AGRICULTURE— MANUrACTURES. 505 
of unoccupied land, that are considered the pro- 
perty of the sovereign or community, and are 
readily granted to those who will undertake the 
labour of clearing and cultivating them. These 
observations do not apply to the countries on the 
Mediterranean, nor even to Abyssinia. There 
the processes of agriculture have survived, in 
some degree, the revolutions of empire ; and 
though on a lower standard than in Europe, they 
are conducted nearly on the same principles. 
An improved state of manufacturing industry 
is attached to a still more advanced stage ; w^e 
cannot, therefore, expect to find it in Africa. 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 
produces a manufacture which can become an 
object of export. Those carried on for internal 
consumption 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 cha- 
racter held in universal veneration throughout 
the continent. He employs his very simple in- 
struments with considerable ingenuity. Cotton 
cloths, of considerable beauty, are manufactured 
in various parts of central Africa. Leather also, 
as above noticed, is tanned and dyed in a manner 
