Page images
PDF
EPUB

ceed in order to Massina, and occupy both sides of the Niger, are Moorish states, though with greatest proportion of Negro subjects; so that the river may be considered as the boundary of the two races in this quarter *.

"Ofthe countries between Houssa and Kassina we are ignorant. The Desert seems to approach very near the river (Niger) in that quarter, whence a Moorish population may be inferred. South of the river we hear of Kaffaba, Gago, and other Negro countries; but without any distinct notices of position; and beyond these Melli.

"Kassina and Bornou, two great empires on the north of the river, appear to divide the largest portion of the remaining space to the borders of Nubia; and extend a great way to the north; this region being composed of desert and habitable country intermixed; but perhaps containing the largest proportion of the latter. In both these empires, the sovereigns are Mahomedans, but the bulk of their subjects are said to adhere to their ancient worship; that is to say, the lower orders are almost universally Negroest.

"From what has appeared, perhaps the boundary of Nigritia, as it respects the Negro population, may be expressed generally, and with a few exceptions, as follows: beginning from the west, the extent

upwards of the navigable course of the Senegal river generally, thence a line drawn to Silla; from Silla to Tombuctoo, Houssa, and Berissa, along the river Niger; and thence through Asouda, Kanem, and Kuku, to Dongola on the Nile.

"Leot enumerates twelve states or kingdoms of Nigritia; but amongst these he includes Gualata, a tract only 300 miles south of the river Nun: as also Cano (Ganat), adjacent to Fezzan; and Nubia, Kassina, Bornou, and Tombuctoo, are included of course [.

"The kingdom of the Foulabs, before-mentioned, situated between the upper part of the Gambia river and the coast of Sierra Leone, and along the Rio Grande, has also a Mahomedan sovereign, but the bulk of the people appear to be of the ancient religion. It has been already said, that although they are a black people, they are less black than the Negroes generally, and have neither crisped hair nor thick lips; as also that they have a language distinct from the Mandinga. From these circumstances, added to that of situation, they appear clearly to be the Leucæthiopes of Ptolemy and Pliny. The former places them in the situation occupied by the Foulahs; that is, in the parallel of nine degrees north; having to the north the mountains of Ryssadius, which separate the courses of the Stachir and Nia rivers (Gambia

"The emperor of Morocco is said to have held at one period the sovereignty of some of the countries on the northern banks of the Senegal and Niger rivers. Labat, vol. iii. p. 339, speaks of incursions made by his troops."

African Assoc. Q. p. 126. O. p. 191."

"Page 4."

The Arabs and Moors call Nigritia by the general name of Soudan. By Belad Soudau, or the country of Soudan, Abulfeda includes all the known part of Africa, south of the Great Desert and Egypt With him Soudan is the southern quarter of the gobe. D'Herbelot also allows it a wide range. Affnoo is another term for Nigritia, in use among the natives themselves. (See also Proceedings Afric. Assoc. Q. p. 164. O. p. 246.”

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

and Rio Grande), and which therefore answer to the continuation of the great belt of high land in our geography; in which there is moreover another point of agreement, the Caphas of Ptolemy being the Caffaba of the map *.

66

Ptolemy by the name evidently meant to describe a people less black than the generality of the Ethiopians; and hence it may be gathered that this nation had been traded with, and that some notices respecting it had been communicated to him. It may also be remarked, that the navigation of Hanno terminated on this coast; probably at Sherbro' river, or sound. And as this was also the term of the knowledge of Ptolemy, it may be justly suspected that this part of the coast was described from Carthaginian materials +.

"Those who have perused the journal of Messrs. Watt and Winterbottom, through the Foulah country in 1794, and recollect how flattering a picture they give of the urbanity and hospitality of the Foulahs, will be gratified on find

ing that this nation was known and distinguished from the rest of the Ethiopians at a remote period of antiquity 1.

"The contrast between the Moorish and Negro characters is as great as that between the nature of their respective countries; or between their form and complexion. The Moors appear to possess the vices of the Arabs without their virtues; and to avail themselves of an intolerant religion, to oppress strangers: whilst the Negroes, and especially the Mandingas, unable to comprehend a doctrine that substitutes opinion or belief for the social duties, are content to remain in their humble state of ignorance. The hospitality shewn by these good people to Mr. Park, a destitute and forlorn stranger, raises them very high in the scale of humanity: and I know of no fitter title to confer on them than that of the Hindoos of Africa: at the same time by no means intending to degrade the Mahomedans of India by a comparison with the African Moors."

«The Soluentii of Ptolemy may also be meant for the Solimani of Mr. Park." "And it may also have been the scene of traffic mentioned in page 155; as Dr. Wadstrom speaks of such a custom in this quarter at the present day."

"Pliny (lib. v. c. 8.) also speaks of the Leucæthiopes, but seems to place them on this side of Nigritia. May it not be that certain tribes of Foulahs were then established, as at present, along the Senegal river ?”

A Short

A Short MINERALOGICAL

DESCRIPTION of the MOUNTAIN of GIBRALTAR, by MAJOR IMRIE.

[From the fourth Volume of the TRANSACTIONS of the ROYAL SOCIETY of EDINBURGH.]

"THE

THE mountain of Gibraltar is situated in 36° 9′ north latitude, and in 5° 17' east longitude from Greenwich. It is the promontory which, with that of Ceuta upon the opposite coast of Barbary, forms the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar from the Mediterranean; and Europa Point, which is the part of the mountain that advances most towards Africa, is generally regarded as the most southeru promontory in Europe. The form of this mountain is oblong; its summit a sharp craggy ridge; its direction is nearly from north to south; and its greatest length, in that direction, falls very little short of three miles. Its breadth varies with the indentations of the shore, but it no where exceeds three quarters of a mile, The line of its ridge is undulated, and the two extremes are somewhat higher than its

centre.

The summit of the Sugar-Loaf, which is the point of its greatest elevation towards the south, is 1439 feet; the Rock Mortar, which is the highest point to the north, is 1350; and the Signal-House, which is nearly the central point between these two, is 1276 feet above the level of the sea. The western side of the mountain is a series of rug ged slopes, interspersed with abrupt precipices. Its northern extremity is perfectly perpendicular, except

towards the north-west, where what are called the Lines intervene, and a narrow passage of flat ground that leads to the isthmus, and is entirely covered with fortification. The eastern side of the mountain mostly consists of a range of precipices; but a bank of sand, rising from the Mediterranean in a rapid acclivity, covers a third of its perpendicular height. Its southern extremity falls, in a rapid slope, from the summit of the Sugar-Loaf, into a rocky flat, of considerable extent, called Windmill Hill. This flat forms half an oval, and is bounded by a range of precipices, at the southern base of which a second rocky flat takes place, similar in form and extent to Windmill Hill; and also, like it, surrounded by a precipice, the southern extremity of which is washed by the sea, and forms Europa Point. Upon the western side, this peninsular mountain is bounded by the bay of Gibraltar, which is in length nearly eight miles and a half, and in breadth upwards of five miles. In this bay the tide frequently rises four feet. Upon the north the mountain is attached to Spain by a low sandy isthmus, the greatest elevation of which, above the level of the sea, does not exceed 10 feet, and its breadth, at the base of the rock, is not more than three quarters of a mile. This isthmus se

[ocr errors][merged small]

parates the Mediterranean, on the east, from the bay of Gibraltar on the west.

"This mountain is much more curious in its botanical, than in its mineralogical productions. In respect to the first, it connects, in some degree, the flora of Africa with that of Europe. In respect to the latter, it produces little variety; perhaps a few substances and phænomena that are rare, but none that are peculiar.

"The principal mass of the mountain rock consists of a grey, dense (what is generally called primary) marble; the different beds of which are to be examined in a face of 1350 feet of perpendicular height, which it presents to Spain in a conical forın. These beds, or strata, are of various thickness, from 20 to upwards of 40 feet, dipping in a direction from east to west, nearly at an angle of 35 degrees. In some parts of the solid mass of this rock, I have found testaceous bodies entirely transmuted into the constituent matter of the rock, and their interior hollows filled up with calcareous spar; but these do not occur often in its composition, and its beds are not separated by any intermediate strata.

"In all parts of the globe, where this species of rock constitutes large districts, it is found to be cavernous. The caves of Gibraltar are many, and some of them of great extent. That which most deserves attention and examination is called St. Michael's Cave, which is situated upon the southern part of the mountain, almost equally distant from the Signal Tower and the SugarLoaf. Its entrance is 1000 feet above the level of the sea: this entrance is formed by a rapid slope of earth, which has fallen into it at

various periods, and which leads to a spacious ball, incrusted with spar, and apparently supported in the centre by a large massy stalactitical pillar. To this succeeds a long series of caves of difficult access. The passages from the one to the other of these are over precipices, which can only be passed by the assistance of ropes and scaling-ladders. I have, myself, passed over many of these to the depth of 300 feet from the upper cave; but at that depth the smoke of our torches became so disagreeable, that we were obliged to give up our pursuit, and leave caves still under us unexamined. In these cavernous re cesses, the formation and process of stalactites is to be traced, from the flimsy quilt-like cone, suspend. ed from the roof, to the robust trunk of a pillar, three feet in diameter, which rises from the floor, and seems intended by nature to support the roof from which it ori ginated.

"The variety of form, which this matter takes in its different situations and directions, renders this subterraneous scenery strikingly grotesque, and in some places beautifully picturesque. The stalac tites of these caves, when near the surface of the mountain, are of a brownish yellow colour: but, as we descended towards the lower caves, we found them begin to lose their darkness of colour, which by degrees shaded off to a whitish yellow.

"The only inhabitants of these caves are bats, some of which are of a large size. The soil, in general, upon the mountain of Gibraltar, is but thinly sown; and in many parts that thin covering has been washed off by the heavy au tumnal rains, which have left the

super

superficies of the rock, for a considerable extent, bare and open to inspection. In those situations, an observing eye may trace the effects of the slow, but constant, decomposition of the rock, caused by its exposure to the air, and the corrosion of sea-salts, which, in the heavy gales of easterly winds, are deposited with the spray on every part of the mountain. Those uncovered parts of the mountain rock also expose to the eye a phænomenon worthy of some attention, as it tends clearly to demonstrate, that, however high the surface of this rock may now be elevated above the level of the sea, it has once been the bed of agitated waters, This phænomenon is to be observed in many parts of the rock, and is constantly found in the beds of torrents. It consists of pot-like holes, of various sizes, hollowed out of the solid rock, and formed apparently by the attrition of gravel or pebbles, set in motion by the rapidity of rivers, or currents in the sea. One of those, which had been recently laid open, I examined with attention. I found it to be five feet deep, and three feet in diameter; the edge of its mouth rounded off as if by art, and its sides and bottom retaining a considerable degree of polish. From its mouth, for three and a half feet down, it was filled with a red argillaceous earth, thinly mixed, with minute parts of transparent quartz crystals; the remaining foot and a half, to the bottom, contained an aggregate of water-worn stones, which were from the size of a goose's egg to that of a small walnut, and consisted of red jaspers, yellowish white flints, white quartz, and bluish white agates, firmly combined by a yellowish

brown stalactitical calcareous spar. In this breccia I could not discover any fragment of the mountain rock or any other calcareous matter, except the cement with which it was combined. This pot is 940 feet above the level of the sea.

"Upon the west side of the mountain, towards its base, some strata occur, which are heterogenial to the mountain rock: the first, or highest forms the sedgement of a circle; its convex side is towards the mountain and it slopes also in that direction. This stratum consists of a number of thin beds; the outward one being the thinest, is in a state of decomposition, and is mouldering down into a blackish brown or ferruginous coloured earth. The beds, inferior to this, progressively increase in breadth to 17 inches, where the stratification rests upon a rock of an argillaceous nature.

"This last bed, which is 17 inches thick, consists of quartz of a blackish blue colour, in the septa or cracks of which are found fine quartz crystals, colourless, and perfectly transparent. These crystals are composed of eighteen planes, disposed in hexangular columns, terminated at both extremities by hexangular pyramids. The largest of those that I have seen does not exceed two-eights of an inch in length: they, in general, adhere to the rock by the sides of the column, but are detached without difficulty. Their great degree of transparency has obtained them the name of Gibraltar diamonds.

"At no great distance from where these chrystals are found, upon the same slope of the mountain, but rather nearer to the level of the sea, a stratum of argillaceous matter has been laid open, divided into I 4

many

« PreviousContinue »