"Wheat and barley are not raised in Bornou ; but the horse-bean of Europe and the common kidneybean are cultivated with great affiduity, as they are ufed for food, both by the flaves and by the cattle *. "In the culture of thefe different grains, the hoe alone is employed, as the use of the plough is fill unknown to the people. The women divide with the men the labours of their husbandry; for while the latter, with their hoes, open the ground, and form the trenches in ftraight lines parallel to each other, the women follow and throw in the feed: nor is this the only part which they take in the bufinefs of the field; for to them, as foon as the weeds begin to rife on the ridges of the lines in which the grain is fowed, the hoe is conftantly transferred. "The fowing feafon commences at the end of the periodical rains of April; and fuch in that climate is the rapid vegetation, that on the oth of July the gaffob is reaped; but the gamphuly, a grain of flower growth, is feldom cut till the month of Auguft or September. "Such are the feveral fpecies of corn that, among the people of Bornou, fupply the place of the wheat, the barley, and the oats of Europe. Two fpecies of roots are also used as wholefome and fubftantial food: the one, which is called the Dondoo, produces a low plant, with branches that fpread four or five feet upon the ground, and leaves that refemble thofe of the garden-bean. At the end of five months, from the time of its being planted, the leaves fail off, and the root is taken from the ground, and being cut into fmall pieces, is dried in the fun, in which ftate it may be kept for two years. Its farther preparation confifts in reducing it to a fine powder, and mixing it with palm oil till it affumes the confiftency of paste. "The other root is that of a tree of which the name had efcaped the Shereef's recollection: boiling is the only procefs that is requifite in preparing it for use. "The fame character of fufficiency which marks the catalogue of the different kinds of grain in Bornou, belongs alfo to the lift of its various fruits; for though neither olives nor oranges are feen in the empire, and even figs are rare; and though the apples and plumbs of its growth deferve no commendation, and the dates are as indifferent as they are fcarce, yet grapes, and apricots, and pomegranates, together with lemons and limes, and the two fpecies of melons, the water and the mufk, are produced in large abun dance. But one of the most valuable of its vegetable stores, is a tree which is called kedeynah, that in form and height refembles the olive, is like the lemon in its leaf, and bears a nut, of which the kernel and the fhell are both in great eftimation, the first as a fruit, the laft on account of the oil which it furnishes when bruifed, and which fupplies the lamps of the people of Bornou with a fubftitute for the oil of olives. «The country in the neighbourhood of the city of Bornou is fertile in Indian corn and rice. Of barley and wheat the quantity raised is fmall. A fpecies of bean, which resembles the horfe-bean of Europe, though larger, and of a darker hue, is a much more contmon produce. Gum-trees are thinly fcattered. Cotton, hemp, and indigo are alfo among the various produce of its foil. Ben Alli.” "The country abounds in different fpccies of fruit-trees, but that which produces the date is not of the number. Ben Alli. Το i "To this competent provifion of fuch vegetables as are requifite to the fupport, or grateful to the appetite of man, muft be added a much more ample and more varied fupply of animal food. Innumerable flocks of fheep, and herds of goats and cows, (for there are no oxen) together with multitudes of horfes, buffaloes, and camels, (the flesh of which is in high estimation) cover the vales or pafture on the mountains of Bornou*. "The common, though not the Guinea fowl, is also reared by the inhabitants; and their hives of bees are fo extremely numerous, that the wax is often thrown away as an article of no value in the market. "Their game confifts of the huadde, and other fpecies of antelopes, of the partridge, the wild-duck and the oftrich, the flesh of which they prize above every other. "Their other wild animals are, the lion, the leopard, the civet-cat, the fmall wolf, the fox, the wild dog that hunts the antelope; the elephant, which is not common, and of which they make no ufe; the crocodile, the hippopotamus, which 1s often killed on the banks of the river that runs from the Neel Shem, (the Nile of Egypt) to the defert of Bilma; and a large and fingular animal, which is diftinguifhed by the name of zarapah, which is defcribed as refembling the camel in its head and body, as havingalong and flender neck like the oftrich, as being much taller at the shoulders than the haunches, and as defended by fo tough a skin as to furnish the natives with fhields that no arrow or javelin can pierce. "Bornou, like other countries that approach the equinoctial, is much infefted with different kinds of dangerous or difgufting reptiles, especially fnakes and fcorpions, centipedes and toads. "Of its beafts of burthen the variety is as ample as the numbers are abundant; for the camel, the horse, the afs, and the mule, are cominon in the empire. "The dog, with which the inhabitants purfue their game, appears to be their only domeftic animal." "Two different religions divide the fentiments, without disturbing the peace of the kingdom. "The ruling people profefs the Mahometan faith; and though the antient Paganism of the dependent nations does not appear to fubject them to any inconvenience, a confiderable part are converts to the doctrines of the prophet. "An elective monarchy conftitutes the government of Bornou {!, and like the fimilar fyftem of Cafhna, endangers the happinefs, while it acknowledges the power of the people. On the death of the fovereign, the privilege of chufing among his fons, without regard to priority of birth, a fucceffor to his throne, is conferred by the nation on three of the moft diftinguifhed men, whofe age and character for wifdom are denoted by their title of elders; "Horfes and horned cattle, goats and fheep, and camels, are the common animals of the country. Ben Alli." "Giraffa is the name by which the camelopardalis is called, in the old zoological books. The defcription here inferted, feems to have arifen from a blended recollection of that animal, and of the hippopotamus, whofe hide is extremely tough." "The Sultan and his fubjects are Muffelmen. Ben Alli "Bornou is governed by a king, who takes the title of Sultan. Ben Alli.” and and whofe conduct in the ftate has invested them with the public efteem. Bound by no other rule as to their judgment, or restraint as to their will, than that which the exprefled or implied inftruction of electing the moft worthy may form, they retire to the appointed place for their fecret deliberation, the avenues to which are carefully guarded by the people and while the contending fuggeftions of private intereft, or a fenfe of the real difficulty of chufing where judgment may eafly err, and error may be fatal to the fate, keeps them in fufpence, the princes are clofely confined in feparate chambers of the palace. Their choice being made, they proceed to the apartment of the fovereign elect, and conduct him, in filence, to the gloomy place in which the unburied corpfe of his father, that cannot be interred till this awful ceremony is paffed, awaits his arrival. There the elders point out to him the feveral virtues and the several defe&ts which marked the character of his departed parent; and they alfo forcibly deferibe, with juft panegyric, or fevere condemnation, the feveral meafures which raifed or depreffed the glory of his reign." You fee before you the "end of your mortal career: the "eternal, which fucceeds to it, will "be miferable or happy in propor❝tion as your reign tha I have prov"ed a curfe or a blefling to your "people." "From this dread fcene of inftruction, the new fovereign, amidft the loud acclamations of the people, is, conducted back to the palace, and is there invested by the electors with all the flaves, and with two thirds of all the lands and cattle of his father; the remaining third being always detained as a provifion for the other children of the deceafed monarch. No fooner is the fovereign invested with the enfigns of royalty, than fuch of his brothers as have reached the age of manhood proftrate themfelves at his feet, and in rifing prefs his hands to their lips-the two ce remonies that conftitute the declaration of allegiance. "If any doubt of their fincerity fuggefts itfelf to the king, or to the elders, death or perpetual imprifon, ment removes the fear; but if no fufpicion arifes, an establishment of lands and cattle from the potions of their father, together with prefents of flaves from the reigning monarch, are liberally bestowed upon them. "Often, however, the most po. pular, or the most ambitious of the rejected princes, covering his designs with clofe diflimulation, and the zeal of feeming attachment, creates a powerful party; and affured of fo reign aid, preparcs, in fecret, the means of fuccefsful revolt. But, stained with fuch kindred blood, the fceptre of the victorious rebel is not laftingly fecure-one revolution invites and facilitates another; and till the flaughter of the field, the fword of the executioner, or the knife of the affiffin, have left him without a brother, the throne of the fovereign is feldom firmly eftablifhed. "Such, in the Mahometan empires of Bornou and of Cafhna, is the rule of fucceffion to the monarchy; but the Pagan kingdoms adjoining, with obviously lefs wildom, permit the feveral fons of the late fovereign, attended by their refpective partizans, to offer themselves in perfon, to the choice of the electors, and to be actually prefent at the decifion; an imprudence that often brings with it the interference of other ftates, and unites the different cala. calamities of foreign and inteftine war. "Thofe of the royal children of Bornou, who are too young to take a fhare in the reserved part of their deceafed father's poffeflions, are educated in the palace till the age of maturity arrives: at which time their refpective portions of lands and cattle are affigned them. "To the four lawful wives of the late fovereign, a feparate house, with a fuitable establishment, is granted by the reigning monarch; and fuch of his numerous concubines as were not flaves, are at liberty to return to their feveral friends: and, together with leave to retain their cloaths, and all their ornaments, which are often valuable, have free permiffion to marry. "In the empire of Bornou, as in all the Mahometan ftates, the adminiftration of the provinces is committed to governors appointed by the crown; and the expences of the fovereign are partly defrayed by his hereditary lands, and partly by taxes levied on the people. "The prefent fultan, whofe name is Alli, is a man of an unoftentatious plain appearance; for he feldom wears any other. drefs than the common blue fhirt of cotton or of filk, and the filk or muflin turban, which form the ufual drefs of the country. Such, however, is the magnificence of his feraglio, that the ladies who inhabit it are faid to be five hundred in number; and he himself is defcribed as the reputed father of three hundred and fifty children, of whom three hundred are males; a disproportion which naturally fuggefts the idea, that the mother, preferring to the gratifica tion of natural affection, the joy of feeing herfelf the fuppofed parent of a future candidate for the empire, fometimes exchanges her female child for the male offspring of a ftranger. "Equally fplendid in his ftable, he is faid to have 500 horses for his own ufe, and for that of the numerous fervants of his household. In many of the neighbouring kingdoms, the monarch himself is the executioner of those criminals on whom his own voice has pronounced fentence of death: but the fultan of Bornou, too polished, or too humane, to pollute his hands with the blood of his fubjects, commits the care of the execution to the cadi, who directs his flaves to ftrike off the head of the prifoner. "The military force of the fultan of Bornou confifts in the multitude of his horfemen; for his foot foldiers are few in number, and are fcarcely confidered as contributing to the ftrength of the battle*. The fabre, the lance, the pike, and the bow, constitute their weapons of offence; and a fhield of hides composes their defenfive armour. Firearms, though not entirely unknown to them, (for thofe with which the merchants of Fezzan occafionally travel, are fufficient to give them an idea of their importance and decifive effect) are neither ufed nor poffeffed by the people of Bornou. "When the fovereign prepares for war, and levies an army for the purpofe, he is faid to have a cuftom, (the refult of idle vanity or of politic oftentation) of directing a date tree to be placed as a threshold to one of the gates of his capital, and of commanding his horfemen to en "The fultan of Bornou commands a vast army of horsemen, and is a much more powerful monarch than the emperor of Morocco. Bin ditt?” ter ter the town one by one, that the parting of the tree in the middle, when worn through by the trampling of the horses, may enable him to judge of the fufficiency of their numbers, and operate as a fignal that his levy is complete. "In their manners, the people of Bornou are fingularly courteous and humane. They will not pafs a ftranger on the road till they have ftopped and faluted him: the most violent of their quarrels are only contefts of words; and though a part of the bufinefs of their husbandry is affigned to the women, yet as their employment is confined to that of dropping the feed in the furrows, and of removing the weeds with a hoe, it has more of the amufement of occafional occupation, than of the harfhnefs of continued labour. "Paffionately attached to the tumultuous gratifications of play, yet unacquainted with any game but drafts, they often fit down on the ground, and forming holes to anfwer the purpose of fquares, fupply the place of men with dates, or the meaner substitute of ftones, or of camel's dung. On their skill in the management of these rude inftruments of the game, they stake their gold duft, their brafs money, and even their very clothes; and as the bye-ftanders on these occafions conftantly obtrude their advice, and fometimes make the moves for the perfon whofe fuccefs they with, their play is ufually accompanied by that conflict of abufe, and vehemence of fcolding, which mark and terminate the fharpeft of their quarrels. "Such is the amufement of the lower claffes of the people: thofe of a fuperior rank are devoted to the more difficult and more interefting game of chefs, in which they are eminently fkilled. "In countries that afford without cultivation, or that give in return for flight exertions of labour, the principal requifites of life, few articles of export are likely to be found. Thofe of the Bornou empire confift of gold duft*, flaves, horfes, oftrich feathers, falt, and civet. "By what means the gold duft, that appears to be a principal article of trade, is procured by the inhabitauts, whether from mines in the country, or by purchase from other nations, the fhereef has not explained. But of their mode of obtaining the flaves, who conftitute another extenfive branch of their commerce, he gives the following account : "South east of Bornou, at the diftance of about twenty days travelling, and feparated from it by feveral small deserts, is fituated an extenfive kingdom, of the name of Begarmee, the inhabitants of which are rigid Mahometans, and though perfectly black in their complexions, are not of the Negro caft. Beyond this kingdom to the Eaft are several tribes of Negroes, idolaters in their religion, favage in their manners, and accustomed, it is faid, to feed on human flesh. They are called the Kardee, the Serrowah, the Showva, the Battah, and Mulgui. Thefe nations the Begarmeefe, who fight on horfeback, and are great warriors, annually invade ; and when they have taken as many prifoners as the opportunity affords, or their purpofe may require, they drive the captives, like cattle, to Be garmee. It is faid that if any of "At Bornou I exchanged for gold dust and oftrich feathers the merchandize which I brought from Tripoli. Ben Alli.', them, |