An Account Of Timbuctoo And Housa Territories In The Interior Of Africa Part 33

Sir,

In "_The Portfolio_," a Monthly Miscellany for May, 1817, published at Philadelphia, there is rather an interesting review of Ali Bey's travels. The writer says, "Ali Bey has rectified various errors in the common maps of Marocco. The river Luccos, for instance, flows to the South, and not to the North of Alca.s.ser; and the city of Fas, according to Ali Bey, is situated in 34 6' north lat.i.tude, and not as laid down in the Maps of Arrowsmith, Rennell, Delille, Golberri, &c."--If, however, he had given himself the trouble to consult the map of West Barbary, in Jackson's Account of Marocco, &c. &c. (which is by far the most accurate extant, and whose geographical orthography has been adopted in all the best modern English maps,) he would have seen that Fas is in 34 north lat.i.tude; that the river Elkos, or Luccos, is described in that map, (which was published several years before Ali Bey's travels,) as running south of Alca.s.ser.

In describing the funeral cry at Marocco, the editor, or reviewer, impresses his reader with an idea that this funeral cry is that of the Moors, whereas it is no such thing: it is the practice of the Jews only in West Barbary to cry "Ah! Ah!" and lacerate their faces 465 with their finger nails; after which they wash, drink brandy, and enjoy themselves.

The large sea in the interior of Africa, described by Ali Bey to be without any communication with the Ocean, had been described (_years before Ali Bey's travels were published_) by Jackson, in his Account of Marocco, &c. &c. third edition, p. 309, and called first by him _Bahar Sudan_, and represented as a sea having decked vessels on it. Mr. Park, in his Second Journey, calls this sea the Bahar Seafina, without, however, informing the public, or knowing, that the Bahar Sefeena is an Arabic expression implying a sea of s.h.i.+ps, or a sea where s.h.i.+ps are found; and the situation he places it in coincides exactly with Jackson's prior description. There are thus three concurrent testimonies of the situation of the Bahar Sudan, or Sea of Sudan, _first noticed by Jackson_, and since confirmed by Ali Bey and Park.[274]

EL HAGE HAMED EL w.a.n.gARY.

[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 ma.s.s 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 p.r.o.nunciation, 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 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 MoG.o.dor 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.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

VASCO DE GAMA.

471

_On the Arabic Language, as now spoken in Turkey in Europe, in Asia, and in Africa_.

London, May 10, 1819.

In this enlightened age, when our intercourse is increasing with nations remote from our own, and possessing different religions, languages, laws, and customs; when the amba.s.sadors of the Muhamedan potentates of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are resident in our metropolis, all understanding _the Arabic language_; when, with a knowledge of this language, a person may travel and hold colloquial intercourse with the inhabitants of Turkey, with the greater part of Asia, and with Africa; and, lastly, when we consider the valuable and immense stores of Arabian literature, of the best periods which still remain unexplored, is it not remarkable under all the exciting circ.u.mstances above enumerated, that in this powerful and opulent country, there should not be found, with all our boasted learning and eagerness of research, three or four Englishmen capable of writing and conversing intelligibly in that beautiful and useful language? The extent of this disgraceful ignorance would be scarcely credible, were there not proofs beyond doubt, that our princ.i.p.al seats of learning are as deficient in 472 this knowledge as the public in general[275], and that letters or public doc.u.ments written in that language, have been in vain sent to them for translation. What I have long considered as chiefly tending to diminish the desire of acquiring this language, is an opinion dogmatically a.s.serted, and diligently propagated, that the Arabic of the East and West are so different from each other, as almost to form distinct languages, and to be unintelligible to the inhabitants of either of those regions respectively; but, having always doubted the truth of this a.s.sertion, I have endeavoured, from time to time, _during the last ten years_, to ascertain whether the Arabic language spoken in Asia be the same with that which is spoken in Africa, (westward to the sh.o.r.es of the Atlantic ocean,) but without success, and even without the smallest 473 satisfactory elucidation, until the arrival in London last winter, of the most _Reverend Doctor Giarve, Bishop of Jerusalem_, who has given such incontestible proofs of his proficiency in the Arabic language, that his opinion on this important point cannot but be decisive; accordingly, on presenting to the reverend Doctor some letters from the Emperor of Marocco to me, desiring that he would oblige me with his opinion, whether the Arabic in those letters was the same with that spoken in Syria, the Rev. Doctor replied in the following perspicuous manner, which, I think, decides the question: _"I can a.s.sure you, that the language and the idiom of the Arabic in these letters from the Emperor of Marocco to you, is precisely the same with that which is spoken in the East."_

[Footnote 275: See page 408. respecting a letter sent to our late revered Sovereign, by the Emperor of Marocco. In consequence of the inattention to that letter, the Emperor determined never to write again to a Christian king in the Arabic language; and, with regard to Great Britain, I believe he has faithfully ever since kept his word! Some time before this letter was written, I being then in Marocco, the Emperor's minister asked me if the Emperor his master were to write an Arabic letter to the _Sultan George Sultan El Ingleez_, (these were his expressions,) whether there were persons capable of translating it into English: I replied, that there were men at the Universities capable of translating every learned language in the known world; and accordingly the letter above alluded to was written in Arabic, and addressed to His Majesty. This letter was written by the Emperor himself, which I am competent to declare, having letters from him in my possession, and being acquainted with his hand-writing and style.]

It is, therefore, thus ascertained, that the Arabic language spoken in the kingdom of Tafilelt, of Fas, of Marocco, and in Suse or South Barbary, is precisely the same language with that which is now spoken in Syria, and Palestine in Asia; countries distant from each other nearly 3000 miles, and from information since obtained, there appears to be no doubt that the Arabic language spoken by the Arabs in Arabia, by the Moors and Arabs in India and Madagascar, by the Moorish nations on the African sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean, are one and the same language with that spoken in Marocco, subject only to certain provincial peculiarities, which by no means form 474 impediments to the general understanding of the language, no more, or not so much so, as the provincial peculiarities of one county of England differ from another!!

Unwilling to encroach too much on your valuable pages, I will leave, for the subject of my next letter, the inconceivable misconstructions and errors into which the ignorance of this language has led European travellers in Africa, of which I shall state some examples in a recent publication respecting Africa.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

JAMES G. JACKSON.

_Cursory Observations on the Geography of Africa, inserted in an Account of a Mission to Ashantee, by T. Edward Bowdich, Esq.

showing the Errors that have been committed by European Travellers on that Continent, from their Ignorance of the Arabic Language, the learned and the general travelling Language of that interesting part of the World_.

June 17, 1819.

The Niger, after leaving the lake Dibber, was invariably described as dividing in two large streams.--_Vide_ "Bowdich's Account of a Mission to Ashantee," p. 187.

The Lake Dibber is called in the proceedings of the African a.s.sociation Dibbie, but the proper appellation is _El Bahar Tibber, _or_ El Bahar Dehebbie_. The Bahar Tibber signifies the sea of gold 475 dust; the _Bahar Dehebbie_ signifies the sea or water abounding in gold. Jinnee, which is on or near the sh.o.r.e of this lake, (I call it a lake because it is fresh water,) abounds in gold, and is renowned throughout Africa for the ingenuity of its artificers in that metal, insomuch that they acknowledge the superiority of Europeans in all arts except that of gold work. There are some specimens of Jinnee gold trinkets, very correctly delineated in the recent interesting work of "Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzclarence's Journal of a Route across India, through Egypt to England," p. 496.

Page 187, "Yahoodie, a place of great trade."

This place is reported to be inhabited by one of the lost tribes of Israel, possibly an emigration from the tribe of Judah. Yahooda, in African Arabic, signifies Judah. Yahoodee signifies Jew. It is not impossible, that many of the lost tribes of Israel may be found dispersed in the interior regions of Africa, when we shall become better acquainted with that Continent; it is certain, that some of the nations that possessed the country eastward of Palestine when the Israelites were a favoured nation, have emigrated to Africa.

An emigration of the Amorites[276] are now in possession of the declivity of the Atlas Mountains, westward of the sanctuary[277] of Muley Driss, and in the neighbourhood of the ruins of Pharaoh; they 476 live in encampments, consisting of two, three, or four tents each: they resemble the Arabs of the Desert in their predatory excursions. I speak from practical knowledge, having twice travelled through their country, and visited their encampments.

[Footnote 276: They are called _Ite-amor_, Amorite.]

[Footnote 277: _Vide_ Jackson's Account of Marocco, chap. viii.

enlarged edition.]