Their Language Is Said To Be Copious And Significant; And Is Often
Learned By Europeans Trading To Senegal.
I cannot say much of it from my
own knowledge; but have preserved their numerals, which are these:
One ......... _Wean_.
Two ......... _Yar_.
Three ......... _Yat_.
Four ......... _Yanet_.
Five ......... _Judom_.
Six ......... _Judom Wean_.
Seven ......... _Judom Yar_.
Eight ......... _Judom Yat_.
Nine ......... _Judom Yanet_.
Ten ......... _Fook_.
Eleven ......... _Fook aug Wean_, &c.
The Foulahs, (or Pholeys,) such of them at least as reside near the
Gambia, are chiefly of a tawny complexion, with soft silky hair, and
pleasing features. They are much attached to a pastoral life, and have
introduced themselves into all the kingdoms on the windward coast as
herdsmen and husbandmen, paying a tribute to the sovereign of the country
for the lands which they hold. Not having many opportunities, however,
during my residence at Pisania, of improving my acquaintance with these
people, I defer entering at large into their character, until a fitter
occasion occurs, which will present itself when I come to Bondou.
The Mandingoes, of whom it remains to speak, constitute in truth the bulk
of the inhabitants in all those districts of Africa which I visited; and
their language, with a few exceptions, is universally understood and very
generally spoken in that part of the continent. Their numerals are
these:[2]
One ......... _Killin_.
Two ......... _Foola_.
Three ......... _Sabba_.
Four ......... _Nani_.
Five ......... _Looloo_.
Six ......... _Woro_.
Seven ......... _Oronglo_.
Eight ......... _Sie_.
Nine ......... _Conunta_.
Ten ......... _Tang_.
Eleven ......... _Tan ning killin_, &c.
[2] In the Travels of Francis Moore the reader will find a pretty
copious vocabulary of the Mandingo language, which in general is
correct.
They are called Mandingoes, I conceive, as having originally migrated
from the interior state of Manding, of which some account will hereafter
be given; but, contrary to the present constitution of their parent
country, which is republican, it appeared to me that the government in
all the Mandingo states, near the Gambia, is monarchical. The power of
the sovereign is, however, by no means unlimited. In all affairs of
importance, the king calls an assembly of the principal men, or elders,
by whose councils he is directed, and without whose advice he can neither
declare war nor conclude peace.
In every considerable town there is a chief magistrate, called the
_Alkaid_, whose office is hereditary, and whose business it is to
preserve order, to levy duties on travellers, and to preside at all
conferences in the exercise of local jurisdiction and the administration
of justice. These courts are composed of the elders of the town, (of free
condition,) and are termed _palavers_; and their proceedings are
conducted in the open air with sufficient solemnity. Both sides of a
question are freely canvassed, witnesses are publicly examined, and the
decisions which follow generally meet with the approbation of the
surrounding audience.
As the Negroes have no written language of their own, the general rule of
decision is an appeal to _ancient custom_; but since the system of
Mahomet has made so great progress among them, the converts to that faith
have gradually introduced, with the religious tenets, many of the civil
institutions of the Prophet; and where the Koran is not found
sufficiently explicit, recourse is had to a commentary called _Al
Sharru_, containing, as I was told, a complete exposition or digest of
the Mahomedan laws, both civil and criminal, properly arranged and
illustrated.
This frequency of appeal to written laws, with which the Pagan natives
are necessarily unacquainted, has given rise in their palavers to (what I
little expected to find in Africa) professional advocates, or expounders
of the law, who are allowed to appear and to plead for plaintiff or
defendant, much in the same manner as counsel in the law courts of Great
Britain. They are Mahomedan Negroes who have made, or affect to have
made, the laws of the Prophet their peculiar study; and if I may judge
from their harangues, which I frequently attended, I believe that in the
forensic qualifications of procrastination and cavil, and the arts of
confounding and perplexing a cause, they are not always surpassed by the
ablest pleaders in Europe. While I was at Pisania a cause was heard which
furnished the Mahomedan lawyers with an admirable opportunity of
displaying their professional dexterity. The case was this: An ass
belonging to a Serawoolli Negro (a native of an interior country near the
River Senegal) had broke into a field of corn belonging to one of the
Mandingo inhabitants, and destroyed great part of it. The Mandingo having
caught the animal in his field, immediately drew his knife and cut its
throat. The Serawoolli thereupon called a _palaver_ (or in European
terms, _brought an action_) to recover damages for the loss of his beast,
on which he set a high value. The defendant confessed he had killed the
ass, but pleaded a _set-off_, insisting that the loss he had sustained by
the ravage in his corn was equal to the sum demanded for the animal. To
ascertain this fact was the point at issue, and the learned advocates
contrived to puzzle the cause in such a manner, that, after a hearing of
three days, the court broke up without coming to any determination upon
it; and a second palaver was, I suppose, thought necessary.
The Mandingoes, generally speaking, are of a mild, sociable, and obliging
disposition. The men are commonly above the middle size, well shaped,
strong, and capable of enduring great labour; the women are good-natured,
sprightly, and agreeable. The dress of both sexes is composed of cotton
cloth, of their own manufacture; that of the men is a loose frock, not
unlike a surplice, with drawers which reach half way down the leg; and
they wear sandals on their feet, and white cotton caps on their heads.
The women's dress consists of two pieces of cloth, each of which they
wrap round the waist, which, hanging down to the ancles, answers the
purpose of a petticoat: the other is thrown negligently over the bosom
and shoulders.
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