The Tribute They Pay Is Considerable; And
They Manifest Towards Their Moorish Superiors The Most Unlimited
Obedience And Submission, And Are Treated By Them With The Utmost
Indignity And Contempt.
The Moors of this and the other states
adjoining the country of the negroes resemble in their persons the
Mulattoes of the West Indies to so great a degree as not easily to
be distinguished from them; and, in truth, the present generation
seem to be a mixed race between the Moors (properly so called) of
the north and the negroes of the south, possessing many of the worst
qualities of both nations.
Of the origin of these Moorish tribes, as distinguished from the
inhabitants of Barbary, from whom they are divided by the Great
Desert, nothing further seems to be known than what is related by
John Leo, the African, whose account may be abridged as follows:-
Before the Arabian conquest, about the middle of the seventh
century, all the inhabitants of Africa, whether they were descended
from Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, or
Goths, were comprehended under the general name of Mauri, or Moors.
All these nations were converted to the religion of Mohammed during
the Arabian empire under the Kaliphs. About this time many of the
Numidian tribes, who led a wandering life in the desert, and
supported themselves upon the produce of their cattle, retired
southward across the Great Desert to avoid the fury of the Arabians;
and by one of those tribes, says Leo (that of Zanhaga), were
discovered, and conquered, the negro nations on the Niger. By the
Niger is here undoubtedly meant the river of Senegal, which in the
Mandingo language is Bafing, or the Black River.
To what extent these people are now spread over the African
continent it is difficult to ascertain. There is reason to believe
that their dominion stretches from west to east, in a narrow line or
belt, from the mouth of the Senegal (on the northern side of that
river) to the confines of Abyssinia. They are a subtle and
treacherous race of people, and take every opportunity of cheating
and plundering the credulous and unsuspecting negroes. But their
manners and general habits of life will be best explained as
incidents occur in the course of my narrative.
The difficulties we had already encountered, the unsettled state of
the country, and, above all, the savage and overbearing deportment
of the Moors, had so completely frightened my attendants that they
declared they would rather relinquish every claim to reward than
proceed one step farther to the eastward. Indeed, the danger they
incurred of being seized by the Moors, and sold into slavery, became
every day more apparent; and I could not condemn their
apprehensions. In this situation, deserted by my attendants, and
reflecting that my retreat was cut off by the war behind me, and
that a Moorish country of ten days' journey lay before me, I applied
to Daman to obtain permission from Ali, the chief or sovereign of
Ludamar, that I might pass through his country unmolested into
Bambarra; and I hired one of Daman's slaves to accompany me thither,
as soon as such permission should be obtained.
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