502 
MORAL AND POLITICAL STATE. 
can institutions. Through the great kingdoms in 
the interior of Eastern Africa, Bornou, Cassina, 
Sennaar, &c. there appears to exist an elective 
privilege, exercised by the chiefs. The sovereign 
must be of the royal family, but any member of 
it who is most popular, daring, or fortunate, 
mounts the vacant throne. Abyssinia is legally 
absolute ; but the overgrown power of the chiefs 
and governors of provinces has reduced the royal 
authority almost to nothing. The king there is 
now a mere instrument in the hands of any one 
who has in his hands the chief military power. 
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 Handings, 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 aristrocratic form of government. 
The great kingdoms in the interior, Ashantee, 
Aquamboe, and Dahomey, are subject to absolute 
monarchs. Whydah and Ardra, while they ex- 
isted, were entirely despotic. Most of the petty 
states of Congo and Loango exhibit a combina- 
tion of monarchical and aristocratic power, some- 
