An Essay on the Superstitions, Customs and Arts Common to the Ancients Aegyptians, Abyssinians and Ashantees (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1821 Excerpt: ... from Dagwumba. The latter dress leather admirably, and excelI in weaving, both sides of their cloth being alike. It is true that the art of writing in the Ethiopic character is unknown to the Ashantees; but as they possess traces of the letters, we may expect that 'tlwii_ more civilised intcri0l' neighbours have preserved some use of them: we are to recollect, also, that writing is a very rare accomplishment in Abyssinia, both Barretus and their countryman Gregory testifying the ignorance of it in general. 1 Bruce says that they know no other countries than their own, 1 and that nothing can be more inexact than their calculations, from their ignorance of arithmetic. i I l Gregory describes the palace of the king of Abyssinia as composed of round and square houses: it is curious, that throughout Ashantee and Dagwumba, with the exception of the Fetish temples, the (1) " Nullus etiam nunc apud eos epistolarum usus, neque ea, quae puhlico judicio decernuntur, neque aliud quidquam notare literis consuevere."--Bar. " Sine scriptura quam plerique ignorant"I-Ludofi (2) The belief of the Moorish negroes we found in Coomassie, that the earth is composed of one large continent, encircled by a sea which is hounded by-a girdle of rocks (p. 92), reminds us of Homer's knowledge of the earth being girt by the ocean, as sculptured on the shield of Achilles. 11. 1a. 606. I houses are square; whilst in Inta, the intermediate kingdqm, they are always round. I cannot find any particular description of the Abyssinian houses; but as Mr. Salt sometimes speaks of the Has beingin the inner court, I presume, on the authority of Alvarez, ' that their plan is the same as the Ashantee; where, on occasions of state, we were conducted through seve...