They prepare the cotton for spinning, by laying it in small quantities at a time upon a smooth stone, or piece of wood, and rolling the seeds out with a thick iron spindle, and they spin it with the distaff: The thread is not fine, but well twisted, and makes a very durable cloth. A woman with common diligence, will spin from six to nine garments of this cloth in one year; which according to its fineness, will sell for a minkalli and a half, or two minkallies each.* The .weaving is performed by the men: The loom is made exactly upon the same principle as that of Europe, but so small and narrow, that the web is seldom more than four inches broad. The shuttle is of the common construction, but as the thread is coarse, the chamber is somewhat larger than the European.

The women dye this cloth cf a rich and lasting blue colour by the following simple process; the leaves of the indigo when fresh gathered are pounded in a wooden mortar, and mixed in a large earthen jar with a strong lye of wood ashes; chamber lye is sometimes added. The cloth is steeped in this mixture, and allowed to remain until it has acquired the proper shade. In Kaarta and Ludamar, where the indigo is not plentiful, they collect the leaves and dry them in the sun; and when they wish to use them, they reduce a sufficient quantity to powder, and mix it with the lye as before mentioned. Either way, the colour is very beautiful, with a fine purple gloss, and equal in my opinion, to the best Indian or European blue. This cloth is cut into various pieces, and sewed into garments with needles of the natives own making.

As the arts of weaving, dying, sewing, &c. may easily be acquired, those who exercise them are not considered in Africa, as following any particular profession; for almost every slave can weave, and every boy can sew. The only artists which are distinctly acknowledged as such by the Negroes, and who value themselves on exercising appropriate and peculiar trades, are the manufacturers of leather and of iron. The first of these are called Karrankea, or as the word is sometimes pronounced, Gaungay. They are to be found in almost every town, and they frequently trayel through the country in the exercise of their calling:

A minkalli is a quantity of gold nearly equal in value to ten shillings sterling.

They tan and dress leather with very great expedition, by steeping the hide first in a mixture of wood-ashes and water until it parts with the hair, and afterwards by using the pounded leaves of a tree called goo, as an astringent. They are at great pains to render the hide soft and pliant as possible, by rubbing it frequently between their hands, and beating it upon a stone. The hides of bullocks are converted chiefly into sandals, and therefore require less care in dressing than the skins of sheep and goats, which are used for covcring quivers and saphies, and in making sheaths for swords, and knives, belts, pockets, and a variety of ornaments. These skins are commonly dyed of a red or yellow colour; the red, by means of millet stalks reduced to pow der; and the yellow, by the root of a plant, the name of which I have forgotten.

The manufacturers in iron are not so numerous as the Karrankeas, but they appear to have studied their business with equal diligence. The Negroes on the coast being cheaply supplied with iron from the European traders, never attempt the manufacturing of this article themselves; but in the inland parts, the natives smelt this useful metal in such quantities, as not only to supply themselves from it with all necessary weapons and instruments, but even to inake it an article of commerce with some of the neighbouring states. During my stay at Kamalia, there was a smelting furnace at a short distance from the hut where I lodg ed, and the owner and his workmen made no secret about the manner of conducting the operation, and readily allow. ed me to examine the furnace, and assist them in breaking the iron-stone. The furnace was a circular tower of clay, about ten feet high, and three feet in diameter, surrounded in two places with withes, to prevent the clay from cracking and falling to pieces by the violence of the heat. Round the lower part on a level with the ground, but not so low as the bottom of the furnace, which was somewhat concave, were made seven openings, into every one of which were placed three tubes of clay, and the openings again plastered up in such a manner, that no air could enter the furnace but thro' the tubes, by the opening and shutting of which they regu lated the fire. These tubes were formed, by plastering a mixture of clay and grass round a smooth roller of wood, which as soon as the clay began to harden was withdrawn, and the tube left to dry in the sun. The iron-stone which

I saw was very heavy, of a dull red colour, with greyish specks; it was broken into pieces about the size of a hen's egg. A bundle of dry wood was first put into the furnace and covered with a considerable quantity of charcoal, which was brought, ready burnt, from the woods. Over this was laid a stratum of iron-stone, and then another of charcoal, and so on, until the furnace was quite full. The fire was applied through one of the tubes, and blown for some time with bellows made of goat skin. The operation went on very slowly at first, and it was some hours before the flame appeared above the furnace; but af ter this, it burnt with great violence all the first night; and the people who attended put in at times more charcoal. On the day following the fire was not so fierce, and on the second night, some of the tubes were withdrawn, and the air allowed to have freer access to the furnace; but the heat was still very great, and a bluish flame arose some feet above the top of the furnace. On the third day from the commencement of the operation, all the tubes were taken out, the ends of many of them being vitrified with the heat: but the metal was not removed until some days afterwards, when the whole was perfectly cool. Part of the furnace was then taken down, and the iron appeared in the form of a large irregular mass, with pieces of charcoal adhering to it. It was sonorous, and when any portion was broken off, the fracture exhibited a granulated appearance like broken steel. The owner informed me that many parts of this cake were useless, but still there was good iron enough to repay him for his trouble. This iron, or rather steel, is formed into various instruments, by being repeatedly heated in a forge, the heat of which is urged by a pair of double bellows, of a very simple construction, being made of two goats skins, the tubes from which unite before they enter the forge, and supply a constant and very regular blast. The hammer, forceps, and anvil, are all very simple, and the workmanship, particularly in the formation of knives: and spears, is not destitute of merit. The iron indeed, is hard and brittle; and requires much labour before it can be made to answer the purpose.

Most of the African blacksmiths are acquainted also with the method of smelting gold, in which process they use an alkaline salt, obtained from a lye of burnt corn-stalks, evaporated to dryness. They likewise draw the gold into

wire, and form it into a variety of ornaments, some of which are executed with a great deal of taste and ingenuity.

Such is the chief information I obtained, concerning the present state of arts and manufactures in those regions of Africa, which I explored in my journey. I might add, tho' it is scarce worthy of observation, that in Bambarra and Kaarta, the natives make very beautiful baskets, hats, and other articles, both for use and ornament, from rushes, which they stain of different colours; and they contrive also to cover their calabashes with interwoven cane, dyed in the

same manner.

In all the laborious occupations above described, the mas ter and his slaves work together without any distinction of superiority. Hired servants, by which I mean, persons of free condition, voluntarily working for pay, are unknown in Africa; and this observation naturally leads me to consider the condition of the slaves, and the various means by which they are reduced to so miserable a state of servitude. This unfortunate class are found, I believe, in all parts of this extensive country, and constitute a considerable branch of commerce with the states on the Mediterranean, as well as with the nations of Europe.

CHAPTER XXII.

Observations on the state and sources of slavery in Africą.

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A STATE of subordination, and certain inequalities of rank and condition, are inevitable in every stage of civil so ciety; but when this subordination is carried to so great a length, that the persons and services of one part of the community are entirely at the disposal of another part, it then be denominated a state of slavery, and in this condition of life, a great body of the Negro inhabitants of Africa have continued from the most early period of their history, with this aggravation, that their children are born to no other inheritance.

The slaves in Africa, I suppose, are nearly in the proportion of three to one to the free men. They claim no reward

for their services except food and clothing, and are treated with kindness or severity, according to the good or bad disposition of their masters. Custom, however, has established certain rules with regard to the treatment of slaves, which it is thought dishonorable to violate: Thus, the domestic slaves, or such as are born in a man's own house, are treated with more lenity than those which are purchased with money. The authority of the master over the domestic slave, as I have elsewhere observed, extends only to reasonable correction, for the master cannot sell his domestic, without having first brought him to a public trial before the chief men of the place.*. But these restrictions on the pow er of the master extend not to the case of prisoners taken in war, nor to that of slaves purchased with money. All these unfortunate beings are considered as strangers and foreigners, who have no right to the protection of the law, and may be treated with severity, or sold to a stranger, according to the pleasure of their owners. There are, indeed, regular markets, where slaves of this description are bought and sold, and the value of a slave, in the eye of an African purchaser, increases in proportion to his distance from his native kingdom; for when slaves are only a few days' journey from the place of their nativity, they frequently effect their escape, but when one or more kingdoms intervene, escape being more difficult, they are more readily reconciled to their situation. On this account, the unhappy slave is frequently transferred from one dealer to another, until he has lost all hopes of returning to his native kingdom. The slaves which are purchased by the Europeans on the coast, are chiefly of this description; a few of them are collected in the petty wars, hereafter to be described, which take place near the coast; but by far the greater number are brought down in large caravans from the inland countries, of which many are unknown, even by name, to the Europeans. The slaves which are thus brought from the interior, may be di vided into two distinct classes; first, such as were slaves

In time of famine, the master is permitted to sell one or more of his domestics to purchase provisions for his family; and in case of the master's insolvency, the domestic slaves are sometimes seized upon by the creditors, and if the master cannot redeem them, they are lia ble to be sold for the payment of his debts. These are the only cases that I recollect, in which the domestic slaves are liable to be sold, without any misconduct or demerit of their own.