CHAPTER II. — Section 36

Description of the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and Mandingoes.—Some account of the trade between the nations of Europe and the natives of Africa by the way of the Gambia, and between the native inhabitants of the coast and the nations of the interior countries—their mode of selling and buying.

The natives of the countries bordering on the Gambia, though distributed into a great many distinct governments, may, I think, be divided into four great classes; the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and the Mandingoes. Among all these nations, the religion of Mahomet has made, and continues to make, considerable progress; but in most of them, the body of the people, both free and enslaved, persevere in maintaining the blind but harmless superstitions of their ancestors, and are called by the Mahomedans kafirs, or infidels.

Of the Feloops, I have little to add to what has been observed concerning them in the former chapter. They are of a gloomy disposition, and are supposed never to forgive an injury. They are even said to transmit their quarrels as deadly feuds to their posterity; insomuch that a son considers it as incumbent on him, from a just sense of filial obligation, to become the avenger of his deceased father's wrongs. If a man loses his life in one of those sudden quarrels, which perpetually occur at their feasts, when the whole party is intoxicated with mead, his son, or the eldest of his sons, (if he has more than one,) endeavours to procure his father's sandals, which he wears once a year, on the anniversary of his father's death, until a fit opportunity offers of avenging his fate, when the object of his resentment seldom escapes his pursuit. This fierce and unrelenting disposition is, however, counterbalanced by many good qualities; they display the utmost gratitude and affection towards their benefactors; and the fidelity with which they preserve whatever is entrusted to them is remarkable.

During the present war they have, more than once, taken up arms to defend our merchant vessels from French privateers; and English property, of considerable value, has frequently been left at Vintain, for a long time, entirely under the care of the Feloops, who have uniformly manifested on such occasions the strictest honesty and punctuality. How greatly is it to be wished, that the minds of a people so determined and faithful, could be softened and civilized by the mild and benevolent spirit of Christianity!

The Jaloffs (or Yaloffs) are an active, powerful, and warlike race, inhabiting great part of that tract which lies between the river Senegal and the Mandingo States on the Gambia; yet they differ from the Mandingoes, not only in language, but likewise in complexion and features. The noses of the Jaloffs are not so much depressed, nor the lips so protuberant, as among the generality of Africans; and although their skin is of the deepest black, they are considered by the white traders as the most sightly Negroes in this part of the Continent.

They are divided into several independent states or kingdoms; which are frequently at war either with their neighbours, or with each other. In their manners, superstitions, and government, however, they have a greater resemblance to the Mandingoes (of whom I shall presently speak) than to any other nation; but excel them in the manufacture of cotton cloth, spinning the wool to a finer thread, weaving it in a broader loom, and dyeing it of a better colour.

Their language is said to be copious and significant; and is often learned by Europeans trading to Senegal. I cannot say much of it from my own knowledge; but have preserved their numerals, which are these:

One ……… Wean.

Two ……… Yar.

Three ……… Yat.

Four ……… Yanet.

Five ……… Judom.

Six ……… Judom Wean.

Seven ……… Judom Yar.

Eight ……… Judom Yat.

Nine ……… Judom Yanet.

Ten ……… Fook.

Eleven ……… Fook aug Wean, &c.

The Foulahs, (or Pholeys,) such of them at least as reside near the Gambia, are chiefly of a tawny complexion, with soft silky hair, and pleasing features. They are much attached to a pastoral life, and have introduced themselves into all the kingdoms on the windward coast as herdsmen and husbandmen, paying a tribute to the sovereign of the country for the lands which they hold. Not having many opportunities, however, during my residence at Pisania, of improving my acquaintance with these people, I defer entering at large into their character, until a fitter occasion occurs, which will present itself when I come to Bondou.

The Mandingoes, of whom it remains to speak, constitute in truth the bulk of the inhabitants in all those districts of Africa which I visited; and their language, with a few exceptions, is universally understood and very generally spoken in that part of the continent. Their numerals are these:[2]

One ……… Killin.

Two ……… Foola.

Three ……… Sabba.

Four ……… Nani.

Five ……… Looloo.

Six ……… Woro.

Seven ……… Oronglo.

Eight ……… Sie.

Nine ……… Conunta.

Ten ……… Tang.

Eleven ……… Tan ning killin, &c.

[2] In the Travels of Francis Moore the reader will find a pretty copious vocabulary of the Mandingo language, which in general is correct.

They are called Mandingoes, I conceive, as having originally migrated from the interior state of Manding, of which some account will hereafter be given; but, contrary to the present constitution of their parent country, which is republican, it appeared to me that the government in all the Mandingo states, near the Gambia, is monarchical. The power of the sovereign is, however, by no means unlimited. In all affairs of importance, the king calls an assembly of the principal men, or elders, by whose councils he is directed, and without whose advice he can neither declare war nor conclude peace.

In every considerable town there is a chief magistrate, called the Alkaid, whose office is hereditary, and whose business it is to preserve order, to levy duties on travellers, and to preside at all conferences in the exercise of local jurisdiction and the administration of justice. These courts are composed of the elders of the town, (of free condition,) and are termed palavers; and their proceedings are conducted in the open air with sufficient solemnity. Both sides of a question are freely canvassed, witnesses are publicly examined, and the decisions which follow generally meet with the approbation of the surrounding audience.

As the Negroes have no written language of their own, the general rule of decision is an appeal to ancient custom; but since the system of Mahomet has made so great progress among them, the converts to that faith have gradually introduced, with the religious tenets, many of the civil institutions of the Prophet; and where the Koran is not found sufficiently explicit, recourse is had to a commentary called Al Sharru, containing, as I was told, a complete exposition or digest of the Mahomedan laws, both civil and criminal, properly arranged and illustrated.

This frequency of appeal to written laws, with which the Pagan natives are necessarily unacquainted, has given rise in their palavers to (what I little expected to find in Africa) professional advocates, or expounders of the law, who are allowed to appear and to plead for plaintiff or defendant, much in the same manner as counsel in the law courts of Great Britain. They are Mahomedan Negroes who have made, or affect to have made, the laws of the Prophet their peculiar study; and if I may judge from their harangues, which I frequently attended, I believe that in the forensic qualifications of procrastination and cavil, and the arts of confounding and perplexing a cause, they are not always surpassed by the ablest pleaders in Europe. While I was at Pisania a cause was heard which furnished the Mahomedan lawyers with an admirable opportunity of displaying their professional dexterity. The case was this: An ass belonging to a Serawoolli Negro (a native of an interior country near the River Senegal) had broke into a field of corn belonging to one of the Mandingo inhabitants, and destroyed great part of it.

The Mandingo having caught the animal in his field, immediately drew his knife and cut its throat. The Serawoolli thereupon called a palaver (or in European terms, brought an action) to recover damages for the loss of his beast, on which he set a high value. The defendant confessed he had killed the ass, but pleaded a set-off, insisting that the loss he had sustained by the ravage in his corn was equal to the sum demanded for the animal. To ascertain this fact was the point at issue, and the learned advocates contrived to puzzle the cause in such a manner, that, after a hearing of three days, the court broke up without coming to any determination upon it; and a second palaver was, I suppose, thought necessary.

The Mandingoes, generally speaking, are of a mild, sociable, and obliging disposition. The men are commonly above the middle size, well shaped, strong, and capable of enduring great labour; the women are good-natured, sprightly, and agreeable. The dress of both sexes is composed of cotton cloth, of their own manufacture; that of the men is a loose frock, not unlike a surplice, with drawers which reach half way down the leg; and they wear sandals on their feet, and white cotton caps on their heads. The women's dress consists of two pieces of cloth, each of which they wrap round the waist, which, hanging down to the ancles, answers the purpose of a petticoat: the other is thrown negligently over the bosom and shoulders.

This account of their clothing is indeed nearly applicable to the natives of all the different countries in this part of Africa; a peculiar national mode is observable only in the head dresses of the women.

Thus, in the countries of the Gambia, the females wear a sort of bandage, which they call Jalla. It is a narrow stripe of cotton cloth, wrapped many times round, immediately over the forehead. In Bondou the head is encircled with strings of white beads, and a small plate of gold is worn in the middle of the forehead. In Kasson, the ladies decorate their heads, in a very tasteful and elegant manner, with white sea-shells. In Kaarta and Ludamar, the women raise their hair to a great height by the addition of a pad, (as the ladies did formerly in Great Britain,) which they decorate with a species of coral, brought from the Red Sea by pilgrims returning from Mecca, and sold at a great price.