Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

tice. It is of surprising strength, and is said by the natives to be very long lived. I have lodged,' says Mr. Browne, a complete charge of large shot, at about fifty yards distance, in the body of this bird: it seemed to have no effect on him, as he flew to a considerable distance, and continued walking afterwards. I then discharged the second barrel, which was loaded with ball; this broke his wing; but, on my advancing to seize him, he fought with great fury with the other. There are many thousands of them in the inhabited district. They divide the field with the hyena: what carrion the latter leaves at night, the former come in crowds to feed on in the day. Near the extremity of each wing is a horny substance, like the spur of an old cock. It is strong and sharp, and a formidable instrument of attack. Some fluid exudes from this bird that smells like musk, but from what part I am uncertain.' The serpents found in Soudan are the same as in Egypt; but the natives have not the art of charming them, like the Egyptians. The locust of Arabia is very common, and is frequently roasted and eaten, particularly by the slaves.

In Darfur there seems to be a scarcity of metals; but in its neighbourhood all kinds are to be found. The copper brought by the merchants from the territories of certain idolatrous tribes bordering on Fur is of the finest quality, in color resembling that of China, and appears to contain a portion of zinc, being of the same pale hue. Iron is found in abundance. Silver, lead, and tin, they receive from Egypt; but of gold, in the countries to the east and west, the supply is abundant. Alabaster, and various kinds of marble, are found within the limits of Fur, as is fossil salt within a certain district; and there is a sufficient supply of nitre. Of our European trees, very few exist in Darfur. The characteristic marks of those species which most abound there, are their sharp thorns, and the solid and unperishable quality of their substance. They seem to be much the same as those of Abyssinia. There is a small tree called enneb, to the fruit of which they have given the name of grapes. It bears leaves of a light green hue; and the fruit, which is of a purple color, is attached, not in bunches but singly, to the smaller branches, and interspersed among the leaves. The internal structure of the fruit is not very unlike the grape, which it also resembles in size; but the pulp is of a red hue, and the taste is strongly astringent. The water-melon (cucurbita citrullus) grows wild over almost all the cultivable lands, and ripens as the corn is removed. In this state it does not attain a large size. As it ripens the camels, asses, &c., are turned to feed on it. The seeds, as they grow blackish, are collected to make a kind of tar, kutran. Those plants of the melon which receive artificial culture grow to a large size, and are of exquisite flavor. Tobacco is produced in abundance; and cochineal is found in Darfur, or its neighbourhood. The arvest is conducted very simply. The women and slaves break off the ears with their hands, leaving the straw standing, which is afterwards applied to buildings, &c. They then put them in baskets, and carry them away. When threshed, they expose the grain to the sun till it become

quite dry; after this a hole in the earth is prepared, the bottom and sides of which are covered with chaff to exclude the vermin. This cavity or magazine is filled with grain, which is then covered with chaff, and afterwards with earth, whereby it is preserved tolerably well. In using it for food, they grind it, boil it, and eat it with milk, or with a sauce made of dried meat boiled with onions, &c. The Furians use little butter. The monarch can do nothing contrary to the koran, but he may do more than the laws will authorise; and, as there is no council to control or assist him, his power is despotic. He speaks in public of the soil and its productions as his personal property, and of the people as little else than his slaves. His power in the provinces is delegated to officers, called meleks, who possess an authority equally arbitrary. At the beginning of the harif, or wet season, which is the moment for sowing the corn, the king goes out with his meleks and the rest of his train; and while the people turn up the ground and sow the seed, he also makes several holes with his own hand. This custom calls to the mind a practice of the Egyptian kings mentioned by Herodotus. The population is not large. An army of 2000 men was spoken of, when Mr. Browne was in the country, as a great one; and he does not think that the number of souls within the empire exceeds 200,000. The troops are not famed for skill, courage, or perseverance. In their campaigns much reliance is placed on the Arabs who accompany them, and who are properly tributaries rather than subjects of the sultan. One energy of barbarism they possess, in common with other savages, that of being able to endure hunger and thirst. In their persons the Furians are not remarkable for cleanliness. Though observing as Mahometans all the superstitious formalities of prayer, their hair is rarely combed, or their bodies completely washed. The hair of the pubes and axillæ it is usual to exterminate. They have no soap, but a kind of farinaceous paste is prepared, which being applied with butter to the skin, and rubbed continually till it becomes dry, not only improves its appearance, but removes from it accidental sores, and the effect of continued transpiration. The female slaves are dexterous in the application of it; and to undergo this operation is one of the refinements of African sensuality. Nothing resembling current coin is found in Soudan, unless it be small tin rings, the value of which is in some degree arbitrary. The Austrian dollars, and other silver coins brought from Egypt, are all sold as ornaments for the women. The disposition of the Furians is cheerful; and that gravity and reserve which the precepts of Mahometanism inspire seems by no means to sit easy on them. A government perfectly despotic, and not ill administered, yet forms no adequate restraint to their violent passions. Prone to inebriation, but unprovided with materials or ingenuity to prepare any other fermented liquor than buza, with this alone their convivial excesses are committed. But though the sultan published an ordinance (March 1795), forbidding the use of that liquor under pain of death, the plurality, though less publicly than before, still indulge themselves in

it. A company often sits from sun-rise to sunset, drinking and conversing, till a single man sometimes carries off nearly two gallons of that liquor. The buza has, however, a diuretic and diaphoretic tendency, which precludes any danger from these excesses. In this country dancing is practised by the men as well as the women, and they often dance promiscuously. The vices of thieving, lying, and cheating in bargains, are here almost universal. No property, whether considerable or trifling, is safe out of the sight of the owner, nor indeed scarcely in it, unless he be stronger than the thief. In buying and selling, the parent glories in deceiving the son, and the son the parent; and God and the prophet are hourly invoked, to confirm the most palpable frauds and falsehoods. The privilege of polygamy the people of Soudan push to the extreme. By their law, they are allowed four free women, and as many slaves as they can maintain; but the Furians take both free women and slaves without limitation. The sultan has more than 100 free women, and many of the meleks have from twenty to thirty. In their indulgence with women they pay little regard to restraint or decency. The form of the houses secures no great secrecy to what is carried on within them; yet the concealment which is thus offered is not always sought. The shade of a tree or long grass is the sole temple required for the sacrifices to the Cyprian goddess. In the course of licentious indulgence, father and daughter, son and mother, are sometimes mingled; and the relations of brother and sister are exchanged for closer intercourse. About 150 years ago, previously to the establishment of Islamism, the people of Fur seem to have formed wandering tribes; in which state they probably contracted these monstrous habits of immorality. In their persons they differ from the negroes of the coast of Guinea. Their hair is generally short and woolly, though some have it of the length of eight or ten inches, which they esteem a beauty. Their complexion is for the most part perfectly black. The Arabs, who are numerous within the empire, retain their distinction of feature, color, and language. They most commonly intermarry with each other. The slaves, which are brought from the country they call Fertit (land of idolaters), perfectly resemble those of Guinea, and their language is peculiar to themselves. The revenues of the crown consist of a

duty on all merchandise imported, which, in many instances, amounts to nearly a tenth; of a tax on all slaves exported; of all forfeitures for misdemeanors; of a tenth on all merchandise, especially slaves; of a tribute paid by the Arabs, who breed oxen, horses, camels, sheep; of a quantity of corn paid annually by every village; besides many valuable presents. The king is chief merchant in the country; and not only despatches with every caravan to Egypt a great quantity of his own merchandise, but also employs his slaves to trade with the goods of Egypt on his own account, in the countries adjacent. The commodities brought by the caravans from Egypt are:-1. Amber beads. 2. Tin. 3. Coral beads. 4. Cornelian beads. 5. False cornelians. 6. Beads of Venice. 7. Agate. 8. Rings, silver

and brass, for the ancles and wrists. 9. Carpets 10. Blue cotton cloths. 11. White cotton ditto. 12. Indian muslins and cottons. 13. Blue and white cloths of Egypt, called melays. 14. Swordblades from Cairo. 15. Small looking-glasses. 16. Copper face-pieces, or defensive armour for the horses' heads. 17. Fire arms. 18. Kohhel for the eyes. 19. Rhea, a kind of moss from European Turkey, for food and a scent. 20. She, a species of absynthium, for its odor, and as a remedy; both the last sell to advantage. 21. Coffee. 22. Nutmegs. 23. Dufr, the shell of a fish in the Red Sea, used for perfume. 24. Silk unwrought. 25. Wire, brass and iron. 26. Coarse glass beads, made at Jerusalem. 27. Copper culinary utensils, for which the demand is small. 28. Old copper for reworking. 29. Small red caps of Barbary. 30. Thread linens of Egypt. 31. Light French cloths. 32. Silks of Scio. 33. Silk and cotton pieces of Aleppo, Damascus, &c. 34. Shoes of red leather. 35. Black pepper. 36. Writing paper, a considerable article. 37. Soap of Syria. The goods transported into Egypt are-1. Slaves, male and female. 2. Camels. 3. Ivory. 4. Horus of the rhinoceros. 5. Teeth of the hippopotamus. 6. Ostrich feathers. 7. Whips of the hippopotamus's hide. 8. Gum. 9. Pimento. 10. Tamarinds, made into round cakes. 11. Leather sacks for water and dry articles. 12. Peroquets in abundance, and some monkeys and Guinea fowls. 13. Copper, white, in small quantity. SOVEREIGN, adj. & n. s. Fr. souverais; Sov'EREIGNLY, adv. Ital. sovrano; SOVEREIGNTY, N. S. Span. sobraro. All of Lat. supernus. Supreme in power or influence; having no superior: hence efficacious; predominant: a sovereign is a supreme lord: the adverb and noun substantive following corspond.

Hooker.

As teaching bringeth us to know that God is our supreme truth; so prayer testifieth that we acknowledge him our sovereign good. Causeless have laid disgraces on my head. You my sovereign lady,

Shakspeare. Henry IV. The most sovereign prescription in Galen is but empirick; and, to this preservative, of no better report than a horse-drench. Id. Coriolanus.

O, let my sovereign turn away his face, And bid his ears a little while be deaf. Shakspeare. Give me pardon,

That I, your vassal, have employed and pained

Your unknown sovreignty.

Id.

A water we call water of paradise, by that we do Bacon. to it, is made very sovereign for health.

To give laws unto a people to institute magistrates and officers over them; to punish and pardon male factors; to have the sole authority of making war and peace, are the true marks of sovereignty. Davies.

Like the scum starved men did draw

From parboiled shoes and boots, and all the rest
Which were with any sovereign fatness blest. Donne.
A mighty hunter thence he shall be stiled
Before the Lord; as in despite of heaven,

Or from heaven claiming second sovereignty. Milton.
But held the rank of sovereign queen before;
None of us who now thy grace implore,
Till giddy chance, whose malice never bears
That mortal bliss should last for length of years,
Cast us down headlong from our high estate.

Dryden.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

SOVEREIGN, in matters of government, is applied to the supreme magistrate or magistrates of an independent government or state; because their authority is only bounded by the laws of God and the laws of the state; such are kings, princes, &c. See KING, MONARCH, PREROGATIVE, &C.

SOVEREIGN, the name of a modern as well as an ancient gold coin of Great Britain. In Henry I.'s reign a coin of this denomination was issued of 22s. value, and one twenty-fourth part of the weight of a pound of gold. In 34 Henry VIII. sovereigns were coined of 20s. value; but, anno 4 & 6 Edw. VI., they passed first for 24s. and then for 30s. By stat. 56 Geo. III. c. 68, sec. 11, declaring the gold coin to be the only legal tender, and that the same should be of the weight and fineness of the mint indenture, as to the denominations then in use, it was provided that gold coins of any new denomination should be of like standard in fineness, and proportionate weight. Sovereigns to pass for 20s., and half sovereigns to pass for 10s., were accordingly coined, weighing parts of a guinea and half guinea respectively.

SOVEREIGN POWER, or SOVEREIGNTY, is the power of making laws; for, wherever that power resides, all others must conform to it, and be directed by it, whatever appearance the outward form and administration of the government may put on. For it is at any time in the option of the legislature to alter that form and administration by a new edict or rule, and to put the execution of the laws into whatever hands it pleases; and all the other powers of the state must obey the legislative power in the execution of their several functions, or else the constitution is at an end. In our constitution the law ascribes to the king the attribute of sovereignty; but that is to be understood in a qualified sense, i. e. as supreme magistrate, not as sole legislator; as the legislative power is vested in the king, lords,

and commons, not in any of the three estates alone.

SOUFFEL, a river of France, which runs into the Rhine, four miles below Strasburg.

SOUFFLOT (James Germain), a celebrated French architect, born in 1713. He improved himself in Italy, and, on his return to France, was appointed superintendant of the royal buildings, and those of Marly, the Thuilleries, &c. His greatest work was the church of St. Genevieve in Paris. He died in 1780.

[ocr errors]

SOUFFRIER, the most northerly of the lofty chain of mountains running through the centre of the island St. Vincent, and the highest of the whole, as computed by the most accurate survey that has as yet been taken. For some time previcus to April 1812, this memorable mountain had indicated much disquietude; and, from the extraordinary frequency and violence of earthquakes (which are calculated to have exceeded 200 within the preceding year), had portended some great movement or eruption. On Monday 27th April, just as the plantation bells rung twelve at noon, an abrupt and dreadful crash from the mountain, with a severe concussion of the earth, and tremulous noise in the air, alarmed all around it. The resurrection of this fiery furnace was proclaimed in a moment by a vast column of thick, black, ropy smoke, like that of an immense glass-house, bursting forth at once, and mounting to the sky; showering down sand, with gritty calcined particles of earth and favilla mixed, on all below. This, driven before the wind towards Wallibon and Morne Ronde, darkened the air like a cataract of rain, and covered the ridges, woods, and cane pieces, with light gray-colored ashes, resembling snow when slightly covered by dust. As the eruption increased, this continual shower expanded, destroying every appearance of vegetation. At night a very considerable degree of ignition was observed on the lips of the crater; but it is not asserted that there was as yet any visible ascension of flame. The same awful scene presented itself on Tuesday; the fall of favilla and calcined pebbles still increasing, and the compact pitchy column from the crater rising perpendicularly to an immense height, with a noise at intervals like the muttering of distant thunder. On Wednesday the 29th, all these menacing symptoms of horror and combustion still gathered more thick and terrific for miles around the dismal and half obscured mountain. The prodigious column shot up with quicker motion, dilating as it rose like a balloon. The sun appeared in total eclipse, and shed a meridian twilight over the island that aggravated the gloom of the scene, now completely powdered over with falling particles. It was evident that the crisis was as yet to come; that the burning fluid was struggling for a vent, and laboring to throw off the superincumbent strata and obstructions, which suppressed the ignivomous torrent. At night it was manifest that it had greatly disengaged itself from its burden, by the appearance of fire flashing now and then, flaking above the mouth of the crater. On Thursday 30th of April, the noise from the mountain had increased, and at times was incessant. About four o'clock it became still more

alarming, and, just before sun-set, the clouds re-
flected a bright copper color, suffused with fire.
Scarcely had the day closed, when the flame
burst at length pyramidically from the crater,
through the mass of smoke; the rolling of the
thunder became more awful and deafening;
electric flashes quickly succeeded, attended with
loud claps; and now, indeed, the hurly-burly
began. Those only who have witnessed such a
sight can form any idea of the magnificence and
variety of the lightning and electric flashes;
some forked zig-zag, playing across the perpen-
dicular column from the crater; others shooting
upwards from the mouth, like rockets of the
most dazzling lustre; others like shells with their
trailing fuses, flying in different parabolas, with
the most vivid scintillations from the dark san-
guine column, which now seemed inflexible and
immovable by the wind. Shortly after seven
P.M. the mighty caldron was seen to simmer, and
the ebullition of lava to break out on the north-
west side. This, immediately after boiling over
the orifice, and flowing a short way, was opposed
by the acclivity of a higher point of land, over
which it was impelled by the immense tide of
liquified fire that drove it on, forming the figure
Vin grand illumination. Sometimes, when the
ebullition slackened, or was insufficient to urge
it over the obstructing hill, it recoiled back, like
a refluent billow from the rock, and then again
rushed forward, impelled by fresh supplies, and
scaling every obstacle, carrying rocks and woods
together in its course down the slope of the
mountain, until it precipitated itself down some
vast ravine, concealed from the view by the in-
tervening ridges of Morne Ronde. Vast globu-
lar bodies of fire were seen projected from the
fiery furnace, and bursting, fell back into it, or
over it, on the surrounding bushes, which were
instantly set in flames. About four hours from
the lava boiling over the crater it reached the
sea, as could be observed from the reflection
of the fire and the electric flashes attending
it. About half-past one another stream of
lava was seen descending to the east, towards
Rabacca. At this time the first earthquake
was felt; this was followed by showers of
cinders, that fell with the hissing noise of hail
during two hours. At three o'clock a rolling on
the roofs of the houses indicated a fall of stones,
which soon thickened, and at length descended
in a rain of intermingled fire, that threatened at
once the fate of Pompeii or Herculaneum. The
crackling and coruscations from the crater at this
period exceeded all that had yet passed. The
eyes were struck with momentary blindness, and
the ears stunned with the glomeration of sounds.
People sought shelter in cellars, under rocks, or
any where, for every where was nearly the same;
and the miserable negroes, flying from their huts,
were knocked down or wounded, and many
killed in the open air. Several houses were set
on fire. The estates situate in the immediate
vicinity seemed doomed to destruction. Had
the stones that fell been heavy in proportion to
their size, not a living creature could have es-
caped. This dreadful rain of stones and fire
lasted upwards of an hour, and was again suc-
ceeded by cinders from three till six o'clock in

the morning. Earthquake followed earthquake
almost momentarily, or rather the whole of this
part of the island was in a state of continued
oscillation; not agitated by shocks, vertical or
horizontal; but undulated, like water shaken in
a bowl. The break of day, if such it could be
called, was truly terrific. Darkness enveloped
the mountain, and an impenetrable haze hung
over the sea, with black sluggish clouds of a sul-
phureous cast. The whole island was covered
with favilla, cinders, scoria, and broken masses
of volcanic matter. It was not until the after-
noon that the muttering noise of the mountain
sunk gradually into a solemn yet suspicious
silence.' Such are the particulars of this sub-
lime and tremendous scene, from commencement
to catastrophe, as detailed in the Edinburgh
Gazetteer.
SOUGH, n. s. Fr. sous. A subterraneous
drain.

Yet could not such mines, without great pains and
charges, if at all, be wrought; the delfs would be sa
addits or soughs to drain them, that no gins or ma-
flown with waters, it being impossible to make any
chines could suffice to lay and keep them dry.
Ray on the Creation.
Another was found in sinking a sough-pit.
* Woodward.
Saxon rapel; Dan. siel;
Isl. sual; Goth. sal. The
intellectual principle or spi-
rit of man: hence the vital

SOUL, n. s.
SOUL'ED, adj.
SOUL LESS,

SOUL'SHOT, n. s..

principle or power; power; active or actuating power; human being; intelligent being: souled is furnished with mind: soulless, wanting it; low; mean: soulshot is explained below.

When death was overcome, he opened heaven as well to the believing Gentiles as Jews: heaven till then was no receptacle to the souls of either.

Hooker.

[blocks in formation]

Shakspeare.

Slave, soulless villain, dog, O rarely base! Id.
Perhaps, for want of food, the soul may pine;
But that were strange, since all things bad and good,

Since all God's creatures mortal and divine,

Since God himself, is her eternal food. Daries.

He remembered them of the promises, seals, and oaths, which by publick authority had passed for concluding this marriage; that these, being religious bonds betwixt God and their souls, could not by any politick act of state be dissolved.

Hayward.

So natural is the knowledge of the soul's immortality, and of some ubi for the future reception of

it, that we find some tract or other of it in most bar-
barous nations.
Heylyn.
Thou 'sun,
of this great world both eye and soud,
Milton.

Eloquence the soul, song charms the sense.
Charity, the soul of all the rest.
Every soul in heaven shall bend the knee.

Id.

Id.

Id

[blocks in formation]

The eyes of our souls only then begin to see, when our bodily eyes are closing.

Law.

That he wants caution, he must needs confess; But not a soul to give our arms success.

Young. The SOUL is the principle of perception, memory, intelligence, and volition in man; which, since the earliest era of philosophy, has furnished questions of difficult investigation, and materials of keen and important controversy. See METAPHYSICS. In the fourth volume of the Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, the reader will find a very valuable paper by Dr. Farrier, proving, by evidence apparently complete, that every part of the brain has been injured without affecting the act of thought. An abridgment of that memoir would weaken its reasoning; which, built on matters of fact and experience, appears to us to have shaken the modern theory of the materialists from its very foundation.

As a sketch of their opinions we may observe that Dr. Priestley, rejecting the commonly received notion of matter, as an absolutely impenetrable, inert substance, and premising, that the powers of sensation or perception and thought, as belonging to man, have never been found but in conjunction with a certain organised system of matter, maintains that those powers necessarily exist in, and depend upon, such a system. In proof of this doctrine, it is alleged that, perception and thought are not incompatible with the properties of matter, considered as a substance extended and endued with the powers of attraction and repulsion; and, therefore, if one kind of substance be capable of supporting all the known properties of man, true philosophy, which will not authorize us to multiply causes or kinds of substance, without necessity, will forbid us to admit of any substance in the constitution of human nature essentially different from matter. The proper seat of the powers of perception and thought, according to this writer, is the brain; because, as far as we can judge, the faculty of thinking, and a certain state of the

brain, always accompany and correspond to one another; and there is no instance of any man retaining this faculty when his brain was destroyed; and, whenever that faculty is impeded or injured, there is sufficient reason to believe that the brain is disorded in proportion. Dr. Priestley apprehends that sensation and thought necessarily result from the organization of the brain, when the powers of mere life are given to the system, and that they follow of course, as much as the circulation of the blood follows respiration; but he professes to have no idea at all of the manner in which the power of perception results from organization and life.

To this it has been replied that Dr. Priestley's account does not answer to the common ideas

of matter, or that it is not solid extension, or an impenetrable and inert substance, which is the only matter that is the object of natural philosophy; but something not solid, that exists in space, and so far agreeing with spirit; and consequently, if such matter is, as he asserts, the only matter possible, it will follow, not that we have no souls distinct from our bodies, but that we have no bodies distinct from our souls, and that all in nature is spirit. Besides, it has been farther urged, that a connexion and dependence by no means prove sameness.

It has been objected also by an able writer in the Edinb. Rev., that it is unphilosophical to class perception among the qualities of matter, when it is obvious that it is by means of perception alone that we get any notion of matter or its qualities; and that it is possible, with perfect consistency, to maintain the existence of our perceptions, and to deny that of matter altogether. The other qualities of matter are perceived by us; but perception cannot be perceived; all we know about it is, that it is that by which we perceive every thing else. It sounds somewhat absurd and unintelligible, to say that perception is that quality of matter by which it becomes conscious of its own existence, and acquainted with its other qualities. It is plain that this is not a quality, but a knowledge of qualities; and that the percipient must necessarily be distinct from that which is perceived by it. We must always begin with perception; and the followers of Berkeley will tell us that we must end there also. At all events, it certainly never entered into the head of any plain man to conceive that the faculty of perception itself was one of the qualities with which that faculty made him acquainted; or that it could possibly belong to a substance, which his earliest intimations and most indestructible impressions taught him to regard as something external and separate.

It is further alleged that to call perception a quality at all is a gross and unwarrantable abuse of language. Perception is an act or an event, a fact or a phenomenon, of which the percipient is conscious; but it cannot be intelligibly conceived as a quality; and, least of all, as a quality of that substance which is known to us as solid and extended. First, All the qualities of matter are perceived by the senses; but the sensation itself cannot be so perceived: nor is it possible to call it an object of sense, without the grossest

« AnteriorContinuar »