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Leader (1850-1860), 21st August 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, jfo. 439, Atjgtjst 21,1858.] - ¦ T H E- ...

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      Jfo. 439, Atjgtjst 21,1858.] - ¦ T H E- ...

      jfo . 439 , Atjgtjst 21 , 1858 . ] - ¦ T H E- I , E A PER . 839

      Icitolttltr? ^Uuttluu. —•?

      : Ititenitixre-^ ¦

      ——V Critics Are Not The Legislators, But...

      ——v Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of litera-tuie . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them .- —Edinburgh Review . 4

      Teavels In Central At11ica. Travels And ...

      TEAVELS IN CENTRAL AT 11 ICA . Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa . Being a Journal of an Expedition , undertaken under the Auspices of ELB . M . 's Government , in tlie years 1849-1855 . By Henry Bartb , Ph . D-, D . C . L . Vols . IV . and V . Longman and Co . Thb general character of Dr . Barth ' s researclies and discoveries is now well known . For many years , even before he published a single line of this important wori , every one interested- in the nrocrress of

      geographical knowledge , had followed his movements with , intense anxiety . His name has become intimately connected with Central Africa ; and it is scarcely possible to . think of one without tliinking of the other . We ourselves remember it as having presented itself to us very long ago under peculiar circumstances . A man , wrapped in . an Arab burnous , rode up to an Egyptian hotel almost fainting , supported and surrounded by a mob of chattering Arabs . He had just performed a great feat , which he seemed to regard as a simple promenade . Starting from Tripoli with but one attendant , he had ridden

      along the whole coast , round the great Syrtis , by Cyrene and Marmariea , and through the desert of the Waled AIL When about a week ' s journey from Egypt , he had been attacked by some marauders , ana , wounded in . the thigh , had escaped with much difficulty , been received by hospitable or prudent Bedouins , and had at length arrived at a place of safety . He kept very much apart from the residents o £ Alexandria , and we are afraid they rather assisted bis love of solitude- His wound healed , and a few months after he was heard of asexploring the coasts of the Red Sea , and contributing articles thereon to a small scientific sheet published at Cairo . , ' '' ¦ ¦ ' - ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦¦ ' '

      Since then we have heard of this vigorous Prussian gentleman as undertaking various explorations on his own account ; and his reputation appears to have spread in the proper quarter . For-when the British Government determined on sending an expedition into Central Africa , by way of the Desert of Sahara , Dr .-Barth had but to propose his cooperation to be accepted . His appearance on the European scene at that particular time may be regarded as peculiarly fortunate . Many srentlcinen

      from first to last , became attached to the mission , and all have perished , save one—succumbing to the dangers of every kind with which that vast , mysterious region on the confines of Mahomedanism and Paganism is rife . Nor has it been from want of enterprise or from any particular care of his person that Dr . Barth has survived . On the contrary . Messrs . Richardson , Vogel , and Obcrseeg were all courageous , energetic nven , rcatly at any time to run the risk of their lives for the

      attainment of the objects of their mission . But in these qualities they did not surpass Dr . Barth , who indeed , . as a daring' and sagacious explorer , must not be placed second to any man . The boldness and devotion lie has displayed would go to make a cohort of ordinary heroes . The veteran who lias passed through a hundred fights has no right to refuse precedence to this traveller , who starts \ yitli calm deliberation on a seven , years'journey , during which his life must be in danger every day and hour , -who never looks back , but , without noise and without clamour , steadily carries on his work to the end . We

      think it right to make these observations on noticing the concluding volumes of Dr . Bavth's \ york . As critics , liowcver , we may now object to the extreme bulk of this narrative . If it has been the labour of years to compose , it would be almost the labour of months to read , were not its contents so generally interesting . In the present portion there arc comparatively few salient points . The uuthot does not possess the art of word-painthiir .

      However , all he has to relate is so IVesh and so evidently authentic that ., even nfl . cr turning over those ponderous volumes for hours , until we found our nl tention beginning to flag , we have often been suddenly wrested , forced to bury ourselves in the subject , and carried away , nolens volens , to tho centre of Africa , amidst thickets of dum , on shores of native hikes , on the brink of unknown creeks and buck-waters , or floating on the culm surface : of thai broad river which , although deprived of really interesting ancient associations , has the power by its name ol

      fascinating the more indifferent , reader , and awakening the most drowsy audience . There are many circumstances which connect emotion in an English breast with the Niger . A very peculiar effect is produced by the perusal of Dr . Bartb / s narrative . He has himself become so familiar with those remote regions , that nothing surprises him or strikes his imagination . He always moves along as if he were pacing the Dessaner-strasse . At first , therefore , he communicates the same feeling . of nonchalance , to his readers . Vi e pass from chapter to chapter and get quite at home , as he is , at Zinder and Sokofo , at Libtako

      and Gurrna . The empire of Songhay comes to appear quite as real as the empire of Austria , and Timbuktu ceases to sound mysteriously . We might be travelling in Yorkshire with Mr . Walter White . However , now and then , not by any literary art on the part of the writer , but simply on account of the uncommon nature of the scenes described , ve are aroused and startled , and . reminded that we are dealing with regions m physical aspect and the character of their inhabitants as widely different as it is possible to be . on the surface of the same globe frequented by beings of the same species . Dr . Barth has lived so long in Africa , and studied its traditions with so much enthusiasm and care , that he has begun to invest them with perhaps exaggerrated importance . To most of us the

      antiquities and annals of these barbarous nations ,, who have been conquering and massacring one another south of the Sahara from time immemorial , seem no more interesting than those of Milton ' s " Kites and Crows . " However , this 13 not a state of mind we would absolutely , defend . It is better to toe too serious in studying the chronicles of any fairrily of human beings than too flippant . Dj ' . Barth speaks of the comparatively modern agglomerations of buildings , where black chieftains and their black subjects used to shelter after their forajs and slave hunts , in the- following solemn tone : — " We reached , after a march of about three miles , the site of the ancient capital of the Bprmi empire , Ghasr Heggomo , " & c . : —

      "Winding round the swamp ( for the nature of a swamp or kuliigu -was more apparent , at present , than that of a branch of the river ) , we reached , after a march of about tliree miles , the site of the ancient capital of the Bdrriu empire , Ghasr-e ' ggcmo , which , as I hare stated on a former occasion , was built by the king 4 Ah' Ghnjideni , towards the end of the fifteenth century , after the dynasty had been driven from its ancient seats in Kiinem , and ,. after a desperate struggle between unsettled elements , began to concentrate itself under the powerful rule of this mighty king . The site was visited by , the members of the former expedition , and it has been called by tliem by the half-Arabic name of

      learned and intelligent men gathering round their sovereign , and a priest writing down the history of tlie glorious achievements of his master , and thus securing them from oblivion . Pity that that he was not awar « that his work might fall Into the hands of people from quite another part of the -world , and of so different * stage of civilisation , language , and learning ! else he would certainly not have failed to Lave given to posterity a more distinct clue to the chronology of the history of his native country .

      It is remarkable that the area of the town , although tlnckly overgrown with rank grass , is quite bare of tree 3 , while the wall is closely hemmed in by a dense forest ; and when I entered the ruins , I found them to be the haunt of a couple of tall ostriches , the only present possessors of this once animated ground : but on . the south-west corner , at some distance from the wall , there was a small hamlet . All these African explorers are alike . This reminds us of Mr . Richardson's description of the good cit y of Tintellust , which seems to have been a collection of as shabby huts as one could wish to see . Then we have '' general observations on the history of Songhay and Timbuktu , " based on

      manuscript history " ranging from the very dawn of historical records down to the year 1640 of our era , ' * which the indefatigable doctor " had an opportunity of perusing . " The results are very important foe the elucidation of tlie geography oi Central Africa , and it is only , no doubt , because of the surprise created by the application of familiar phrases such as we have quoted to almost unknown kingdoms in which we are not accustomed to feel interest that "Dr . Barth ' s earnestness creates a smile . Liet us contrast with the above-quoted passage a wayside observation , which , though so simply stated , brings tlie lawless and dangerous character of the country traversed by Dr . Barth very vividly before the reader ' s mind : —

      ^ It was ten o ' clock when our cavalcade at length pat itself in motion , ascending the sandhills which rise close behind the village of . Kifbara , and which , to my great regret , had prevented my * obtaining a view of the town from the toj ) of our terrace . Tlie contrast of this desolate scenery with the character of the fertile banks of the river which I had just left behind was remarkable . The Avhole tract bore decidedly the character of a desert , although the path was thickly lined on both sides with thorny bushes and stunted trees , which were being cleared away in some places in order to render the path less obstructed and more safe , as the Tawarek never fail to infest it , and at present were particularly dreaded on account of their having killed a few days previously three petty Tawati traders on their way to ATawdn . It is from the unsafe character of this short road between

      the harbour and the toivn , that the spot , about half way between Kabara and Timbuktu , bears the remarkable name of " Ur-iixiniandes , " "he does not hear / ' meaning the place where the cry of the unfortunate victim is not heard from either side . "We cannot undertake within our brief space to offer any analysis of this concluding portion of Dr . Bavth's work . All we can say is that the geographical student will find its results to be most valuable . It will effect a complete revolution in . the map of the countries called by the Arabs Soudan .

      Birni-Kadim , the " old capital , "—even the BoYnu people in general designating the place only by the name birni , or burni . The town hnd nearly a regular oval shape , hut , notwithstanding tlie great exaggerations of former Arab informant ? , who , have , asserted that this town surpassed Cairo- ( or INfnsr el Kfihirn ) in size , and was a day ' s march across , was little more than six English miles in circumference , being encompassed by a strong wall , M-ith six or seven gat ? s ; which , in its present dilapidated state , forms a small ridge , and seems clearly to indicate that , when the town was conquered by the Fulbo or Felltitn , the attack was made from tAvo

      dif-Indced , we can scarcely be said ever to have had any accurate . knowledge of those countries before . Dr . Barth lias trodden hundreds , of new tracts and sailed on reaches of rivers which Jiave never before mot the European gaze . Ue makes almost as familiar wif h tlie Niger ns with ilia Nile . If his narrative be defective in any respect it is in those lively paintings of human groups in which Mr . Richardson excelled . He is observing , however , mid we have marked one or two nnssuges to quote ns a sample of hundreds of oilieis . Here arc some desert characters •—

      ferent sides , viz . the south-west and north-west , wliere the lower part of tlie Avail hnd been dug away . Tlie interior of the town exhibits ver } - little that i . s romnrkable . The principal Imilding . s consist of baked bricks ; and in tlie present cajpitnl not the smallest approach is made to this more solid mode of architecture . The dimensions of the palace appear to have been very large , although nothing but tho ground plun of Inrge empty aireus can be made out at present , while the very small dimensions of the mosque , which hnd live aisles , . seem to afford sufficient proof that none but tho people intiinntelv connected with the court used to attend the

      Sudiiktu himself wna very unwell , and greatly wanted my medical assistance ; but after I hud made him feel the euieuey of my medicines so strongly that he declared every evil to lie removed from his body , he did not reward my zcul witli so much oa a drop of milk . I therefore could ' not help observing , to the great delight of his subjects , that he wn . s tlie moot niggardly thief I had over met with . There * were , liowevcr , others who were more . social nnd communicative , if not more liberal , than tins chief . There wa * , first , a wealthy niiri goodlooking man of the mime of Jcmil , of tlio Ktl If iirruin ,

      service , jiiRt as is the case at the present time ; and it Rervcs , moreover , clenrly to establish tho fact that oven in former times , when the empire waa mo . st floumiiing , there was no such thing ns a rnddrese " , or college , attached to the mosque . The fact is , thait although iJrirnu at all times has hnd some learned men , Htudy ' ins always been a private ji flair , nmongst n few iixli-/ idunl * , encouraged l > y some distinguished men who hnd visited Eijfvpt nnd Arabia . Taking into connideii » tion

      or the people of Durrum , who evidently originate in a mixture of free Songhay people nnd Ini 6 n ! uigh , Jind ho himself seemed to uiiite ' in t \ ocrt .-iin Ac ^ reo tlio rpuilitiea of these ditiereut nntioiw , whilo hi * rich dress and his embonpoint proved t )> . il lie whs not an austere inhnbitnnt of the ( K'Hcrt . A / , 'i'c nt dual of trouble wns cuuaed me l > v auotlicr man « - ! ' the inline of Sinmiin , tho son of SfiU Amnior , anil the oldest of seven brothers , a very tU'h Anioshiitfli , who was totally blind , but who , nevertheless , expiated mo to retttori ; his sight ; and it really seemed ns if my Mend El Daluiy conurmed him in thid

      the great extent of tho empire during the period of its firnntlcur , and tho fertility nnd wealth of some of its province ? , which en used gold dust at that time to be brought to market hero in con ^ idoniblu quantity , it cannot be doubted that this nipitnl contained n . grcnt deal of l > nrbnTi

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 21, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21081858/page/15/