established, the kingdom must have been extensive, and the people powerful. It seems to be bounded on the west by Bambarra, on the north by Fooladoo and on the south by Jallonkadoo. Fooladoo is considered as the native region of the Foulahs, who are now so widely spread through various parts of Western Africa. Their most important and populous kingdom is Foota-Jallo, a mountainous country near the source of the Gambia. The hilly regions that approach the interior comprise a number of separate states, among which are Bondon, Bambouk, Galam, or Kajaaga, and some others; but their limits, and even their names and situations, become more uncertain as we approach the interior.-South of the Gambia, the Feloops, the Bissagos, and other tribes, are intermixed with the Mandigoes and the Foulahs, as far as the British colony of Sierra Leone.

From the coast the ground rises imperceptibly to the confines of Foota-Toro, where it becomes level, and forms what may be denominated the first terrace in this part of Africa. Foota-Toro is one of the most extensive and important kingdoms of Senegambia. The country is watered by several rivers, and much of it is fertile. The land in the vales throughout which the rivers flow has been compared to the richest parts of France. Much of it is cultivated with great care; but the planting of trees is neglected, which gives the country a naked appearance. These cultivated grounds produce good crops of rice, millet, indigo, and tobacco. Various fruits are also grown, and many domestic cattle reared, while lions, panthers, hyænas, and jackals, are very numerous, and elephants are sometimes met with. Ostriches, vultures, Guinea-fowls, pigeons, turtle doves, partridges, paroquets, and several other birds, are common. The heat in this country is often intense, as Fahrenheit's thermometer frequently rises to 96° in the shade. The population is also considerable, and has been estimated at 2,000,000. The inhabitants trade with the Moors on the north, with the Foota Jallos on the south, and with Europeans by means of the Senegal. The government of Foota Toro, a kind of theocratic oligarchy, is virtually exercised by seven chiefs, each of whom possesses a part of the country, and all appear to be descendants of the original nation. These seven choose an almamy, or iman, from the common Maraboots, who is the nominal sovereign. All the acts of government are performed in his name, but he cannot take any step without consulting the council, formed of the seven electors. When they are not satisfied with the conduct of the almamy they retire during the night to an elevated spot, and deliberate on the choice of another, and, having fixed upon one, they desire attendance, and address him, saying, 'We have chosen thee to govern our country with wisdom.' He is then brought to the people, who are addressed by one of the chiefs, saying, 'Here is your king, obey him.' The people applaud the choice, salute the new king by discharging muskets, and the former almamy returns to the class of private citizens. So precarious, however, is the sovereign power, that they had no less than three successive almamies in 1818.

The

Bondou, which lies in the cast of Foota Toro, is of an elongated form, and is little more than a vast forest, much of which is either covered with hills or stones. Springs are common, and the lands, where free from stones and woods, are fertile. The soil near the banks of the Faleme is rich, but the drought is such as only to admit of cultivation in the rainy season. western parts of the kingdom contain iron, the eastern gold. Where it is cultivated, cotton, maize, millet, indigo, and tobacco, are grown. Wild beasts and game are plentiful, and afford the hunter a rich booty. The crown of Bondou is elective in the king's family, and the brother of the late king, when there is one, is usually preferred. The government is despotic.

Bambouk, which has always been considered the Peru of Africa, joins Bondou on the east. It is a country of mountains, which serve as a defence against the inhabitants of Bondou and Bambarra, by whom its gold has always been considered a tempting prize. Nor have the contiguous people been the only rapacious enemies with whom the Bamboukians have had to contend; for the ruins of the forts erected by the Portuguese show that their zeal for the possession of this precious metal had early led them to the conquest of this distant region, but which they were long since obliged to abandon. The gold is generally found in conical hills of moderate elevation, mixed with earth and other substances, from which it is separated by the simple process of washing. Notwithstanding the imperfect manner in which these mines are worked, the quantity of gold obtained in Bambouk must be very great, as not only most of that which is brought down the Senegal and the Gambia is originally procured there, but much is carried to the east, and afterwards across the desert to Northern Africa and Egypt. Very malleable iron also abounds in this mountainous country, but want of skill in the working renders the quantity obtained comparatively small. Some parts of Bambouk are excessively hot; yet the mountainous nature of the country gives rise to numerous springs which diffuse a partial freshness through the atmosphere, and favor the growth of vegetation. Many of the valleys, therefore, produce rice, millet, peas, and other vegetables; while the baobab and the tamarind tree are very common. Herds of goats and horned cattle are kept in most parts of the country.

Galam, which lies between Bambouk and the Senegal, is esteemed one of the most fertile in Africa; millet, cotton, rice, maize, tobacco, and indigo, grow in great plenty; while milk, flesh, and fish, form a great part of the food of the inhabitants. Cameleopards, lions, and wild boars of large size, abound in the forests; and the hippopotamus and crocodile, with abundance of fish, stock the Senegal and its tributary streams. Large trees also shade the banks of many of these rivers.

Foota-Jallo spreads over the hilly region south of Bondou, where the great rivers of this part of Africa take their rise. It is a mountainous country, and the ranges by which it is intersected are considered as the branches of a

more lofty chain, situated south-east; the elevated summits of which, the negroes say, are constantly covered with a white hat. If this representation be correct, the mountains of Kong, to which it refers, and which are situated about 10° lat., in the hottest part of the globe, must be very elevated. The soil of the valleys in Foota Jallo is a rich mould which the torrents have washed from the mountains, and, being watered by numerous streams, is rendered very productive. Rice and maize are cultivated. The orange, the banana, and the papaw tree abound; but the immense baobab, the queen of the forest, is not met with, though other trees of large growth form almost impenetrable woods. The climate and temperature of Foota Jallo are subject to great variation. In the valleys the heat is often intense, while the elevation of some of the mountains exposes the traveller to the sensation of severe cold, though it does not cause that depression of the thermometer which would produce the same feeling in colder climates. Teemboo, or Timbo, is the capital of this country, and is esteemed one of the largest cities in this part of Africa, where scarcely any thing but villages, composed of a few huts, are to be met with. It is situated at the foot of a high mountain, and is supposed to contain about 9000 or 10,000 inhabitants. It has a spacious mosque and three forts, one of which contains the king's palace, which is composed of five or six large huts. The fortifications of the town are of earth, and in some places have loop holes; but when M. Mollien was there, in 1818, they were falling into decay. He thinks Teemboo an ancient place, as all the country round it bears the name. Though the houses are only huts, they are built with taste, and many of them have courts planted with papaw and banana trees. According to the same traveller, Tenda Maie is a small country enclosed by a bend of the Rio Grande, west of Foota Jallo, not yet mentioned by any geographer. It is a flat fertile tract, though in some places sandy. The rains do not last so long by a month as among the hills of Foota Jallo. It produces millet, maize, rice, and cattle. Deer and wild cattle are also to be seen; but the elephant is not found, and beasts of prey are rarely met with. Many valuable woods grow in the forests, and iron is obtained, which is in much request among the neighbouring nations. The inhabitants are a mixture of Mahometans and Pagans. The Jaloffs, or Oualoffs, which have also been cailed Yoloffs, occupy the greatest part of the country between the lower parts of the Senegal and the Gambia. M. Golberry estimates the extent of their territory at 4800 square leagues. They are considered as the handsomest negroes in this part of Africa. Their color is bright black, their hair woolly, their noses flat, and lips protuberant, but less so than in the Mandingoes. Their features, however, are regular, and their physiognomy open and agreeable. They consider themselves the most ancient inhabitants of these regions, and were formerly all subject to one empire, called the Bourb-Jaloff, which still occupies a large tract of country in the interior. The Jaloffs are professed Mahometans, but the doctrines and precepts of the Koran are inter

mixed with the superstitious practices of their ancient paganism. The number of pagans among them is still great, the religion of whom is pure fetishism. A tree, a stone, a serpent, a ram's-horn, or a scrap of paper covered with Arabic characters, or any other figures, are equally deities to them. Their language is superior to that of their neighbours; but, like them, they have no written characters. They reckor. by five figures only, instead of ten, as in our mode of notation, and all their computations are performed by the motions of the fingers. They are great hunters, and excel in the number and management of their horses. They are also reputed to be courageous warriors when engaged with negroes, but pusillanimous in opposition to the Moors. The Jaloffs are not entirely destitute of manufactures, though these are still in their infancy among all the African nations. Some few metallic articles and domestic utensils are made, and the Jaloffs surpass most of the others in manufacturing and dyeing cotton; but, as among the other negroes, necessity and industry are correlative terms. As they find dexterity more congenial than laborious exertion, it is much practised, and those who reside in the neighbourhood of European settlements are considered as accomplished thieves.

The Feloops are spread over a wide space on the south of the Gambia. Their country is extensive, and being a low tract, produces rice and other kinds of grain, where properly cultivated. They have also plenty of goats and poultry, with which they supply European traders that touch at the coast. They are described as a wild unsociable race, speaking a peculiar language, which few Europeans understand. They have abundance of honey, of which they make an intoxicating liquor like mead. They appear to be complete Pagans.

SENESCENCE, n. s. Lat. senesco. state of growing old; decay by time.

The

The earth and all things will continue in the state wherein they now are, without the least senescence or decay; without jarring, disorder, or invasion of one another.

Woodward.

SEN'ESCHAL, n. s. Fr. seneschal. See its etymology below. One who had in great houses the care of feasts or domestic ceremonies.

John earl of Huntingdon, under his seal of arms, made Sir John Arundel of Trerice, seneschal of his household, as well in peace as in war.

Carew's Survey of Cornwall. Marshall'd feast, Served up in hall with sewers and seneschals, The skill of artifice, or office, mean!

Milton's Paradise Lost. The seneschal rebuked in haste withdrew; With equal haste a menial train pursue.

Pope's Odyssey.

SENESCHAL (seneschallus), derived from the German sein, a house or place, and scale, an officer, is a steward, and signifies one who has the dispensing of justice in some particular cases as the high seneschal or steward of England; seneschal de la hotel de roi, steward of the king's household, seneschal, or steward of courts,' &c.-Co. Lit. 61. Kitch. 83. See STEWARD. This is the most ancient of all the

titles or dignities which were attached to those individuals that undertook the command of armies, when the kings of France, belonging to the second race, ceased to go in person. The seneschal was selected by the sovereign from among those vassals and subjects who were highest in nobility, and were most distinguished for their rank, wealth, and talents. The title of grand seneschal of France was first created by Lotharius, in 928, and conferred upon Geoffrey, count of Anjou, surnamed Grisegonnelle. This rank or situation continued to be attached to the count of Anjou, until the reign of Philip Augustus, in whom it was extinguished, when he ascended the throne of France in 1121. The grand seneschal likewise exercised the functions of lord steward of the king's household; having under him several subordinate seneschals, who also held places of considerable trust. These were called senechaux de France, seneschals of France.

SE'NILE, adj. Lat. senilis. Belonging to old age; consequent on old age.

My green youth made me very unripe for a task of that nature, whose difficulty requires that it should be handled by a person in whom nature, education, and time, have happily matched a senile maturity of judgment with youthful vigor of fancy.

Boyle on Colours.

SE'NIOR, n. s. Į Lat. senior. One older SENIOR'ITY. than other; one who, on account of longer time, has some superiority: the state or honor of a senior; eldership.

How can you admit your seniors to the examination or allowing of them, not only being inferior in office and calling, but in gifts also.

A senior of the place replies, Well read, and curious of antiquities.

Whitgifte.

Dryden.

As in insurrections the ringleader is looked on with a peculiar severity, so, in this case, the first provoker has, by his seniority and primogeniture, a double portion of the guilt.

Government of the Tongue. He was the elder brother, and Ulysses might be consigned to his care by the right due to his seniority. Broome.

SENLIS, an old town in the department of the Oise, France, situated on a rising ground, in the middle of an extensive forest, near the Nonette. Its streets are narrow and the houses ill-built; the cathedral is, however, admired. Senlis has some trade in corn, wine, and wood, and manufactures on a small scale of cotton, coarse woollens, paper, lace, and porcelain. Its quarries afford good stone. Here are two great yearly fairs, one in April, the other in October. Inhabitants 4300. Thirty miles north of Paris. SENN, a kind of itinerant cow-keeper in Switzerland, particularly in the canton of Appenzell. These men do not grow so much hay themselves as they require for their cattle during the winter season, and some of them have no grass lands at all. To supply this deficiency, they employ agents throughout the canton, who are to inform them where good hay may be obtained, which farmers made in favorable weather, &c., and then the senn, or the great cow-keeper, who is in want of fodder, makes his agreements for the winter with the wealthier farmers, to whom he successively drives his cattle as soon

as they return from grass. Thus the itinerant senn, with his cows, often visits five different places during the winter season. He who sells the hay furnishes the senn not only with stabling for his beasts, but boards and lodges him as well as his whole family. In return, the senn, besides paying the stipulated price for the hay, allows to his host as much milk, whey, and zieger (a kind of lean cheese), as may be used in the house, and leaves him also the manure of his cows. In the middle of April, when nature revives, the senn again issues forth with his herd to the meadows and fertile Alps, which he rents for the summer. Thus the life of these men is constant migration, affording the most pleasing variety, and blessing them with health, content, and cheerfulness; but they had not been then cursed with French fraternity. Fine cattle are the pride of the cow-keeper who inhabits the Alps; but, not satisfied with their natural beauty, he will likewise please his vanity. He adorns his best cows with large bells suspended from broad thongs; and the expense in such bells is carried even to a luxurious excess. Every senn has an harmonious set of at least two or three bells, chiming in with the famous ranz des vaches, or song of the cow-herds. The Tyrolese bring bells of all sizes to every fair kept in the canton of Appenzell. They are fixed to a broad strap, neatly pinked, cut out, and embroidered; which is fastened round the cow's neck by a large buckle. A bell of the largest size measures upwards of a foot in diameter, is of a uniform width at top, swells out in the middle, and tapers towards the end. It costs from forty to fifty guilders; and the whole peal of bells, including the thongs, will sometimes be worth 140 or 150 guilders; while the whole apparel of the senn himself, when best attired, does not amount to the price of twenty guilders. The finest black cow is adorned with the largest bell, and those next in appearance have two smaller. These ornaments, however, are not worn every day, but only on solemn occasions; viz. when in the spring they are driven up the Alps, or removed from one pasture to another; or when they descend in the autumn, or travel in the winter, to the different farms where their owner has contracted for hay. On such days, the senn, even in the depth of winter, appears dressed in a fine white shirt, of which the sleeves are rolled up above the elbow; neatly embroidered red braces keep up his yellow linen trousers, which reach down to the shoes; a small leather cap or hat covers his head, and a new milk bowl of wood, skilfully carved, hangs across the left shoulder. Thus arrayed, the senn precedes, singing the ranz des vaches, and followed by three or four fine goats; next comes the handsomest cow with the great bell; then the two other cows with smaller bells; and these are succeeded by the rest of the cattle walking one after another, and having in their rear the bull with a one-legged milking-stool hanging on his horns; the procession is closed by a trianeu, or sledge, on which are placed the implements for the dairy. It is surprising to see how proud and pleased the cows stalk forth when ornamented with their bells. Who would imagine that even these animals are

sensible of their rank, nay, touched with vanity and jealousy! If the leading cow, who hitherto bore the largest bell, be deprived of her honors, she very plainly manifests her grief at the disgrace, by lowing incessantly, abstaining from food, and growing lean. The happy rival, on whom the distinguishing badge of superiority has devolved, experiences her marked vengeance, and is butted, wounded, and persecuted by her in the most furious manner; until the former either recovers her bell, or is entirely removed from the herd. However singular this phenomenon may appear, it is placed beyond all doubt by the concurring testimony of centuries. The cows, when dispersed on the Alps, are brought together by the voice of the senn, who is then said to allure them (locken). How well the cattle distinguish the note of their keeper, appears from the circumstance of their hastening to him, though at a great distance, whenever he begins to hum the ranz des vaches. He furnishes that cow which is wont to stray farthest with a small bell, and knows by her arrival that all the rest are assembled.

SEN'NA, n. s. Lat. sena. A physical tree. What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, Would scour these English hence.

Shakspeare. Macbeth. Senna tree is of two sorts; the bastard senna, and the scorpion senna; both which yield a pleasant leaf

and flower.

Mortimer.

SENNA is the leaf of the cassia senna of Linnæus. See CASSIA. It appears to have been cultivated in England, in the time of Parkinson (1640); and Miller tells us that, by keeping these plants in a hot-bed all the summer, he frequently had them in flower; but adds, it is very rarely that they perfect their seeds in England. Senna, which is in common use as a purgative, was first known to the Arabian physicians Serapion and Mesue; the first among the Greeks who takes any notice of it is Actuarius, but he only speaks of the fruit not of the leaves. To remove the disagreeable taste of this medicine, Dr. Cullen recommends coriander seeds; and, for preventing the griping with which it is sometimes attended, he thinks the warmest aromatics, as cardamoms or ginger, would be more effectual. SENNA, ITALICA, or blunt-leaved senna, is a variety of the Alexandrian species; which, by its cultivation in the south of France (late Provence), has been found to assume this change. It is less purgative than the pointed-leaved senna, and is therefore to be given in larger doses. It was employed as a cathartic by Dr. Wright at Jamaica, where it grows on the sandbanks near the sea.

SENNAAR, an extensive country of the ancient Abyssinia, on the southern borders of Nubia, appears to be contiguous to both Abyssinia and Kordofan. Where the soil is overflowed by the Nile it is extremely fertile, and produces abundant crops of dhourra, the principal food of the inhabitants. Wheat and rice are also grown in small quantities. Though rich in vegetable products, and contributing so largely to the support of both man and beast, the soil of this country is said to be singularly unfavorable to their propagation. This Mr.

Bruce ascribes to some noxious quality in the earth. Most of it is impregnated with a species of salt, which is extracted in great quantities in various parts of the country, particularly at Holfaia.

Sennaar has to boast of an excellent breed of horses, praised alike for their size, strength, movements, and general symmetry, their capability of enduring fatigue, and their docility of temper. The town of Sennaar stands on the bank of the Nile, and is described as very populous, and containing many good houses, at least in comparison with the other places. They are all built of clay with a little straw intermixed. Poncet says in his time they had only one story; but now all the principal have two, and parapet roofs, though in most other regions within the influence of the tropical rains the roofs are conical.

Sennaar is a place of considerable trade, Caravans travel in various directions, to Egypt, to Souakin, on the shores of the Red Sea, to Darfur, and other places in the interior. Commerce is indeed the very life of society, and there is not a single family which is not more or less connected with some branch of trade.

The people of Berber, Shendy, and Sennaar, appear to be traders in the strictest sense of the term. Their dress is extremely simple. A long shirt of blue Surat cloth, called marowty, covers them from the lower part of the neck down to the feet; the neck itself is left open, which alone distinguishes the dress of the men from that of the women, who button this shirt round the neck. The men sometimes tie a sash round the middle; and respectable people of both sexes go through the house barefooted. The apartments, particularly those of the females, have the floor covered with Persian carpets. In going out they wear sandals, and a kind of wooden patten, ornamented with shells. With a view to coolness, they have buckets of water thrown upon them in the middle of the day; and, in order to preserve themselves from cutaneous eruptions, of which they entertain a great dread, they anoint themselves daily with camel's grease mixed with civet; and for the same reason, though they put on every day a clean shirt, they lie all night upon one dipt in grease, which forms their only covering. The couch itself is made generally of a tanned bull's hide, much softened by this constant greasing, which occasions a smell from which nothing can free them. The principal diet of the poor consists of bread and flour made of millet. The rich make it into a pudding toasted before the fire, with milk and butter; besides which they eat beef, partly roasted and partly raw. Their horned cattle are the largest and fattest in the world; but camel's flesh is the meat chiefly sold in the market. The liver of the animal and the spare-rib are eaten raw. Hog's flesh is not sold in the market, but is eaten publicly by the people at large, and secretly by those who pretend to be Mahometans. The prevalent diseases are the dysentery and the bloody flux, frequently accompanied by intermitting fever, for which bark is found a sovereign cure. Epilepsies and schirrous livers are likewise very frequent. Those who live much in