evil powers, its homage to magic, and desperate belief in spells,
incantations and the _fetish_. The configuration of the country, so far as
it can be conjectured, assists this primeval barbarism. Divided by natural
barriers of hill, chasm, or river, into isolated states, they act under a
general impulse of hostility and disunion. If they make peace, it is only
for purposes of plunder; and, if they plunder, it is only to make slaves.
The very fertility of the soil, at once rendering them indolent and
luxurious, excites their passions, and the land is a scene alike of
profligacy and profusion. To the south of this vast region lies a
third--the land of the Caffre, occupying the eastern coast, and, with the
Betjouana and the Hottentot, forming the population of the most promising
portion of the continent. But here another and more enterprising race have
fixed themselves; and the great English colony of the Cape, with its
dependent settlements, has begun the first real conquest of African
barbarism. Whether Aden may not act on the opposite coasts of the Red Sea,
and Abyssinia become once more a Christian land; or whether even some
impulse may not divinely come from Africa itself, are questions belonging
to the future. But there can scarcely be a doubt, that the existence of a
great English viceroyalty in the most prominent position of South Africa,
the advantages of its government, the intelligence of its people, their
advancement in the arts essential to comfort, and the interest of their
protection, their industry, and their example, must, year by year, operate
in awaking even the negro to a feeling of his own powers, of the enjoyment
of his natural faculties, and of that rivalry which stimulates the skill
of man to reach perfection.

The name of Africa, which, in the Punic tongue, signifies "ears of corn,"
was originally applied only to the northern portion, lying between the
Great Desert and the shore, and now held by the pashalics of Tunis and
Tripoli. They were then the granary of Rome. The name Lybia was derived