three palaces in Timbuctoo, which are said to contain an immense quantity of gold." — The 

 present military appointments are, it seems, entirely from the Negroes of Bambarra : the 

 inhabitants are also, for the most part, Negroes, who possess much of the Arab hospitality, 

 and pride themselves in being attentive to strangers. By means of a water-carriage, east and 

 west of Kabra, great facility is given to the trade of Timbuctoo, which is very extensive, as 

 well in European as in Barbary manufactures. The various costumes, indeed, exhibited in 

 the market-places, and in the streets, sufficiently indicate this, each individual being habited 

 in the dress of his respective country. There is a perfect toleration in matters of religion, ex- 

 cept as to Jews. The police is extolled as surpassing any thing of the kind on this side the 

 Desert : robberies and house-breaking are scarcely known. The government of the city is 

 intrusted to a divan of twelve slemma or magistrates ; and the civil jurisprudence superin- 

 tended by a learned Cadi. 



t The lecture was delivered in 1812, 



