An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa

by active 1820 Abd Salam Shabeeny

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.)

Liverpool, Dec. 17. 1818.

Sir,

In "The Portfolio," a Monthly Miscellany for May, 1817, published at Philadelphia, there is rather an interesting review of Ali Bey's travels. The writer says, "Ali Bey has rectified various errors in the common maps of Marocco. The river Luccos, for instance, flows to the South, and not to the North of Alcasser; and the city of Fas, according to Ali Bey, is situated in 34° 6' north latitude, and not as laid down in the Maps of Arrowsmith, Rennell, Delille, Golberri, &c."--If, however, he had given himself the trouble to consult the map of West Barbary, in Jackson's Account of Marocco, &c. &c. (which is by far the most accurate extant, and whose geographical orthography has been adopted in all the best modern English maps,) he would have seen that Fas is in 34° north latitude; that the river Elkos, or Luccos, is described in that map, (which was published several years before Ali Bey's travels,) as running south of Alcasser.

In describing the funeral cry at Marocco, the editor, or reviewer, impresses his reader with an idea that this funeral cry is that of the Moors, whereas it is no such thing: it is the practice of the Jews only in West Barbary to cry "Ah! Ah!" and lacerate their faces with their finger nails; after which they wash, drink brandy, and enjoy themselves.

The large sea in the interior of Africa, described by Ali Bey to be without any communication with the Ocean, had been described (years before Ali Bey's travels were published) by Jackson, in his Account of Marocco, &c. &c. third edition, p. 309, and called first by him Bahar Sudan, and represented as a sea having decked vessels on it. Mr. Park, in his Second Journey, calls this sea the Bahar Seafina, without, however, informing the public, or knowing, that the Bahar Sefeena is an Arabic expression implying a sea of ships, or a sea where ships are found; and the situation he places it in coincides exactly with Jackson's prior description. There are thus three concurrent testimonies of the situation of the Bahar Sudan, or Sea of Sudan, first noticed by Jackson, and since confirmed by Ali Bey and Park. [²⁷⁴]

Footnote 274:[ (return) ] There is an able discussion of this subject in the New Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, article "Africa," p. 104, and 105.

El Hage Hamed El Wangary.

On the Negroes.