So their engines they fetch, and their cables they stretch, To bring up each mighty machine; The catapults all they put nigh to the wall, With battering-rams set between. The portsmen prepare to perform well their share In defending their gates from the foe ; The young Squire Alárd, too, is setting the guard; The abbot hath donned his bright raiment of steel, The men of Battayle will never him fail, While life-blood remains to be shed. Huge stones fly about, and the Frenchmen all shout: Now Saint Thomas defend! and Saint Giles his aid lend! Fytte pe Thyrde. "But where is the abbot? and where is the monk? They're gone every one, and we're surely undone ; Said the Winchelsee men-all but one; From a low-sunken trench, at the rear of the French, For the abbot so bold (and as true as fine gold), By a postern hath sped, and hath gallantly led "Saint Martin! Saint Martin!" again is the word, The cloth-yards have fled, and a Frenchman lies dead 'Neath each arrow so keen and so true. The foes in amaze right ruefully gaze On each other awhile, till at last A trumpet is blown, and the Frenchmen are flown Then up, stalwart Offington! up, gallant Dunk! For, thanks to the deeds of the abbot and monk, Now rest thee, lord abbot, till morning's fair light, And let loud Te Deums be chanted aright At the holy Saint Martin his fane. And Alárd, God save thee, thou gallant young squire, Let masses be said in Saint Thomas's choir CENTRAL AFRICA.* Race of Men with Tails-Northern Central Africa-Snow Mountains of Eastern Africa-Lakes and Sources of the Nile-Damara Land-Ovampo Corn Lands -Hydrographical Basin of Central South Africa-Africa one great Lacustrine Basin. WHEN the reader sets bravely to the task of grappling with the length and breadth of a sheet of the Times, he at least congratulates himself that he is feasting upon the news of the world. This is, however, in reality not the case. Laying aside minor matters which escape editorial ubiquity, and occurrences which find their way into the papers of no country, positive wars are actually being carried on, on the limited face of the globe that we inhabit, and which we vainly imagine to be furrowed by our ships and ransacked by our travellers, for the knowledge of which we are indebted to some explorers that happen to have been more than usually adventurous and enterprising. Thus it appears that in 1851 the Shaikh of Burnu, who, according to Denham and Clapperton, commands 30,000 well-trained cavalry, almost always engaged in ghazzias, or predatory incursions, into the neighbouring African kingdoms in the pursuit of slaves, invaded the countries situated eastward from Lake Tsad; but that they were met by such patriotic resistance, that these Burnuese slave captors were defeated and driven back with slaughter. Shortly after this another similar inroad was directed against the Sultan of Mandara by the Wuzir of Burnu, at the head of 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry, with innumerable trains of camels and other beasts of burden, and this expedition returned, in January, 1852, with a booty of about 5000 human beings and 10,000 head of cattle! What is still more curious is that from information which, as we shall subsequently see, was collected by a French traveller, the Fellatahs, a more powerful nation than the Burnuese, and like them slave capturers, are said to have been led in the pursuit of human game into countries where the race itself was so deteriorated, having, in fact, tails like monkeys, that their conquerors rejected them as unfit for the honours of slavery. The statement appears at the first blush so extravagant, that many will feel inclined to reject it without consideration, but it must be remembered that the tradition of a race of pigmies and of a race with tails existing in Central Africa has long since obtained. * Renseignements sur l'Afrique Centrale et sur une Nation d'Hommes a Queue qui s'y trouverait, d'après le Rapport des Nègres du Soudan, Esclaves a Bahia. Par Francis de Castelnau. Bertrand, Paris. Inner Africa Laid Open, in an Attempt to trace the Chief Lines of Communication across that Continent South of the Equator; with the Routes to the Muropue and the Cazembe, Moenemoezi and Lake Nyassa, &c. By William Desborough Cooley. Longman and Co., London. Notes on the Present State of the Geography of some Parts of Africa. By James MacQueen. Second Visit to the South African Lake. By the Rev. David Livingston.-Mission of Messrs. Richardson, Barth, and Overweg, to Central Africa.-Expedition to the Interior of South-West Africa. By Francis Galton, Esq., F.R.G.S.-Explorations in Central Africa by Messrs. Livingston and Oswell, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. Vols. xX., xxi., and xxii. John Murray. A French traveller has lately attested to having seen an individual so constituted in Arabia. The missionary Krapf learnt from Kivoi, the chief of Kikuyu (Krapf's furthest) that he (Kivoi) had been to a country north-west of Jagga, where he saw men with tails. This is precisely the direction of M. de Castelnau's Niam-Niams. Kivoi is designated by Mr. Cooley (p. 107) as the "honest African" par excellence. Geological induction would, as we shall also afterwards see, tend to show that it is still likely that some of the missing links in the chain of creation may be recovered in Inner Africa. The origin of the revival of this old tradition concerning a caudate race of human beings inhabiting Central Africa, is as follows: M. Francis de Castelnau, author of a work on the central parts of South America, now in course of publication under the auspices of the French government, having accidentally heard from one Mahammah, a slave at Bahia, of a race of men inhabiting Central Africa who were invested with the apparently superfluous appendage of a caudal extremity-in vulgar parlance, a tail-and who asserted that he himself had seen the nation thus profusely decorated by the bounteous hand of nature, he, M. de Castelnau, set to work with praiseworthy industry to obtain further information upon a point so interesting to the natural history of the human race. The result of these inquiries was a considerable mass of corroborative testimony, which we will venture to sift in a few words. Mahammah was a native of Kano, the great mart of commerce between the Kawara (Quorra, or Niger) and Lake Tsad, a first-rate town in the empire of the Fellatahs,* or Fulahs. It is, indeed, said to be a larger city than Sukutu, variously written Soccatoo and Socoto, but in which we find the Arabic word Suk, a market, and which was created, according to Clapperton, by the Arab shaikh Usman or Osman, the founder of the Fellatah dynasty. There can therefore be little doubt as to its correct etymology. Sukutu is the capital of the country variously called Haussa, Houssa, and Haoussa, and the residence of the Sultan of the Fellatahs. This Mahannah, then, a negro native of Kano in the empire of the Haussa, informed M. de Castelnau that he had made part of an expedition against a people whom he calls Niam-Niams. We will not trouble our readers with the geographical details of the expedition, as they are alike uncertain and uninteresting. On his way, however, there lay a great forest abounding in wild animals, among which were said to be wild camels, as also a great river abounding in crocodiles, hippopotami, and These Fellatahs appear to be of nearly similar origin to the Fellahs of the Nile. De Castelnau, who calls them Filanis, Foulahs, or Foullatahs, says they are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, the conquerors of Central Africa, and a cross between the red and the black races. They are said to call themselves Fellan or Faulan; but they are variously designated by the different African nations. The word Fellatah, used by the natives of Haussa and Burnu, appears to be a term of reproach. Mungo Park calls them Fulah, and Mollier, Puhls. Clapperton calls them Fellatahs. It is difficult to say what their real name is. Mr. Hodgson contends that they are not of Arabian or Berber origin, but that they have descended from the elevated plateau where the Niger takes its origin. Feb.-VOL. XCVII. NO. CCCLXXXVI. S rhinoceroses. The Fellatahs were nine days getting through this great forest, and beyond it they came to lofty mountains, where they first fell in with a party of Niam-Niams. These people were sleeping in the sun; the Haussas approached them unperceived and slew them all. They had tails nearly half a French yard in length, quite smooth, and the people themselves were naked. The Niam-Niams were also anthropagists, one party of them having been surprised eating human flesh, and roasting human heads before a fire stuck on wooden stakes. They lived mainly in rock caverns, the country being very mountainous, but some of them built straw huts. They were perfectly black, and their hair was woolly. They cultivated rice and maize, and had clubs, arrows, and assegais for weapons. They had small cattle without horns, and a very fine breed of sheep and goats. They wished to make peace, but the Sultan of Haussa would not hear of it, because they had tails, and were of no use as slaves. Mahammah also spoke of another expedition made by the Fellatahs against the native tribes of Africa, under the usual excuse of their being anthropagists, but in reality to capture slaves, in the territory of Wasay, which lies between Haussa and the country just described. He designated these people also as Niam-Niams, although they had no tails. Another negro, Braz by name, a native of Zu-Zu, capital of the independent Fellatah kingdom of Zariyah (some make Zariyah the name of the capital, and call the country Zeg-Zeg), had heard of the tail-bearing Niam-Niams. A third negro, Karu, a native of Burnu, made prisoner by the Fellatahs of Haussa, asserted having been in the country of the Niam-Niams, near Bushah, and which he describes as being very rocky and mountainous. He described the Niam-Niams as anthropagists, and the men as wearing pieces of wood in the ears, and the women similar primitive ornaments in the lips, but in other respects they were like other human beings. Karu had, however, heard say that some Niam-Niams had tails. Mammaru, another Burnuese, who had travelled a good deal, especially in Baghirmi and in Wadday, which he describes as mountainous countries, said he had heard of people with tails, but had never seen them. Su-Allah, a native of Adamah, had seen children with tails about the length and thickness of the finger, who had been brought to Bushay by the Fellatahs as objects of curiosity. Grusa, a native of Zu-Zu, in Haussa, said that every one knew the existence of the tailed Niam-Niams, but he never saw any. Muhammad, an aged Marabut from Haussa, had heard from new-comers that savages called Niam-Niams had been discovered with tails in a mountainous country to the south, since he had been led into captivitya period of fifty years ago. Buay, another native of Zu-Zu, had often heard speak of Niam-Niams with tails, but had never seen any. Griss, a native of Lavia, near Bushay, had been among the cannibal NiamNiams; but they had no tails; he had, however, heard that there existed others who possessed such adventitious appendages. Mai-Dassara, a native of Kano, had been in an expedition against the Niam-Niams who had tails. He saw one man whose tail was upwards of half a French yard in length; the general length was half a yard. This tail was black and smooth. They had seats to sit upon, in which a hole was pierced to allow of the passage of their caudal extremities! The expedition, which was under the personal superintendence of the sultan, brought back three prisoners to Kano, who excited great curiosity; but the sultan ordered them to be clothed. We shall pass over the testimony of Ibrahim, as M. de Castelnau himself says he was unworthy of confidence. To sum up, then, M. de Castelnau examined twenty-three negroes, of whom four stated that they had seen the caudate race; five had heard of them; but the remaining fourteen knew nothing about them. Of the four who testified to having seen them, one Ibrahim, of Burnu, places them in a mountainous country called Kacha-liaga, to the south of Fur (Darfur?), and M. de Castelnau admits that he appeared to be unworthy of credit. Mahammah, of Kano, appears to have taken the lead in this strange story, and any one familiar with the low state of morality among these poor barbarous slaves, will not wonder that eight were found to lend their countenance to the statement-three to have seen them, and five to have heard of them. Only two religious literate old men (Marabuts) were examined: one had heard of the Niam-Niams, but only from the new-comers; the other, although he had money given to him and presents made to him, would have nothing to do with the mystification, and refused to go back to the house of the Christian dog who had propounded such questions to him! All travellers know the danger of putting a leading question when he wishes to obtain correct information. Mahammah and Mai-Dassara alone agreed as to the position of the country of the Niam-Niams, and both alluded to the great forest of Lanchandon, but the first, starting from Kano, went through fourteen villages and towns, among which were the great Fellatah city of Bushay and the large town of Gurzum, on a considerable tributary to Lake Tsad, and returned the same way. The other mentions only two places, Garay and Bakuru; the latter a large town, inhabited by naked negroes! Mai-Dassara also describes the horses as being smaller than asses; a fact which Mahammah, who is very detailed in his natural history, omits to mention. Mai-Dassara is also manifestly giving a climax to Mahammah's story, when he describes the chairs as being pierced for the convenience of these miserable troglodytes. As to Su-Allah, he had only seen some children favoured with this unnecessary appendage at Bushay. The evidence obtained of the existence of a race of human beings with tails from the opposite side of the coast, is contained in the following paragraphs: "The people of Ukambani are willing to labour for wages, and seem to be without slaves. They are not negroes. Kivoi, the chief of Ukambani, told Dr. Krapf that he had been to a country north-west of Jagga, where he saw men with tails. Ivory is very abundant in all the adjacent countries."-Notes on the Present State of the Geography of some Parts of Africa. By James MacQueen, Esq., in "Journal of Royal Geographical Society," vol. xx., p. 250. This Kivoi is the man whom Mr. Cooley calls "an intelligent native chief," " an honest African," incapable even of affectation," still less, we are bound to suppose, of an untruth.-Inner Africa Laid Open, p. 107. The testimony, such as it is-and although it is now a long time since current traditions have existed of races of pigmies and races of men with tails in Central Africa-is very weak. It is only, indeed, to Central |