ETHNOGRAPHIC YIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 WESTERN AFRICA. 
 
^ i;' 
 
 
 4 
 
ETHN06EAPI-1IC VIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 I ■ 
 
 -X - ^- 
 
 IYestern Africa may be divided, according to its popula¬ 
 tion, into three grand divisions. First —Senegambia, extend¬ 
 ing from the southern borders of the Great Desert to Cape 
 Verga, a little south of the Rio Grande, and so named from 
 its being watered by the two great rivers, Senegal and Gam¬ 
 bia. Second —Upper, or Northern Guinea, reaching from 
 Cape Verga to the Kamerun mountain in the Gulf of Benin, 
 about four degrees north latitude. Third —Southern, or 
 Lower Guinea, sometimes called Southern Ethiopia, extending 
 from the Kamerun mountain to Cape Negro, the southern 
 limit of Benguela. 
 
 The term Criiinea is not of African origin, or at least not 
 among those to whom it is applied. There is, according to 
 Barbot, a district of country north of the Senegal, known by 
 the name of Cfenahoa, the inhabitants of which were the first 
 blacks that the Portuguese encountered, in their explorations 
 along the coast in the fifteenth century; and they applied this 
 name indiscriminately afterwards to all the black nations which 
 they found further south. In the two succeeding centuries it 
 was applied in a more restricted sense to that portion of the 
 1 
 
 AY E S T E R N 
 
 
 
 
2 
 
 coast which is now better known as the Gold and Slave coasts; 
 owing to the fact, perhaps, that this region for a time offered 
 a larger number of slaves for the foreign market, than any 
 other part of the country. The natives here acknowledge this 
 term as applied to themselves, but it was undoubtedly borrowed 
 in the first instance from the Portuguese. 
 
 The physical aspect of the country, as might be inferred from 
 the immense extent we have under consideration, is exceeding¬ 
 ly variable, but is characterized everywhere by excessive rich¬ 
 ness of natural scenery. The coast of Senegambia is somewhat 
 fiat and monotonous, but this is the only exception to our gen¬ 
 eral remark. In the region of Sierra Leone, Cape Mount and 
 Cape Messurado, the eye rests upon bold head-lands and high 
 promontories covered with the richest tropical verdure. In the 
 vicinity of Cape Palmas, there are extended plains, slightly 
 undulating, and covered with almost every variety of the palm 
 and palmetto. On the coast of Drewin, the country rises into 
 table-land of vast extent, and apparently of great fertility. 
 The Gold coast presents every variety of hill and dale; and 
 as we approach the equatorial regions, we are saluted by 
 mountain scenery of unrivalled beauty and surpassing mag¬ 
 nificence. 
 
 The inhabitants of Western Africa may be divided into three 
 great families, corresponding to the geographical divisions 
 which have just been made. 
 
 In Senegambia, the principal tribes or families are the Ja- 
 lofs, the Mandingoes, the Fulahs, and the Susus, who belong 
 in part to Senegambia, and in part to Northern Guinea. 
 
 The principal families in Northern Guinea, are the Vais, 
 the Manou or Kru, the Kwakwas or Avekwom, the Inta, the 
 Dahomy, and the Benin. Those of Southern Guinea, are the 
 Pongo, Loango, Kongo, Angola and the Azinko families. 
 
 The inhabitants of Senegambia are distinguished from those 
 of Northern and Southern Guinea by being Mohammedans, and 
 by all those changes in their social character and condition, 
 which that religion ordinarily introduces among those who em¬ 
 brace it. They ^y be regarded as standing something higher 
 than the pagan tribes in point of civilization; and this 
 shows, so far as this single circumstance goes, that the Afri- 
 
3 
 
 can race are not entirely incapable of improvement and civili¬ 
 zation. 
 
 After giving a slight sketch of the different tribes or families 
 that have been enumerated, we shall endeavour to show in 
 what points they resemble, and in what they differ from each 
 other, and point out, so far as we can from our present imper¬ 
 fect knowledge of the subject, how far these different families 
 are related to the ancient aboriginal races of the continent of 
 Africa. 
 
 ’ There are a few general statements, however, that it is pro¬ 
 
 per to make before descending to particulars. 
 
 In the first place, there are no large or extended political 
 organizations in Western Africa, with the exception perhaps of 
 the kingdoms of Ashanti and Dehomi, and neither of these has 
 a larger population or greater extent of territory than the 
 smaller kingdoms of Europe. For the most part, the people 
 live together in independent communities, of not more than 
 eight or ten villages, and with an aggregate population of from 
 two to twenty-five or thirty thousand. In these different com¬ 
 munities they have no written forms of law, but are governed 
 for the most part by certain traditional usages, that have been 
 handed down from generation to generation. Nominally, 
 monarchy is the only form of government acknowledged among 
 
 ‘y them; but when closely scrutinized, their systems show much 
 
 more of the popular and patriarchal than of the monarchic 
 element. 
 
 The inhabitants of the country (with the exception of some 
 smaller tribes of whom we shall speak more fully in another 
 place) are by no means to be ranked as the lowest order of 
 savages. They have fixed habitations, cultivate the soil, have 
 herds of domestic animals, and have made very considerable 
 progress in most of the mechanic arts. Traits of intellectual 
 vigour disclosed by them in their native country, the style and 
 structure of their languages, and their aptitude for commercial 
 pursuits, show that they are entitled to a much higher place 
 among the uncultivated nations of the earth than has general¬ 
 ly been assigned them. They are not remarkable for meta¬ 
 physical acumen, or for powers of abstract reasoning, but they 
 have excellent memories, lively imaginations, and for close 
 
4 
 
 observation, especially in scrutinizing tbe character and mo¬ 
 tives of men, they are scarcely surpassed by any people in the 
 world. 
 
 The tribes of Senegambia have long since embraced the 
 Mohammedan religion, and are zealous propagators of it, but 
 without having abandoned the use of fetiches, or any of the 
 essential elements of paganism. As a race they are eminently 
 religious, and show a singular capacity for absorbing any num¬ 
 ber of religious systems, without abandoning anything, or 
 being in the slightest degree disturbed by the conflicting spirit 
 and claims of the different schemes that they may have incor¬ 
 porated into the same creed. Hence the religious systems of 
 Senegambia may be regarded as a medley of all the essential 
 elements of Mohammedanism, Judaism, and Paganism. 
 
 The tribes of Northern and Southern Guinea are essentially 
 a pagan people; but in their religious notions and forms of 
 idolatrous worship, they differ very much from each other. 
 These differences will be pointed out when we come to speak 
 more particularly of their ethnographic relationships. In both 
 sections of country there are many decided traces of the Jewish 
 religion. Among these may be specified the rite of circum¬ 
 cision, which, with the exception of the Kru or Manou family, 
 is, we believe, universal; the division of the tribes into families, 
 and in some cases into the number twelve; bloody sacrifices, 
 with the sprinkling of blood upon their altars and door-posts; 
 the observance of new moons; a formal and specified time for 
 mourning for the dead, during which period they shave their 
 heads and wear tattered clothes; demoniacal possessions, puri¬ 
 fications, and various other usages of probable Jewish origin. 
 In this connection it may also be mentioned, that we have 
 recently discovered in Southern Guinea some traces of a cor¬ 
 rupt form of Christianity, something, at least, that looks like 
 infant baptism. 
 
 Some of these forms of Judaism that have just been men¬ 
 tioned, especially that of circumcision, might be supposed to 
 have been borrowed from the Mohammedan nations of Northern 
 or Central Africa, if it were not for the entire absence of every 
 other trace of this faith, and for the jealous care with which 
 the maritime tribes have always guarded against its introduc- 
 
tion among themselves. It might also be surmised that the 
 traces of Christianity that have been recently discovered among 
 the tribes about the Gabun, might have been derived from the 
 Roman Catholic missionaries who laboured in Kongo during 
 the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were it not for the 
 fact that the same things are practised by the Pangwes and 
 others, who have recently descended from the mountainous 
 regions of the interior, and who, therefore, could have scarcely 
 been reached by any of the forms of Romanism. It is much 
 more probable that these traces of Christianity have travelled 
 across the continent from Abyssinia. 
 
 Having made these general statements, we will now give a 
 more particular account of the different families of Western 
 Africa, and will begin with those of Senegambia. The leading 
 tribes here are the Mandingoes, the Fulahs, and the Jalofs. 
 
 The Mandingoes occupy the first place as a commercial 
 people. Their principal settlement is in a country which bears 
 their own name, near the source of the Niger, and about seven 
 hundred miles from the sea-coast. They have extended them¬ 
 selves over the kingdoms of Bambouk, Bambara, and Wuli, to 
 the north and east, and in smaller or larger groups they have 
 covered all the country from Jalakonda to the sea-coast. As 
 trading parties, they have formed small villages around all the 
 European settlements on the Gambia, at Sierra Leone, and 
 sometimes go as far down the coast as Cape Messurado. They 
 are to be met with on the upper waters of the Senegal, and 
 Laing says they sometimes go as far as Tangiers,' but this we 
 think scarcely possible. Taken altogether, they are perhaps 
 the most civilized, influential, and enterprising, of any of the 
 tribes of Western Africa. Generally they are men of tall 
 stature, slender, but well proportioned, black complexion, and 
 woolly hair, but with much more regular features than belong 
 to the true Negro. Their dress consists of a three-cornered 
 cotton cap of their own make, of short trowsers, over which is 
 thrown a sort of blouse or square cloth, also of their own 
 manufacture, and leather sandals. A short sabre in a leather 
 case is suspended from the left shoulder. In front they wear 
 a small leather pouch, in which are sewed up scraps of writing 
 from the Koran, which they regard as charms or amulets. As 
 
6 
 
 a general thing, they are taciturn and thoughtful, hut when 
 accosted in a friendly manner, they can easily be drawn into 
 conversation, and will give more correct information about the 
 interior kingdoms than any other people to be found on the 
 coast. Many of them seem to have a good knowledge of the 
 Arabic, and one of their most lucrative employments is to 
 write scraps of this language, chiefly extracts from the Koran, 
 which they sew up in small leather bags, and sell to the pagan 
 tribes for charms or fetiches. They are zealous promoters of 
 the Mohammedan religion, and wherever they go, establish 
 schools for the purpose of teaching Arabic, and inculcating the 
 principles of their religion. In their schools the children are 
 taught to make Arabic letters in the sand. Laing speaks of 
 them as a shrewd and superior people; Park, as a “very gen¬ 
 tle race, cheerful in their disposition, inquisitive, credulous, 
 and fond of flattery.” He experienced much kindness from 
 them in sickness and distress, and especially from the females. 
 
 The Fulahs are a more numerous people. Their original 
 country is Fuladu, north-west of Manding, and between the 
 sources of the Niger and the Senegal. Besides this, they 
 occupy three considerable provinces in Senegambia, viz., Futa- 
 Torro, near the Senegal, Futa-Bondou, and Futa-Jallon, the 
 capital of which is Timbu, to the north-east of Sierra Leone. 
 They have also extended themselves into the central parts of 
 Sudan, and have conquered several of the negro kingdoms 
 along the banks of the Niger. In the central regions of Africa 
 they are known as the Felatahs, but Adelung and others have 
 satisfactorily shown that they are the same people as the 
 Fulahs of Senegambia. 
 
 They are not regarded as a pure Negro race. Their com¬ 
 plexion has been variously described as a bronze, copper, red¬ 
 dish, and reddish brown colour. Scattered over so immense 
 an extent of country as they are, it is not surprising that there 
 should be some variety of complexion as well as other physical 
 traits, among the different branches of this great family. 
 They do not regard themselves as Negroes, but insist that they 
 are a mixed breed; and this opinion is entertained by the 
 majority of those wdio have given particular attention to their 
 ethnography; but hitherto it has been difficult to ascertain 
 
T 
 
 what the elements of that intermixture are. Their physical 
 type of character is too permanent and of too long standing, to 
 admit of the idea of an intermixture. In all mixed races, there 
 is a strong and constant tendency to one or the other of the 
 parent types, and it is difficult to point out a mixed breed that 
 has held an intermediate character for any considerable time, 
 especially when it has been entirely cut off from the sources 
 whence it derived its being. But the Fulahs are now, in all 
 their physical characteristics, just what they have been for 
 many centuries. And it would seem, therefore, that their 
 complexion and other physical traits, entitle them to as dis¬ 
 tinct and independent a national character, as either the Arab 
 or Negro, from the union of which it is supposed that they have 
 received their origin. 
 
 Gustave D’Eichthal has published a learned article to show 
 that the Fulahs are of Malayan origin, but Mr. William B. 
 Hodgson, of Georgia, who has published one of the best and 
 most learned papers in relation to the Fulah people, shows 
 most satisfactorily that the data upon which that opinion is 
 founded are quite insufficient to support any such conclusion. 
 
 The Fulahs have never been in the habit of selling any of 
 their own people into slavery, except for outrageous crimes, 
 and very few of them, therefore, have ever found their way to 
 the United States. One by the name of Job Ben Solomon, 
 who was kidnapped by the Mandingoes, was brought to Mary¬ 
 land by Captain Pyke, about the year 1730, but was ransomed 
 by Oglethorpe, and sent back to his native country in 1733. 
 Another, Abduhl Rahahman, forty years a slave in the United 
 States, was ransomed in 1838, and sent to Liberia. James 
 Hamilton Couper, Esq., of Darien, Georgia, in a letter to Mr. 
 Hodgson a few years since, mentions one on his own plantation, 
 and another on the plantation of Mr. Spalding, of Sapelo 
 Island. A very remarkable specimen of this family by the 
 name of Moro, still lives in Wilmington, North Carolina. He 
 was formerly a slave of General Owen of that place, but for 
 many years has been free. He is now upwards of eighty years 
 of age, seems to be a most decided Christian, and not only 
 reads his Arabic Bible with ease, but evinces a familiarity with 
 its contents, most extraordinary for any one of his age. 
 
f 
 
 8 
 
 Those seen at Gambia and Sierra Leone are of a dark brown 
 complexion, soft and curly hair, features regular and good, 
 limbs delicate and well formed, and stature about medium size. 
 These traits of physical character however, are not peculiar to 
 the Fulah people. They occur in isolated cases among all the 
 families of Southern Guinea, as we shall have occasion to show 
 more particularly in another place. 
 
 The Jalofs occupy all the maritime districts, and a consider¬ 
 able portion of the interior parts of Senegambia. They are 
 not like the Mandingoes and Fulahs, interspersed among other 
 tribes over a large extent of country, but have a country of 
 well defined limits, and dwell under one compact government. 
 They are divided into four provinces or kingdoms, but acknow¬ 
 ledge one great chief, whom they denominate Barhi Yalof, 
 emperor of the Jalofs, and whose residence is at Hikarkor. 
 The four provinces are, Cayor, which formerly included Cape 
 Verde and the island of Goree (now held by the French); Sin, 
 a small state to the south of Cayor, and embracing about thirty 
 miles of sea-coast; Salem, a province lying along the northern 
 banks of the Gambia, the capital of which is Cayon; and 
 Brenk, which includes the residence and the principal domin¬ 
 ions of the emperor. The entire population of the Jalofs is 
 supposed to be about 1,000,000, which is much less than that 
 of the Mandingoes, and perhaps not one-third of that of the 
 Fulahs. It would seem that the emperor of the Jalofs exer¬ 
 cises decided authority over his subjects, and no one ever ap¬ 
 proaches his presence without making some decided acknow¬ 
 ledgment of his superior rank in the way of bodily prostrations. 
 Goldbery speaks of the Jalofs as having “fine, brilliant, pure 
 black complexions, of a noble and impressive form, a character 
 disposed to benevolence, a degree of self-respect, and national 
 pride. They boast of their antiquity and superiority over 
 other African races, with whom they will not intermingle. 
 Their language is said to be peculiar to themselves, is meager 
 in point of words, but is soft and easy to be acquired.” 
 
 It is said they are almost as much addicted to the observance 
 of caste as the Hindus. Besides the nobles, who are called 
 the “good Jalofs,” there are four distinct ranks or castes; viz., 
 the tug, or smiths, the oudae, who are tanners and sandal- 
 
9 
 
 makers, the mold, or fishermen, and the gaewell, who are 
 musicians and bards. The “good Jalofs” will not intermarry 
 with any of these castes. The gaewell are the lowest order, 
 and are not permitted to live within the enclosure of the town. 
 They are not permitted to own cattle, to drink sweet milk, and 
 are refused interment on the ground that nothing wall grow 
 where they have been buried. Besides the castes which have 
 been enumerated, there is another called the LauMes, who are 
 said to be much like the European gipsies. 
 
 In stature, the Jalofs are very much like the Mandingoes, 
 but have less of the Negro features. Nothing, however, is so 
 striking in their appearance, as their intense black and glossy 
 complexion. In some respects they are like the Tibus of the 
 Great Desert, but too little is known of their languages to say 
 W'hether they are related. 
 
 As to these three leading families of Senegambia, too little 
 is known of their character or languages, to decide how far 
 they are related to each other. In physical character and in 
 language they differ very materially, and it is probable they 
 have been brought together from very remote points of the 
 continent. It is not probable that they are related to the in¬ 
 habitants' of Northern or Southern Guinea. 
 
 The Mandingo dialect, as described by McBrair, shows some 
 slight grammatical affinities for the dialects of Northern Guinea, 
 but none whatever, with the exception perhaps of three or four 
 verbal resemblances, and even these of a doubtful character, to 
 those of Southern Guinea. 
 
 The main points of discussion in this article, will have more 
 particular reference to the inhabitants of Northern and South¬ 
 ern Guinea. The character, habits, and languages of these, 
 will be developed more fully. 
 
 Dr. Prichard, in his work on “ the Physical History of 
 Man,” has made a just and important distinction between what 
 he calls the Ethiopian and Nigritian branches of the black or 
 xifrican race. The ancients included all the inhabitants of 
 Central and Eastern Africa under the name of Ethiopians, and 
 they used this term to distinguish them from the Libyans of 
 Northern Africa. The term Ethiopia, for a time at least, was 
 also applied to a black race in Southern Arabia, the chief dif- 
 2 
 
10 
 
 ference between whom and those of the same name in east 
 Africa, according to Herodotus, was that one had straight, and 
 the other woolly or crisped hair. At a later period, the term 
 Ethiopia was restricted to the more easterly nations of Africa, 
 and Nigritia was given to the more westerly districts; and 
 this distinction was undoubtedly founded upon a palpable 
 physical difference between these two great families. They 
 have never been separated, however, by any very marked geo¬ 
 graphical lines, as communities of the Ethiopian branch have 
 been found interspersed among those of Nigritia; whilst darker 
 families of the Nigritian stock have been found interspersed 
 among those of the Ethiopian family. 
 
 The well-known physical characteristics of the true Negro, 
 consist in a dark, or black complexion, crisped or woolly hair, 
 retreating forehead, flat nose, and thick lips, and very variable 
 stature. The Nigritian and the Ethiopian types of character are 
 are distinguishable by a nearer or more remote approximation to 
 this standard. The Eigritian is the most like it, but seldom 
 conforms in all respects. The Ethiopian on the other hand, to 
 use Dr. Prichard’s distinction, is an approximation to the Negro, 
 but never exhibits any of these distinctive features to the same 
 extent. The complexion of the Ethiopian is sometimes black, 
 but more generally a bronze, olive, dark copper, or red brown. 
 In some cases the hair is black, and is rather curled or frizzled 
 than woolly, their features are more rounded and regular, but 
 not so acute as those of the Arab; their noses are not so flat¬ 
 tened as those of the Negro, but scarcely so prominent as that of 
 the European; their lips are generally thick and full, but sel¬ 
 dom turned out like those of the full Negro; their figure is 
 slender and well-shaped, and often resembles that which is most 
 frequently exemplified by the Egyptian painting and statues. 
 
 The same author has applied this distinction to the families 
 of blacks living in Central Africa and Northern Guinea, and 
 those living south of the Mountains of the Moon, of which 
 Southern Guinea is the western frontier. 
 
 We take Northern and Southern Guinea as the representa¬ 
 tives of these two great branches of the African race, and after 
 giving a brief sketch of the leading tribes or families of the 
 two, -we shall point out a few particulars in which they are 
 
11 
 
 alike, and then show more fully wherein they differ, and upon 
 what grounds they are to he regarded as entirely distinct from 
 each other. 
 
 NORTHERN GUINEA. 
 
 The Vaifamily. 
 
 The first of the six'principal families of Northern Guinea, 
 in geographical order, is that of the Vai, whose chief settle¬ 
 ments are about Cape Mount, half way between Sierra Leone 
 and Monrovia.* This family includes the Timanis and the 
 Bulloms near Sierra Leone, the Deys the former occupants of 
 Cape Messurado, and the Condoes, the Golahs, and the Men- 
 da tribes of the interior. We have placed the Vais at the head 
 of this family, because they have signalized themselves by the 
 invention of an alphabet of their own, that is now growing into 
 general use among themselves. This discovery, or invention, 
 was commenced twenty years ago by two uneducated youths 
 of the tribe, and some account of it was published in the 
 number of the Missionary Herald for June 1833. A fuller 
 account has recently been given of it by Captain Forbes of the 
 British Navy, in his hook on Dahomy. It has been noticed by 
 the missionaries of Sierra Leone, also, and recently several 
 little books have been published by the Church Missionary 
 Society in London, in this newly invented character for the 
 use of the Vai people. 
 
 The Vai people are very black, of slender frames, but with 
 large and well-formed heads, and of a decidedly intellectual 
 cast of countenance. They are mild and gentle in their char¬ 
 acter, are fond of agriculture, but unfortunately, for a long 
 succession of years, deeply implicated in the foreign slave- 
 trade. Of late years some of them have embraced the religion 
 of Mohammed, but the greater part remain pagans. 
 
 The Manou, or Kru family. 
 
 Under this name are included all the smaller tribes between 
 the Basa and St. Andrew rivers, or that portion of the coast 
 which was formerly known as the Grain, but more recently as 
 the Liberian Coast. It includes the Basas, the Fish, the Kru 
 
 They were frequently denominated the QuoJja people by the earlier writers 
 on Africa. 
 
12 
 
 proper, the Sestos, the Greho, Drewin, and St. Andrews 
 people. 
 
 The people of Berehi, Drewin, and St. Andrews, have gene¬ 
 rally been ranked with the Kwakwa family of the Ivory Coast; 
 but the slightest acquaintance with their language, character, 
 and appearance, shows that they belong to the Kru, and not to 
 the Kwakwa family. Malte Brun, upon' the authority of Lopez 
 and some of the earlier writers upon Africa, states that all the 
 families on the Grain Coast were once united under a general 
 government, the chief of whom was known by the name of 
 manou, menou, or mandou; and that this whole family was a 
 branch from the kingdom of Amina, which is laid down on the 
 older maps to the east of Sierra Leone and Monrovia. The 
 present inhabitants of the country, at least those about Cape 
 Palmas, have no recollection of the existence of any such gov¬ 
 ernment, but they acknowledge the term Mena as the generic 
 name of all the dialects on this part of the coast. 
 
 The Kru family have always had a prominent place in the 
 accounts of those who have written about Western Africa. 
 They are not only employed as labourers on board of vessels 
 which go to the coast, but they visit all the American and 
 European settlements in the country, and occasionally go to 
 England and come to this country as sailors. They possess 
 most of the distinctive features of the Negro race, but these 
 are seldom very prominently developed. Their complexion, 
 as a general thing, is very much like that of the present 
 generation of pure blacks in this country. There are among 
 them, however, a less or greater number whose complexion 
 varies from a jet black to that of a true mulatto, but with 
 no essential variation of features. Some prominence should 
 be given to this fact, as this is the only family in North¬ 
 ern Guinea in which there is any variation from a jet black, 
 and this is confined to the tribes between Basa and Cape 
 Palmas. Those between Cape Palmas and St. Andrews, are 
 black without exception. The person of the Kruman is large, 
 square built, and remarkably erect. He has an open and 
 manly countenance, and his gait is impressively dignified and 
 independent. His head, however, is small and peaked, and is 
 not indicative of high intellectual capacity. Their children, 
 
13 
 
 > 
 
 however, show no Inaptitude to be taught, but make as much 
 proficiency as any other in the country. 
 
 The Mena language has as many as seven or eight dialects 
 along the sea-board, and perhaps as many in the interior. The 
 Grebo dialect, that spoken near Cape Palmas, has been more 
 thoroughly studied than any other, but has been found to be 
 very difficult of acquisition. It is decidedly monosyllabic, 
 harsh, abrupt, has but few inflections, and is exceedingly mea¬ 
 ger in point of words. 
 
 The inland tribes are not materially difi'erent from those along 
 the sea-board, either in their physical character, their customs, 
 habits or language. There is a large tribe living along the 
 western slope of the Kong mountains called the PanJi people, 
 whose complexion is decidedly lighter than those nearer the 
 sea; and this is found to be characteristic of all the mountain 
 tribes of Africa. 
 
 The Kwalcwa, or Avekivom family. 
 
 This family extends from Frisco to Cape Appolonia, and 
 takes in the different communities living at Frisco, Cape Lahu, 
 Jack-a-Jacks, Bassam, and Assaini. The most prominent tribe 
 among these are the Avekwom of Cape Lahu. In size they 
 are less than the Krumen, but are remarkably well made. 
 Their complexion is very black, their hair is soft, which may 
 be ascribed to their oiling and braiding it a great deal, and 
 their heads are round and remarkably large. They are very 
 pacific in their disposition, but have a good share of self- 
 respect, and affect great contempt for the surrounding tribes. 
 They act as factors for the interior kingdoms of Gaman and 
 Buntaku. Their trade in former years consisted of ivory and 
 gold dust, but of late years palm oil has become an article of 
 much greater commercial imj^ortance. In physical character 
 they bear a much stronger resemblance to the Fantis than to 
 the Krumen, but their language shows very little affinity for 
 either. 
 
 The Inta, or Amina family. 
 
 Under this name are included the Fanti, Ashantis, and all 
 the smaller tribes on the Gold Coast, with the exception of the 
 
14 
 
 Akra people, who are supposed to be more nearly related to 
 the Dahomy tribes. The Fanti and Ashanti dialects are so 
 much alike that they can scarcely be regarded even as different 
 dialects of the same language. Both Fantis and Ashantis have 
 a jet and somewhat glossy complexion and woolly hair, but 
 their features, and especially those of the Fantis, are better and 
 much more regular than those of the Krumen. The Ashantis 
 have the Negro characteristics more deeply drawn than almost 
 any other people in this whole region of country. 
 
 Daliomy family. 
 
 The Bahomy country extends from the river Volta to Lagos, 
 and extends over an interior region of country of equal extent. 
 In this kingdom are five or six different tribes, all of whom are 
 more or less remotely related to each other, among which may 
 be mentioned those of Akra, (which, however, geographically 
 belongs to the Gold Coast,) Popo, Ardrah, Whidah, and the 
 Foy, or Dahomy proper. Prichard represents them as “tall, 
 well made, straight, and robust.” Their complexion is black, 
 but not jet or glossy as that of the Fantis, and still less so 
 than that of the Negroes on the Senegal and Gambia. 
 
 Benin family. 
 
 We apply this name to all the country between Lagos and 
 the Kamerun mountains. It includes all the principal settle¬ 
 ments on the rivers which form the Delta of the Niger, amongst 
 which may be mentioned those of Benin proper, Bony, Bras, 
 Nun, New and Old Kalabar. All these rivers are the outlets 
 of the Niger, and the tribes residing on their banks are sup¬ 
 posed to be related to the Mokos and Ibos inland. They are 
 all extensively engaged in the manufacture and sale of palm 
 oil, and the number of vessels which go there for the purpose 
 of carrying on this trade, especially from Liverpool, is greater 
 than is to be found upon any other part of the coast. 
 
 The country they inhabit, however, is very uninviting and 
 unhealthy, and the character of the people, with the exception 
 of those of Old Kalabar, is that of a comparatively low order 
 of savages. They are generally very black, and have the 
 Negro features more fully developed than any of the other 
 
15 
 
 communities we have been considering. The natives of Old 
 Kalabar form an exception to these general remarks. They 
 have had, for more than a century past, a greater or less 
 number of persons among them who could read and write, and 
 they have kept a kind of historic record of all the important 
 events that have occurred among them for a long time past. 
 A Scotch mission has recently been established among them, 
 and their language has been reduced to writing, but it discovers 
 very little affinity for the other languages of Northern Guinea, 
 except in some of its grammatical principles. It has no affini¬ 
 ty whatever, either verbal or grammatical, with the Duali on 
 the opposite side of the mountain of Kamerun, so that this 
 may be regarded as the southernmost of all the tribes of North¬ 
 ern Guinea. 
 
 How far are these different families of Northern Gruinea 
 related to each other ? 
 
 We want material to settle this question. It is doubtful 
 whether they all belong to one original stock. Their spoken 
 dialects differ so widely that it is almost impossible to say that 
 they belong to one family; and their agreement, if indeed there 
 is any, must be in some general principles of inflection and not 
 in words. 
 
 Comparative vocabularies of all these languages, with the 
 exception of the Yai and the Dahomy, have been published in 
 the Journal of the Oriental Society, from which it may be seen 
 how far there are verbal resemblances among them. Taking 
 the Grebo as the standard, we find that the Vai and the Man- 
 dingo have each about five or six words of apparently common 
 origin; and they agree further in the fact, that all their nouns, 
 and perhaps their verbs, commence with consonants, and form 
 their inflections almost entirely upon the final syllable. The 
 Vai agrees with the Grebo further in having a large number of 
 monosyllabic nouns. These two families, it will be remem¬ 
 bered,.are to the north of the Grebos, who live in the vicinity 
 of Cape Palmas. Going eastward, there are an equal number 
 of words in the Avekwom, the Inta, and the Dahomy lan¬ 
 guages, that would seem to have a common origin with those 
 of the Grebo, but all these differ from it again in having a large 
 
16 
 
 number of tlieir nouns and verbs commence with the letters e 
 and a, and show no disposition whatever to use monosyllabic 
 nouns. The Fanti differs still further, in deriving the plural 
 forms of its nouns from the singular by changes on the incipi¬ 
 ent instead of the final syllable, a circumstance which almost 
 isolates it from the other families of Northern Guinea. How 
 it is in this respect with the Avekwom and the Dahomy, is not 
 known. The Old Kalabar or Efik forms its plurals by changes 
 on the last syllable, or by suffixes. 
 
 But whatever discrepancies there may be in the languages of 
 the principal families of Northern Guinea, there is a striking 
 similarity in their physical character, their customs and usages, 
 their religious notions and superstitious practices, and in their 
 intellectual character; and especially so when contrasted with 
 the families of Southern Guinea, which we are now about to 
 consider. 
 
 SOUTHERN GUINEA. 
 
 Formerly Cape Lopez, 1° south latitude, was assumed as the 
 northern boundary of Southern Guinea, but the great Ethio¬ 
 pian family evidently begins at the southern base of the Kame- 
 run mountain, and this, therefore, should be regarded as the 
 proper dividing line between Northern and Southern Guinea. 
 The mountain itself is a notable land-mark. It rises up almost 
 from the water’s edge to the height of 14,000 feet, and has the 
 appearance of being covered with perpetual snow. The lan¬ 
 guage of Old Kalabar on the north, and the Duali on the south 
 side of this mountain, are as different from each other, with the 
 exception of a few words that they have borrowed by frequent 
 intercommunication, as any two dialects that might be selected 
 from the remotest parts of the country. 
 
 In geographical area. Northern Guinea is more than a third 
 greater than Southern Guinea; but from its peculiar position on 
 the map of Africa, it does not extend over more than three or 
 four degrees of latitude, whilst Southern Guinea extends over 
 eighteen or twenty. This circumstance would naturally lead 
 to the expectation of a more uniform type of physical charac¬ 
 ter among the inhabitants of the former than the latter. And 
 this is actually the case. The inhabitants of Northern Guinea, 
 
17 
 
 with the exceptions alluded to in the Kru family, are generally 
 very black, whilst among those of Southern Guinea, as we shall 
 show more fully in another place, we find every shade of colour, 
 from a jet black to a light brown. There is great variety of 
 physical type in the same communities, however, which may be 
 accounted for by the intermixture of the maritime and the 
 mountain tribes, a process which the foreign slave trade would 
 naturally promote. Why the same phenomena are not devel¬ 
 oped in Northern as well as in Southern Guinea, we are not 
 prepared to say. 
 
 G-eneral divisions of Southern Cruinea. 
 
 It is well known that the inhabitants of Southern Guinea 
 constitute a part of one great family, which extends over the 
 whole of the southern half of the continent of Africa, and is 
 known as the Ethiopian, in distinction from the Nigritian, 
 which is to be found on the north side of the Mountains of the 
 Moon. We shall not stop to point out the relationships existing 
 between the different and distant members of this great family, 
 as this has already been done by Vater, Prichard, Latham, and 
 others, but will proceed to compare the maritime provinces of 
 the Ethiopian family with the corresponding portions of Ni- 
 gritia. V 
 
 Southern Guinea comprises five families, viz., 1st. The Pongo 
 family, occupying all the seacoast region from the Kamerun 
 mountain, 4° north latitude, to Mayumba, 3° south latitude, 
 and comprehends the Kamerun people, Banakd, Corisco or 
 Benga, Gabun or Mpongwe, Cape Lopez or Orunga, St. Cathe¬ 
 rine, or Kama, and Mayumba. 2d. Loango, extending from 
 Mayumba to the Kongo or Zaire river, and embracing the 
 Loango people, the Kakongoes, and the Angoys. 3d. The 
 Kongo people, occupying all the country between the Kongo 
 and the Ambriz rivers. 4th. The Dongo, embracing all the 
 aboriginal inhabitants of the Portuguese provinces of Angola 
 and Benguela. 5th. The Azinko family, embracing the Jagas, 
 the Azinko proper, and the Pangwe people. Of this last fami¬ 
 ly, the Jagas are scattered along the eastern borders of the old 
 kingdom of Kongo; the Azinkos, to the east of Loango; and 
 the Pangwes along the westerly slopes of the mountains oppo- 
 3 
 
18 
 
 site tlie Pongo country. These may be regarded as the moun¬ 
 tain tribes of Southern Guinea. The Pangwes have recently 
 descended in large numbers from the mountain regions, and 
 have formed in the course of ten years more than twenty large 
 villages on the head waters of the Gabun; and it is probable 
 they will become dominant over this whole region of country 
 before long. Our knowledge of the dialects of these mountain 
 tribes is not sufficient to authorize the grouping of them into 
 one family. But in physical character, in their habits, pursuits, 
 amusements, modes of warfare, and implements of war, they 
 are very much alike, and when their languages are better un¬ 
 derstood, it will probably be seen that they are closely related. 
 
 As to the maritime tribes, it must not be inferred that their 
 family relationships always correspond to their geographical 
 position, but they do sufficiently so for the purposes of general 
 comparison. The Pongo and the Loango families are very 
 nearly related to each other; and it is probable that the Kongo 
 and the Bongo are equally so, but we are not sure that there 
 is as much resemblance between these two families on the op¬ 
 posite sides of the Zaire, as there is between them and some of 
 the families on the east coast—the Pongo and Loango being 
 more like the Swahere and other dialects about Zanzibar, whilst 
 the Kongo and Bongo seem more like those of Mozambique. 
 
 Pongo family. 
 
 On the Pongo coast, as in every other portion of Southern 
 Guinea, we have a good deal of variety of physical type, not 
 only among the different communities as such, but- among indi¬ 
 viduals of the same community. This should be borne in mind 
 as one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Ethiopian 
 family. 
 
 Of the six principal communities of the Pongo coast which 
 have already been mentioned, those of Kamerun and Corisco 
 are the most alike, and have less variety of complexion. They 
 are tall, slender, and not well formed, with black complexion 
 and woolly hair, but with comparatively regular features. 
 They are industrious, energetic, and exceedingly fond of being 
 on the water in their canoes and boats. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Gabun, better known as the Mpongwe 
 
19 
 
 people, and those of Cape Lopez and St. Catherine, are essen¬ 
 tially the same people in every important ethnographic respect. 
 Among each one of these there are at least five or six different 
 types of character. In the Gahun there are at least five very 
 marked types. 1st. There is the Jewish type, where the pro¬ 
 file is strikingly Jewish, the complexion either a pale or reddish 
 brown, the head well formed, figure slender, but well formed, 
 and the hair nearly as woolly as that of the pure Negro. 
 2d. There is another that may be regarded as the Fulah type, 
 where the stature is of middle size, complexion a dark brown, 
 the face oval and features regular, the hair in some cases crisp 
 or woolly, and in others soft and even silky. 3d. The Kafir 
 type, where the frame is large and strong, the complexion a 
 reddish brown, the lips thick, but not turned out, the nose 
 somewhat dilated, but not flat like the Negro, the hands and 
 feet well formed, but the hair is crisp or woolly. 4th. A type 
 corresponding to the description given of the Kamerun and 
 Corisco men, and in some cases showing a decided approxima¬ 
 tion to the features of the Somaulis represented in Prichard’s 
 work on the physical history of man. 5th. What may be 
 regarded as an approximation to the true Negro type, the most 
 striking instance of which we have ever seen, is that of a man 
 by the name of Toko, whose likeness is to be found in the Fay 
 Star for 1847. But even this shows a much better formed 
 head, and a more intelligent countenance than belongs to the 
 pure Negro. The females of this region are the handsomest 
 perhaps to be found on the coast of Africa. They exhibit the 
 same variety of complexion, stature, and features that exist 
 among the men; but their forms are delicate, their limbs are 
 small and tapering, and their countenances are decidedly intel¬ 
 ligent, mild, and pleasing. 
 
 But the Banaka people are the most remarkable family on 
 this part of the coast. They are located, it will be remem¬ 
 bered, intermediate between the Kamerun and Corisco people, 
 and have settled on the sea-coast within the last twenty-five or 
 thirty years. It is not known from what direction they came 
 to this part of the coast, but no one could fail to be struck with 
 the peculiarity of their looks. Their complexion is of a red¬ 
 dish brown, and in many cases very much freckled, the hair, 
 
20 
 
 in some individuals, corresponds with the colour of the skin, 
 and they have a peculiar expression of countenance, which 
 cannot easily be described. If found in South Africa, they 
 would be regarded as Kafirs, though they have not the athletic 
 forms of the Amakosah Kafirs. Their women disfigure them¬ 
 selves by making large holes in their ears, and through the 
 cartilaginous part of the nose, into which they frequently 
 insert pieces of fat meat, a custom which is practised by the 
 Gallas and other tribes along the confines of Abyssinia. But 
 although so peculiar in their appearance, their language is 
 closely allied to that of Corisco and the Bakeli, unless they 
 have borrowed largely from these dialects. 
 
 Loango family. 
 
 The inhabitants of Loango do not differ materially from 
 those of the Gabun and Cape Lopez. It is probable that the 
 Jewish type of character above mentioned forms a larger ele¬ 
 ment of j>opulation here, than it does on the Bongo coast; and 
 this, doubtless, was what led the Roman Catholic missionaries 
 who laboured here during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen¬ 
 turies, to the conclusion that they had found hlach Jews in 
 Loango. This type of character, combined with the practice 
 of circumcision, naturally enough led to this opinion. But this 
 rite is nearly universal throughout the country, whilst this par¬ 
 ticular cast of countenance is only one out of a good many 
 varieties that cannot be accounted for. 
 
 Barbot states that in the reign of Don John II., and about 
 the close of the fifteenth century, large numbers of Jews were 
 expelled from Portugal, and taken to the coast of Southern 
 Guinea; that the island of St. Thomas, which is not more than 
 one hundred and fifty miles from the main land, was populated 
 by mulattoes descended from these Jewish exiles and Angola 
 women. It is possible that the Jewish type of character no¬ 
 ticed at the Gabun and Loango, may have originated from this 
 source; but if so, it is unknown to the present inhabitants' of 
 the country; and it would have been somewhat singular if the 
 Roman Catholic missionaries at Loango had not detected this 
 circumstance, instead of regarding them as a pure African 
 family of Jews. 
 
21 
 
 Kongo and Angola, or Dongo people. 
 
 There have been so many of the Kongos and Angolas 
 brought to this country in former years, while still greater 
 numbers have been imported into Brazil of late, that it scarcely 
 seems necessary to give a very minute account of them in this 
 place. It is important to remark, however, that these families 
 in Africa cannot be fairly estimated by such specimens of the 
 nation as have been brought to America; for the subjects of the 
 slave trade have almost invariably been gathered, either from 
 certain degraded clans that are interspersed among the more 
 powerful tribes, or from the weaker and more debased indi¬ 
 viduals of these more powerful families. But of this we shall 
 speak more fully in another place. 
 
 The Azinho family. 
 
 The Jagas, or Giaghi, as they are sometimes called, are well 
 known as a wild and savage horde, who were at one time as 
 great a scourge to the people of Kongo, as the Gallas in the 
 East have been to the kingdom of Abyssinia. They overran 
 the kingdom of Kongo several times during the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury, and would doubtless have subjugated the whole country 
 had it not been for the interference of the Portuguese. They 
 are represented as man-eaters, and were said to be exceedingly 
 ferocious. The Azinkos proper, or Azinguese, live on the 
 eastern borders of Loango, are much milder in character than 
 the Jagas, and have never invaded or molested the maritime 
 tribes. 
 
 The Pangwes are still further to the north, but never crossed 
 over to the west side of the mountains until within the last 
 fifteen years. They have emerged from the mountain fast¬ 
 nesses in the greatest numbers near the head waters of the 
 Gabun, and have already formed between twenty and thirty 
 large villages along the banks of its tributaries. It is difficult 
 to form a correct idea of the size of the family which these 
 represent. Those on the Gabun speak of themselves as but a 
 handful compared with the immense number they have left be¬ 
 hind. They are more pacific than the Jagas, but have enough 
 of the war element, however, to cause the Bakelis, Shekanis, 
 and other intermediate tribes a good deal of anxiety; these 
 
22 
 
 latter are gradually getting nearer to tlie seaboard, in order to 
 keep out of tlieir reach. 
 
 In many respects the Pangwes are a very remarkable peo¬ 
 ple. Their complexion is at least two shades lighter than the 
 true Negro; their hair is softer, and braided so as to hang 
 quite below iheir shoulders. They are Square built, and in 
 stature quite equal to the Krumen. Their features are inter¬ 
 mediate between that of the Arab and Negro; their heads are 
 round and large, and their gait and general mien is that of per¬ 
 fect independence. They wear no clothing except a narrow 
 strip of bark cloth in front, and besmear their bodies with a 
 kind of red paint. They are always armed with a bundle of 
 long spears, such as are used by the Nubians, carry a singu¬ 
 larly shaped tomahawk suspended from the left shoulder, a 
 long knife or sabre in a case covered with snake or guana skin, 
 and in times of war they carry a broad shield made of elephant 
 hide. They use also crossbows, with which they shoot poisoned 
 arrows with great precision, and to a very great distance. 
 They smelt their own iron, and manufacture all their own im¬ 
 plements of war. They show a good deal of mechanical skill 
 in the manufacture of brass, iron, and ivory ornaments; and 
 the iron which they manufacture is so much superior to that 
 offered for sale along the sea-coast, that they would scarcely 
 receive the latter as a present. They have a circulating iron 
 medium, by which all their commerce is regulated. They cul¬ 
 tivate the soil sufficiently for the means of subsistence, but 
 spend much the greater part of their time in fishing and hunt¬ 
 ing; and especially in hunting the elephant, which is valued 
 both for its fiesh and its tusks. The only articles of foreign 
 manufacture which they have heretofore cared for, are brass 
 pans and white pound-beads; the former they manufacture 
 into ornaments, particularly bracelets and anklets. The beads 
 they work into broad belts to be worn around the arms, or 
 work them into their hair, so as to form a complete bead-wig. 
 They live in small huts, the sides of which are enclosed with 
 bark, and the roofs are covered with leaves. 
 
 The first attempt that was made to acquire a knowledge of 
 the Pangwe language, induced the belief that very nearly all 
 of its words were monosyllabic, and had little or no affinity 
 
23 
 
 "with the surrounding dialects; but a more thorough examina¬ 
 tion has led to the conclusion, that its monosyllabic character 
 arose from the hurried and energetic mode of enunciation, in 
 which they clipped their words, or forced two syllables into 
 one; and when expressed more slowly and fully, it showed a 
 decided affinity to the other dialects of the country. It is 
 probable that the Pangwes are more nearly related to the 
 tribes south-west of Abyssinia, than to those along the western 
 shores. 
 
 G-eneral remarhs on the families of Southern Guinea. 
 
 If the families of Northern Guinea can be characterized by 
 homogeneity of complexion, with very limited traces of linguistic 
 affinity, those of Southern Guinea may be represented by just 
 the reverse. Here we have homogeneity of language, with 
 almost every variety of complexion and feature. The sameness 
 of complexion in the former case, may be ascribed in part to a 
 sameness of climate, but the variety in the latter case must be 
 ascribed to a different cause; but what that cause is, we shall 
 not undertake to decide. We would merely suggest, how¬ 
 ever, whether it may not be an intermixture of races, which, 
 instead of manifesting itself by an intermediate type of charac¬ 
 ter, has assumed that of a capricious variety. The cause may 
 be the difference of altitude at which different communities 
 have long lived. 
 
 Inferior tribes scattered among the more important families 
 
 that have been described. 
 
 In the preceding sketches, we have seized upon only the 
 more prominent tribes along the western shores of Africa. 
 Interspersed among and around these dominant families, there 
 are a large number of smaller and inferior clans, who, if it 
 were not for the close relationship existing between their dia¬ 
 lects and those of the more powerful communities by which 
 they are overshadowed, might be regarded as the Gypsies of 
 Western Africa. Among these may be mentioned the Felupes 
 and Papels in* Senegambia; the Bulloms, Pisagos, Deys, and 
 others in Upper Guinea; and the Malimbas, Bakelis, Shebas, 
 and various small tribes about the Kongo, in Southern Guinea. 
 
24 
 
 These inferior tribes, wherever found, differ very materially 
 from the more powerful families in physical character, in their 
 social condition, in their intellectual habits, and are really 
 the only inhabitants of the country who combine all the charac¬ 
 teristics of the true Negro. At the same time they resemble 
 each other, no matter in what division of the country found, 
 not only in physical appearance, but equally in their moral, 
 intellectual, and social condition. We do not look upon these 
 clans as distinct, separate families, much less as being related 
 to each other like the wide spread families of the Gypsies scat¬ 
 tered over Europe, but as degenerate branches of the better 
 and more powerful stocks in the immediate vicinity of which 
 they exist. They are generally to be found in the alluvial 
 districts and along the marshy banks of creeks and rivers, but 
 to what cause their marked degeneracy is to be ascribed, Ave 
 are not prepared to say. The fact itself has been noticed by 
 Prichard and Latham. Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft, of AYash- 
 ington, who, it is well known, has for a long time been a close 
 observer of Indian character, states that the same thing exists 
 in connection with Indian tribes, both of North and South 
 America. 
 
 This circumstance throws some light upon the African popu¬ 
 lation of the United States. The blacks which have been 
 brought to this country have been derived from four sources. 
 
 1st. Prisoners that have been taken in war, especially in 
 Ashanti, Dahomy, and the more powerful kingdoms of Sudan. 
 As these however have always passed through the hands of the 
 maritime tribes, the factors in this traffic, the handsomer wo¬ 
 men have generally been culled out and kept as their own 
 wives. 
 
 2d. Such individuals in the more powerful communities as 
 have committed great crimes, or -were too turbulent to be gov¬ 
 erned by themselves. The Fulah at AYilmington, North Caro¬ 
 lina, was one of this class. 
 
 3d. Such individuals in the larger communities as are feeble 
 or idiotic, of whom their families are willing to be rid. Against 
 such the charge of witchcraft is generally preferred, and in 
 this way, they become the victims of the trade. 
 
 4th. These inferior clans which have just been described. 
 
25 
 
 They are either kidnapped by the more powerful tribes near 
 them, or they are so debased as to sell themselves, and this has 
 been particularly the case with the slaves exported from the 
 Kongo. This last is the most fruitful source of all. We appre¬ 
 hend that three-fifths of the whole, if not more, have been 
 drawn from these inferior clans, who are indeed the only true 
 and fully developed Negroes to be found in the country. These 
 facts account for the great variety of character that was noticed, 
 especially in former years, among the native Africans who were 
 brought to this country; and it accounts in part for the great 
 diversity which is still noticeable in their descendants. 
 
 Comparison between the inhabitants of Northern and Southern 
 
 Cruinea. 
 
 In the preceding sketches we have pointed out all the impor¬ 
 tant physical characteristics of the principal families of both 
 North and South Guinea, and have no occasion to revert to the 
 subject again, except for the purpose of a very few general 
 remarks. 
 
 In Northern Guinea there is a nearer approximation to the 
 Negro type; the complexion is blacker and more uniform; the 
 people are more robust and have larger frames, and are a hardi¬ 
 er and more laborious race than those of Southern Guinea. On 
 the other hand, the Ethiopian family have smaller frames, are, 
 as a general thing, of lighter complexion, and have much better 
 and more regular features. They have much more pliancy of 
 character, and in the management of trade they display an 
 amount of adroitness and cunning that the other race could 
 never rival. 
 
 The dialects of Southern Guinea differ from those of Upper 
 Guinea; 1st. In deriving the plural of nouns from the singular, 
 by changes in the initial syllable, or by prefixes, whereas those 
 of the other stock, with the exception of the Fanti, make theirs 
 by changes in the final syllable. 2d. By having a complete 
 classification of their nouns, founded upon the manner in which 
 the plural is derived from the singular, and upon the changes 
 which the adjectives and pronouns undergo in order to accom¬ 
 modate themselves to these classes. The different dialects vary 
 as to the number of the classes of nouns from four to twelve, 
 4 
 
26 
 
 all of wliicli is entirely unknown to tlie other family. 3d. In 
 reversing the order in which two nouns stand when one of them 
 is the genitive case. A Greho, for example, would say, Bwe-a- 
 yii, Dwe, his son, or Dwe’s son; whilst an Mpongwe would say, 
 Onwana-wi-Dwe, the son of Dwe: and also when they use com¬ 
 pound words; thus a Grebo would say, Koho-tonli, literally, white 
 man’s canoe, for a ship; a Mpongwe on the other hand would 
 say, Onwatanga, the canoe of a white man. 4th. In com¬ 
 paring, declining and inflecting their adjectives, i. e., they 
 are compared, inasmuch as they have all three degrees of 
 comparison ;* they are declined, inasmuch as they have a 
 regular rule by which the plural is derived from the sin¬ 
 gular ; and they are inflected, inasmuch as they undergo a 
 change in their radical forms to accommodate themselves to the 
 different classes of the nouns, whatever the number maybe; all 
 of which is entirely unknown to the Nigritian stock. 5th. In 
 possessing what is called an indefinite pronoun; a particle 
 which performs a variety of offices and constitutes a prominent 
 feature in the entire structure of the language, but is entirely 
 unknown to the other great family. 6th. In possessing not 
 only a large number of abstract nouns in common use, but a 
 singular capacity for developing almost any number of new 
 ones, especially verbal nouns. 7th. In the almost interminable 
 inflections of the verb, whilst the very opposite is characteristic 
 of Nigritian. It would be almost impossible to develope more 
 than ten or twelve forms from a single root in Grebo and 
 Mandingo, but as many as three hundred may be deduced 
 from a single Mpongwe root; and yet so systematic withal as 
 to avoid all confusion in the arrangement of its parts. 8th. In 
 the decided preference it gives to the use of passive verbs, 
 whilst the other stock scarcely has a passive at all. A Mpon¬ 
 gwe would invariably say of a murdered man, ajono 'nloma^ 
 “ he was killed by some one;” whilst a Grebo would as invaria¬ 
 bly say that nyd la na, “some one has killed him.” For “he 
 is drunk,” the Mpongwe says, ahongo ’nlalugu, “he is taken by 
 
 * When the Mpongwe Grammar w'as published in New York, in 1847, it was 
 supposed that the adjectives had no degrees of comparison, subsequently it was 
 found that kwe suffixed to the adjective gave it the force of the comparative degree, 
 and me that of the superlative. This is probably the case with most of the dialects 
 of the great Southern family of languages. 
 
27 
 
 rum;” tlie Grebo, nd ni na, “rum works him.” The Mpon- 
 gAve says, mi jdgd nli njana, “I am sick with hunger;” the 
 Grebo says, hanu ni mli^ “hunger works me.” This free use 
 of the passive verb how'ever, is more prominent in the Mpongwe 
 than in some other dialects of the same family. The Bakeli, 
 for example, is more like the Grebo than the Mpongwe in this 
 single particular. 
 
 Judaism in Northern and Southern G-uinea. 
 
 We have already mentioned the existence of Jewish practices 
 in Western Africa. Circumcision prevails in both North and 
 South Guinea, but whether it is of Egyptian or Jewish origin, 
 it is impossible to say. Some traces of the Jewish religion are 
 more fully developed in the northern, and others in the south¬ 
 ern region. The division of tribes into twelve families, as 
 among the Grebos; the division of time into seven days, and 
 the observance of lucky and unlucky days, as among the Fantis 
 and Ashantis; the observance of new moons; the offering of 
 bloody sacrifices, and the sprinkling of blood upon their door¬ 
 posts and altars; in having a house of refuge to which an 
 offender may fly, and the security of falling upon the altar, 
 and in having a distinct priesthood, are practices that are more 
 fully developed in Northern than in Southern Guinea. On the 
 other hand, we have in Southern Guinea demoniacal possess¬ 
 ions, prescribed forms and times for mourning for the dead, 
 rules pertaining to cleanliness, purifications, and various other 
 things of a similar character, more or less clearly developed. 
 In both cases, these things are attended to without any clear 
 idea of their import. If asked what they mean, or why they 
 are observed, the answer generally is that “our fathers did it.” 
 
 Religious notions. 
 
 The inhabitants of Western Africa, Avithout exception, so far 
 as is known, have a clear and decided conviction of the exist¬ 
 ence of one great Supreme Being, the Maker and Governor of 
 all things. They have an equally distinct idea of their oAvn 
 future existence. They have not however, any suitable con¬ 
 ceptions either of the majesty of the one, or the nature or con¬ 
 dition of the other. A native African would as soon question 
 
28 
 
 his own being as that of his Maker, or his present as his future 
 existence. 
 
 Most of the tribes have two or more names for the Deity, 
 indicative of his attributes or the offices he performs as Gover¬ 
 nor or Creator. Among the aborigines of Cape Palmas, there 
 are indistinct traces of the Scripture account of the creation and 
 the origin of the human race, the deluge, Noah’s family, the 
 wonderful feats of Sampson, and of the advent of the Son of 
 God, for whom they have a name. It is very possible, how¬ 
 ever, that they received these things from the Roman Catholic 
 missionaries who frequented the coast during the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries; and this is rendered more probable, as 
 they couple with the above traditions some idea of an interme¬ 
 diate or purgatorial state. 
 
 The natives of Upper Guinea practise Devil worship, but 
 whether it is the diaholos or demonia of the Jews it is almost 
 im.possible to decide—probably both, though the diaholos is the 
 more prominent object of worship here, whilst demonolatry is 
 the more marked form of worship in Southern Guinea. Their 
 sacred rocks, trees, caverns, mountains, and groves, which are 
 much more common in the Northern than the Southern section, 
 are the abodes of these spirits. Fetiches or charms are equal¬ 
 ly common to both. They are perhaps more distinctly the 
 objects of worship with the Nigritian family; but are more 
 used and more relied upon by the Ethiopian, to secure bless¬ 
 ings and avert evils. Over the minds of both, however, they 
 hold a powerful and dominant influence. 
 
 In Southern Guinea the people have clearer and more varied 
 religious ideas than are to be found higher up the coast. 
 
 In the first place, there is Anyamhia, the Supreme Being, 
 which literally means “good spirits,” who is regarded as the 
 creator and the upholder of the universe. To him they ascribe 
 all the works of creation, and whatever else they suppose 
 to be beyond the power of any created agency. They recog¬ 
 nize the hand of God in many things which affect their happi¬ 
 ness and well-being, but never offer him any kind of formal or 
 heartfelt worship. 
 
 Next to Amjamhia in the government of the world, are two 
 spirits, Onyamhe and Omhwiri, the first of which, as the term 
 
29 
 
 implies, is the author of all evil, and the other is the author of 
 good. With the character of Onyamhe they seem to have but 
 little acquaintance, but seldom fail to manifest symptoms of 
 uneasiness when the name is called in their presence. Ombwiri 
 would seem to be a family of spirits, as the term is used in the 
 plural as well as in the singular number. He seems to exer¬ 
 cise a guardian care over the lives and the happiness of men, 
 and he is also regarded as the author of everything that is 
 mysterious and inexplicable. 
 
 Next to these are two other classes or families of spirits, 
 called Ahamho and Inldgd, the derivation of which is not 
 known. These are supposed to be partly good and partly bad, 
 and it is with one or the other of these the people are said to 
 be possessed when they submit to the ordinary process of exor¬ 
 cism. The Abambo are the spirits of those who have died in 
 the immediate vicinity of any particular place; and Inlaga are 
 also the spirits of human beings, but they have come from 
 some other region, and are therefore strangers. The worship 
 and the exorcisms connected with these two classes of spirits, 
 form a conspicuous element in the religious worship of all the 
 families of Southern Guinea. 
 
 The worship of ancestors, and the preservation of their 
 bones, which they suppose to possess extraordinary virtues, 
 forms another prominent feature in their religious character, 
 and belongs almost entirely to the southern branch of the Afri¬ 
 can family. They use carved images in connection with this 
 worship, and this is almost the only thing in Western Africa 
 which may be strictly regarded as idol worship. 
 
 The inhabitants of this part of Africa have also a great deal 
 to do with the inhabitants of the spirit-world. On this subject 
 their imaginations know no bounds. Without logical training, 
 and without any revealed word to mark the bounds of human 
 knowledge, the fancy is allowed to form almost any possible 
 conception, and every conception becomes a reality in their 
 minds. Every dream is construed into a visit from the dead, 
 and the hints and suggestions which come to them through 
 this medium, are more implicitly followed than any deductions 
 of reason or duty that could be presented. If a man wakes up 
 in the morning with pains in his limbs or muscles, he immedi- 
 
30 
 
 ately infers that his spirit has been wandering about in the 
 night, and has received a castigation at the hands of some 
 
 O 7 O 
 
 other spirit. 
 
 ✓ 
 
 Intellectual characteristics of these two branches of the African 
 
 race. 
 
 It might naturally be expected that there would be as much 
 diversity in the intellectual as in the physical character of 
 these branches of the African race, and this is undoubtedly 
 the case. We can offer, however, only a few general remarks 
 in elucidation of this subject. The glance we have already 
 taken at their respective languages, indicates the general out¬ 
 line of their intellectual character. There can be no better 
 exponent of the mind of any people than the language they 
 speak; and without this it would have been almost impossible 
 to find out anything satisfactory about the character of* the 
 African mind. 
 
 The natives of Northern Guinea are comparatively bold, 
 energetic, abrupt, unceremonious, and are very effective where 
 nothing more than a mere outlay of muscular power is required. 
 They are kind and tractable when treated with kindness, but 
 obstinate and almost immovably sullen when wronged or in¬ 
 jured. They are sociable and somewhat inquisitive, and when 
 vigorously assailed, are prompt and sharp at repartee. They 
 are not very remarkable, however, either for a good memory 
 or a very lively or fanciful imagination. Their stores of un¬ 
 written lore are summed up in a few pointed proverbial sayings, 
 a few general maxims in relation to the duties of life, and a 
 few simple fables and traditionary stories, not embellished, 
 however, by any very remarkable touches of the fancy. 
 
 The inhabitants of Southern Guinea, on the other hand, are 
 characterized by traits the very opposite of these. Softness, 
 pliancy, and flexibility are not more distinctive features of their 
 language than it is of their moral and mental character. 
 While a Grebo is rough, abrupt, and unceremonious in his 
 bearing, the Pongo is all smoothness and civility. What one 
 aims to effect by dint of energy and physical force, the other 
 means to achieve by cunning and management. In opposing 
 
31 
 
 or injuring the one, you awaken his open and avowed resent¬ 
 ment; the other, though he feels quite as keenly, either stifles 
 his anger or determines upon secret revenge. 
 
 But the predominance of the imagination is one of the most 
 striking characteristics of the Ethiopian mind. It exercises so 
 much control over the judgment and the understanding, that it 
 unsettles the moral balance of the man. He almost loses the 
 power of discriminating between the actual occurrences of life 
 and the conceptions of his own fancy, and becomes grossly 
 addicted to falsehood, without intending it. The only "way by 
 wdiich a stranger can get a correct insight into the true charac¬ 
 ter of this people, is to become acquainted with their language 
 and their fables. They are exceedingly close and reserved in 
 relation to anything that would throw light upon their inner 
 nature. But in their fables, wild animals are invested with all 
 their secret feelings and propensities, and are permitted to act 
 them out, without awakening the apprehension in their own 
 minds that they are only personating themselves. 
 
 Relation of the modern Ethiopian and Nigritian families to 
 the ancient Aboriginal races of Africa. 
 
 On this subject it is well known that we have as yet but the 
 most scanty materials with which to work. We propose there¬ 
 fore only to throw out a few general hints and leave it for 
 others to test their value. 
 
 Herodotus includes all the inhabitants of Africa beyond 
 Egypt, in two families, the Libyans and Ethiopians, and this 
 distinction has been adopted by the ancients generally. Both 
 of these terms however are used with considerable latitude. 
 Libya was generally applied to the aboriginal races living to 
 the west of Egypt, between the Mediterranean and the Great 
 Desert, among whom were the ancient Numidians, Mauritanians 
 and other families, the only descendants of whom, it is believed, 
 are the modern Berbers. 
 
 Mr. Hodgson thinks he finds mention of several of these 
 Northern families in the book of Genesis. The Libyans he 
 takes to be the Lehahim of Genesis, and the modern Sheluks 
 of Western Barbary, he takes to be the Oasluhim of Genesis 
 
 
 X 
 
32 
 
 also.* But both Lehabim and Caslubim are the descendants 
 of Mizraim, and this, if correct, would establish a relationship 
 between the Libyans and the Egyptians, which is probably the 
 case. There were two branches of the Libyan family, however, 
 one of whom was known as Phutsei, and the other as Lehabim 
 or Lubim. Gesenius defines Phut to mean the Libyans next to 
 Egypt, and Lehabim or Lubim denoted Libya, in a wider sense. 
 
 Knobel, on the contrary, defines Phut to be Libya generally, 
 and Lehabim or Lubim as the Libya next to Egypt, and in 
 support of this opinion he calls to mind the fact that the 
 ancient versions, Vulgate and Septuagint, translate Phut by 
 Libyans, and that Josephus renders it Mauritania; and that 
 there was a river Phut in western Mauritania. The Fulah 
 tribe, which was mentioned in the foregoing part of this paper, 
 have a tradition that they are the descendants of Phut, the 
 third son of Ham; and it is a remarkable fact that they have 
 retained this word in connection with at least three of their 
 principal settlements in Senegambia, viz: Futa-Torro, Futa-Jal- 
 lon and F.uta-Bondou. This fact possesses some importance. 
 
 It shows either that the Fulahs are descended from the ancient 
 Mauritanians, or that they belong to another stock, (the Nigri- 
 tian family perhaps,) that may have descended as directly from 
 Phut as the Mauritanians. 
 
 Ancient writers use the term Ethiopia in at least four differ- * 
 ent ways. In its most comprehensive use it was applied to all 
 the dark races of men, irrespective of their places of residence. 
 
 It was used again by Herodotus and others, with reference to 
 two countries, one of which was in Arabia Felix and the other 
 in Eastern Africa, the only difference in the inhabitants of 
 which was that one had woolly, and the other straight hair. By 
 others, and at later date, it was applied to ancient Ethiopia, of 
 which Meroe was the capital, which was the rival of Egypt in 
 the arts, sciences, &c. It was applied again to all the inhab¬ 
 itants of Eastern Africa, the various tribes or families of 
 which were mentioned by Agatharchidas under the appellation 
 of Ichthyophagi, (fish-eaters,) Hylophagi, (fruit-eaters,) Ele- 
 
 * Lehabim is considered by the best authorities to denote the Libyans, and Caslu- 
 him the Colchians, who are stated by Herodotus (2,104) to have been a colony of 
 the Egyptians. 
 
33 
 
 phantophagi, (elephant-eaters,) Struthophagi, (ostrich-eaters,) 
 and other tribes who feed on locusts, most of whom are 
 supposed to have occupied the country of the modern Shan- 
 galla. There were also Trogloditae, (cave-dwellers,) and a 
 still more remarkable people mentioned by Herodotus, by the 
 name of Macrohii^ all of whom were included among the Ethi¬ 
 opians. At a still later period Ethiopia was used to desig¬ 
 nate all the districts or countries in East Africa, in dis¬ 
 tinction from those of Nigritia. 
 
 The term Oush in the Hebrew Scriptures, Dr. Robinson 
 thinks, applies only to the Ethiopia of Arabia Felix and Ethi¬ 
 opia on the Nile. In the Septuagint it is interchangeably 
 used with Ethiopia, which shows that the ancient Ethiopians 
 were undoubtedly descendants of Ham. It is from this ancient 
 stock that we suppose the modern Ethiopic family of Southern 
 Africa are descended. The parent stock underwent so many 
 intermixtures with Asiatic races, however, especially from 
 Arabia, that it is difficult to say whether their descendants 
 have more of the Shemitic or Hamitic element in their compo¬ 
 sition. 
 
 Dr. Prichard points out a relationship between the great 
 Kafir family of languages and the Coptic, on the ground that 
 they make their inflections on the initial instead of the final 
 syllable. This is true of all the dialects of this family so far 
 as we know, but to a certain extent only. The conjugations of 
 the verb, the degrees of comparison, and certain forms of the 
 indefinite pronoun are made on the final and not on the initial 
 syllable. So that if any dependence is to be placed upon this 
 single circumstance, it would seem to indicate that it was a 
 Hamitic language with Shemitic inflections, or vice versa. 
 
 In relation to the origin of the Nigritian family, we are not 
 aware that there are any historical data upon which to build 
 an opinion. It is possible that they may have descended from 
 Phut, according to the tradition of the Fulahs to this effect, and 
 the fact that they have retained this word in connection with at 
 least three of their principal settlements in Senegambia, viz: 
 Futa-Torro, Futa-Jallon, and Futa-Bondou. If it were possible 
 to trace any affinity between their dialects and the Ethiopic 
 family of Southern Africa, it might be supposed that they were a 
 5 
 
84 
 
 branch of the genuine Ethiopian family without any admixture 
 with Asiatic races, but there is not, so far as we have been able 
 to see, any affinity whatever. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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