Foreign Trade to the Sandwich Islands.

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by the Grecian historians;-a man who overcame every disadvantage, and extended the narrow sovereignty of Macedon into the universal monarchy of Greece, and, under his son, of the then known world.

Tamahama's ardent desire to obtain a ship from Captain Vancouver, was, in all probability, first excited by the suggestions of Young, and his countryman Davies; but such was the effect of this undertaking that Tamahama became immediately more sparing of his vi sits on board the Discovery, his time being now chiefly employed in attending to the carpenters at work on this new man of war, which when finished was named the Britannia. This was the beginning of Tamahama's navy; and, from his own observations, with the assistance of Messrs. Young, Davies, &c. he has laboured inflexibly in improving his marine force, which he has now brought to a respectable state; securing to him not only a decided superiority over the frail canoes of his neighbours, but the means of transporting his warriors to distant parts. Some of his vessels are employed as transports, in carrying provisions from one island to another, to supply his warriors; whilst the largest are used as ships of war, and are occasionally mounted with a few light guns. No one better understands his interest than this ambitious chief; no one knows better how to improve an original idea. The favours of Vancouver and his other European benefactors, would have been thrown away on any other savage; but Tamahama possesses a genius above his situation.

His body-guards, who may be considered in some respects as regu larly disciplined troops, go on duty not unfrequently with the drum and fife, and relieve each other as in Europe, calling out, "all is well," at every half hour, as on board of ship. Their uniform at this time was simply a blue great coat with yellow facings.

Foreign Trade to the Sandwich Islands.

THE Sandwich islanders, in the territories of Tamahama, frequently make voyages to the north-west coast of America, and thereby acquire sufficient property to make themselves easy and comforta ble, as well as respectable, among their countrymen; to whom, on their return home, they are fond of describing, with great emphasis the singular events of their voyage. Several have made considerable progress in the English language; their intercourse with the Anglo-Americans, and the navigators from Britain, having given them an opportunity, of which they have eagerly availed themselves.

Such is the assiduity of these people, and such their eagerness to improve their condition, by imitating the calling of the Europeans, that it is not unusual to see some of them exercising the trade of a country black-smith, having for an anvil a pig of iron kentlage obtained from some ship; a pair of goat-skin bellows, made by himself or some of his countrymen: and his charcoal fire; making articles suited to the wants of his countrymen, or repairing and mending such as stand in need of it, with an ingenuity surpassing whatever could he expected under such circumstances.

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382

General View of Africa

AFRICA.

Africa is bounded N. by the Mediterranean sea, which separates tt from Europe; N. E. by the Red Sea, which separates it from Asia; S. E. by the Indian ocean; and W. by the Atlantic. It extends from latitude 34° S. to 37° 30′ N. and from longitude 18° W. to 51° E. The area is estimated by Hassel at 11,652,442 square miles.

General View of this Vast Country.

AFRICA may be divided, in regard to population, into two great portions, separated from each other on the west by the river-line of the Senegal and the Niger; and on the east by the chain of the mountains of the Moon. Africa, to the north of this line, is occupied, or at least ruled, by foreign races, who, taking advantage of their superiority in arts and arms, have occupied all the fertile districts, and driven the original population into the mountains, the deserts, and the depths of the interior. On the south of this line is native Africa, the population of which, though originally, it is probable, derived also from Asia, has been so long established as to have lost all trace or record of their derivation; so that its aspect, manners, and institutions, appear now to be wholly indigenous..

Among the inhabitants of Africa, the Moors hold the most prominent place. The import of this name, however, though so widely diffused throughout Africa, is exceedingly vague. It is an European term, not recognised by themselves, and is compared to that of Romi or Latins, by which Europeans were wont to be designated in the east. During the middle ages the professors of the Mahometan faith were divided into Turks and Moors; all who were not Turks were called Moors. At present the name of Moors seem chiefly confined to the inhabitants of the cities of Barbary. These too, are not a sin

gle race, but aggregated from different sources.

All the Mussulman towns exhibit an extreme similarity. They all present the same exterior of gravity, stillness, and decorum; the same absence of all assemblages for purposes of gaiety or social intercourse; and the gloom which necessarily arises from the entire exclusion of female society. Habitual indolence is here interrupted by the mechanical round of religious ceremonies. A total want of all knowledge and curiosity respecting the arts and sciences, characterizes the whole of this once enlightened region. The outward aspect of the streets is as gloomy as that of the persons by whom they are tenanted. They are narrow and dusty: the walls of earth, and without windows; gloom and nakedness without; a barbarous splendour within. In general the Moors, when compared with the Turks, appear an inferior race. They have the same rudeness and austerity; while piratical habits and an unsettled government, render them more mean, turbulent, and treacherous.

Another class of inhabitants, which has never entered into any species of combination with the general mass, consists of the Jews. These exist in great numbers through all the cities of Barbary, where they preserve entire their national peculiarities. They are viewed, consequently, as an outcast class; are the objects of universal hatred, contempt, and derision, and may be insulted and injured by any one with impunity. The immense profits, however, which they make by

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Egypt. monopolizing all the money transactions, which they alone are qualı fied to conduct, induces them to remain and to endure this oppression. The country districts are occupied by the Arubs, a name not per haps confined to the original conquerors of this region, but applied to all who follow the same rude, simple, and migratory life. They dwell in douars, or moveable villages, consisting of a number of tents woven of camels' hair and the fibres of the palm-tree. These are arranged in circles; the interior of which forms at night a place of shelter for the cattle. Having exhausted the territory in which the douar is situated, they remove with their families and all the cattle to another; the women and children being conveyed on the backs of the camels. The Arabs are of a deep brown or copper colour, which they endeavour to embellish with puncturing and tattooing. The females, when young, are handsome, but soon become flabby and overgrown. The internal government of these communities is administered by a Sheik and Emirs, who generally own the supremacy of the Moorish sovereign, and pay a regular tribute; but on all occasions of anarchy or weakness, take the opportunity of acting for themselves, and giving a loose to their predatory habits. All the Arabs are attached, with bigoted zeal, to the Mussulman tenets.

The mountains and deserts to the south harbour a number of tribes, whose native valour and inaccessible abodes have enabled them to preserve their distinct character and original institutions. The Brebes or Brebers occupy the larger portions of the chain of the Atlas. The Errifi, who inhabit the mountains between Algiers and Moocco, and the Shelluhs, who occupy the southern part of the latter empire, appear to be merely branches of the same race. It re-appears in Nubia, where it borders on Egypt, and where the Barabras of Berberins seem merely a branch of the Brebers. To these we may add the Tibbo and the Tuarick, who inhabit so large a portion of the African desert.

The Brebers are a brave and hardy people. Their villages occupy the declivities of the deep vallies of the Atlas. They exhibit the only example to be found in Barbary of the republican form of government, as they have assemblies of the people, and elect their own chiefs. They pay a nominal, but very imperfect and precarious obedience to the sovereign of Morocco, and the other Moorish princes in whose dominions their mountains are situated. They are skilful in the use of fire-arms, and employ themselves much in firing at a mark. These exercises render them formidable to the armies of Morocco, who, in their frequent rebellions, have often found the contest une qual. The most powerful and the fiercest of these tribes is the Errifi. The eye of an Errif has become proverbial for its keen and piercing expression. The Shellubs, on the other hand, are less robust in their form, milder in their manners, and more civilized.*

EGYPT.

Egypt is bounded N, by the Mediterranean; N. E. by Asiatic Turkey; E. by the Red Sea, which separates it from Arabia: S. by

*For farther remarks on the population of Africa, see Appendix.-P.

384

The Inhabitants of Egypt,

Nubia; and W. by the Libyan desert. It lies between 22o and 32o N. lat. extending along the banks of the Nile for about 700 miles, from its mouth upward. It nominally comprehends also a breadth of 200 or 300 miles, from the Red Sea to an ill defined boundary in the Libyan desert, but the only territory of any value is that lying immediately on the banks of the river. The area is estimated at 190,000 square miles, of which only 19,000, or one tenth part of the whole, is capable of cultivation.

The population is estimated at 2,500,000. It is composed of several distinct races. 1. The Copts, or descendants of the most ancient inhabitants of Egypt. They reside almost exclusively in Upper Egypt, and are supposed to be about 200,000 in number. 2. The Arabs or descendants of the Saracen conquerors. They are the most numeous class of the population, and are divided into Bedouins, or wandering Arabs, and Fellahs, or those employed in cultivation. 3. The Turks, who have long been established in the great cities, and whose numbers and power have of late considerably increased. 4. The Jews, who are also numerous in the commercial cities.

The Inhabitants.

MOST of the inhabitants of Egypt are foreigners, who have not be come in any degree naturalized to its climate or soil. This celebrat ed country presents only one native race, which is that of the Copts, or descendants of the most ancient inhabitants of Egypt. They are a people of mixed origin. The blood of the ancient Egyptians is adul terated by the confused mixture of the Persian, Grecian, Roman, and Arabian races; and the motley offspring of these dissimilar tribes have rather inherited the vices than the virtues of their ancestors. Distinguished from the Arabs and the Turks by the profession of Christianity, and from the Christians, by their obstinate adherence to the heresy of Eutychius, they have been persecuted and despised by Christians and Mahometans, and this very contempt has tended to deteriorate their national character. Various tribes have preserved their characteristic tenets and customs, in defiance of contempt and persecution, but none of them have been able to preserve, in this forlorn situation, the honour and dignity of the human character. The distinguishing features of the Copts are a dusky yellow complexion, unlike that of the Grecian or Arabian tribes, the hair and eyes of a dark colour, the lips thick, the features puffed, and the nose rather elevated than flat, and sometimes even aquiline. The similitude of the modern Copt to the ancient Egyptian, in the more characteristic features, and in the colour of the skin, is evinced, not only by ancient paintings and statues, but also by the appearances still observable in the mummies of Egypt, the bodies of an ancient generation of men, who have been raised from their sepulchres to demonstrate the origin of their descendants.

The Coptic females are generally elegant in form, and interesting in feature; but their chief beauty, according to Vansleb, consists in their large, black, and expressive eyes. Since an early period of history, the Coptic race have been more numerous in the Said or Upper Egypt, than in the Delta, which has always been more accessible to the irruptions of strangers. Several families still reside in the Delta, but the mass of their numbers inhabit the country above Cairo. At the period of the Arabic invasion under Amrou, their numbers were estimated at six hundred thousand; but since that time their numbers have greatly decreased, and melted away amid the influx of strangers.