potatoes. The sugar cane is also cultivated, with cotton, indigo, varieties of the palm, and fine fruits of various kinds. Mines of lead and copper are worked in the upper country. The climate is excessively hot, and in many parts extremely unhealthy to foreigners, particularly in Benguela, where even the provisions are thought unwholesome to Europeans.

Of these countries, Congo is the principal for extent and population, and has at times exercised a kind of dominion over the rest, but at the expense of frequent and bloody wars. The people are reputed as having little of the negro feature, though perfectly black with woolly hair. The Portuguese have a settlement at St. Salvador, the capital city, not far from the great river Zaire. The king whom they have converted to their religion, appears to be entirely under their influence, and the whole country virtually under their dominion.

Loango is inhabited by a people, who are industrious, and possess several of the useful arts. Loango, the capital, contains about 15,000 inhabitants. The Portuguese are said to have been entirely expelled from this country.

GUINEA.

A few degrees to the north of the equator, the African coast makes a great turn to, the west, forming an extensive region, well known by the name of Guinea. This tract has by European traders been divided into several distinct coasts, each named after its principal commercial product.

That which first occurs on turning westward, is denominated the Slave Coast, being resorted to for little other merchandise than that of human beings; although this iniquitous traffic is by no means peculiar to this part of Guinea, but has been carried on along the whole coast from Cape Negro to the river Senegal. It is, however, pleasant to remark, that the SLAVE TRADE having been lately abolished in the dominions of England, France, Denmark, and the United States, is now nearly restricted to the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch colonies—if not wholly extirpated, it is exceedingly curtailed; and no doubt can be entertained that its final extinction among all the nations of Europe, is no distant event.

Benin and Dahomey are two powerful kingdoms on this coast. The face of the country is level, the soil fertile,

and entirely free from stones. The climate is hot, and extremely unhealthy. Maize, millet, yams, potatoes, oranges, melons, pine-apples, plantains, bananas, the sugar-cane, indigo, cotton, and tobacco, are all successfully cultivated.

Benin has been one of the principal marts for slaves. They are called in the West Indies, EBOES. The people of this country are gentle in their dispositions, good tempered, and considerably civilized in their manners. The capital city, called also Benin, is spacious and well-peopled, and contains thirty streets; but the houses are only low hovels built of clay.

Dahomey is an inland kingdom. Its capital town is Abomey, containing 24,000 inhabitants. The government is one of the most despotic on the face of the globe. The Dahomians have several useful arts and manufactures, and appear to be in a higher state of civilization than any of the other Negro nations with which the Europeans are acquainted.

The Gold Coast succeeds, so named from the quantity of that metal brought down from the interior country, and employed as a medium of commerce. The English have a number of forts and factories here.

The Ivory Coast is less known than the former. It derives its name from the great quantity of elephants' teeth brought down as an article of traffic. The slaves from this, and the Gold Coast, are, in the West Indies, called KOROMANTYNS. They are distinguished from all the other negroes by firmness, both of body and mind; by activity, courage, and an elevation of soul which prompts them to enterprises of difficulty and danger, and enables them to meet tortures and death with fortitude and indifference.

The Grain, or Pepper Coast, is so called from a species of pepper, named Malaguetta, which used to be its principal commercial product. The importation of the East Indian spices has, however, diminished the consumption of this aromatic, so that the coast is now chiefly frequented for its trade in ivory and slaves.

The coast which next succeeds has been called the country of Sierra Leone, a name given by the Portuguese to a chain of mountains much infested, it is said, with lions. This is an extensive tract comprehending several nations little explored. The most powerful of these is the Foulahs, a Mahometan tribe, generally at war with their neighbours for the purpose of making slaves, whom

INTERIOR OF AFRICA..AFRICAN ISLANDS. 319

they sell to the European traders. An English settlement has been formed in the bay of Sierra Leone, with the benevolent intention of civilizing the natives, and for the purpose of cultivating West India and other tropical productions on the banks of the river Sierra Leone.

Northward stretches the populous tract washed by the rivers Gambia and Senegal. As far as these have been navigated by Europeans, their banks have generally been found well cultivated and thickly inhabited. The Mahometan religion, mixed with some native superstitions, is general in these parts. The French have a settlement on the river Senegal.

Northward of the mouth of the Senegal the coast becomes barren, and is inhabited only by wandering tribes of Arabs, as far as the frontiers of the kingdom or empire of Morocco, which completes the circuit of Africa.

INTERIOR OF AFRICA.

The interior of Africa is very little known. Its two grand divisions are Soudan or Nigritia, on the south, and Sahara, or Great Desert, on the north.

Soudan contains both Moorish and Negro kingdoms, with many populous towns, one of the most celebrated of which is Tombuctoo, never yet visited by any European trav eller. It is known, however, by report, as the capital of this part of Africa, and the medium of commercial intercourse with the northern and eastern countries. The great river of Central Africa is the Viger. Its course is towards the east; but its mouth has never yet been explored, as it empties itself into the lakes in the interior.

AFRICAN ISLANDS.

Madagascar. This noble island, the largest in the world except New Holland and Borneo, is 900 miles in length, with a mean breadth of about 250 miles. It is watered by a great number of rivers, and contains a great proportion of fertile land. The climate is healthy, and the heat not excessive. There are scarcely any of the tropical vegetables which either do not grow here spontaneously, or may not be successfully cultivated. Of domes tic animals, horned cattle and sheep are abundant, and there are none of the formidable beasts of prey to limit

their increase. Rich mines are met with in the hilly parts, among which are differents kinds of gold ore, pure rock crystal, and various precious stones. The inhabitants are a friendly, intelligent, and excellent people. Some are of a deep black, and have woolly hair, others are tawny, and others copper-coloured; but most are of an olive complexion. They are all portly in their persons, and rise above the middle stature. The French have repeatedly made settlements on this island; but in 1811 it was surrendered to the British, in whose possession it still remains.

To the east of Madagascar are the well known isles of Bourbon, and Mauritius, or Isle of France, lately belonging to the French, and the centre of their Oriental commerce and power. They are now in possession of the British, by whom they were conquered in 1810. These islands, particularly the former, are subject to tremendous hurricanes. They are not very fertile. The Isle of Bourbon is the best cultivated, and produces sugar-cane, cotton, and coffee. An attempt has been made to introduce into it the clove and nutmeg trees; but though they have thriven in some measure, their product is inferior in quality to that of the Dutch Spice Islands. Both of these islands shew marks of a volcanic origin; and that of Bourbon has an existing volcano of which the eruptions are almost continual.

The Comoro islands are four in number. They are extremely fertile in rice, sugar, cocoa, oranges. lemons, &c. The inhabitants are Arabians, tributary to the Portuguese.

St. Helena lies between the continents of Africa and South America, 1200 miles west of the former, and 1800 east of the latter, and is 20 miles in circumference. It is a delightful and salubrious island, and tolerably fertile when not visited by long droughts which sometimes occur. There is only one harbour, which is of difficult access and easy defence. The English, who have occupied this island nearly two centuries, have here about 300 families, and keep upon it a small garrison. It is found useful as a place of call and rendezvous of the East India ships, particularly in time of war, when advices and orders are sent hither for the direction of homeward bound vessels. This was the residence of the late Bonaparte, a prisoner to the allied sovereigns of Europe.

The uninhabited isle of Ascension, situated some degrees to the northward of St. Helena, is occasionally visited by shipping for the refreshments of turtle and sea-fowl,

The Cape de Verd islands belonging to the Portuguese are ten in number, of which the principal is St. Jago. These islands are reckoned unhealthy; and the soil is for the most part stony and barren. The product, for which they are chiefly frequented by foreign ships, is salt, formed naturally by evaporation from the sea-water, and requiring no other trouble than that of raking it from the ponds in which it granulates.

The Canary, or Fortunate Islands, belonging to Spain, form an interesting group. Seven of these are inhabited, and afford wheat and barley, sugar, wine, fruits and silk. The soil is excellent, and the climate pleasant and salubrions. The most remarkable of them is Teneriffe, famous for its lofty mountain or peak, which ranks among the highest measured summits, and is visible to a vast distance at sea. It is covered with snow during a great part of the year, and its top is always extremely cold. This island and that of Palma produce the celebrated Canary wine. The capital of the Canaries is the town of Palma, in the island properly called Canary. The whole number of inhabitants is estimated at 140,000, of whom nearly half reside in Teneriffe.

Maderia, belonging to Portugal, is a fine island, about 50 miles in length, and 20 in breadth. Funchal is the principal town. This island is remarkable for its excellent wine, called Maderia, of which it is computed 18,000 pipes are exported annually. The population is estimated at 100,000.

The Azores, or Western Islands, may be mentioned here in connexion with the foregoing, although far remote from either Europe or Africa. They are six in number, subject to the Portuguese. One of them named Pico, has a peak scarcely inferior in height to that of Teneriffe. The Azores in general are mountainous, and subject to earthquakes and tempestuous winds; but the climate is fine, and the land in many parts fertile, yielding the products of the southern parts of the temperate zone, such as grain, wine, and fruits. One of them, named St. Michael, is noted for small oranges, of remarkable sweetness and flavour.