STATE OF AFRICA. 
489 
Among the native powers who form the south- 
ern half of the African continent, the varieties in 
the forms of government are altogether infinite. 
They exhibit every gradation, from the pure re- 
publican form to the most complete despotism. 
Among the Mandings, and most of the other 
tribes on the Gambia and Senegal, the villages 
enjoy a species of mixed government, a large pro- 
portion of which is in the hands of the people. 
Most of the states on the Gold Coast have either 
a popular or aristocratic form of government. The 
great kingdoms in the interior, Ashantee, Aquam- 
boe, and Dahomey, are subject to absolute mo- 
narchs. Whydah and Ardra, while they existed, 
were entirely despotic. Most of the petty states 
of Congo and Loango exhibit a combination of mo- 
narchical and aristocratic power, somewhat similar 
to that which, in Europe, was denominated the 
feudal system. 
If we survey the state of science and of the arts, 
throughout this vast continent, we shall universal- 
ly find them in a state either of infancy or of de- 
crepitude. The latter occurs in Northern Africa, 
where faint vestiges only remain of the glory which 
once flowed so copiously from these sources. Yet 
this faint remnant of ancient knowledge forms the 
only source whence any knowledge of letters is 
diffused throughout Africa. The natives are en- 
tirely destitute of any written language, besides 
