The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-09-21
From the New York Sun, Sept. 10.
THE CAPTURED AFRICANS.

10 auulesSeu, 10 Jay before our readers TINS mo
81 ming long and interesting account of the Ami
l. tad captives, obtained by one of the committe
through interpreters found in this CITY, from til
=, mouths of the prisoners themselves. Its public;
y ton has compelled US TO divest this mornings Su
of as great variety as is generally found in il
; columns but there is sufficient interest in the re
= port to compensate for that loss.
a New HAVEN, Sept 9, 1889.
To the Committee behalf of the African Prisoners
arrived here last Friday evening, with thre
men who are natives of Africa, and who wer
joined the next day by two others, to act as inter
: prefers in conversing with Cinquez, or as it
pronounced by himself Jingua, and his comrades
He said he knew nothing of the name of Joseph
On going to the Jail, the next morning, we found
to our great disappointment, that only one of thu
f men, }. f., was able to converse with the prison
ers. He is about ~ years of age, native o
Kissi, which is about 100 or $50 miles from the
mouth of the river Gallinas, in the interior, which
fills about days journey from Sierra Leone. HI
was kidnapped when about y years old, and wa:
liberated in Colombia by Bolivar He is able tc
converse little in the Mandingo dialect but un
derstands better that of Gallinas, which some Of
the prisoners can speak Most of the prisoners
can understand him, although none of them can
speak his Kissi dialect. You may imagine the
Joy manifested by these poor Africans, when they
heard one of their own color address them in a
friendly manner, and in a language they could
comprehend
The prisoners are in comfortable rooms. They
are we'll clothed in dark striped cotton trowsers
called by some of the manufacturers hard times,
and in striped cotton shirts. The girls are in
calico frocks and have mudo the little sbawls tina,
were given them into turbans. The prisoners
eyed the clothes sometime, and laughed good
deal among themselves before they put them on.
Their food is brought to them in separate tin pans
and they eat it in an orderly manner. In gener-
al, they are in good health. One of their number
died, however, on Tuesday last, and two or three
more are on the sick list, and considered danger
GUS. They probably suffer for want of exercise
ly from 10 to IL years of age. The boy and two
dingos, and the other girl is from Congo They
are robust, and full of hilary especially the Man
dingos The sheriff of the county took them to
ride in wagon on Friday. At first their eyes
were filled with tears. and they seemed to be a.
fraid, but soon they enjoyed enseves very well,
and appeared to be greatly delighted. The chill
dren speak only their native dialects. Neither
Cinquez nor any of his comrades have been man
acled since they have been here. Their demean-
or is altogether quiet, kind, and orderly.
Most Of the prisoners told the interpreter they
are from Mandingo. The district of Mandingo,
in the Senegamba country is bounded by the
Atlantic Ocean, and is directly north of Liberia
Two or three of the men, besides one of the little
girls are natives of Congo, which is on the coast
just south of the equator. The man with some
of his teeth like tusks, is from Gahula in Congo
The teeth are said TO be sharpened and made thus
,,r1 NV rt,H of ho
from Congo named Dana, talks Mandingo, and
is good looking and intelligent man. Jingua is
about feet inches high, of fine proportions,
with a noble air. Indeed, the whole company
although thin in flesh, and generally of slight
forms, and limbs especially, are as good looking
and intelligent body of men we usually meet
with. All are young, and several are quite strip
plings. The Mandingos are described in books
as being very gentle race, cheerful in their dis
positions, nqusitive, credulous, simple hearted
and much given to trading propenstes. The
Mandingo dialects are spoken extensively, and it
is said to be the commercial language of nearly
the whole coast of West Africa. We found that
the following words are nearly the same in the
Galinas of the interpreter, in the Mandingo of the
prisoners, in the Mandingo of Mungo Park, and
in Jalowka of the German author Adeburg, viz:
sun, moon, woman, child, father, head, hand and
foot. The numerals do not agree so well. If any
person, who reads this statement, can furnish the
Committee information concerning the Mandingo
language, and its different dialects, particularly
for vocabularies, they may render important SER
vice in the future examination of these unfortunate
Africans. Professor Gibbs, of Yale College, has
Adeburg's Mithridates, Parks Travels, and Mol
ison's Travels in Africa, and Professor Silliman
has Prichard's Physical History of Mankind,
which are at the service of the Committee.
Senegambia extends 800 miles in length and
where widest is about 700 miles. 1t is inhabited
by different tribes, all negroes, living under petty
sovereigns. Among these nations, the Foulahs,
Jalcops and Mandingoes, are the most numerous.
Others less prominent are the Feloops, Naloes,
Pagoes, Susoos, Timmancis, &c. The Foulahs
are Mahomedans. The Mandingoes are the most
numerous people of this region. These are part
ly Mahomedans and partly Pagans. Their orr
ginal country is Mandng, of which the govern
ment is said to be species of republicanism.-I
Nearly all the prisoners appear to be of this de-
scripon. The physician says they have nearly
all been circumcised, and it is we'll known that
many pagan nations perform this rite. No per-
son will be able to converse with them we'll until
he can speak the dialect of Mandng Persons,
however, born on the Ganas river may be able
to converse with some of them. Although there
are many native Africans IN New VorL and sonoa