492 
MORAL AND POLITICAL 
The Mediterranean states, indeed, retain still some 
branches in which they excel. Their leather, 
carpets, woollen caps, sashes, and silk handker- 
chiefs, are valued even in Europe. But native 
Africa, with the exception of leather, scarcely pro- 
duces a manufacture which can become an object 
of export. Those carried on for internal consump- 
tion are also limited. The smith, who furnishes 
not only implements to the cultivator, but arms to 
the warrior, and to the chiefs and the fair sex 
their most valued ornaments, is a character held 
in universal veneration throughout the continent. 
He employs his very simple instruments with con 
siderable ingenuity. Cotton cloths, of considerable 
beauty, are manufactured in various parts of cen- 
tral Africa. Leather also, as above noticed, is 
tanned and dyed in a manner which gives it a va^ 
lue even in the eyes of Europeans. 
Commerce forms a more prominent feature. 
We do not, however, allude to foreign commerce, 
for which, with the exception of Egypt, no part of 
Africa was ever distinguished. The want of con- 
tiguity to the other continents, of inland seas and 
large archipelagos, formed, in fact, insurmountable 
obstacles to its establishment. But from the ear- 
liest ages, and much more since the entry of the 
Arabians, inland trade has been conducted on an 
immense scale. Through their exertions, the re- 
motest coasts, and the inmost depths of the inte- 
1 
