posed that many of the Canaanites, whom Joshua expelled from their own country, retired to its vast territories. One of its most celebrated countries, Egypt, was peopled by Mizraim. Its inhabitants are generally of a deep black, but many of them are copper-coloured, and all of them exhibiting that peculiar contour of countenance which distinguishes the African tribes. The chief countries of Africa mentioned in the Scriptures are Egypt, Ethiopia, and Libya or Lybia. Egypt, a country celebrated both in ancient and modern history, still retains its ancient name, is the most civilized of any kingdom in that vast continent, and is rapidly advancing in political importance. Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, is a most extensive empire, consisting of many provinces, including the ancient Nubia and other districts. Lybia is now a province of Egypt, reaching from the city of Alexandria to Cyrene. The only river of Africa mentioned by the sacred historians is the famous river Nile, the fountains or sources of which are still involved in mystery, notwithstanding the persevering researches which have been instituted by many distinguished travellers. Its other rivers of importance are the Niger, called Joliba by the Negroes, the Gambia, Marocco, Sierra Leone, Benin, Congo, Zuire or Bahr Ela, Coantza, Manica, Zambezi or Cuama, Coavo, Zebee, and Magadoxa. The first traveller who penetrated any distance into the interior of this vast continent was Mungo Park, who was followed by Browne, Marsden, Captains Clapperton and Tuckey, Major Denham, Lander, and others, by whose indefatigable ardour and exertions, to which most of them sacrificed their lives, the geography of Northern Africa in particular has been greatly improved; and who have added greatly to the scanty knowledge which hitherto prevailed respecting the habits, customs, and manners of the numerous and populous tribes of Negroes who inhabit those regions, as well as the trade, commerce, and productions of their countries, their natural history, and other interesting matters. Never

theless, the greater part of Africa is unknown to Europeans, those who undertake its exploration generally falling victims to its climate, or to the sanguinary dispositions of the various nations and tribes. Upwards of seven hundred and eighty geographical miles in the interior still remain unexplored, and the inland country south of the Line is almost entirely unknown.

Africa is generally divided into North, South, West, East, and Central Africa. NORTHERN AFRICA includes that fertile region stretching along the Mediterranean commonly called Barbary, which possesses so much of an European character, that, were it not for the sea by which it is divided, it might almost be considered a part of Europe. The States of Barbary consist of the independent kingdoms or states of Tunis, Tripoli, Morocco, and Fez; and Algiers, at present in the possession of the French. In the kingdom of Tunis, about fifteen miles from its capital city of the same name, stood Carthage, the ancient rival of Rome, one of the most powerful cities of antiquity, for many ages the metropolis of what the ancient geographers termed Africa Proper, and called also the territory of Carthage. The Carthaginians were the descendants of those Canaanites whom Joshua expelled from the Promised Land, and the concurrent voice of antiquity ascribes the foundation or first settlement of that noble city to Eliza, a princess better known by her classical appellation of Dido, the grand-daughter of the famous Jezebel, called in scripture Ethbaal, and great-grand-daughter of Ithobal, king of Tyre. Of the wars which the Carthaginians sustained against the Romans, under their illustrious general Hannibal, it is unnecessary here to speak. The fortune of Rome at last triumphed; Carthage was completely destroyed by Scipio Æmilianus, and after several attempts to rebuild it, some of which were partly successful, little of it is now to be seen. -To the countries already enumerated as included in Northern Africa, are to be added Egypt, Tafilet, Belid-ul

Gerid, and Saharah, or the Great Desert, all of which countries, as well as Tunis, Tripoli, and the others previously noticed, are inhabited by Moors descended from the Arabs, who at several periods have established colonies in Africa. 2. WESTERN AFRICA, the great divisions of which are Guinea and Congo, the former containing the country of the Jalofs and Foulahs, and the kingdom of the Mandingoes, all termed collectively North Guinea or Senegal-and the latter, containing South Guinea, which may be subdivided into the Pepper Coast, the Ivory Coast, and the Gold Coast; East Guinea, or the Slave Coast, comprising the kingdoms of Whiddah, Ardra, and Benin. 3. SOUTH AFRICA, or CAFFRARIA, containing the countries of the Namacquas, the Caffres, and the Hottentots, the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and various other territories on the south-eastern coast, after doubling the Cape. 4. EAST AFRICA, containing various kingdoms and territories, and a republic called Brava. 5. CENTRAL AFRICA, including, 1. Nigritia or Soudan, the extensive track of country south of the Saharah, or Great Desert, which consists of the empires of Houssa and Timbuctoo, the kingdom of Bornou and Darfur, and various principalities discovered by Mr Park; 2. Nubia, comprehending Turkish Nubia, Dongala, and Sennaar; and, 3. Abyssinia.

The capes of Africa are very numerous; of these the chief is the Cape of Good Hope. The only straits are the Straits of Babel-Mandeb, which unite the Red Sea with the Eastern Ocean, and the Straits of Gibraltar, which separate this continent from Europe. Its gulfs are the Gulfs of Sidra and Goletta, in the Mediterranean; the Gulf of France, at the mouth of the Gambia; the Gulf of Guinea, south of the Gold Coast; and the Gulf of Sofala, near the entrance of the Mozambique Channel, which lies between the Island of Madagascar and the coast of Mozambique, the only sea which may be said to be peculiar to Africa. This continent has no inland seas like those

which penetrate Europe, Asia, and America; few of its rivers are navigable for the purposes of commerce, and the lakes of which it can boast, or which have hitherto been discovered, are insulated and insignificant. Its mountains form extensive ranges, although far inferior to those of the opposite continent of America. Of these are the great clusters called the ATLAS, which, according to the fable of the ancients, supported the firmament; some of the tops of these clusters are said to be perpetually covered with snow, which will give them an elevation of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet. There are the Mountains of Kong, the Mountains of the Moon, the Mountains of Lupata, an extensive chain of rugged and uninhabitable rocks, and the Crystal Mountains. The islands of Africa are numerous, both in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. The most remarkable of these is Madagascar, after Papua and New Holland, the largest island in the world; Pemba, Zanzibar, and Monfra, the Comoro Islands, Bourbon, Mauritius, and Socotra, the Isle of Desolation, so named by Captain Cook on account of its sterility, the Island of St Helena, frequented by the British homeward-bound Indiamen, and celebrated as the scene of the last years of the exiled Napoleon Buonaparte, the Isle of Ascension, the Isles of St Matthew, St Thomas, and Fernando Po; the Cape de Verd Islands, the Canaries, and the Islands of Madeira and Porto Santo. The climate of the greater part of Africa, the continent being nearly divided by the equator, and within the tropics, can scarcely be encountered by Europeans. The sun reflects on the arid sands of its vast deserts, the wind becomes suffocating, and the ground so hot, that it cannot be endured even by the Negroes; but in the southern districts, which abound with wood and water, the mornings and evenings are pleasant and serene; and in the northern provinces, along the sea-coast, the excessive heat is greatly relieved by the sea breezes. The soil is often luxuriant beyond expectation, but it is intersected by arid deserts of in

We have said that Africa was first peopled by the descendants of Ham, and those tribes whom Joshua drove out of Egypt. The Negroes appear, therefore, to be the aboriginal inhabitants of Africa, while the Blacks can be traced to an Asiatic origin, having poured into the African from the Asiatic continent by the neck of land called the Isthmus of Suez. The Negroes are represented as a simple and inoffensive race, while the Moors or Mahometans are intolerant, perfidious, and sanguinary. The Africans are generally classed according to their races, the Berbers, the Moors, the Arabs, and the Turks; the Copts, Nubians, and Abyssinians, are a mixed breed, not differing much, however, from the preceding; the Caffres are described as of Arab and Negro extraction, while the Hottentots are a race peculiar to themselves. The Berbers are said to be a stout and hardy people, varying in complexion from white to almost black, according to the latitude they inhabit, well made, tall and thin, abstemious in their habits, chiefly living on coarse brown bread, dates, olives, and water; but a dirty race, never washing themselves, water, as they pretend, being given to man to drink; exceedingly superstitious, partly Mahometans, but using water in their religious ablutions, while their entire clothing and their warlike implements are covered with charms. Those of the Berbers and other tribes who inhabit the Desert chiefly live by plundering caravans from Morocco to Soudan, or by carrying salt to Timbuctoo and other towns, even as far as Saccatoo. The Tibboos, though of the same origin as the Tuaricks, Berbers, Kabyles, and Shillas, are what is called a less pure race. They are more slender in their forms, their complexions dark and shining, with little appearance of the Negro features. Their women are described as models of black beauties, very handsome, and fond of music. The men are great traffickers in slaves, whom

Egypt, in exchange for horses, which they sell to the Bornouese. They are alleged to be noted thieves, lying in wait for caravans between Tripoli and Bornou, but never openly attacking them. The language of all these various tribes is said to be nearly the same. The Moors abound in the Barbary states which stretch along the coast of the Mediterranean, and chiefly in Morocco and Tripoli, a savage and revengeful people. They at one period conquered Spain, and many of the provinces of that country were Moorish kingdoms. They are described as more robust than the Arabs, resembling in their appearance and features the Europeans, but of a dark complexion. They speak a dialect of the Arabic peculiar to themselves. They are simple in their dress, and temperate, but their women are enthusiastically fond of ornaments and gay apparel. In the large towns the Moors are merchants, and husbandmen in the rural districts, living in tents like the Arabs, and subsisting on dates, millet, and Indian corn. They also carry on wearing, and dress what we call Morocco leather. The Arabs, Nubians, Abyssinians, Copts, Egyptians, and those who are termed in the sacred writings by the general name of Ethiopians, are described under their proper heads in the present work. The Caffres, who inhabit the whole eastern coast of Africa from Cape Guardafui to within five hundred miles of the Cape of Good Hope, are more or less black, large in stature, strongly built, their heads shaped like those of Europeans, the nose a little arched, frizzled hair of a wiry nature, which, when suffered to grow long, hangs from the head in tresses like cork-screws. They received the name of Caffres or Kafirs from the Mahometans, by which was merely meant that they were infidels. There is a great variety of tribes of these Caffres spread over the eastern range of Africa, and they have often been troublesome neighbours to the colony at the Cape of Good Hope, descending from the interior in

all the dry regions of Africa, between the sources of the Senegal and Dongola. They also abound in some parts of Southern Africa, especially along the banks of the Orange River. They browse chiefly on trees, but when domesticated, they will eat any kind of vegetable food. Some years since, the Pacha of Tripoli sent two of them as presents, one to George IV. and the other to Charles X. king of France, who during their passage from Tripoli were fed chiefly on cow's milk. The hippopotamus, or river-horse, is a large unwieldy animal, and is said to be peculiar to Africa, in almost all the large rivers of which it is found in considerable numbers, from the Niger to the Berg, near the Cape of Good Hope. It is not found in any of the African rivers which run into the Mediterranean, except the Nile, and only that portion of it which traverses Upper Egypt; it is also found in the fens and lakes of Ethiopia. Its head is broad, lips thick, four large pointed projecting cutting teeth in the lower jaw, four bent in the under side in the upper, tusks very strong, especially the lower, which are curved, twelve grinders in each jaw, skin thick, legs very short, four toes on the feet, invested with small hoofs, tail short. The form of the entire animal may be assimilated to the rhinoceros, exhibiting an unwieldy appearance, body large, fat, and round; eyes and ears small, feet very large; the whole animal covered with hair, which is more thinly set in the under than in the upper parts; the skin excessively tough and strong, except on the belly. It is generally supposed that the hippopotamus is the Behemoth men tioned in the Book of Job, and the description of its habits there given certainly resembles the former: "He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reeds and fens; the shady trees cover him with their shadow, the willows of the brook compass him about." Yet the magnificent tail of the behemoth, "he moveth his tail like a cedar," will not apply to the insignificant tail of the hippopotamus. It derives its chief sub

sistence from the land, browsing on the nearest shrubs, and on the reeds of the marshes, and is timid and sluggish, on account of the unwieldiness of its frame and shortness of its limbs. In the day-time these animals are so much afraid of being discovered, that they merely put their noses out of the water to inhale air, but in unfrequented rivers they are less cautious. When wounded in the water, they attack boats with great fury. During the night they leave the rivers to feed, when they sometimes run out with great impetuosity, trampling under foot every thing in their way, and doing considerable injury to the cultivated fields. They are generally of a harmless disposition, yet at their pairing season it is dangerous to encounter them out of the water, and they have been known to pursue the Caffres and Hottentots, who attack and entrap them, for several hours. The zebra is also peculiar to Africa. This animal, which, for the beauty of its stripes, and the symmetry of its formation, is well known, is of the ass tribe. Large herds of them assemble during the day on the interminable plains of the interior of Africa, and by their beauty and their liveliness cheer the surrounding solitudes. They are timid and shy, and it is almost impossible to tame them. The quacha, also peculiar to Africa, was long considered as the female zebra, but is now held to be a distinct species. It is much more docile than the zebra, and may be tamed and domesticated. The gnoo is of the antelope species, and is described as partaking in its form of the horse, the ox, the stag, and the antelope. We are told that it is so fierce and full of motion, that the Dutch boors at the Cape call it pre-eminently the wilde beest. It possesses uncommon strength, swiftness, keen scent, and sight. The two horned rhinoceros of Africa differs in its figure and character entirely from that of India. The skin, though hard, is smooth when compared to the impenetrable coat of mail which covers the Indian species. The eyes are very low in the head, almost at the root of