in common language, are the natives of Morocco, of whom an account is given under that title in the Encyclopedia; but there is another people, a mixed race, called also Moors, who lead a wandering and pastoral life in the habitable parts of the Great Desert, and in the countries adjacent to it. Of the origin of these Moorish tribes, as distinguished from the inhabitants of Barbary, nothing farther seems to be known than what is related by John Leo the African; whose account may be abridged as follows:

Before the Arabian conquest, about the middle of the seventh century, all the inhabitants of Africa, whether they were descended from Numidians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, or Goths, were comprehended under the general name of Mauri or Moors. All these nations were converted to the religion of Mahomet, during the Arabian empire under the Kaliphs. About this time many of the Numidian tribes, who led a wandering life in the desert, and supported themselves upon the produce of their cattle, retired southward across the Great Desert, to avoid the fury of the Arabians; and by one of those tribes, says Leo (that of Zanhaqa), were discovered, and conquered, the Negro nations on the Niger. By the Niger, is here undoubtedly meant the river of Senegal, which in the Mandingo language is called Bafing, or the Black River.

To what extent these people are now spread over the African continent, it is difficult to ascertain. There is reason to believe, that their dominion stretches from west to east, in a narrow line or belt, from the mouth of the Senegal (on the northern side of that river) to the confines of Abyssinia. Mr Park describes them as resembling, in complexion, the Mulattoes of the West Indies, and as having cruelty and low cunning pictured in their countenances. "From the glaring wildness in their eyes (says he), a stranger would immediately set them down as a nation of lunatics. The treachery and malevolence of their character are manifested in their plundering excursions against the Negro villages. Sometimes, without the smallest provocation, and sometimes under the fairest professions of friendship, they will suddenly seize upon the Negroes' cattle, and even on the inhabitants themselves. The Negroes very seldom retaliate. The enterprising boldness of the Moors, their knowledge of the country, and, above all, the superior fleetness of their horses, make them such formidable enemies, that the petty Negro states, which border upon the desert, are in continual alarm while the Moorish tribes are in the vicinity, and are too much awed to think of resistance.

"Like the roving Arabs, the Moors frequently remove from one place to another, according to the season of the year, or the convenience of pasturage. In the month of February, when the heat of the sun scorches up every sort of vegetation in the desert, they strike their tents, and approach the Negro country to the north; where they reside until the rains commence, in the month of July. At this time, having purchased corn, and other necessaries from the Negroes, in exchange for salt, they again depart to the northward, and continue in the desert until the rains are over, and that part of the country becomes burnt up and barren.

"This wandering and restless way of life, while it inures them to hardships, strengthens, at the same time, the bonds of their little society, and creates in them an aversion towards strangers, which is almost insurmountable. Cut off from all intercourse with civilized nations, and boasting an advantage over the Negroes, by possessing, though in a very limited degree, the knowledge of letters, they are at once the vainest and proudest, and perhaps the most bigotted, ferocious, and intolerant, of all the nations on the earth; combining in their character the blind superstition of the Negro, with the savage cruelty and treachery of the Arab." But for them Mr Park would have accomplished the utmost object of his mission, and have reached Tombuctoo, and even Houfis, with no other danger than what arises necessarily from the climate, from wild beasts, and from the poor accommodation afforded in the huts of the hospitable Negroes. The wandering Moors, however, have all been taught to regard the Christian name with inconceivable abhorrence; and to consider it nearly as lawful to murder a European as it would be to kill a dog. It is, therefore, much less surprising that our traveller did not proceed farther along the banks of the Niger, than that he escaped the snares of so relentless a people.