Chapter 9 GRANARIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

The storehouses or granaries now in use in Mexico, Peru, and other empires, are not the Pyramids which were built and used in the time of Joseph and Moses. A recent traveller gives the following description of a modern granary situated near Canton, in China:-

"Here we saw a large magazine for grain; it was a quadrangular building about 350 feet each way, lined on the outside with plank, and on the whole appeared well adapted for the intended purpose. Such dep?ts for corn, they (the Chinese) tell us, are very common everywhere, yet, except in this instance, they have hitherto escaped our notice."

From what the same traveller says about some remarkable rocks that he saw in China, there appears to be every likelihood of finding pyramids in that country which, built by Moses and his followers during their sojourn there, still remain unopened after all these ages, even by the present generation of the Chinese, who conquered the country from the colonists left in the empire by the Law-giver. These solitary rocks were situated in plains surrounded by corn-fields, similar to the situation and position of the Pyramids of Egypt and Mexico. The traveller says:-

"In the course of the day we passed by one town and three villages (proceeding towards Canton from the south), likewise several remarkable rocks, nearly perpendicular on all sides, and about two hundred feet high, perfectly isolated, and unconnected with any elevated ground whatsoever; besides, the circumjacent country is low, level, alluvial soil, well cultivated.

"All these circumstances considered, it is rather difficult to account for the existence of such a phenomenon as these solitary rocks, so remote, too, from any mountain, unless, perhaps, those prodigious masses of solid stone have been, at some very remote period of time, each the nucleus of a hill, in which case they must have been below the surface of the soil, which, being gradually washed down and carried away by the floods, these rocks became denuded, and left exposed in their present situation.

"Another conjecture may be offered on this subject, that probably they have been placed, as now seen, by the operation of the same causes that effected the general deluge, when the globe suffered such dreadful disruptions and convulsions as, according to the Mosaic relation, to shake the very pillars of the earth, and to break up the fountains of the great deep; the truth of this will appear obvious when we consider the nature of that powerful agent which occasioned this memorable catastrophe."[73]

The Pyramids of Mexico are termed by the learned Dr. Robinson temples and mounds of earth; and the Pyramids of Egypt have been mentioned by Bruce and other travellers as natural rocks and mounds. So that it is not extraordinary that a shipwrecked seaman, travelling on foot along the coast of China towards Canton, should call these unexplored pyramids solitary rocks. There are such mounds or rocks in Ireland. Now that country was visited in ancient times by the Phenicians, who were originally a colony of Egyptians, and who must have witnessed the construction, or perhaps even assisted in the building of the Pyramids of Egypt, by command of Joseph, or Zaphnath-paaneah; they also assisted King Solomon in building the Temple in Jerusalem. These Phenicians, then, built pyramids in Ireland, which, though a fertile island, has been subject to frequent visitations of famine. The learned traveller Kohl speaks of these erections, in his work on Ireland, as follows:-

"The Moate of Lisserdowling is a round conical hill, about forty feet high, and almost five hundred feet in circumference. It stands in a plain, and is surrounded by corn-fields, and, being planted with trees and white-thorn bushes, presents a stately object on the naked level. On the summit the Moate was flat, with an indentation in the middle, leaving a few stones bare, that seemed to form part of some masonry concealed under the turf, by which the whole of the artificial hill was covered.

"The popular tradition, I was told, assigned the moat as a dwelling-place to an ancient Irish chief of the name of Naghten O'Donnell, and a small by-road in the neighbourhood is still called, after him, Naghten's Lane. The hill stands in high repute throughout the country, and is a favourite resort on fine afternoons, when hundreds may be seen sitting and lying on its sides; but not one of these visitors remains after dark, when the Moate of Lisserdowling, and the lane leading to it, are abandoned to the fairies, or 'good people,' as they are called in Ireland. Nor will anyone touch a stone or a stick on the hill, 'unless they have had a dream,' as my farmer expressed himself, 'and have had a commission from the good people.'

"I observed on the side of the mount the stump of an old thorn-bush. My guide informed me that the bush itself had been blown down one windy night, many years ago, and had been left to rot on the ground where it fell, no one daring to touch it, though in general the poor people are ready enough to appropriate to themselves anything burnable that they may find by the wayside. Young trees they will steal with very little remorse, but wood growing on one of these fairy mounts is almost always secure from their depredations.

"On the following day I visited a similar hill, the Moate-o'-Ward, which was likewise covered with white thorns, and in the sequel I met with great numbers of these artificial hillocks, of which Ireland contains many more than England or Scotland. The people call them moats, a word used in English to designate the ditch of a fortress. In Irish they are called 'raths,' a word bearing precisely the same signification. They are also sometimes called 'Dane's Mounts'; for in Ireland, as every art of destruction is charitably set down to Cromwell's account, so every erection of a remote date is attributed to the Danes.

"The popular belief is quite unanimous, therefore, in giving the Danes the credit of having erected these tumuli, as fortresses whence they might hold the country in subjection; and when the Danes had been expelled, an Irish chief here and there chose the deserted fastness for his dwelling-place. The learned are not quite so unanimous in their views as to the origin of these erections. Some go with the stream, and set them down to Danish account; others believe the hillocks to be of a much more ancient date, and to have formed the strongholds of the ancient native kings. In the north of Ireland is a mound of enormous size, said to have been the seat of the kings of Ulster.

"Probably this earthy architecture, which appears to have been so widely diffused over Ireland, was the work of different ages, of various races, and had more objects than one in view. Nearly all the nations of Europe, in the infancy of their civilization, seem to have delighted in the erection of these artificial hills. The whole of Southern Russia is full of them, and we meet with them in Hungary, Turkey, Scandinavia, and Denmark, as well as in England and Ireland; but nowhere in such numbers as in Ireland, whence we may conclude that the ancient Irish must have built many of their raths long before the Danes arrived among them.

"It is also probable that they were erected with different objects in view. Some, we know, were intended as boundary marks, and some, we know, were raised over the remains of distinguished heroes and chiefs. From some it was customary for the law-givers and judges to announce their decisions to the assembled multitude, and on others kings were anointed and crowned. The Druids required sacred hills to offer their sacrifices on, and where a natural hill was not to be had an artificial one, no doubt, was often formed.

"Others, again, may have been intended as fortresses on which the people might seek refuge from an enemy. Many, no doubt, remain that are quite enigmatical. Several, when opened, are found to contain passages and cells, of which it is difficult to guess what use they were intended for. They are too small for storehouses, and can scarcely have served as tombs, or bones and other remains would have been found there.

"Lisserdowling, a high pyramid surrounded by a low rampart and ditch, is more likely, in my opinion, to have been erected as a religious monument than as a fortress. Had it been intended for a fortress, why should so much labour have been expended in giving it a conical form, and why not have bestowed more pains on the circumvallation. As a fortress it would have been the strangest and most ineligible that could have been built. The space on the summit would scarcely afford room for two huts, and when the ramparts had once been stormed by the enemy, the defenders would have been at the greatest disadvantage on the sides of the cone.

"Probably the circumvallation has led to the belief that this, and many other tumuli, were intended for fortresses; but Stonehenge, which nobody ever took to be a fortress, is also surrounded by rampart and ditch. The circumvallation may have been intended simply to mark the boundary of the holy place, and to cut off all connection with the profane part of the world."

These ruins which Mr. Kohl has described, and respecting which he has given his opinion, are simply the remains of ancient granaries or pyramids, erected by the Phenicians, who left them standing when they returned to their own country. After the departure of these Phenicians, Ireland was visited by the Moors, who were masters of Spain and Portugal. These Moors coming from the coast of Africa, opposite Spain, were a colony formerly from the heart of Negroland, whence they reached the coast by way of the great desert called the Sahara, and joined their countrymen who had already settled in the new empire called Mauritania, which comprised Morocco and Tunis, &c., of our time.

These new visitors erected the round towers, in which to stack corn, just as their predecessors had constructed the Pyramids for a like purpose. There are round granaries in Africa, constructed with materials procurable in the place; but in Ireland they used stone instead, which was more durable, although retaining the same form as in the prototypes. The following is what Kohl says about the round towers:-

"On leaving Kilrush I entrusted my person and my portmanteau to a small boat which I had engaged to carry me over to Scattery Island, and thence to the coast of Kerry. The morning was warm, and not a breath of wind disturbed the surface of the water, but the sun was completely concealed by a thick yellow fog, which scarcely allowed us to see beyond the length of our boat. Nevertheless, my boatman brought me in safety to the little green island, which I was about to visit for the sake of its interesting ruins, and by the time we reached its shore the fog had sufficiently dispersed to allow us to distinguish the remains of its 'Seven Churches,' while the lofty column of the round towers presented itself at first as a dark line, and then gradually broke with more distinctness through the turbid atmosphere.

"These Round Towers are the most interesting remains of antiquity that Ireland possesses. Like most travellers in Ireland, I was soon infected with a passion for round towers; but as this passion is one of which few of my friends in Germany are likely to have a distinct idea, I believe that some introductory remarks on these venerable buildings will not be out of place here.

"These Round Towers are built of large stones, and when seen at a distance look rather like lofty columns than towers, being from the base to the top of nearly the same thickness. They are now, indeed, by no means all of the same height, many of them having fallen into ruins; but those which remain tolerably complete are all from 100 to 120 feet high, from forty to fifty in circumference, and from thirteen to sixteen in diameter. At the base the wall is always very thick and strong, but becomes slighter towards the top. Within, the tower is hollow, without any opening but a door, generally eight or ten feet from the ground, and some very narrow apertures or windows, mostly four in number, near the top.[74] These windows are usually turned towards the four cardinal points of the compass.

"In all parts of Ireland these singular buildings are found scattered about, all resembling each other like the obelisks of Egypt. Sometimes round towers are found in solitary islands, sometimes on the side of a river, or a plain, or some secluded corner of a valley. The whole number of them, according to the map of Ireland published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, is, at present, 118; of these fifteen are in a perfect state of preservation, and of thirty-six little more than the foundation remains.

"The general name of 'Round Towers' is very little characteristic of these remarkable buildings, for towers are seldom otherwise than round. Some writers have called them 'pillar temples,' but this name assigns to them a designation which it is by no means certain that they bore. The characteristic peculiarity of these towers consists in their resemblance to mighty pillars, and the most appropriate name for them would, in my opinion, be 'pillar towers.'

"In no part of Europe do we find any similar building of antiquity. In Scotland, it is said, two or three pillar towers exist, and these, it may be inferred, were reared by Irish colonists. In the far east only we come to erections of the same character and dimension; the first thing that a traveller is reminded of on seeing an Irish round tower, is a Turkish minaret.

"No authentic records exist to guide us to a knowledge of the time when these towers were built, or of the use for which they were intended. Everything proves that they have existed from a very remote antiquity, and the most opposite conclusions have been adopted with respect to the period and object of their erection; none of these hypotheses carry conviction with them, but of many, at least, the absurdity can be shown with little trouble.

"Some, for instance, have maintained that these towers were built by the Danes; but these sages appear to have forgotten that round towers are found in parts of the island where the Danes never set foot, as, for instance, in Donegal and the remote counties of Connaught. Besides, had these been Danish erections, how came the Danes not to leave any of them in England?

"Popular tradition assigns them to the Ph?nicians, and learned antiquarians ought not too hastily to reject popular tradition, for often the memory of a people undergoes less corruption and change in the course of a thousand years than do the records preserved in books. There is nothing very improbable in the hypothesis that these towers were built by the Ph?nicians, who are known to have visited the island and to have exercised power there.

"Travellers have recently discovered in the Persian province of Masanderan towers precisely similar to those of Ireland, and in India erections of a similar kind, dedicated to religious purposes, have also been met with. This, taken in connection with the shape of the Turkish minaret, makes it extremely probable that the round towers have had an Oriental origin. Many have been staggered by the great antiquity which such an hypothesis would assign to the Irish towers, but they are buildings of wonderful solidity, and there is nothing at all extraordinary in the supposition that these stones may have remained in their present position for some thousands of years. Have we not even brick buildings of Roman erection, that are known to have been built before the Christian era?

"No less diversified have been the opinions respecting the use for which the round towers were intended, and on this subject some strangely absurd doctrines have been advanced. Some people have supposed them to have formed chains of telegraph stations spread out over the whole island; but the absurdity of this notion is sufficiently shown by the position of some of the towers upon low ground, in the corners of valleys, and on remote and solitary islands, whence nothing could well be seen, and nothing, therefore, made known. This opinion is, nevertheless, still entertained by many.

"Others suppose the towers to have been fortresses, erected in the early ages of Christianity as places of refuge, in case of danger, for the priests and their church treasures. I can hardly think, however, that any people could have selected such a style of architecture for places of defence. The defenders within would have had to stand upon each other's heads, and their only means of annoying their enemies would have been the four small openings at the top, eighty or a hundred feet from the ground. Besides, had the round towers been military places of defence, they would probably have all been destroyed in the course of the constant wars by which the island has been afflicted, whereas the round towers have evidently been preserved by the people with great care, and have ever been looked on by them with the greatest veneration.

"The notion that the round towers were built by the early Christians as steeples to hang their bells in is equally untenable, for, though they are frequently found in close vicinity to the ruins of churches, yet no kind of steeple could be worse constructed for such a purpose, as the sound of the bells would scarcely have been heard through the small apertures at the top, except by those who had already assembled around the tower.

"Many other opinions have been hazarded, but all at variance with the popular tradition, which represents the round towers to have been the temples of the old fire-worshippers from the East, who came over with the Ph?nicians. The poet Moore and other Irish antiquarians are disposed to adopt this tradition, the more so as the pyreas of the Ghebers, according to the account of several travellers, bear the closest similitude to the Irish towers, and because the worship of fire is known to have been at one time the prevailing religion of Ireland. The dark interiors of these towers have been well calculated to show the sacred fire preserved there to the greatest advantage, and the height of the entrance-door from the ground would be explained by the sanctity of the place, to which only a few were probably allowed to have access.

"The great height of the towers has been objected to as entirely superfluous, supposing them to have been applied to such a use; but it may have been customary to place the sacred fire in an elevated position, as an additional mark of respect, and then the towers may have answered more purposes than one; from the windows at the top signals may have been made to summon the faithful to prayer, or the apertures may have been used for astronomical observations, intended to fix the time of the religious feasts.

"Christian emblems have been discovered in some of these towers. On the summit of that near Swords, in the county of Dublin, is a small stone cross, and in others even representations of the Virgin have been found; but these, there cannot be a doubt, are of modern addition. That churches and cemeteries should so often be found in the vicinity of these towers is nothing surprising, for a building that has once become sacred in the eyes of a people, generally retains a portion of its sanctity, even though the original religion may be utterly swept away. Most of the early Christian churches were erected on the foundations of heathen temples, and a large portion of the Turkish mosques were formerly Christian churches.

"Generally, where in the vicinity of a round tower there occur the ruins of churches, these are in number seven. This has been explained by supposing that, previously to the appearance of St. Patrick, Christianity-but not Roman Catholic Christianity-had been introduced into Ireland. This ante-patrician Christianity is said to have been introduced by the Apostle James, who first preached the gospel in Ireland, and established the Eastern Church there, with the rites of the Eastern ?cumenic Synods; and the frequent appearance of seven churches close to each other is accounted for as a reference to the seven celebrated churches of the East.

"In this hypothesis, though stoutly denied by the Roman Catholics, there is nothing improbable, and, if true, it affords another remarkable proof of the early connection between Ireland and the East. In no other Christian land in Europe do we constantly find the ruins of ancient churches in groups of seven.

"We effected a landing on Scattery Island, called in ancient times Inniscattery, and at present occupied by a few tenants of a Mr. M'Kean, who graze their cattle there. 'It is a very old ancient place,' said one of the boatmen, as he was carrying me through the water on his shoulders, for we had come to a landing-place where the tide had left one foot of water over a large extent of coast. This pleonasm of 'old ancient' might be applied to many parts of Ireland, where old and older ruins are constantly found in close contiguity.

"In general, where there are seven churches, in Ireland, some ancient saint is named as having lived and died there, and as having belonged to the first preachers of Christianity in the country. At Scattery it is Saint Senanus, whose grave is still shown amid one of the ruins, and whose fame has been extended far beyond his native isle by one of Moore's melodies. These ancient ruins, however, have many graves of a more modern date; for bodies are still brought over from the mainland to be interred at Scattery. On the occasion of such a funeral, one boat serves generally as a hearse, and the mourners follow in other boats.

"I saw many tomb-stones only a few years old, with new inscriptions, from which the gilding had scarcely begun to fade, and their effect upon the solitary and remote island was peculiar and by no means unpleasing. Among them were the tombs of several captains of ships, and it would have been difficult to suggest a more appropriate place of interment for such men than this little island cemetery at the mouth of a great river, with the wide ocean rolling in front. Indeed, there is no other country in Europe where there are such interesting cemeteries, or such picturesque tombs, as in Ireland, partly on account of the abundance of ivy with which they are hung, and partly on account of the practice that still prevails of burying the dead among ruins.

"Of some of the seven churches on Scattery isle, scarcely a trace remained; but three of them were in tolerable preservation. Their walls, covered with ivy, remained, and into the wall of one of them, that nearest the round tower, a stone strangely sculptured into the form of a human face had been introduced. Strange to say, it has completely the stiff, mask-like features and projecting ears of the Egyptian statue, whence I conclude it must have belonged originally to some other building. On the opposite wall is a stone with evident traces of an ancient inscription.

"The round tower stands a little to the side. Although not perfect, it belongs to the most picturesque in Ireland, for it has been struck by lightning, and has received a split on one side from top to bottom. On the south side it is covered completely with mosses and creeping plants; on the north and west side it is bare, the heavy winds, as the sailors told me, making all vegetation impossible there. Lightning and vegetation are the worst enemies the round towers have to contend with, and it is strange that such active foes should not have been able to overturn the whole of them in a space of two thousand years.

"All the land upon the little island, except the cemetery, is pasturage. A small battery has been erected here to protect the mouth of the Shannon, the entrance to which river is defended by no less than six batteries and forts, while at the mouth of the Thames there is not one.

"On leaving Inniscattery, to repair to the kingdom of Kerry, we had work enough before us, for the tide was against us, besides which we had to contend with such a variety of currents, that the boatmen required all their skill and experience to carry their slight skiff in safety to the little port of Tarbert, whither we were bound. The mouth of the Shannon has rather the character of an arm of the sea, but to consider it as such would be in violation of the principles of Irish geography.

"The waves, now of a very respectable size, were rolling out towards the ocean; but the fog was completely gone, and we had the most beautiful sunshine. With the exception of our own little bark, which seemed to crest the waves like a bird, neither ship nor boat was to be seen upon the noble estuary, and, without passing a human creature with whom we could have exchanged a salutation, we arrived at length in safety at our destined harbour.

"There I learned, when it was too late, that without any additional expenditure of time or trouble, I might have effected a landing at Ballybunian, whose marine caverns, at the mouth of the Shannon, are reckoned among the wonders of Ireland. These caverns stretch more than a mile from the sea into the land. Ireland, indeed, is rich in remarkable caverns, many of which are but little known to the scientific world."

The original models from which the Round Towers of Ireland were taken are still to be found in the Soudan of Africa; and the people whose ancestors erected buildings after this fashion, as they migrated from their native country to the seaboard, and crossed over to Spain-whence they visited Ireland-are to this day as savage in manners and customs as their forefathers were before they left Africa. The following description of the round conical granaries, the country where they are situated, and the builders of them, is taken from a work called Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa, by John Petherick, F.R.G.S., Her Britannic Majesty's Consul for the Soudan:-

"Those of my men who had wintered with the Djour had procured from the negroes a large quantity of tusks, the accumulation of several years' hunting. Their journeys had extended to the confines of the Rohl, in the east, and in the territory of the Djour westwards beyond the large stream which, on reference to the map, will be seen as the largest feeder of the lake. I had discovered southwards they had penetrated the D?r territory; and as they had succeeded in gaining the good-will of the D?r chief Djau, I despatched a party to invite him to meet me.

"The porters who had accompanied me from the Raik, on learning my intention to proceed south amongst tribes unknown to them, and dreaded in consequence of the difference of weapons and savage habits, refused to proceed; and, consigning loads of ivory to them, in charge of a detachment of my Khartoumers, I sent them back to their own country. Levying in their stead a party of Djour for the transport of my stock in trade, I took the advantage of a moonlight night to perform the journey to the D?r to Fan-Djau (the country of Djau), so named after my chief Djau, situated in about six degrees north latitude.

"Our reception amongst them was most hospitable, and in the vicinity of the chief's huts we were accommodated with strong wooden sheds, about six feet high, upon which their corn, divested of its reeds, was prettily stacked, consisting of different kinds of dourra of different colours-white, grey, and red-in separate batches. The stacks were formed with much taste, the sides being perpendicular, terminating in a cone. The precaution of raising their stacks so high from the ground was to preserve it from vermin and the white ants.

"The D?r surpass the Djour in industry, a proof of which existed in their extensive fields and granaries. Prior to the rainy season, their grain was threshed and preserved in large cylindrical receptacles, constructed of reeds and clay, from twelve to fifteen feet in diameter, and four feet in height, supported upon a strong wood framework some four feet from the ground. To preserve its contents from the rain, it was covered by a large thatched framework, not unlike an extinguisher in shape, and was so light in substance, that when the grain was required, one side of it could be lifted and supported by a pole, and the granary entered.[75]

"Their huts were constructed of a beautiful basket-work of cane. The perpendicular walls were six feet high, and were surmounted with a pretty cupola-shaped reed roof, topped with wood carvings of birds. A wooden bedstead occupied its centre, and an oval-shaped hole, two and a half feet high, barely sufficient to admit a man in a stooping posture, formed the doorway. At night this was barricaded with logs of wood laid horizontally upon each other, between perpendicular posts.

"Cooking was carried on in a separate hut, and in lieu of the stone-mill in use in the Soudan, a large wooden mortar, the pestle some four or five feet in length, by three inches diameter, served as their flour-mill. Their food consisted principally of a thick porridge, and a sauce flavoured with herbs and red pepper; but beef, whenever they could obtain it by barter for grain with the Djour, or meat from the chase, was preferred. Rats, mice, and snakes were highly esteemed, and of these the children were continually in search. Fowls were reared to a great extent, but from some unaccountable superstition they were only considered proper food for women: if eaten by men, it was a proof of effeminacy.

"The D?r territories are more considerable than any I had yet traversed; and their language, the nouns of which generally terminated in o or a, was entirely different from any that I had heard. The men were shorter in stature than the tall Dinka Shillooks, but broader in the chest and stouter-limbed.

"Total nudity was held in contempt by them, although their covering was reduced to the smallest possible amount; and when the Djour entered their village, the little hide ornament worn by them in common with the Dinka tribes, as a mark of respect was turned round to the front.

"Of a dark brown colour, they further differed from the negroes hitherto described, in the preservation of their teeth and the difference of their weapons: these consisted of bows and arrows, fearfully-barbed lances, and a variety of clubs. Some resembled the mace of the Middle Ages, whilst others, made of hard wood, were like the mushroom. The edges were firm and sharp, and when employed against an enemy would cleave the skull. The points of their arrows, made of iron, are also numerously barbed; the workmanship, in a variety of patterns, is admirable.

"The D?r perhaps excel the Djour in smithery; and, possessing no cattle, their valuables consist in objects of iron, mostly in circular plates from nine inches to one foot in diameter, and long ornamented lance-like articles. For a certain number of these they intermarry.

"Goats and fowls are their only domestic animals; the former a short-legged and smooth-haired variety. The coat is fine, and coloured frequently with large round spots of black, yellow, or brown upon white: they are not milked, although, when taken to Khartoum and crossed with the native race, they become excellent milkers.

"The women would be handsome were it not for a disfiguration of the under lip, in which circular pieces of wood are inserted, varying in size, according to age, from a sixpence to a florin. The young women are naked, but the married women wear large clusters of green leaves in front and behind, which, attached by a belt to the waist, reach to the ankles. Clean in their habits, they are particular in the daily renewal of their costume from the bush, the numerous evergreens and creeping plants affording them an abundant material for that purpose.

"Their ears, necks, and waists are profusely adorned with beads, and on their wrists they wear numerous iron bracelets. The ankles are encumbered with bright heavy iron rings, fully one inch thick; and these tinkling together as they dance produce a peculiarly fascinating sound.

"In the centre of the village is a large circus, where, on a tree, their war-trophies, the skulls of the slain, are suspended. Beneath it large tom-toms, made of hollowed trunks of trees, well finished, and strung with dressed buffalo-hides, were used only on occasions of universal rejoicing, or to sound the alarm in time of war. The sound could be heard miles distant. At ordinary times smaller instruments of the same kind were employed. This large circus was carefully swept and watered; and under the shade of the tree the men met during the day, and in the evenings, more especially on moonlight nights, it was the scene of great conviviality.

"The several approaches to it were narrow foot-paths, and both sides were ornamented with rough wooden posts, carved into semblances of human figures, four feet apart; the first were largest in size, the others had on their heads wooden bowls. These figures were said to represent the chief proceeding to a festival, and followed by his retainers bearing viands and mau to the feast.

"The village was prettily situated at the foot of a hill, around which were two or three other villages, this forming the entire community of a large district. From its summit a beautiful view of the surrounding country was obtained. Surrounding the village, at a moderate distance, were the unfenced gardens of the villagers, in which cucurbits, vegetables, and seeds were grown; and beyond, to the eastward, was a large plain of cultivated dourra fields; southward, at about one mile distant, a winding brook was to be seen, bordered with superb trees and flourishing canes.

"The bush supplied a variety of game, consisting of partridges, guinea-fowl, a large white boar, gazelles, antelopes, and giraffes. Elephants and buffalo I did not encounter, and I was told they only frequented the locality during the rainy season.

"The D?r acknowledge no superior chief, and the tribe is divided into separate communities; and these, although living, as in this instance, in close proximity, look upon each other as almost separate tribes, holding little or no communication. They live in a state of continual feud, attributable to encroachments on hunting-grounds. Their battues consist in driving the game into strong nets, which, suspended to the trunks of trees at right angles, cover a space of several miles.

"During my stay at Djau, a hunt of this description, in which the inhabitants of a village some miles distant joined, took place, and, as usual, ended in a quarrel. Sitting under my habitation at noon, several boys returned to the village for extra weapons for the use of their fathers. The alarm spread instantly that a fight was taking place, and the women en masse proceeded to the scene with yellings and shrieks indescribable. Seizing my rifle, and accompanied by four of my followers, curiosity to see a negro fight tempted me to accompany them.

"After a stiff march of a couple of hours through bush and glade, covered with waving grass reaching nearly to our waists, the return of several boys warned us of the proximity of the fight, and of their fear of its turning against them-the opposing party being the most numerous. Many of the women hurried back to their homes, to prepare, in case of emergency, for flight and safety in the bush. For such an occurrence, to a certain extent, they are always prepared; several parcels of grain, and provisions neatly packed up in spherical forms, in leaves surrounded by network, being generally kept ready in every hut for a sudden start.

"Accelerating our pace, and climbing up a steep hill, as we reached the summit and were proceeding down a gentle slope, I came in contact with Djau and his party in full retreat, and leaping like greyhounds over the low underwood and high grass. On perceiving me they halted, and rent the air with shouts of 'The white chief! the white chief!' and I was almost suffocated by the embraces of the chief. My presence gave them courage to face the enemy again; a loud peculiar shrill whoop from the grey-headed but still robust chief was the signal for attack, and, bounding forward, they were soon out of sight. To keep up with them would have been an impossibility; but, marching at the top of our pace, we followed them as best we could.

"After a long march down a gentle declivity, at the bottom of which was a beautiful glade, we again came up with them, drawn up in line in pairs, some yards apart from each other, within the confines of the bush, not a sound indicating their presence. Joining them, and inquiring what had become of the enemy, the men whom I addressed silently pointed to the bush on the opposite side of the glade, some three hundred yards across.

"Notwithstanding my intention of being a mere spectator, I now felt myself compromised in the fight; and although unwilling to shed blood, I could not resist my aid to the friends who afforded me an asylum amongst them. Marching accordingly into the open with my force of four men, I resolved that we would act as skirmishers on the side of our hosts, who retained their position in the bush.

"We had proceeded about a third of the way across the glade, when the enemy advanced out of the wood and formed a long line of two or three deep, on its confines opposite to us. I also drew up my force, and for an instant we stood looking at each other. Although within range, at about two hundred yards' distance, I did not like to fire upon them; but in preference continued advancing, thinking the prestige of my fire-arms would be sufficient. I was right. We had scarcely marched fifty yards, when a general flight took place, and in an instant Djau and his host, amounting to some three or four hundred men, passed us in hot pursuit.

"After reflection on the rashness of exposing myself with so few men to the hostility of some six hundred negroes, and in self-congratulation on the effect my appearance in the fight had produced, I awaited the return of my hosts. In the course of an hour this took place; and as they advanced I shall never forget the impression they made upon me. A more complete picture of savage life I could not have imagined. A large host of naked negroes came trooping on, grasping in their hands bow and arrow, lances and clubs, with wild gesticulations and frightful yells proclaiming their victory, whilst one displayed the reeking head of a victim.

"I refused to join them in following up the defeat of their enemies by a descent on their villages. With some difficulty they were persuaded to be content with the success already achieved-that of having beaten off a numerically superior force-and return to their homes. Their compliance was only obtained by an actual refusal of further co-operation; but in the event of a renewed attack upon their villages, the probability of which was suggested, I promised them my willing support.

"We had not gone fifty paces, when I beheld the form of a young man prostrate, apparently lifeless; and seeing only a deep incision across his wrist, nearly severing the hand from the arm, and a lance-thrust that had penetrated the shoulder between the muscle and the flesh, his open eyes suggested that life might not be extinct. I felt his pulse, but it was imperceptible. At the same time a negro with his lance coolly severed the muscle, and extricated the barbed projectile. I looked upon the man with disgust; but, with a laugh, taking the body by the hand, he rolled it over on the chest, and then two open lance-wounds between the shoulders plainly showed the cause of death.

"On our way home the body was drawn by the legs for a considerable distance, and finally carried on the shoulders of some of the party to conceal the trail. It was secreted in the bush in the hope of its eluding the search of the enemy, leaving it to be devoured by beasts of prey; but the head, severed from the body, was secured and destined, with four others, to be suspended on the tree in the centre of the village circus.

"At night great rejoicings took place, commencing with a war-dance by the women, who, in pairs, closely following each other to the sound of the tom-tom, and chanting a war-song, moved in measured steps round the tree. At each time, as the procession approached the heads of the victims, a halt took place, and insulting epithets addressed to the fallen were followed by the clanking of their anklets and shrieks of applause. Sickened with the exhibition, I retired from the scene.

"The day following, after a night's conviviality, the heads were secreted in the bush in order to bleach the skulls. Another feast celebrated their suspension on the tree."

These are the descendants of the Moors who built the Round Towers in Ireland, when they became masters of Spain!