Footnote 179:[ (return) ] See Martin Martinius. Abraham Ecchellensis. Maccarius, Theolog. Polemic. Peter Cevaller. Robert de Retz, translator of the Koran. See also the support of this assertion in Jackson's Account of the Empire of Marocco, enlarged edition, published by Cadell and Davies, Strand, from p. 196. to 208.
The abolition of the slave-trade cannot be effected until we shall have substituted some commerce with the Negro countries, equivalent at least, or that shall be more than equivalent to it, otherwise the negro sovereigns of Sudan will never be induced to relinquish so great a source of profit. Every naval officer in His Majesty's service knows, that if we were to have thirty sail of the line continually off the coast of Guinea, it would not be sufficient to annihilate this abominable traffic, or to deter people from embarking in a trade that yields such extraordinary profits. This being admitted, as it certainly will be by every intelligent man, it follows, that the system now in operation by the British government for the abolition of the slave-trade, will be attended only with an unnecessary expense to this country, without the possibility of effecting the desired object; but, on the contrary, judging from recent events, there is every reason to presume, that this detestable commerce will increase, as it has continued to increase, these last two or three years, in spite of all our operations to prevent it; the Spaniards alone having imported into the island of Cuba more slaves in 1818 and 1819, than in the four preceding years. The result has been, that that island has produced, in 1819, more than double the produce of the former year; their waste lands, accordingly, are in progressive cultivation, and, if they go on thus improving, that island, in a few years hence, will produce coffee and sugar sufficient for the supply of all the markets of Europe.
Finally, Slavery will never give way to any thing but civilisation; the civilisation of Africa can never be accomplished but through a great and extensive commercial intercourse, a commerce that will enrich the negroes, and enable them, by a supply of arms, to contend with and gain an ascendancy over their Muhamedan oppressors, who want no other pretext for attacking them, than that of their being idolaters, which idolatry, it is asserted, authorises the Muselman to make them slaves. Thus, the abolition of slavery must depend on the Africans themselves; and although it is in our power to supply them with the means for their emancipation, yet it is absurd to suppose that we can effect it by our naval operations. If all the great sovereigns of Europe were to agree to make the trading in slaves piracy, they would not prevent it. We cannot emancipate them; that only can be accomplished by their own energy, awakened in them by commercial intercourse, and its accompanying civilisation.
Much might be done if all the African societies were to unite their interest, knowledge, and abilities for this desired object. If the African Company would unite their energies with the African Association, and with the African Institution, such an union would promote the civilisation of the African continent, and the conversion of the Negroes to Christianity.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE MOSQUES.
The architecture of this country is of the Gothic character. The mosques are built somewhat like our churches: the body of the mosques are covered with green glazed tiles; the steeples are invariably an exact square, the sides being ten or twelve feet, not tapering as those of Coventry, but the top having the same dimensions as the base. At the top is erected a smaller square, with a flag-staff similar to a gallows, to which is suspended every day at noon, a white flag, the signal of preparation for prayers; but on Fridays, the Muhamedan Sabbath, a dark-blue one is substituted for the same purpose. Some of the mosques are paved with white and black chequered marble, some are tessellated pavements, consisting of white, blue, and green glazed tiles, about two inches square, a very pretty mode of paving, extremely clean, and has a very cool appearance; others are terrassed, which is lime and small stones beaten down with wooden mallets. They excel in the art of making terras. The houses are all flat roofed, so as to resist the heaviest rains: the declivity of the terrasses is so imperceptible, that it is just sufficient to give the rains a tendency to the great conduit or pipe that leads to the mitfere underneath the house, which is underground, and has a terras bottom, impervious to the water. Here is collected water sufficient for the family or household during the year; the lime that washes into the mitfere from the terrassed roof, purifies the water, and preserves it from worms and other insects. They have no ornaments in their mosques; but the place where the Mufti or Fakeer reads prayers, is covered with mats or carpets; the rest of the floor is bare, and the respective individuals prostrate themselves on the bare floor, or on an antelope's or Elhorreh [180] skin, or the skin of a lion or tiger, prepared in a superior manner by the tanners at Marocco, the leather of which is made soft as silk, and white as snow.
Footnote 180:[ (return) ] For a description of this curious animal, see Jackson's Marocco, page 83, Chapter on Zoology.
The bodies of the dead are never laid in the mosques or near them, but are invariably carried out of the town, to some coba [181] in the vicinity. The bodies of the dead are washed, and covered with lawn, and placed on an oblong wooden machine, resembling a box without a cover, called a kiffen; it has four legs about six inches long, to uphold it from the ground, and two horizontal projections at each end, to place on the shoulders of four men, generally the nearest relations of the deceased, who thus carry the body to the grave, chaunting with the whole company, amounting sometimes to some hundreds, La Allah, ila Allah wa Muhamed Rassule Allah, "There is no God but God, and Muhamed is the prophet of God." This repetition may appear extraordinary to the English reader; but let it be observed that the Muhamedans never use the pronoun for the name of the Omnipotent, but invariably the noun. The body is taken out of the bier, and laid in the ground, the face upwards, without any coffin or box, the legs towards Mecca, and then covered with earth, so that it might, at the resurrection, rise with its eyes towards (El Kaaba) Muhamed's mausoleum. No money is paid for the ground, nor is any expense paid for a monument: a stick or a stone stands erect at the head, and another at the feet. If the deceased lived a moral, inoffensive, and exemplary life, the public, at its own expense, oftentimes erects (kaba) a cubical building with a dome at the top to the departed, and he is thence denominated (fakeer) a saint.