In the description of their Governments, a few instances of small Republics are given; but most of their States are monarchical; and of these, the inhabitants of the Mahometan Kingdom of Degombah are distinguished by the custom of taming the Elephant, and by that of selling for slaves the prisoners they take from such of the bordering nations as motives of religion or of avarice prompt them to invade.
Such, however, is the mildness of the Negro character, that even the asperities of religious disagreement appear to have no effect on their general conduct; for there is reason to believe, from the Shereef’s account, that the Musselman and the Pagan are indiscriminately mixed, that their cattle feed upon the same mountain, and that the approach of evening sends them in peace to the same village: and though the nations who are attacked by the people of Degombah punish with death, as guilty of atrocious injustice, such of the invaders as the chance of war throws into their hands, yet those of the Mahometans who visit them for the purposes of trade, are received with protection and respect.
To the Merchants of Fezzan, who travel to the southern States of the Negros, the purchase of gold, which the dominions of several, and especially of those of Degombah, abundantly afford, is always the first object of commercial acquisition. The other articles which they obtain, consist of
- Slaves,
- Cotton Cloth,
- Goat-Skins, of a beautiful dye,
- Hides of Buffaloes and Cows, and
- A species of Nut—which is much valued in the kingdoms to the North of the Niger, and which is called Gooroo. It grows on a large and broad leafed tree that bears a pod of about eighteen inches in length, in which are inclosed a number of nuts that varies from seven to nine. Their colour is a yellowish green; their size is that of a chesnut, which they also resemble in being covered by a husk of a similar thickness; and their taste, which is described as a pleasant bitter, is so grateful to those who are accustomed to its use, and so important as a corrective to the unpalatable or unwholesome waters of Fezzan, and of the other kingdoms that border on the vast Zahara, as to be deemed of importance to the happiness of life.
No commercial value appears to be annexed to the fleeces which the numerous flocks of the Negro kingdoms afford; for the cotton manufacture, which, the Shereef says, is established among the tribes to the South of the Niger, seems to be the only species of weaving that is known among them. Perhaps the dark colour of the fleece, as disqualifying it for the dye, may be one reason, and its coarse and hairy nature may be another, of the little esteem in which it appears to be held.
In return for the articles which they sell to their foreign visitors, the Negros receive—
- Salt, from the Merchants of Agadez,
- Dutch Knives,
- Sabre Blades,
- Carpets,
- Coral,
- Beads,
- Looking-Glasses,
- Civet,
- Imperial Dollars and Brass—from both of which the Negro artists manufacture rings and bracelets for their women.
Fire Arms are unknown to such of the nations on the South of the Niger as the Shereef has visited; and the reason which he assigns for it is, that the Kings in the neighbourhood of the coast, persuaded that if these powerful instruments of war should reach the possession of the populous inland States, their own independence would be lost, have strictly prohibited, and by the wisdom of their measures, have effectually prevented this dangerous merchandize from passing beyond the limit of their dominions.