protracted and almost supernatural punishment betekens unexampled guilt. THE MOORS.-Their dress is handsome; a sort of short shirt with wide sleeves, over which comes a cloth vest, fastened with small buttons and loops, embroidered richly with gold and silver; they wear linen drawers, with broad silk scarfs round their waist, in which they stick a large knife, with a curiously ornamented handle. The word negro is considered insulting, and is used as an epithet of contempt to the colored people. It has been long used by our common enemies in America. It is not only insulting, but very improper for any one to make use of it. Our friends, the friends of Christ, would do well to consider this, and never write or publish it again to the world. Let it be remembered that it is as wicked for a Christian to swear as to call a disciple of Christ a negro. Men of Africa were chosen by Christ our Lord to go and preach the everlasting gospel to every creature. See the sons of Africa who came to Antioch, preaching the Lord Jesus. of Cyprus, an island of Africa, and of Cyrene, a city on the Mediterranean, in Africa. Acts xi. 20. Men In the third century the Church of Christ was ably defended by the celebrated sons of Africa, Origen and Cyprian, learned Christian writers, commonly called Fathers, and St. Chrysostom, and St. Augustine, learned and eloquent Fathers in the Church of Christ, and many others. are I am authorized by the word of God to say, whosoever makes use of the word negro, applying it to us as a people, after the light and truth have been proclaimed, neither friends to God nor man. "I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' Matt. xxv. 40. To call a person a negro, in the East, is expressive of the highest contempt. The dark Spaniard is proud of his descent from the African Moor, who first taught Europe the use of the Arabic figures, &c. The Arab of Africa, the most majestic of men, with his piercing eye and flowing beard, is the descendant and representative of Abraham, THE HAIR OF MEN'S HEADS. Our common enemies in America call frizzle or curly hair, on the head of an African, wool. The Dictionary of Dr. Walker calls the fleece of a sheep, wool. Cloth, called woollen, is made of wool. Daniel's vision of God's kingdom: "The ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool." Dan. vii. 9. A description of Christ: "His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven." Solomon's Song, v. 11. Frizzle, friz'zl. v. a. to curl in short curls. THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. " MOUNT CALPE, or Gibraltar, or in other words, the Rock of Gibraltar, taken by the Spaniards from the Moors, was celebrated among the ancients as one of the Pillars of Hercules; and, as he was the fabled god of strength, Gibraltar may with propriety be termed his pillar. The English took it from the Spanish. It is now called the Key of the Mediterranean Sea; and is probably one of the strongest fortresses in the world. Gibraltar is a celebrated promontory, more than 1400 feet high, at the southern extremity of Spain, belonging to Great Britain. THE MOORISH CASTLE. THIS castle was taken from the Moors by the Spanish. It is now called Gibraltar Castle, or by the name of the Spanish Castle. This castle is not very large, but it bears the marks of great age, and has not, in fact, been opened for several hundred years, even from the time it was first taken from the Moors. There are various and marvellous reasons told for keeping it closed. One reason was that the sentinels stationed at this castle for eight or ten days in succession, when the relief guard came in the morning, were found dead on the ramparts; and after twenty or thirty men had been thus singularly cut off from the Spanish ranks, it was resolved to search the castle. They marched with a file of soldiers to the castle gate, and were just putting the key to the lock when some terrible disease caused the death of more than one-half of those who were actors in this enterprise. The Moors say the reason this castle was not opened by the Spanish was that the plague was in it. The Jews, since their expulsion, had offered to cover the rock with silver dollars, laying them flat-wise on the ground, provided that the rock would be given up to them; but the terms were not accepted; yet, if they would cover it with the dollars edge down it should be given up to them; this the Jews would not do. The Jews pretend to say that the Moorish Castle contains inspired writings, never yet published; that they never would be till they were published by the Jews; that there were no people in existence who could find them, provided the castle was opened for that express purpose, unless it was a Jew; and that no Jew would or could ever do it unless he was master of the soil where those papers were concealed; that as soon as they could effect this, Jewish honor would be restored; the eyes of millions opened to the gross calumnies now circulated against a people, so long the proverb and song of a heartless world, and for more than seventeen hundred years counted the abomination of the earth; and that in offering to purchase the rock, they were not merely endeavoring to regain a place and name among the nations of the earth, but that other motives, more important, actuated them. ABDUHL RAHHAHMAN, called the Moorish Prince, was a native of the celebrated city of Timbuctoo, in Central Africa, of which city, and province connected with it, his grand-father was king. Abduhl's father, when a young man, was sent to conquer the Soo Soos, a nation living at the distance of twelve hundred miles from Timbuctoo. He succeeded, and established a new kingdom, called Footo Jallo, and founded its capital Teembo, now known as one of the largest cities of that continent. He removed his family from Timbuctoo to his newly acquired kingdom, when the Prince Abduhl was about five years of age. At twelve years of age the Prince was sent to Timbuctoo to obtain an education-being the rightful heir to the throne, in preference to his elder brother, whose mother was a Soo Soo, while his own was a Moor. While the Prince was at Timbuctoo, his grand-father being far advanced in life, resigned his throne to his son, an uncle of the Prince. The family were all Mahometans. When the Prince was nineteen years of age, Dr. Cox, an American citizen, and surgeon on board a ship which arrived at Sierra Leone, having gone on a hunting expedition into the interior, and lost himself in the woods, found, on his return to the coast, that his vessel had sailed. He then undertook an excursion into the country, and arrived at length, sick and lame, in the territory of Foota Jallo. Being the first white man seen in that country, he was carried as a great curiosity to the king, Abduhl's father, at Teembo. The King entertained him for six months with the greatest hospitality; and during this time he was an inmate of the Prince's house, adjoining that of his father. When the Doctor was perfectly restored to health, he was dismissed by the King, and furnished with clothes, gold, ivory, and an escort of armed men to protect him to Sierra Leone. In the interim his ship had providentially returned, and the Doctor arrived safely in America. Would the Christians in the Southern part of the United States do the same to an Ethiopian or Indian ? The Prince (Abduhl Rahhahman) a colonel in his father's cavalry, was sent with a party of seventeen hundred men to retaliate upon the Hebohs who had very much annoyed the trade of the people of Foota Jallo with the sea coast. On the return of the Prince after a successful campaign, he was taken prisoner by the Hebohs, who surprised him and his party by ambush. He was sold to the Mandingoes; and they in turn sold him to a slave ship at the mouth of the Gambia; thence he was carried to Dominique; and thence to Natchez, where he was sold to Colonel Fos ter. About sixteen or eighteen years after this transaction, as the Prince was selling sweet potatoes in Washington, a neighboring town, he met the Doctor Cox who had been his old acquaintance in Africa, and an inmate of his dwelling at Teembo; and who immediately recognized him. The Doctor, in the fulness of his gratitude to the Prince, went to Col. Foster, and offered him one thousand dollars as a ransom for the Prince; but Foster valued him so highly for the salutary influence he exerted over the slaves, that he rejected this proposal. But such intreaties were made by a son of Dr. Cox, and others, that Col. Rahhahman and his wife received their freedom in the spring of 1828. The Prince, having been born in 1760, was now about sixty-six years of age; forty of which he had passed in bondage. His character was remarkably exemplary. When he visited New York and the other northern Atlantic cities, he brought with him letters of recommendation from Mr. Clay and other distinguished gentlemen who had cultivated his acquaintance. He became a member of the Baptist church during the year previous to his manumission. The Prince embarked with his wife on board the Harriet, which left Hampton Roads in January, 1829, for Liberia; and he arrived at Monrovia in Africa, with his wife, May 5th, 1829; and died on the 9th of the same month, with a Liberia seasoning fever. The city of Timbuctoo is situated in the middle of Africa; and has been the object of the European's curiosity for many years. The slave-traders from the North, East, and West, have spoken of it, and their accounts have been rather marvellous. Several travellers have attempted to reach it, but none have been able to get so far; and some have sacrificed their lives to the difficulties of the journey. The Prince, Abduhl describes the city as surrounded by large and high walls. The government maintains a standing army; and the people are well advised in arts and sciences. Honor to the memory of Abduhl, and peace to his ashes. His honesty and humanity, the "noblest work of God." He was man's victim, but nature's nobleman. "The palm's rich nectar, and lie down at eve In the green pastures of remembered days, On Congo's mountain-coast, or Gambia's golden shore." |