490 
MORAL AND POLITICAL 
that which they learn from the Moors ; nor have 
they attempted to supply the want, even by the 
rudest hieroglyphical inventions. Abyssinia, which 
possesses also a literature of its own, derives it 
equally from a foreign source. 
Architecture is one of the arts which, contribut- 
ing in the most eminent degree to the comfort of 
the individual, and the splendour of the prince, 
ranks earliest among the pursuits of civilized na- 
tions. Assyria and Egypt produced edifices of 
stupendous magnitude, at a period when other 
arts and sciences were yet in their infancy. Archi- 
tecture, as an art, may be said to be wholly un- 
known in native Africa. But for what has been 
practised in Egypt, and introduced elsewhere by 
foreigners, there would not perhaps be a stone edi- 
fice in the whole continent. The habitations con- 
sist merely of huts, with walls of earth, and a roof 
composed of leaves and twigs interwoven. If more 
accommodation is wanted, a number of huts is 
built, and a circular enclosure drawn round them„ 
The palaces of African monarchs consist merely 
of a large collection of such cottages, forming a 
species of village, and enclosed with a mud wall. 
A residence composed of such slight materials is 
easily moved. A week builds an African city, an 
hour destroys it. Hence, the slightest motives of 
caprice, the dread of an enemy, or the exhaustion 
