horizontally on two forked poles. In one of the ends of the bamboo is a small aperture for the passage of the insects, and when the season for taking the honey arrives, the bees are expelled in the same manner as in Europe. The mead manufactured among many of the tribes is little inferior to that made in our own country. The beer, on the contrary, is not for the most part good, because the process is badly conducted, and the absence of hops renders it heavy and more liable to sour. When Dalzel was at the court of Dahomy, he observed a sort of liquor called Pitto, manufactured by the ladies of the palace, of an agreeable flavour and heady quality, which was prepared from maiz or millet regularly fermented. Visitors are always honored with a glass of this beverage, or some other cordial, filled by the king's own hand, which, if refused, gives offence. Favours of this kind are received with avidity by his subjects as a great honour; on such occasions, the individual lies on his back while the king holds the bottle to his mouth, in which posture he must drink till the royal hand be withdrawn, which sometimes does not happen until the whole contents are emptied, especially when he has a mind to sport with the drinker. No subject can drink out of a glass in presence of the king of Dahomy; and although that monarch does not eat in public, he makes no scruple to drink in public. French brandy and other European liquors are plentiful, as well as palm wine; and convivial salutations, in the form of toasts, are common. On one occasion, when the king was going to battle, a warrior, who accompanied him, drank success to his arms, adding, that should he be unfortunate, he hoped he would not survive the disgrace, but perish like the glass out of which he drank, dashing it to pieces as he spoke.—Entertainments are frequently held in the market place of the capital; and it has been known, that 130 of the king's wives have been employed carrying provisions for the accommodation of the parties. The drinking cups in general use are made of gourds, or calabashes, from which are likewise formed various utensils, such as bottles, jars, and pitchers: some of these gourds are so large as to measure a yard in diameter; they are often converted into washing tubs, or vessels for fermenting the materials of pitto. The king of Dahomy, although at the head of a rude and barbarous people, displayed, according to Dalzel, sentiments worthy of a civilized sovereign. In a speech which he made on hearing what had passed in England, on the subject of the slave trade, he used the following remarkable observation :-" What hurts me most," said he, "is, that some of your people have maliciously misrepresented us in books which never die, alleging that we sell our wives and children for the sake of procuring a few kegs of brandy. No, we are shame

fully belied, and I hope you will contradict, from my mouth, the seandalous falsehoods that have been propagated, and tell posterity that we have been abused. We do, indeed, sell to the white men a part of our prisoners, and we have a right so to do. Are not all prisoners at the disposal of their captors, and are we to blame if we send delinquents to a far country: I have been told you do the same."*

Of another Dahoman sovereign, it is related, that he displayed great ingenuity and cleverness in subduing a powerful neighbouring monarch. Being opposed by a great army, he saw that if he attacked it in an open manner, defeat must ensue; he therefore had recourse to the following stratagem. Affecting to retreat, he placed a large magazine of spirituous liquors under a strong escort, with directions to rest at a neighbouring village. Leaving this in his rere, under the expectation that his enemies would indulge themselves to excess, when finding that his stratagem was successful, he returned on the enemy, and routed them with immense slaughter.

Captain Clapperton found at Wow-Wow, the metropolis of Borghoo, a kind of ale, bearing the name of Pitto, obtained from the same grain as that used for a like purpose in Dahomy, and by a process nearly similar to the brewing of beer in England from malt, only that no. hops were added, a defect which prevented it keeping for any length of time.t

The people of the countries from the Gambia to the Senegal use palm wine diluted with water, and a kind of beer called Ballo.

In the centre of Africa, the same propensity for ardent spirits actuates the followers of the Prophet as strongly as in Turkey. The drinking of palm wine and bouza prevails to a great extent, particularly after the feast of the Ramadan. On the day following, every description of persons, Pagan and Mahometan, forget all distinctions of rank, sex, and age, and are to be seen revelling together in all the wild extravagance of intoxication. In the records of Clapperton's last expedition to Africa, we are assured that inebriety, which was probably unknown to the Aborigines, or, if known, partially indulged in, is now familiar and carried to great excess; and to this may be attributed a great many irregularities committed in that quarter of the globe. All persons, from the king to the beggar, evince an attachment to spirituous liquors. When the king of Badagry, with his attendants, honoured Clapperton with a visit, he drank rum till he forgot what was due to Majesty, and became as convivial as the meanest of

Dalzel's History of Dahomy, 4to. passim.

† Records of Captain Clapperton's last Expedition to Africa, 2 vols. 8vo. vol. i. p. 133 and 187.

F

his subjects. Seated with a large umbrella over his head and à British flag, held by white men, floating in the air, his spirits exhilarated by the soul-inspiring draught, and enchanted by the melodious sounds of delicious music, he looked and spoke as if he were the happiest man in existence, while the acclamations of the people, accompanied by snapping of fingers, clapping of hands, singing, hallooing, and dancing, rendered the scene one of more than ordinary bacchanalian cast. The same traveller and his companions were obliged to pay a tribute of rum to the chief of a village near Humba, which, when received, was taken by this personage in mouthfuls, and squirted so adroitly into the gaping jaws of his thirsty attendants, that each aspirant for this mark of distinction, received a portion of the bewitching fluid with peculiar satisfaction. Palm wine forms, in Badagry, an article of commerce, and is as regularly exposed for sale in the markets as any other commodity. At a village called Weza, Clapperton met with a beverage termed Otèe, which he describes as a kind of ale made from millet, and of a very enlivening nature. Another sort of ale, styled gear, drawn from Indian corn, was found at Ragada, besides a liquor named bum of an intoxicating quality.

The practice of drinking bouza, as well as that of another beverage called Merissah, prevails to a considerable extent in Sudan or Dar Fur. The Sultan Abdelrahman, in 1795, published an ordinance prohibiting the use of it altogether, under pain of death. Even the unfortunate women who made it had their heads shaved and were exposed to every possible degradation; but as the habit of using it was of older standing than the profession of Islamism, companies are yet known to sit from sun-rise to sun-set, drinking and conversing, till a single man will sometimes carry off with him two gallons of this liquor.* Bouza having a diuretic and diaphoretic tendency, precludes the danger usually attendant on such excesses. In Dar Fur, they have a species of bread called Ginscia, prepared from the small kassob termed dokn, (millet.) The grain is coarsely ground, saturated with water, and allowed to undergo a slight fermentation. This mixture is worked into paste called Kissery, and, when about to be used, water is added, which renders it a palatable food, slightly acid, and of an inebriating quality, with a narcotic tendency. This preparation is very convenient for travellers, and hence the caravans take care to have a constant supply. Perhaps this is the description of bread mentioned by Lobo, which so intoxicated him, that one of his friends considered it to be the effects of wine. The Lybians of the

desert drink beer, brewed at Alexandria, though they frequently use native wine.

The inhabitants of Fezzan are much addicted to drunkenness: their favourite beverage is the fresh juice of the date tree, called lugibi, or a drink termed busa, which is prepared from dates, and is very intoxieating. When friends assemble in the evening, the ordinary amusement is mere drinking and conviviality. A revenue of some consequence arises from the dates, which, according to Ben Ali, his Fezzanic majesty collects by a tax on the trees and not on the quantity of fruit they produce.*

Amidst the beverages which are common among the natives of the interior of Africa, we do not find that any of them appears to be produced by distillation. That art seems to be altogether unknown to them, a circumstance the more surprising as they are acquainted with other inventions more complicated. The working in iron, tanning, and dyeing are familiar to them, in which to such a degree of perfection have they arrived in some places as to rival European ingenuity. The early acquaintance of the Arabs with the tribes of the interior of Africa, might lead one to think that the intercourse would have less or more promulgated their acquirements in chemistry and of consequence in distillation; but we do not find, either from the writings of the learned, or the observations of travellers, that even the slightest traces of such knowledge are perceptible, a proof that distillation was not known or practised by the Arabians at the time of their first connexion with the people of the interior of Africa.

The tribes inhabiting the western coast are equally prone to the pleasures of inebriation as those already described. In Congo, the people cultivate the palm for the love of its juice and shew considerable expertness in the manufacture of the wine, which is obtained as follows:-at certain times of the year they ascend the trees by the help of a hoop, and when they perceive a flower blown they cut it off with a knife, and fasten the point of the cut stalk into a calabash called a capasso. It remains suspended in that way for a short time, and on being taken down is found full of a liquor as white as whey. This they ferment, and having racked off, give it the name of Milaffo. The whole, however large the quantity, must be consumed in three days, otherwise it would become sour and turn rancid. In this country are to be found eight or nine species of the palm from which wine is drawn of various denominations: 1st, Jamata; 2d, Matoba;

• Horneman's Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan, 4to.

3d, Coccata; 4th, Congo; 5th, Maccebecco, or Maonger; but of all these sorts the Congo is the best.

In such parts of Congo as do not produce palm wine, a substitute for it is procured from Indian corn or wheat soaked in water, pounded and fermented in the usual way: this is called Guallo. In the entertainments of the Congoese, the master of the ceremonies, after having served the company with meat in the most exact manner, holds the moringo, or flask, to the person's mouth that drinks; and when he thinks he has got sufficient, he puts it away, and observes the same practice with all the other guests to the end of the feast; for they, with the exception of the monarch, never use cups or glasses.* Calabashes are the principal drinking vessels used by most of the tribes along the western coast of Africa, and they are extremely useful for all manner of domestic or household purposes. Small ones are employed for holding snuff, or liquids, and they are generally ornamented with figures sometimes cut in high and sometimes in low relief. The annexed drawing is a representation of the moringo, or flask, formed of the calabash; and is similar to that attached to the branches of the palm tree to receive the juice or toddy.