Observations Upon The Windward Coast Of Africa

ns thereon.-Further Observations on the Inhabitants, obtained from Natives of

ungra, Charleston, Constintia, &c. empty themselves; higher up the river are the Sanga and Bashia branches, occupied by a chain of factories, and inhabited by various nations and tribes. The principal factories for trade are on the Constintia, about 40 miles up the river, Mr. Cummings's factory, at Vent

natives from the interior countries, who are drawn hither by the extensive commerce of the Rio Pongo. In my excursions on this river, I was generally accompanied by Captain William Browne, of Liverpool, who was part owner of the Minerva, and had the sole

l-limbed, robust and courageous, grave in their deportment, are well acquainted with commerce, and travel over an astonishing space of the country. Their religion is a mixture of Mahomedanism, idolatry, and fetishism. One of their tenets, which inculcates the destruction of those they term infidels, is peculiarly friendly to slavery, and as the greater part of their neighbouring tribes are of that description, they are continually practising every violence, and, are frequently engaged in wars. When I suggested to a chief of very considerable intelligence, and one of the Foolah king's head men, whom I met in the Rio Pongo, the enormity of t

urn, a delegated superintendance; but, strange to tell, this disposition was not cultivated nor improved; nor was the further offer of the king of Laby, and his high priest, to place their sons under the pr

both men and women is much longer, and not so woolly, but they have a most disgusting custom of forming it into ringlets, bedaubed with oil and grease

xcept the Mandingos, who, like the Foolahs, associate in their religion a mixture of fetishism and Mahomedanism. The Timminees are a more harmle

olahs of the first consequence, from their power and influence over the other n

ict now under consideration. Besides the tribes of this people who inhabit the countries between the Soosees and Timminees, there are various others es

s, from their docile and cunning dispositions, their knowledge in merchandize, and acquirements in book-knowledge, their power must, in process of

e other nations of Africa which I have seen. The Foolahs, the Mandingos, and the Joliffs, bordering on the Senegal, are the most handsome Negroes on this part of Africa; the hair of the latter, however, is more crisped and woolly, their nose is round, and their lips are thick; this nation, in pa

e observed among these numerous nations; their language and their customs are various, and are frequently without affinity or relation. From the shores of the Mediterranean to this part of Africa, the majority of the nations are Mahomedans, but towards Cape Palmas they are gross idolaters, with a mixture Mahomedanism and superstition; many of them erect temples, and dedicate groves to the devil. I have seen several of these, which exhibit no outward sign or object of worship, but consist of stumps of trees, in a c

ion of Africa, and that Mahomedanism has been propagated by the Moore and Arab's. It may not here be unopport

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ion of the Saviour, that in the worship of heathen nations a mediator is uniformly associated with the object of adoration. Virgil in his Aeneid, and other classic writers, illus

eon twice, touching the earth the same number of times with their foreheads; then rubbing their arms from the wrist to the elbow

nsider these nations have it much in their power to shut and open the paths of intercourse with the interior co

rs in the rainy season; it is first washed in a calabash; and when the water is poured off, the dust, and sometimes large grains remain. The natives have no idea of mining; but it appears from hence, that mines of this metal must exist, which are concealed thro

ions, the men beat their drums, and sent forth the most horrid yells; imagining, that this barbarous uproar would drive away the object of their fears. In eclipses of the sun and moon, they repeat their prayers and sacrifices, with the same clamour, under

apted to agricultural experiments. With the consent of the chiefs, these might be obtained at a small expense, and many of them with whom I have communicated, would gladly embrace a wise interference; but they all complain, "white man not know their fashion," in

, situated between Cape Verde and Cape Palmas, mention the principal diseases, and those which Europeans are most expo

ge they have of the properties of herbs, and the superstitions attached to their fetishism. In annexing this extraordinary country to the civilized world, and exploring its stores of wealth, a burning climate, and the diseases peculiar thereto, unite with the barbarism of its inhabitants in opposition to the European; but by a strict observance of necessary rules, and avoi

xtremely various from the vertical rays of the sun,

e morning, to 90° at noon, in the shade; and nearly the same variation has been observed at t

y serve to give a general idea of the temperature of these countries. The island of Goree, for example, the island of Bance, and the bay of Sierra Leone, are more healthy, enjoying the cooling sea breezes, more than situations in the rivers more interior. The banks of all the rivers in Africa, which I h

ich are called harmatans, set in, they are accompanied with a heavy atmosphere, and are of a dry and destructive nature. Every description of vegetation is blasted by their influence, and every object, animate and inanimate, feels their powerful effects; the skin is parched and drie

e north tropic fluctuates little more or less than 15 or 20 days. When the rains commence, the earth, before parched up and consolidated into an impenetrable crust, by the powerful influence of the sun and a long period of drought, is immediately c

ects, and the most fatal consequences. And, lastly, the noxious exhalations arising from the inaccessible forests and marshy swamps which abound in Africa, and from numerous animal and vegetable remains of the dry season, which cover the soil every where, are productive of putrid effluvia. These rains, or rather periodical torrents of water, which annually visit the tropics, invari

disgusting effluvia is produced, which then fastens upon the human system, and begets diseases that in a short time shew their effects with dreadful violence; and

hence these harmatans are considered healthy, but I have heard various opinions among medical men on this subject. Dr. Ballard (now no more), whose long residence at Bance Island, and in Africa, an

tate of good health before, and on my arrival at the colony of Sierra Leone was unable to support myself on shore; and had it not been for the kind attention and skilful prescriptions of Dr. Robson of that colony, with the friendly offices of Captain Brown, I should, in all probability, at this stage have finished my travels and existence together. Dysenteries frequently follow this fever, which are of a very fatal tendency, and sometimes the flux is unattended by fever. This disease is not uncommon in persons otherwise healthy, but it is productive of great debility, which requires a careful regimen; if it continues to a protracted period, its consequences

ect without my province, and which has been ably treated upon by gentlemen, whose profession fully qualified them for the investigation. In addition to the many valuable treatises upon trop

n washing in the waters of Africa, which should always undergo a filtering preparation, and I am persuaded that great circumspection should be used in this r

consequence in preserving the valuable lives of our brave soldiers and sailors, exposed to all the ravages of tropical climates. Advantages that are well worth the attention of government, which would train up a body of physicians and surgeons, initiated into the mysteries of t