of the 16th century, Lopez, Joao Dos Santos, Do Couto, and Pigafetta.
"The information collected by Lopez, was elaborated by Pigafetta into a
system harmonizing with the prevalent opinions of the age, and in this
form was published in 1591. Yet in the midst of this editor's theories,
we can at times detect the simple truth." Much confusion seems to have
arisen by misapplying the names of lakes, rivers and people, as this
information was in a great degree derived from natives, and not properly
understood by the persons who received it from them. Mr. Cooley, by a
rigid examination of these various statements, together with the
accounts derived from later writers and from native traders, has been
enabled to rectify the errors which had crept in, and clear up much that
had been considered fabulous. The great lake called N'Yassi, and the
natives occupying the country around it, are among the most interesting
subjects of our author's enquiries. This lake, or sea, as it is called
by the natives, is some five or six hundred miles from the eastern
coast. Its breadth in some places is about fifteen miles, while in
others, the opposite shores cannot be seen. Its length is unknown,
neither extremity having been traced. It probably exceeds five hundred
miles, according to the best authority. Numerous islands filled with a
large population, are scattered among its waters. It is navigated by
bark canoes, twenty feet long, capable of holding twenty persons. Its
waters are fresh, and it abounds in fish. The people seem more advanced
in civilization than any African nations south of the Equator, of which
we have knowledge. Pereira, who spent six months at Cazembe, in 1796,
describes the people as similar, in point of civilization, to the
Mexicans and Peruvians, at the time of the conquest. The nation called
the Monomoesi, or Mucaranga, north of the lake, as well as the Movisa,
on its opposite shores, are a tall and handsome race, with a brown
complexion. "They are distinguished for their industry, and retain the
commercial habits for which they were noted two centuries and a half
ago, when their existence was first known through the Portuguese. They
descend annually to Zanzibar in large numbers. The journey to the coast
and back again, takes nine or ten months, including the delay of
awaiting the proper season for returning. They are clothed in cotton of
their own manufacture; but the most obvious mark of their superiority
above other nations of Eastern Africa is, that they employ beasts of
burden, for their merchandize is conveyed to the coast laden on asses of
a fine breed." Mr. Cooley believes that "the physical advantages and
superior civilization of these tribes, who are not negroes," explain the
early reports which led the Portuguese to believe that the empire of
Prestor John was not far off.
Mr. M'Queen's memoirs consist of the details of a journey made by Lief
Ben Saeid, a native of Zanzibar, to the great lake N'Yassi, or Maravi,
alluded to in Mr. Cooley's memoir. This visit was made in the year 1831.
The facts collected corroborate what has been stated by Mr. Cooley. He
found the country level, filled with an active population, civil to
strangers, and honest in their dealings. A very extensive trade was
carried on in ivory, and a peculiar oil, of a reddish color. The
Manumuse (Mono-moezi) are pagans, and both sexes go nearly naked. Near
the lake there are no horses or camels, but plenty of asses, and a few
elephants. The houses on the road and at the lake, are made of wood and
thatched with grass. Dogs are numerous, and very troublesome. Some are
of a very large kind.[33]
The region which forms the subject of the memoirs just alluded to, is
doubtless one of the most interesting fields for exploration of any on
the African continent. The languages spoken by the several nations
between the two oceans, which are here separated by a space of sixteen
or seventeen hundred miles, in a direct line, are believed to belong to
one great family, or at least to present such traces of affinity, that
an expedition, if sufficiently strong, aided by interpreters from the
Zanzibar coast or the Monomoezi tribes, might traverse the continent
without difficulty. Obstacles might be thrown in the way by the
Portuguese traders, who would naturally feel jealous at any
encroachments by rival nations; but by a proper understanding, these
might be overcome, and this interesting and hitherto unknown portion of
Central Africa be laid open to commerce and civilization.
The latest attempt to explore this region was that of M. Maizan, a young
officer in the French navy, who towards the close of the year 1844, set
out for the purpose. In April, 1845, he left Zanzibar, furnished with a
firman from Sultan Said to the principal chiefs of the tribes of the
interior, though in reality they enjoyed the most complete independence.
Having been warned that a chief, named Pazzy, manifested hostile
intentions towards him, he stopped some time on his way, and after
having acquired information relating to the country he wished to survey,
he made a grand _detour_ round the territory over which this savage
chief exercised his authority. After a march of twenty days, he reached
the village of Daguelamohor, which is but three days' journey from the
coast in a direct line, where he awaited the arrival of his baggage,
which he had entrusted to an Arab servant. This man, it appears, had
communication with Pazzy, and had informed him of the route his master
had taken. Pazzy, with some men of his tribe, overtook M. Maizan towards
the end of July, at Daguelamohor, and surrounded the house in which he
lived. After tying him with cords to a palisade, the savage ordered his
men to cut the throat of their unfortunate victim.[34]
Mr. M'Queen gives some particulars obtained from a native African
relating to the country between Lake Tchad, or Tshadda and Calabar. This
portion of the African continent has never been visited by Europeans,
and although little can be gained of its geography from the statements
of this man, there is much in them that is interesting on the
productions of the country, the natives, their manners, customs, &c.
ALGIERS.
The publication by the French government of the results of the great
scientific expedition to Algeria has thrown much light on the districts
embraced in Algiers and the regency of Tunis, as well as on the
countries far in the interior. Among the subjects which have received
the particular attention of the commission, are, 1. An examination of
the routes followed by the Arabs in the south of Algiers and Tunis;
2. Researches into the geography and commerce of Southern Algiers, by
Capt. Carette; 3. A critical analysis of the routes of the caravans
between Barbary and Timbuctoo, with remarks on the nature of the western
Sahara, and on the tribes which occupy it, by M. Renou; 4. A series of
interesting memoirs on the successive periods of the political and
geographical history of Algiers from the earliest period to the present
time, by M. Pelissier; 5. The History of Africa, translated from the
Arabic of Mohammed-ben-Abi-el-Raini-el-Kairouani, by M. Remusat, giving
a particular account of the earliest Musselman period.
Gen. Marey in an account of his expedition to Laghouat in Algeria,
published in Algiers in 1845, has contributed important information on
this country, which deserves a rank with the great work of the
scientific expedition.[35] In this work the author has corrected the
erroneous opinion which has long been held, of the barrenness of the
Sahara. Among the Arabs this word _Sahara_ does not convey the idea
which the world has generally given it, of a desert or uninhabitable
place, but the contrary. Like every country, it presents some excellent
and luxuriant spots, others of a medium quality as to soil, and others
entirely barren, not susceptible of cultivation. By _Sahara_, the Arabs
mean a country of pastures, inhabited by a pastoral people; while, to
the provinces between the Atlas mountains and the sea, they apply the
name of _Tell_, meaning a country of cereals, and of an agricultural
people.
M. Carette, in his exploration of this region, has also discovered the
false notion long imbibed in relation to it. "The Sahara," says he, "was
for a long time deformed by the exaggerations of geographers, and by the
reveries of poets. Called by some the Great Desert, from its sterility
and desolation, by others the country of dates, the Sahara had become a
fanciful region, of which our ignorance increased its proportions and
fashioned its aspect. From the mountains which border the horizon of
Tell, to the borders of the country of the blacks, it was believed that
nature had departed from her ordinary laws, renouncing the variety which
forms the essential character of her works, and had here spread an
immense and uniform covering, composed of burning plains, over which
troops of savage hordes carried their devastating sway. Such is not the
nature, such is not the appearance of the Sahara."
This region, occupying so large a portion of the African continent, "is
a vast archipelago of oases, of which each presents an animated group of
towns and villages. Around each is a large enclosure of fruit trees. The
palm is the king of these plantations, not only from the elevation of
its trunk, but from the value of its product, yet it does not exclude
other species. The fig, the apricot, the peach and the vine mingle their
foliage with the palm."
The Algerine Sahara has lately been the object of a special work of Col.
Daumas who intends completing the researches begun by Gen. Marey and the
members of the scientific commission. He has made an excursion to the
borders of the desert, and has collected much that is new and
interesting in ethnology, particularly relating to the Tuarycks, a great
division of the Berber race whose numerous tribes occupy all the western
part of the great desert.[36]
Among the interesting Ethnological facts which the late expeditions in
this region have brought to light, is that of the existence of a white
race, inhabiting the Aures mountains, (_mons Aurarius_) in the province
of Constantine.[37] Dr. Guyon, of the French army of Africa, took
advantage of an expedition sent out by General Bedeau to the Aures, to
collect information about this people, to whom other travellers had
referred. He describes them as having a white skin, blue eyes and flaxen
hair. They are not found by themselves, but predominate more or less
among various tribes. They hold a middle rank, and go but rarely with
the Kabyles and the Arabs. They are lukewarm in observances of the
Koran, on which account the Arabs esteem them less than the Kabyles.
They are more numerous in the tribe of the Mouchaias, who speak a
language in which words of Teutonic origin have been recognized. In
Constantine where they are numerous, they exercise the trades of butcher
and baker. Late writers believe that they are the remains of the Vandals
driven from the country by Belisarius.
M. Bory de Saint Vincent in making some observations to the Academy of
Sciences, on the paper of Dr. Guyon, exhibited portraits of individuals
of this white race, which had been engraved for the Scientific
Commission, and stated his belief that they were evidently of the
northern Gothic and Vandal type.[38]
In Northern Africa, an important discovery has lately been made of the
ancient Libyan alphabet, by Mr. F. de Saulcy, member of the French
Institute. This curious result has been produced, by a study of the
bilingual inscription on the monument of Thugga, which is published in
the first volume of the Transactions of the Ethnological Society of New
York. The reading of the Phoenician part of this bilingual inscription
having been established, the value of the Libyan or Numidian letters of
the counter part, has been as clearly proved, as the hieroglyphic part
of the Rosetta stone has been established, from a comparison with the
Greek text of that bilingual inscription.
By this discovery, a vast progress has been made in the ethnography and
history of ancient Africa. Two facts of the greatest consequence have
been established by it:--That the Libyan language was that of Numidia,
at the early period of its history, when the Phoenicians were settled
there; that the Numidians of that early day, used their own peculiar
letters for writing their own language. To these facts, may be added
another of no less ethnographic value; that the present Numidian or
Berber race of the great Sahara, who are called Tuarycks, make use of
these identical letters at this day.
For this recent and valuable acquisition to science, we are again
indebted to Mr. de Saulcy,[39] who has published a Tuaryck alphabet as
communicated to him by Mr. Boisonnet, Captain of Artillery at Algiers.
It was furnished to him by an educated native of the Oasis of Touat, in
the great Sahara, and is called by him _Kalem-i-Tefinag_.[40] What the
_writing of Tefinag_ means, it would be curious to know. This Touatee,
Abd-el-Kader, has promised more extended information, in relation to the
writing of the Tuarycks, than which, no more valuable contribution to
African ethnography can be imagined. He asserts that, the Tuarycks
engrave or scratch on the rocks of the Sahara, numerous inscriptions,
either historic or erotic. This subject has been alluded to by Mr.
Hodgson, in his "_Notes on Africa_" in which he mentions the Tuaryck
letters copied by Denham and Clapperton.
The impulse first given by our countryman Mr. Wm. B. Hodgson, in his
researches into the Berber language, and the ethnographic facts which
were the results of his elucidations, has extended to England, France
and Germany, and the last two years have been productive of several
valuable and important works, including grammars and dictionaries of the
Berber language. These have added greatly to our previous knowledge of
the ancient and primitive people, who at a remote period, coeval with
that of the ancient Egyptians occupied the northern part of Africa.
Mr. de Saulcy has already unravelled the intricacy of the demotic
writing of Egypt and the popular characters of ancient Libya. He is thus
working at both ends of the Libyan chain. He will find the Berber thread
at the Oasis of Ammon, and at Meroee. We shall thus probably find, that
the Berber language was the original tongue of that part of Ethiopia.
Dr. Lepsius found in that region, numerous inscriptions in the Egyptian
demotic, and in Greek characters, but written in an unknown language. He
strongly suspects, that the old Ethiopian blood will be found in the
Berber veins; and that the Nubian language has strong affinities with
the Berber. When these inscriptions in an unknown language are
decyphered, it will be known how far the interpretation of Egyptian
mythology and the local names, heretofore proposed by Mr. Hodgson, is to
be received as plausible. He has proposed the Berber etymologies of Aman
or Ammon as water; Themis as fire or purity; Thot as an eye; Edfou and
Tadis as the sun.
Books on Algiers.
Algeria and Tunis in 1845. An account of a journey made through
the two Regencies, by Viscount Fielding and Capt. Kennedy. 2
vols, post 8vo. London, 1846.
Le Maroc et ses Caravanes, ou Relations de la France avec cet
Empire, par R. Thomassy. 8vo. Paris 1845.
Exploration Scientifique de l'Algeria pendant les annees 1840,
1841, 1842. Publie par l'ordre du gouvernment et avec le
concours d'une commission Academique. 4 vols, folio. (now in the
course of publication.)
Recherches sur la constitution de la propriete territoriale dans
le pays mussulmans et subsidiairement en Algeria; par M. Worms.
8vo. Paris, 1846.
A visit to the French possessions in Algiers in 1845. By Count
St. Marie. Post 8vo. London, 1846.
AFRIQUE (l') francaise, l'empire du Maroc et les deserts de
Sahara. Histoire nationale des conquetes, victoires et
nouvelles decouvertes des Francais depuis la prise d'Alger
jusqu'a nos jours; par P. Christian. 8vo.
Algeria en 1846; par J. Desjobert. 8vo. Paris, 1846.
Guide du voyageur en Algeria. Itineraire du savant, de
l'artiste, de l'homme du monde et du colon; par Quetin. 18mo.
Paris, 1846.
Le Sahara Algerien. Etude geographiques, statistiques et
historiques sur la region au sud des etablissements Francaises
en Algerie; par Col. Daumas 8vo. Paris, 1845.
L'Afrique Francaise l'Empire de Maroc et les deserts de Sahara,
conquetes et decouvertes des Francais. Royal 8vo.
Dictionnaire de Geographie economique, politique et historique
de l'Algerie. Avec une carte. 12mo. Paris, 1846.
Geographie populaire de l'Algerie, avec cartes. 12mo. 1846.
Histoire de nos Colonies Francaises de l'Algerie et du Maroc;
par M. Christian. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1846.
The following list embraces the latest publications on Africa
generally.
Voyage dans l'Afrique Occidentale, comprenant l'exploration du
Senegal depuis St. Louis jusqu'a la Feleme jusqu'a Sansandig;
des mines d'or de Kenieba, dans le Bambouk; des pays de Galam,
Boudou et Wooli; et de la Gambia; par A. Raffenel. 8vo. and
folio atlas. Paris, 1846.
Viaggi nell' Africa Occidentale, di _Toto Omboni_, gia medico
di consiglie nel regno d'Angola e sue dispendenze, 8vo. Milan,
1845.
A visit to the Portuguese possessions in South Western Africa.
By Dr. Tams. 2 vols. 8vo.
Life in the Wilderness; or, Wanderings in South Africa. By
Henry W. Methuen. Post 8vo. London, 1846.
Voyage au Darfour par le Cheykh Mohammed Ebn-Omar El-Tounsy;
traduit de l'Arabe par Dr. Perron; publie par les soins de M.
Jomard. Royal 8vo. Maps. Paris, 1845.
Observations sur le Voyage au Darfour suivies d'un Vocabulaire
de la langue des habitans et de remarques sur le Nil Blanc
Superieur; par M. Jomard. 1846.
Essai historique sur les races anciennes et modernes de
l'Afrique Septentrionale, leurs origines, leurs mouvements et
leurs transformations depuis l'antiquite jusqu'a nos jours; par
Pascal Duprat. 8vo. Paris, 1845.
MADAGASCAR.--The island of Madagascar has recently attracted and
continues to occupy attention in France. In 1842 M. Guillian, in command
of a French corvette, was sent by the governor of the isle of Bourbon to
this island, to select a harbor safe and convenient of access, and to
obtain information relative to the country and its inhabitants. After
visiting various parts of the island on its western side, in which
fourteen months were spent, M. Guillian returned to Bourbon, and in 1845
the results of his visit were published in Paris. The first part of this
work gives a history of the Sakalave people, who occupy the western
parts of the island. The second details the particulars of the voyage
made in 1842 and 1843, embracing the geography, commerce and present
condition of the country, an abstract of which is given in the Bulletin
of the Geographical Society of Paris, Feb. 1846.
So important were the results of the visit of M. Guillian that a new
expedition has been sent to Madagascar under his direction, with
instructions for a more extended examination, particularly in relation
to its animal and vegetable productions. A more extensive work by M. de
Froberville, is preparing for publication in Paris, in which more
attention will be given to the ethnography of this important island.
Documents sur l'histoire, la geographie et le commerce de la
partie occidentale de l'ile de Madagascar; recueillis et rediges
par M. Guillian, 8vo. Paris, 1845.
Histoire d'etablissement Francais de Madagascar, pendant la
restauration, precedee d'une description de cette ile, et
suivie de quelques considerations politiques et commerciales
sur l'expedition et la colonisation de Madagascar. Par M.
Carayon, 8vo. Paris, 1845.
Histoire et Geographie de Madagascar, depuis la decouverte de
l'ile en 1506, jusqu'au recit des derniers evenements de
Tamative; par M. Descartes. 8vo. Paris, 1846.
Madagascar expedition de 1829. Par M. le Capitaine de fregate
Jourdain. _Revue de l'Orient_, tom. ix. April, 1846.
A short memoir on Madagascar is contained in the "Bulletin de
la Societe de Geographie, July, 1845," by M. Bona Christave.
Etchings of a Whaling Voyage, with notes of a sojourn in the
Island of Zanzibar, and a history of the whale fishery, by
J.R. Browne. 8vo. New York, 1846.
EGYPT.
I have hesitated, in the superficial view I propose to take in noticing
the ethnological and archaeological researches of the day, as to whether
I ought to speak of the land of the Pharaohs. The explorations have been
on so grand a scale, and the results so astounding, that one is lost in
amazement in attempting to keep pace with them.
In England, France, Germany and Italy, Egyptian archaeology is the most
fruitful topic among the learned. In Paris, it forms the theme of
lectures by the most distinguished archaeologists, and the subject
absorbs so much interest in Germany, that the King of Prussia has
established a professorship at the Royal University for Egyptian
antiquities and history, which he has assigned to Professor Lepsius, the
most accomplished scholar in Egyptian learning, and who was at the head
of the scientific commission sent by his majesty to explore the valley
of the Nile.
It will be remembered that in addition to the immense and costly work
published by Napoleon, there have since been published the great
national works of Champollion, by the French government, and of
Rossellini by the Tuscan government. These are to be immediately
followed by the great work of Lepsius, who has just returned from Egypt,
laden with innumerable treasures, the results of three years of most
laborious and successful explorations. This undertaking is at the
expense of the King of Prussia, one of the most enlightened monarchs of
Europe, and who, at the present moment, is doing more in various parts
of the world for the advancement of science than any now living.
But the French government, which has always been foremost in promoting
such explorations, is determined not to be superseded by the learned
Prussian's researches in Egyptian lore. An expedition has been organized
under M. Prisse, for a new survey and exploration of Egypt. Mr. Prisse
is an accomplished scholar, versed in hieroglyphical learning, and
author of a work on Egyptian Ethnology. He will be accompanied by
competent artists, will go over the same ground as Lepsius, and make
additional explorations.
As regards the eminent men who have won brilliant distinction in the
career of Egyptian studies, it is out of the question here to analyze
their books: it must suffice to state, that all have marched boldly
along the road opened by _Champollion_, and that the science which owed
its first illustration to Young, to the Champollions, to the Humboldts,
to Salvolini, to Rosellini, to Nestor L'Hote, and to whose soundness the
great De Sacy has furnished his testimony, counts at this day as adepts
and ardent cultivators, such scholars as Letronne, Biot, Prisse, Bunsen,
Lepsius, Burnouf, Pauthier, Lanci, Birch, Wilkinson, Sharpe, Bonomi, and
many more.[41]
A few important results of the late explorations in Egypt, and
researches into her hieroglyphics and history, it may be well to
mention.
Prof. Schwartze, of Berlin, is publishing a work on Egyptian philology,
entitled _Das Alte AEgypten_. Some idea may be formed of the erudition of
German philologists, and the extent to which their investigations are
carried, when we state that this savant has completed the first part of
the first volume of this work, which embraces 2200 quarto pages! and
this is but a beginning.
De Saulcy has made great advances in decyphering the Demotic writing of
Egypt, in which, from Champollion's death to 1843, little had been done.
He has now translated the whole of the Demotic text on the Rosetta
stone, so that we may consider this portion of Egyptian literature as
placed on a firm basis.
Farther elucidations of the Coptic language have been made. This, it
will be remembered, is the language into which the ancient Egyptian
merged, and is the main instrument by which a knowledge of the latter
must be obtained. Recently a discovery has been made by Arthur de
Riviere, at Cairo, in an ancient Coptic MS. containing part of the Old
Testament. The manuscript was very large and thick, and on separating
the leaves was found to contain a pagan manuscript in the same language,
the only one yet discovered.[42] On a farther examination of this
manuscript, it proved to be a work on the religion of the ancient
Egyptians. The translation of this curious document is looked for with
much interest.
M. Prisse is publishing at the expense of the French Government, the
continuation of Champollion's great work on Egypt and Nubia--50 plates
are in press.
Mr. Birch, of London, has nearly ready for the press a work on the
titles of the officers of the Pharaonic court. He has discovered in
hieroglyphical writing those of the _chief butler_, _chief baker_, and
others, coeval with the pyramids and anterior to Joseph. He has also
discovered upon a tablet at the Louvre (age of Thotmes III. B.C. 1600)
his conquest of Nineveh, Shinar, and Babylon, and with the _tribute_
exacted from those conquered nations. The intense interest which
Egyptian archaeology is exciting in Europe will be seen from the list of
new books on the subject.
The most remarkable discoveries, and in which the greatest advances has
been made, are in monumental chronology. Through the indefatigable
labors of the Prussian savant, Lepsius, primeval history has far
transcended the bounds to which Champollion and Rosellini had carried
it. They fixed the era of Menes, the first Pharaoh of Egypt, at about
2750, B.C. Boeckh, of Berlin, from astronomical calculations, places it
at 5702 B.C.
Henry of Paris, in his "_L'Egypte Pharaonique_," from historical
deductions, places the era at 5303 B.C.