[Footnote 274: There is an able discussion of this subject in
the New Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, article
"Africa," p. 104, and 105.]
_On the Negroes_.
(TO THE EDITOR OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.)
Sir,
Eton, 5th Dec. 1818.
Many maintain that the Negroes are a docile and tractable race, and
more easily to be governed than Europeans; others maintain, that
466 they are liars, thieves, vindictive, and a demoralised race. That
they are vindictive, no one who is acquainted with their character
will deny; but are not most barbarous and uncivilised nations the
same? What are the Muhamedans and Pagans? The latter, who form
nearly two-thirds of the population of the earth, are generally of
the same character, and the vindictive character of the former is
notorious.
Propagate among the Negroes the benign principles of the Christian
doctrine, and they will gradually (as those principles are
inculcated) become good subjects, and useful members of society. It
is that religion which will bring forth their latent and social
virtues--a religion, the moral principles of which are the
admiration even of its enemies, the Muhamedans themselves: a
religion which exalts the human character above the brutes, and
brings forth its beauties as the brilliancy of the diamond is
brought forth by the hand of the polisher.
Destroy their witchcraft and idolatry, and on their ruins inculcate
the divine doctrines of Christ, and we shall soon see that they
will possess sentiments that exalt the human character, and that
nothing has contributed more to their mental degradation than the
cruel treatment of their masters in the European colonies of the
West.
VASCO DE GAMA.
467
_Cursory Observations on Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzclarence's Journal
of a Route across India, through Egypt, to England_.
Eton, 7th May, 1819.
It is remarkable, that in proportion as our mass of information
respecting the interior of Africa increases, the truth of Mr. James
Grey Jackson's account of that country, in the appendix to his
account of Marocco, &c. receives additional confirmation. Some
literary sceptics have been so far prejudiced against this author's
report as to doubt its veracity altogether; but let us see how far
the interesting report of Lieut.-Colonel Fitzclarence, in his
journal of a route across India, through Egypt, to England, lately
published, corroborates Mr. Jackson's description of Timbuctoo,
published so long since as 1809.
It is to be lamented, that Jackson's African orthography is not
altogether adopted: with the superior and practical knowledge which
he evidently possesses of the African Arabic language, it cannot, I
presume, be doubted by the learned and impartial, that his
orthography is correct; and, judging from what has already
transpired, I do not hesitate to predict, that his African
orthography, from an evidence of its accuracy, will, in a few
years, be adopted throughout; although the learned world have been
ten years in correcting _Tombuctoo_ into _Timbuctoo_; the latter
468 being Mr. Jackson's orthography in his account of Marocco,
Timbuctoo, &c. published in 1809.
The late account of Mr. Bowdich's mission to Ashantee has been the
first to corroborate this author in this respect; and
Lieut.-Colonel Fitzclarence has confirmed it with this additional
observation, in his Journal of a Route, &c. page 493: "Upon
enquiring about _Timbuctoo_ the Hage laughed at our pronunciation,
the name of the city being _Timbuctoo_." The next improvement in
African geographical orthography, will probably be the conversion
of Fez into _Fas_ (for there is absolutely no more reason for
calling it Fez than there has been for calling Timbuctoo,
Timbuctoo), this word being spelled in Arabic with the letters _Fa,
Alif_, and _Sin_, which cannot be converted into any other
orthography but _Fas_; the same argument would hold with various
other words spelled correctly by this author, an accurate
elucidation of which might encroach too much upon your valuable
pages. I shall therefore briefly state, that in page 480 of Colonel
Fitzclarence's Journal, the name of the Moorish gentleman to whose
care the sons of the Emperor of Marocco, Muley Soliman, were
confided, is stated to be El Hadge Talib ben Jelow: this is
incorrect orthography, there is no such name in the Arabic language
as _Jelow_, it is a barbarism; ben Jelow signifies ben Jelule, and
the proper name is _El Hage Taleb ben Jelule_.
469 Behur Soldan is evidently another barbarism or corruption of the
Arabic words _Bahar Sudan: vide_ Jackson's Account of Marocco,
Timbuctoo, &c. page 309, published by Cadell and Davies.
It has been observed by an intelligent French writer, that "_Le
pluspart des hommes mesurant leur foi par leur connoissance acquise
croyent à fort peu de choses_." In confirmation of this opinion,
many intelligent men, at the time of the publication of Jackson's
Account of Marocco, Timbuctoo, &c. doubted the existence of the
_Heirie_, as described by him; but in proportion as our knowledge
of Africa improves, we see that the truth of these wonders is
confirmed: and Colonel Fitzclarence mentions one that travelled
four days in one; but we should not be surprised to hear, before
this century shall terminate, that an Englishman had travelled from
Fas to Timbuctoo on a Heirie, accompanied by an accredited agent of
the Emperor of Marocco, in ten or fifteen days!
It appears by this ingenious traveller's Journal of a Route, &c.
page 493, that all religions are tolerated at Timbuctoo. This is a
confirmation of what is reported by Jackson, in the Appendix
annexed to his Account of Marocco, &c. page 300.
The fish in the river of Timbuctoo, the Neel El Abeed or Neel of
Sudan, is described by Colonel Fitzclarence as resembling salmon:
470 this is a corroboration of Jackson, who says, the _shebbel_ abound
in the Neel of Sudan, and the shebbel is the African salmon. See
appendix to Jackson's Account of Marocco, &c. page 306.
In page 494, Colonel Fitzclarence says, the Nile at Kabra is a
quarter of a mile wide; Jackson says it is as wide as the Thames at
London. See Appendix to Jackson's Marocco, &c. page 305.
In page 496 of the Colonel's narrative, an account is given of the
rate of travelling through the Desert; which, allowing for an
arbitrary difference, in the resting days, corroborates Jackson's
Account, page 286.
In page 497, El hage Taleb ben Jelule's report to the Colonel, of
an account of two white men, (undoubtedly Mungo Park and another,)
who were at Timbuctoo in 1806, is a remarkable confirmation of the
account brought by Mr. Jackson from Mogodor in January, 1807, and
reported by him to the Marquis of Hastings, to Sir Joseph Banks,
and to Sir Charles Morgan, which is inserted in the Morning Post
and other papers, about the middle of August, 1814.