MANDINGO, or Manding, an elevated region in Western Africa, is situated, according to Golberry, between the sources of the Gambia and the town of Kong, about 700 miles eastward from the coast of Guinea. Little or nothing is known of the country except from the travels of Park, who traversed it during his first journey. It was at Taffara, a town situated near the mouth of the Frina, a small tributary of the river Niger, that Park first noticed a change “from the corrupted dialect of Bambarra to the pure Mandingo.” Pursuing his route along the northwestern side of the river, he passed several large towns, which owed their importance to a trade in salt. Crossing a range of hills, he reached Sibidooloo, “the frontier town of the kingdom of Manding,” situated in a fertile valley surrounded with rocky hills. From this place to Kamalia the country appeared to be well peopled, and some parts of it were particularly beautiful and well cultivated. Every town has its mansa, and the Mahommedan religion generally prevails. At Kamalia the bushreens and kaffirs live in distinct towns. Worumbang, two stages from Kamalia, is the frontier village of Manding towards Jallonkadoo. The road then enters the woods of “the Great Jallonka wilderness but, to save a day’s provisions, Park diverged from the direct route to the town of Kinytakooro, situated in a large and well-cultivated plain watered by the Kokoro, one of the principal head streams of the Senegal. After leaving this place he travelled for five days through a country totally uninhabited; in some parts wild and rocky, in others beautifully undulating, wooded, and abounding with partridges, Guinea-fowl, and deer. In this part of the route, no fewer than three large rivers were crossed (the Wonda, the Comeissang, and the Boki), all flowing to the Senegal, besides several rivulets. It might seem, at first, difficult to account for the abandoned state of these gloomy wilds. Park remarks, that he found many extensive and beautiful districts entirely destitute of inhabitants; and, in general, the borders of the different kingdoms were either very thinly peopled, or almost entirely deserted. The ruins of two towns burned by the Foolahs, which were passed soon after entering the wilderness, indicated too plainly the real cause of the apparent depopulation. It is the wars carried on to supply the slave-markets on the coast that have driven the kaffir tribes into the mountains, and converted large portions of fertile territory into a wilderness. A considerable quantity of gold-dust is found in the sands of the rivers, which the women extract by an easy process of washing. The whole region is watered by the Niger in its early course. Manding is divided into a number of small aristocratic republics, each village, with the territory around it, being nearly independent of the one adjoining.

The Mandingoes, whose name and original abode belongs to this region, arc now by no means confined to it. They have spread themselves throughout all the countries on the banks of the Niger, the Senegal, and, above all, of the Gambia, and have become the most numerous of all the races of Western Africa. This powerful tribe has been repeatedly mentioned in our articles on African geography. They are described by Golberry as having a black complexion, with a mixture of yellow, “Their features,” he adds, “are regular; their character generous and open, and their manners hospitable; their women are pretty and amiable; they are zealous professors of the religion of Mahommed, though they retain many of the practices of Fetishism, and some superstitious customs.” The picture which Park draws of them is not so flattering. “The Mandingoes,” he says, “are in particular a very gentle race, cheerful in their dispositions, inquisitive, credulous, simple, and fond of flattery. The men are commonly above the middle size, well shaped, strong, and capable of enduring great labour; the women are good natured, sprightly, and agreeable.” He does not describe their complexion, but he always speaks of them as negroes; yet, from the representation of Golberry, which assigns them a yellowish-black complexion, it would appear that they are of mixed blood. Major Laing describes them as a shrewd people, and superior to any who inhabit Western Africa from Morocco to the southward. They are of a migratory disposition, and are to be found traversing Africa, for the purposes of trade or war, from Tangiers to the American settlement of Cape Mesurado. Their costume is simple and neat, consisting of a cap, shirt, trousers, [7:14:231]and sandals. The cap is composed of red or blue cloth, has a conical shape, and is neatly worked with different-coloured threads. The shirt, which hangs loosely over the trousers, is formed of about a fathom or more of blue or white baft, doubled, with a small hole cut in the top to admit the head. The sides are sewed up only about half way, thus admitting the arms to have full play. Trousers, of the same material, reach only to the knee; they are made very wide, and gathered round the loins with a strong piece of tape. The width of the trousers is a great mark of distinction amongst them, and the importance of an individual may be determined by the quantity of baft which has been expended in making this article of dress. The females wear a piece of cloth of baft, about a yard in width round the waist, impending as far as the calf of the leg, and a shawl or some fancy cloth suspended from the head, and covering the neck and shoulders if they are not at work; this cloth is likewise employed in concealing their faces when they are required to eat or to drink in the company of the other sex.

There are four trades or professions, to which conjointly the appellation of Nyimahalah is given: they rank in the order in which they are enumerated, and consist of the fino, or orator; the jelle, or minstrel; the guarange, or shoemaker; and the ncomo, or blacksmith. All these possess great privileges, and rank high in the scale of society. The two latter earn their livelihood by the exercise of their trade; the fino by his oratory and subtilty as a lawyer; and the jelle by singing the mighty deeds and qualifications of rich men, who are represented as having no faults. There are few distinctions of rank amongst the Mandingoes. The priests and teachers of the Koran are held next in estimation to the king or ruler of a country; next to these are the subordinate chiefs and headmen; then come the Nyimahalahs, to whom succeed the dependent freemen; and lastly,slaves, who are divided into domestic or those born in the country, and those taken in war or enslaved on account of debt or as a punishment for crime. Filial affection is strongly evinced amongst this people; and a destitute old man is unknown amongst them. A Mandingo, unless he belongs to the Nyimahalah, seldom goes abroad without his gun; and every man carries his knife or cutlass, which he uses for various purposes. Their education in general consists in learning to read and write a few passages of the Koran, and to recite a few prayers. The religion is Mahommedan, but they are not very rigid in its observances. They draw many omens from the phases of the moon, and a ceremony is performed when she first makes her appearance. They also wear greegrees or safies (small prayers cased in stained leather), as antidotes to evil; but beyond this their superstition does not appear to extend.

Circumcision is practised amongst the Mandingoes, but it does not take place till the children have reached the age of puberty. A peculiar ceremony, called “the child’s head shaving,” takes place in infancy, on which occasion it receives its name from the schoolmaster. Polygamy is practised, and the numerous households to which it gives rise live in tolerable outward harmony, which, however, requires to be secured by the extraordinary expedient called Mumbo Jumbo. This is had recourse to when scolding, beating, and other kinds of chastisement, fail in producing the desired effect. It consists in conveying the obstreperous fair one to the market-place, where Mumbo Jumbo, arrayed in a fantastical habit, waits in readiness to chastise her with his rod of office. The Mandingoes have some tastes more refined than are usual amongst Africans, particularly in poetry, the extemporary composition and recitation of which constitutes one of their favourite amusements. Their employments are chiefly a slight agriculture, fishing with nets and baskets, and, above all, traffic, in which their enterprise exceeds that of all the other African tribes.