W M. WATTS, CROWN COURT, TEMPLE BAR.

Illustrations (Engraved by Johnston).

British sailors on a field of ice.

Dalumbe, an Australian Native

A Christian Liberated African in conversation with Mandingoes.

Scaling a cliff in New Zealand.

John Humphible discovering the death of George Jebb
Indian Snake-catcher

A Hindu ryot at plough

One of the Bari, on the White Nile.

Reconciliation of hostile New-Zealand tribes

A native of Western Australia

Self-torture of the Hindus

A man and woman of the Kutchin, or Loucheux Indians
Perilous position of a Native Catechist in the Arabian Sea
Pohipohi, of Matamata, New Zealand
Preservation in shipwreck

[FEBRUARY, 1852.

THE MANDINGOES.

THE inhabitants of that part of the African continent which lies to the west of the great river Niger are divided into a great number of tribes and races, speaking different languages-the Mandingoes, Fulahs, Jaloffs, Timmanis, Susus, and Bulloms; besides the powerful nations along the coast of Guinea-the Ashantis, Dahomians, and Yorubans.

The country of the Mandingoes lies about 700 miles inland from the coast. It is called Manding, or Jallonkadu, and is well watered by the numerous streams of the Niger, which is there called the Joliba. It is not necessary, however, to travel so far to meet the Mandingoes. They do not confine themselves to the limits of their own land. Many of them are engaged in commerce, and almost every district of Western Africa is traversed by troops of Mandingo merchants. Their dress consists of a cap, a shirt or frock of blue or white native cloth, trowsers of the same reaching to the knees, and sandals.

The old Mandingo merchant, with his Jewish cast of countenance, restless eye, and compressed lip, and unlike a negro, except in his swarthy complexion, may be seen in Sierra Leone disposing of his country goods-powder-horns, roughly bound with rows of brass, neat cloth caps, embroidered with silk of various colours, huge wooden bowls, coarse sandals, leather bags, and pouches, drawn close by thongs. The Mandingoes work in leather and metals, and their women dress and spin cotton, which is woven into cloth, and dyed, by means of indigo, a rich permanent blue.

We regret that they are Mahommedans, as are also the Fulahs, and many of the West Africans. It is a painful thought that Mahommedanism, a false religion which dates only as far back as the seventh century, should have penetrated into, and made numerous proselytes in, parts of Africa where the Christian teacher has not yet reached and wherever the African has embraced it, he is found to be more indisposed to Christianity than when in his heathen state. Nor is he improved in moral character. The genuine Mandingoes and Fulahs, although more ingenious, neat-handed, and outwardly civilized than most of the tribes to be met in the colony of Sierra Leone, are said to surpass the rest in thievishness and roguery.

The Mussulman Mandingo goes through his ceremony of prayer five times a day. He keeps the great Mahommedan fast of Ramadan. But, like other Africans, they have various charms and amulets in which they trust. These generally consist of passages from the Koran, written on paper, sewn up in red leather, and neatly stamped on the outside. They are called fetishes or greegrees, and are supposed to preserve the wearer from dangers.

In Freetown, when their fasts end, the Mandingoes are in the habit of assembling in a dense crowd on a grass field near their own quarter. There they may be seen, each seated on a white sheepskin, and holding an umbrella of red, or green, or yellow over his head; the women dressed in the gayest scarf head-dresses, and