This Is So Highly Esteemed That
It Is Often Sold For The Value Of One Prime Slave.
They have
likewise a version of the Psalms of David (Zabora Dawidi); and,
lastly, the Book of Isaiah, which they call Lingeeli la Isa, and it
is in very high esteem.
I suspect, indeed, that in all these copies
there are interpolations of some of the peculiar tenets of Mohammed,
for I could distinguish in many passages the name of the Prophet.
It is possible, however, that this circumstance might otherwise have
been accounted for if my knowledge of the Arabic had been more
extensive. By means of those books many of the converted negroes
have acquired an acquaintance with some of the remarkable events
recorded in the Old Testament. The account of our first parents,
the death of Abel, the Deluge, the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the story of Joseph and his brethren, the history of Moses,
David, Solomon, etc; all these have been related to me, in the
Mandingo language, with tolerable exactness by different people; and
my surprise was not greater, on hearing these accounts from the lips
of the negroes, than theirs on finding that I was already acquainted
with them; for although the negroes in general have a very great
idea of the wealth and power of the Europeans, I am afraid that the
Mohammedan converts among them think but very lightly of our
superior attainments in religious knowledge. The white traders in
the maritime districts take no pains to counteract this unhappy
prejudice, always performing their own devotions in secret, and
seldom condescending to converse with the negroes in a friendly and
instructive manner. To me, therefore, it was not so much the
subject of wonder as matter of regret to observe that, while the
superstition of Mohammed has in this manner scattered a few faint
beams of learning among these poor people, the precious light of
Christianity is altogether excluded. I could not but lament that,
although the coast of Africa has now been known and frequented by
the Europeans for more than two hundred years, yet the negroes still
remain entire strangers to the doctrines of our holy religion. We
are anxious to draw from obscurity the opinions and records of
antiquity, the beauties of Arabian and Asiatic literature, etc.; but
while our libraries are thus stored with the learning of various
countries, we distribute with a parsimonious hand the blessings of
religious truth to the benighted nations of the earth. The natives
of Asia derive but little advantage in this respect from an
intercourse with us; and even the poor Africans, whom we affect to
consider as barbarians, look upon us, I fear, as little better than
a race of formidable but ignorant heathens. When I produced
Richardson's Arabic Grammar to some slatees on the Gambia, they were
astonished to think that any European should understand and write
the sacred language of their religion. At first they suspected that
it might have been written by some of the slaves carried from the
coast, but on a closer examination they were satisfied that no
bushreen could write such beautiful Arabic, and one of them offered
to give me an ass and sixteen bars of goods if I would part with the
book. Perhaps a short and easy introduction to Christianity, such
as is found in some of the catechisms for children, elegantly
printed in Arabic, and distributed on different parts of the coast,
might have a wonderful effect. The expense would be but trifling;
curiosity would induce many to read it; and the evident superiority
which it would possess over their present manuscripts, both in point
of elegance and cheapness, might at last obtain it a place among the
school-books of Africa.
The reflections which I have thus ventured to submit to my readers
on this important subject naturally suggested themselves to my mind
on perceiving the encouragement which was thus given to learning
(such as it is) in many parts of Africa. I have observed that the
pupils at Kamalia were most of them the children of pagans; their
parents, therefore, could have had no predilection for the doctrines
of Mohammed. Their aim was their children's improvement; and if a
more enlightened system had presented itself, it would probably have
been preferred. The children, too, wanted not a spirit of
emulation, which it is the aim of the tutor to encourage. When any
one of them has read through the Koran, and performed a certain
number of public prayers, a feast is prepared by the schoolmaster,
and the scholar undergoes an examination, or (in European terms)
takes out his degree. I attended at three different inaugurations
of this sort, and heard with pleasure the distinct and intelligent
answers which the scholars frequently gave to the bushreens, who
assembled on those occasions and acted as examiners. When the
bushreens had satisfied themselves respecting the learning and
abilities of the scholar, the last page of the Koran was put into
his hand, and he was desired to read it aloud. After the boy had
finished this lesson, he pressed the paper against his forehead and
pronounced the word Amen, upon which all the bushreens rose, and,
shaking him cordially by the hand, bestowed upon him the title of
bushreen.
When a scholar has undergone this examination, his parents are
informed that he has completed his education, and that it is
incumbent on them to redeem their son by giving to the schoolmaster
a slave or the price of a slave in exchange, which is always done if
the parents can afford to do it; if not, the boy remains the
domestic slave of the schoolmaster until he can, by his own
industry, collect goods sufficient to ransom himself.
About a week after the departure of Karfa three Moors arrived at
Kamalia with a considerable quantity of salt and other merchandise,
which they had obtained on credit from a merchant of Fezzan, who had
lately arrived at Kancaba.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 30 of 45
Words from 29751 to 30754
of 45368
