lder, a token of distinction and
confidence granted only to relations and persons of importance.

In their religion, the Africans labour under the disadvantage of
being left to unassisted reason, and that too very little
enlightened. Man has, perhaps, an instinctive sentiment, that his own
fate and that of the universe are ruled by some supreme and invisible
power, yet he sees this only through the medium of his wishes and
imagination. He seeks for some object of veneration and means of
protection, which may assume an outward and tangible shape. Thus the
African reposes his faith in the doctrine of charms, which presents a
substance stamped with a supernatural character, capable of being
attached to himself individually, and of affording a feeling of
security amid the many evils that environ him. In all the moorish
borders where writing is known, it forms the basis of _Fetisherie,_
and its productions enclosed in golden or ornamented cases, are hung
round the person as guardian influences. Absurd, however, as are the
observances of the negro, he is a stranger to the bigotry of his
moslem neighbours. He neither persecutes nor brands as impious those
whose religious views differ from his own. There is only one point,
on which his faith assumes a savage character, and displays darker
than inquisitorial horrors. The despot, the object of boundless
homage on earth, seeks to transport all his pomp and the crowd of his
attendants to his place in the future world. His death must be
celebrated by the corresponding sacrifice of a numerous band of
slaves, of wives and of courtiers; their blood must moisten his
grave, and the sword of the rude warrior once drawn, does not readily
stop; a general massacre often takes place, and the capitals of these
barbarian chiefs are seen to stream with blood.

CHAPTER XV.

It is impossible not to view the unquenchable zeal and intrepidity,
which Park evinced on his first journey, without feeling for the
individual the highest sentiments of admiration and respect. In
addition to those high qualifications, we witnessed an admirable
prudence in his intercourse with the natives, and a temper not to be
ruffled by the most trying provocations; a union of qualities often
thought incompatible, and which in our days we fear we cannot expect
to see again directed to the same pursuits. It may be further stated,
that to our own feelings, scarcely an individual of the age can be
named, who has sunk