Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1854-01-21
Newly Invented Alphabet in Africa,

I, Newly Invented Alphabet in Africa
We copy the following from The New York
Commercial Advertiser: ..-..
"An officer in the British Navy, Comman'
der Forbes, whose interesting work, 7" Da.
honey and the Dahomans," in two volumes,
was published in London, by Lonsman 6;
Co., in 1851, claims The discovery Of sys.
lem Of alphabet writing, invented and used
in the yey or Vahie nation, who occupy a
district in Northern Africa, not far from
Cape Palmas. Tha: humane and ente'pr.
sing officer performed two missions TO Da-
honey in ls49 and 1850, for the purpose Of
putting a stop to the slave trade ! and his
book contains great amount Of instructive
and curious matter, respecting the Daho-
mans whose territory lies inland, along the
West Of the Niger from near its mouth, and
who are oppressed by cfne! dsspo!ism
Of q peculiar kind.
The alphabet alluded to, belongs TO coun.
Try far west Of Dahomey. The discovery
Of it by Mr.. Forbes, was made accidentally,
having, as he informs US, (vol. lip. 1887
observed at Cape Mount, son the house OF
one of the Liberan settlers" several strange
characte RS written, which he was informed,
belonged to naive language, written in a
native alphabet "of recent introduction or
invention" Some time after, he "me, q
man named Momoroo Dualoo Wograc, a
nephew Of the King Of Surgury, who pos
sessed manuscript and understood the Ian
gusge.n On this mans consentins TO live
on board her Majesiy's ship, adds the au-
thor, "I undertook TO arrange the inclosed
vocabulary having collected and cassed all
the characters his book contained. 1t will
be observed that the language is OF the pho
netic order, tha, tho characters arc not sym.
bolical; and, according 10 my teacher, it
was invented ten or twenty years ago, BY
the following eight men," (whose names he
gives.D ale informs US that the language
was at first studied by many, and that
schools were established but that e1traor.
dinary sigus of civilization aroused the ieal-
ousy Of their Spanish neishbors al Gallinas,
who BY intrigue and presents, soon laid the
wholeicouulrylinto such a state Of anarchy,
as overthtew the proggee7 7of learning. II
tn eAhnguage be Of Esich recent sotisin, how
far We must have misunderstood the Afri-
can'character!" !"
1t is highly credilable 10 the Intelligence
and taste of Commander Forbes, that hb
fel, so much interes! in the truly itnpor,an.
effort Of intellect, made by the savages Of
Africa and ii is not SO much his fault as
that OF the literary world a, large, that he
hos never heard Of The Vey alphabet before.
Our devoted American missionary, Rev. J.
Leighton Wilson, while in the service Of the
American Board, in The year 1884, heard Of
The invention while on the coast of Africa,
and obtained all tho information in his pow
er respecting 1t, which, as will be seen in
an extract Of letter TO the Board. given be-
low, proved il 10 be one Of the mos, reniark-
able inventions on record. Il is worthy Of
remark, that, after some learned men had
attributed the original formation Of alpha
bet writing TO divine inspiration, on the
gronnd tina, it was beyond the power of the
human mind, two alphabcts have been in.
vented in our days among savage tribes,
1.-THE CheEokees' and the Yeys,) on opposite
sides Of the Atlantic, and without any
known assistance from civilized men.
The following is Mr.. Wilson's account of
the African discovery, as published in the
Missionary Herald June, 1884, page ga:
"The Vey peorls; the tribe residing on
Grand Cape Mount, have recently invented
system of writing, entirely new, and diff
erent from any other We have seen; in which,
though it is not more than two years since
i, was invented, they write letters and books
Some OF their characters resemble Arabic,
some resemble Hebrew letters, others Greek;
bu. all Of them, except those resembling
Arabic, are merely ianciful. The alphabet
is syllable" .-...
The editors Of the Herald added tie fol-
lowing:
"A specimen Of native writing iii the
newly invented alphabet, has been left al
the Mission rooms. The occasion and man.
ner Of its being invented, as well as the
characteristic Of this method Of writing, are
nearly the same as those Of the Cherokee
ahlpabet, invented by Guess, which 10 now
so entirely understood and used, by the lndi.
ans Of that tribe
In The constitution Of the Sandwich IS
lands, the first article reads as follows
at is our fixed decree; lst. That no
law shall be enacted which IS at variance
with the Word OF the Lord Jehovah, or