DIAMONDS. GOLD..... SILVER.. COPPER...... LEAD.. IRON.. SALT.. MINERALOGICAL TABLE OF AFRICA. Region of Moghreb―(Algeria.) STONES..Negroland-(Angola, Bihe, Cassanga, Muchingi, and the country of the Malouas; Egypt-(in the Arabian chain of mountains.) .Negroland-(Boure, Kamalia, Mandingo, Wasaw, Dankara, Eastern Africa-(Chicova;) and Negroland-(the plateau of Negroland-(country of the Malonas, Borgo or Dar-Saleh, Region of Moghreb-(Algeria, &c.) Negroland-(Bambouk, Timbo, Kaile, Dentilia, Angola, Loango, Benguela, Molouas, Sala, Wassoulo, Bere, Mandara, Calanna, &c.;) South Africa-(Country of Maquainas;) East Africa (Country of the Cazembes;) Region of Moghreb—(Algeria, &c.;) and Region of the Nile—( Abys sinia.) Region of Moghreb-(Marocco, Tagazza, Aroan, Bilma, &c.;) Region of the Nile-(Baylur, Kordofan, Sennaar, &c. ;) and Negroland—(Quisama, Angola, Benguela, Saley or Vadai, Dar-Fur, &c. &c.) The botany of Africa is only known to a very limited extent, our knowledge being confined almost entirely to the sea-coasts, while the interior is an entire blank, in every sense of the word. The vegetation of the Barbary States is very much allied to that of the southern portions of Europe. Oranges, olives, the arborescent ricinus, and the date-tree, grow equally well in both countries. A somewhat higher degree of heat in this part of Africa favors, however, the development of several vegetable forms unknown in Spain or Italy; but they are, nevertheless, only different in species, without being so distinct as to constitute new genera. The plants of Barca have likewise a great similarity to those of Europe, and even some of them are of a kind which seems peculiar to the torrid zone. The "zizyphus-lotus," or jujub, is so abundant in this country, that some ancient tribes were fed exclusively with its fruit. Egypt presents a great number of peculiar plants. Upper Egypt produces many species of the acacia family, the leaves of which, under the name of senna, form a considerable branch of commerce. Besides the date-tree and the chamærops, there is also a remarkable kind of palm called the doum-palm or cuciferathebiaca. Several aquatic plants cover the surface of the Nile, with their large leaves and their flowers, which float gracefully on its waters. In Abyssinia the vegetation has not yet acquired a tropical character; it is, nevertheless, connected with the plants of Mozambique and the Cape of Good Hope. In this country Bruce found a species of protea, and Salt, a pelargonium, genera which were believed to have been peculiar to the Cape of Good Hope and New-Holland. Coffee grows naturally on the west coast of the Red Sea, and in the interior, to the southward of Abyssinia. The plants of Upper Egypt, on the contrary, and of the country further inland, have a great resemblance to those of the west coast of Africa; but no country offers in its plants such a singular physiognomy as the Cape of Good Hope. It is there that we find numerous ericæ, proteæ, pelargonia, mesembryanthema, ixiæ, stapeliæ, &c. The plants of the equinoctial regions have a strong resemblance to those of the west coast. Among the trees are found the adinsonia digitata or baobob, that colossus of the vegetable kingdom, which grows also in Nubia; the bombar pentandrum, the elais guineensis, and others. These remarkable plants are found along a very considerable length of the coast. The sterculia acuminata, a tree the seeds of which are said to have the property of rendering the most unwholesome water drinkable, grows in Guinea and at Sierra Leone. In Senegambia, indeed, there are many plants which also grow in Malagascar, the Indian Archipelago and South America, but these only grow in places characterized alike by heat and moisture. With respect to the sandy and arid locations, they furnish vegetable productions similar to those of Egypt and Arabia. The alimentary plants cultivated by the natives of the west coasts are maize, cassava, pulse, &c. The best fruit-trees of the same country are the banana, the papaw, lemons, oranges, tamarinds, the elais guineensis, which furnishes the palm oil, and the raphia vinifera, which produces the famous palm wine. Some botanists think that the greater part of these plants are of an origin foreign to Africa. Thus, an American origin is assigned to maize, cassava, the ananas, the papaw, and tobacco; while the banana, the lemon, the orange, the tamarind, and the sugar-cane, are ascribed to Asia. The interior of Equinoctial Africa is unknown to botanists; but if we compare the productions of Senegal, Benin, Congo, and Upper Egypt, we find among them such striking relations as clearly to prove that the same climatic causes originate the same vegetable productions, without perceiving any necessity for supposing their transmigration from one country to another. The animal kingdom differs in most respects from that of Asia, and has no analogy, except in the single instance of some similarity between a few animals of Arabia and those of Eastern Africa. In the whole central and northern regions are found lions, panthers, jackals, gazelles, antelopes, and ostriches, of kinds that are not found south of the tropic of Capricorn. Everywhere the antelopes are the prey of the feline family, and of the jackals, hyænas, and pythons. The one-humped, or Arabian camel, now abundant in Northern Africa, was introduced to the west of the Nile only in the third century. Beyond the Sahara, under the influence of the humidity produced by the influence of the great rivers of Senegambia and Soudan, appears a creation of which no species have ever crossed the desert. There we find the African elephant, the two-horned rhinoceros, the tall giraffe, and the clumsy hippopotamus. Between the tropics are found various species of the cynocephalous monkey, none of which ever inhabited Egypt, but of which, nevertheless, three kinds were worshipped in that country. Monkeys with painted faces are found in Guinea; some are found at the southern extremity of the continent; and others, again, from Sennaar to Caffreland. In the basin of the Upper Nile are two kinds of the "fennec;" its immense ears, exceeding two-thirds of the length of its dog-like body, form a wide distinction between it and the other quadrumana. Figured on the monuments of Lower Egypt, with the dog's heads, the sacred beetle, and the antelopes of the same region, the fennec establishes the Ethiopic origin of the people who raised these monuments. Along the coasts of Zanzibar, the Cape buffalo roams in the same forests with the elephant. South of the tropics the antelope is found in great numbers, but deer are wanting. There also are found the zebra and the quagga; the engallo, or VOL. II. 38 phacochere; and the Ethiopic wild boar, which figures in the mosaics of Palestrina. Among the reptiles of Africa are crocodiles, succhos, khamses, monitors, tupinambis, and chamæleons; the three last of which are found nowhere else than in Spain and the Moluccas. The birds along the confines of Asia and Europe have a strong analogy to those of the respective continents. The regions of the Nile, and the shores of the Mediterranean, contain species analagous to those of Arabia, Persia, and Spain. In the sandy deserts of Central Africa are species fitted for their solitudes; while the southern extremity contains birds which are new and peculiar. The ostrich is found in the equatorial zone, and the deserts; the messenger, or secretary, a singular bird of prey, that feeds upon reptiles, is found near the Cape. Few regions, indeed, are more prolific of rapacious birds than Africa; and the animals that serve for their prey are abundant and easily procured. Large carrion vultures, griffons, the hideous chincow, and the oricow, are always on the watch for the fall of some animal. Eagles are found in every region along the banks of the lakes and rivers, and the sea coasts. The other rapacious birds are kites, sparrow-hawks, vultures, bats, buzzards, and falcons. Crows are abundant, Guinea-fowl, grouse, partridges, and quails are much more so. Cranes, flamingoes, the pelican, and a great variety of water-fowl, frequent the lakes and rivers; and in the equinoctial regions are parrots and paroquets innumerable, and birds of the most beautiful plumage. Noxious insects and reptiles of almost every species abound; scorpions, scolopendras, enormous spiders, and other venomous creatures. But the greatest curse of Africa is the swarms of locusts, and termites, or white ants, which frequently lay waste whole districts. The ants abound in the tropical regions, and even for some distance beyond them: they build clayhouses of enormous size, and devour every sort of animal and vegetable substance that comes in their way. The locusts are still more destructive: they are gregarious like the ants, and the region over which they have passed has the appearance of having been clean swept. When on the wing, they form so dense a body as to hide the sun like a black cloud. The physical characteristics of the natives of Africa distinguish them from all the other great families of the human race; but they scarcely differ more from others than among themselves. As the interior regions are almost entirely unknown, it is impossible to say what varieties may be found there; but along the coasts, throughout the Sahara, and the greater part of the basins of the Kawara, Lake Tchad, and the Nile, the varieties already known are so numerous, and so perfectly distinct, that it is not easy to say what characteristics they have in common, except those that distinguish man from the brute creation. The central and equinoctial regions, extending along both oceans, are possessed by numerous races and varieties of the black-colored, woollyhaired people, which are classed by naturalists as the Ethiopic, or black race, or negroes, properly so called. They are essentially a distinct race, and have under their skin a particular apparatus which is entirely wanting in the white man, and which is the seat of a pigment or coloring matter. The Sahara and Moghreb are possessed by people of many varieties, all referable to the Caucasian, or white race, differing in complexion according to the climate, and other physical circumstances, but having nothing in common with the proper negro, except color, which in some of them is almost or quite black in those parts of the body which are exposed. Among these the most remarkable are the Berebers, or Amazighs, who occupy the high valleys of the Atlas Mountains, and a portion of the plains of Marocco, Algeria, and Tunis, and are divided into many tribes, some of which are quite independent. They are supposed to be the remains of the aboriginal people of these regions. The Shellukhs, Tibboos, and Tuaricks, are the principal desert tribes physically allied to the Berebers. The low, uncultivated country of Moghreb is occupied by numerous tribes of Arabs, while the cultivated districts and the towns, along the narrow strip of country on the southern skirts of the Sahara, between the desert and the Kawara, are possessed by the Moors, a swarthy race, apparently sprung from an intermixture of the aborigines with Phoenician, Roman, Gothic, Vandalic, Arabic, and Turkish blood. Turks of pure lineage are found in Barbary, and also a great many Jews. In the regions of the Nile there are likewise many varieties, chiefly Caucasian, though some are decidedly Ethiopic. The great body of the people in Egypt are of Arabic origin, while their rulers are Turks. The deserts on both sides of the Nile are possessed by roving Arab tribes; and the ancient Egyptians are represented by a few thousand scattered Copts. The dominant races in Abyssinia are apparently the remains of a colony from the eastern shores of the Red Sea. Nubia is occupied by several mixed races, negro as well as Caucasian, and varieties of the latter are found along the coasts of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as far at least as Cape Guardafui. In South Africa, beyond the country of the proper negroes, we find two distinct races-the Caffers and the Hottentots, who cannot very well be referred to any other known family, and certainly to neither the Caucasian or Ethiopic. The Caffers, however, are a tall, well-proportioned, handsome people, nearly approaching Caucasians in figure, features, and expression; but they have thick lips, though not woolly hair, and their complexion is a blackish grey, or in some cases even jet black. The Hottentots, on the contrary, are an ugly race. Their hair is black, sometimes brownish, very short and woolly, but their skin is a dark brown, or yellow, and not black. They are the original possessors of the country, which extends east and north of the Cape of Good Hope: having for eastern neighhors the Caffers, varieties of whom extend along the coast from about Algoa Bay to Sofala; but how far inland to the north-west is not known. Of the languages of these various races almost nothing is known. M. Balbi has, nevertheless, contrived to arrange them into great ethnological divisions; but his system is too prolix and uninteresting for a work of this description, and could prove of little advantage to the general reader. The religions of the natives of Africa are as little known to the civilized world as the other details of their economy. Fetichism, or idol-worship, however, seems to be that professed by almost all the negro races, and by some branches of the Atlantic or Bereber family. These people, who see in the most common things objects of adoration, appear to admit in general of a good and bad principle. They have lucky and unlucky days; their priests are dexterous jugglers, and profess to secure both men and beasts from the influence of evil spirits. In the States of Barbary, in Egypt, the greater part of Nubia, and some other parts, the religion of Mahomet is predominant but some of the professing tribes have neither a priesthood nor places of worship. This religion seems also to be professed throughout the north-eastern and central parts of Soudan; and the Mandingoes and other : tribes have carried it to the shores of the western ocean. Christianity is professed by the Copts of Egypt, and also by the Abyssinians, where, however, it is mixed with many superstitious and idolatrous rites and notions The European colonists, and the negroes of Liberia, of course profess the religion of their birth-places, and are Protestant or Catholic according to their descent. The Catholic population, however, is small in either the British colonies or in the Republic of Liberia; and, perhaps, Protestantism is unknown in Algeria and the French colonies on the western coast. Judaism is maintained by a great number of Israelites in the States of Barbary, in Egypt, and in Abyssinia; and there are a few Guebres, or votaries of Magism, in Mozambique. The forms of government found in Africa comprise every diversity known to the world. The little Arab state of Damer, in Nubia, is a monarchical theocracy; Fouta-Toro and Fouta-Jalo, in Senegambia, are oligarchical theocracies, and the kingdom of Suz, in Moghreb, is a feudal oligarchy. Marocco, Benin, Yarriba, and many others, exhibit despotism of the purest description; and the kingdom of Dahomey groans under a species of despotism of which there are few examples in the world. All the first-born males belong to the king, who causes them to be brought up publicly; he has even the monopoly of all the women of his kingdom; and every man who wishes to marry is obliged to pay him 20,000 cowries for a wife. The king of Moropua is perhaps the most absolute of all potentates, for he even proscribes for his subjects the time of their amusements. Several of the kings of Guinea, and Eastern Africa, also exercise the most absolute power. They send their emissaries to steal men from whatever country they choose, and afterwards dispose of them to strangers in exchange for goods. It would, however, be a tedious task to mention in detail the governments of the numerous petty nations which people this continent. The governments of the greater states are all despotic; and of the smaller communities, many are patriarchal, and vary in different degrees between despotism and anarchy. The only free government, founded on republican principles, is the new state of Liberia. Its institutions are moulded after those of the United States of America, and there the people enjoy the blessings of civilization and liberty. In the colonies of Great Britain the governments are as liberal as circumstances will admit of, and civil liberty is the basis on which their institutions are erected. They are governed immediately by viceroys. The colonies of the French have become an integral portion of the republic, but as yet they are swayed by the military; nor is it probable that for some time to come they will be deemed fit to appreciate the rights of their republican connection. The free governments, however, that have been planted, may, nevertheless, have a beneficial effect on Africa; and who can say that they have not been placed by a wise Providence in their present commanding attitudes, as a nucleus, around which a future civilization may expand and extend, gradually, over the barbaric nations which now form their inland barriers. Though the more civilized people of Africa are very far from equalling those of Asia in respect of industry, they are nevertheless not so degraded as is commonly believed. The inhabitants of the principal towns in many of the states carry on various trades, and excel in the manufacture of different kinds of cloth, and in the dressing of skins. Several towns in Marocco and in Soudan are celebrated for the beauty of their leather, and |