population exceeding 10,000. The walls are well built of clay, and the whole space enclosed by them is occupied with houses, but the extensive market in the centre and some other open places take up about one-fourth of the area. Angornou, the largest and most populous place in Bornou, is likewise only a few miles from the Tchad. It contains above 30,000 inhabitants, but is a straggling place without walls. It is the principal commercial town of the country, where the caravans arriving from Fezzan or from Kano dispose of their goods. A few miles west of Angornu is New Birnie, the residence of the sultan, which contains about 10,000 inhabitants. Farther south are the towns of Dugoa, with 30,000 inhabitants, and Affagay, with 20,000. On the banks of the river Shary is Loggan, where much cotton-cloth is made and dyed. On the banks of the river Yeou are several towns of middling size, as Kabshari, which had been destroyed by their neighbours, when Denham was there; Kukabonee, with 6000 inhabitants: Bedeekarfi, a large and populous town; and Katagum, with from 7000 to 8000 inhabitants. Burwha, north of the mouth of the river Yeou, and not far from Lake Tchad, is a well fortified place, with about 5000 inhabitants.

South of Bornou is the kingdom of Mandara, which comprehends the northern portion of the hilly region south of the alluvial plain of Central Soodan, and extends from 10° 30' to 9° 30° N. lat.. Steep and rather high ridges enclose wide and open valleys, which are abundantly watered, and on this account, as well as the fertility of the soil, it is rich in natural productions, well cultivated, and densely peopled. The inhabitants are exclusively negroes, and are governed by a sovereign of their own race, who is independent both of the sheik of Bornou and the Fellátahs, who are in possession of the more elevated and mountainous country which lies farther south. These mountains have only been seen at a distance by Denham, and, according to information obtained from the natives, they are connected with still higher mountains, which appear to be the Jebel al Kamar or Kumri (the Mountains of the Moon) of the Arabian geographers. The valleys of Mandara contain some considerable towns. Delow contains at least 10,000 inhabitants, and Mora, the residence of the sultan, is a strongly fortified place, but of less extent.

Eastern Soodan extends from 17° to 25° E. long. We have no account of this extensive country from eye-witnesses, as no part of it has ever been visited by a European traveller, and the information collected from the natives of Africa, who have penetrated so far, is very scanty. Accord ing to them it is divided into three countries or states. Kanem is contiguous to the eastern banks of Lake Tchad, and south of it lies Begharmi. Between those two countries and Dar-Fur, which is considered as lying to the east, and without the boundary-line of Soodan, lies Dar-Zaleh, or Wadai, which seems to extend over the greater part of Eastern Soodan. A large river is said to traverse Wadai in a north-west direction, and to be lost in a large lake, called Fittreh, which lies east of and at a considerable distance from Lake Tchad.

As a comparatively small portion of Soodan has been seen by Europeans, it would be premature to give a decided opinion as to the relative importance of this part of Africa. But if we may judge from what we know of it, we must pronounce it superior to any other part in fertility, cultivation, and population, not excepting the countries situated along the Mediterranean or even Egypt. It must there fore be very satisfactory to every person interested in the extent of English commercial enterprise, that the government has taken decisive measures for gaining a firm footing for Englishmen in the most populous parts of Soodan, namely, those which are contiguous to the lower course of the Quorra. [QUORRA, vol. xix., p. 227.]

among the sources of the rivers which enter the sea at and immediately to the north of Sierra Leone. This territory extends between 9° 20′ and 10° 28′ W. long., and mostly south of the 10th parallel of N. lat., being about sixty miles in breadth from north to south, and reaching from the present site of Falaba to the left bank of the Joliba or Niger. This is the native country of the Soolimas; but they now chiefly occupy a strip of land in the adjoining Kooranko territory, which is bounded on the south by the river Rokelle, on the north by Foota Jallon, on the west by Limba and Tamisso, and on the east by Kooranko Proper and Soolimana, which latter is now used merely as a farmingground, and only as a temporary residence.

The Soolima country is exceedingly picturesque, being diversified with hills, extensive vales, and fertile meadows, belted with strips of wood, and decorated with clumps of trees of the densest foliage. The hills are composed of a light whitish granite, principally consisting of mica and felspar, with occasional strata of blue mica-slate imbedded in the granite. The valleys have a rich vegetable and mineral soil mixed with sand. This soil is remarkable for its fertility, and requires very little labour to prepare it for the seed. In its cultivation, a hoe, shaped like a carpenter's adze, supplies the place both of the plough and the harrow. After sowing, which is generally before the 15th of June, the Soolima leaves his farm in Soolimana, until October, to the care of his wives, who clear the crop of weeds in the early stages of its growth. In October the husband returns from Kooranko, and both sexes labour together in getting in the harvest. Rice is the chief object of culture. Yams and ground-nuts, bananas, pineapples, and oranges are the principal fruits, but the first only in any degree of perfection. The Soolimas have numerous herds of cattle; and they also rear sheep, goats, and poultry, the last of a very diminutive sort. Horses are few, and not reared in the country. The wild animals are numerous, principally elephants, buffaloes, a species of antelope, monkeys, leopards, and wolves.

All the principal towns of the Soolimas are in Kooranko. These are Falaba, the capital, Sangouia, Semba, Mousaiah, and Koukodoogore, containing in all about 25,000 souls, of which Falaba has about 6000. This town, which appears to have been built in 1768, is a favourable specimen of the first-class native towns of Western Africa. It derives its name from the Fala-Ba, or river Fala, on which it stands, and is nearly a mile and a half long by a mile in breadth although closely built for an African town. The town is fortified, impregnably according to the African system of warfare, by being surrounded by a thick stockading of hard wood, and by a ditch 20 feet deep by as many broad. The town is of an oblong shape, containing about 4000 circular houses or huts, which, though built of clay, and covered with conical roofs of thatch, are extremely neat, clean, and in many cases elegant. The palaver or court house stands on an open piece of ground towards the south end of the town, and is a place of recreation as well as business. In the centre of the town, a large open piece of ground is left vacant for the purposes of exercise, of receiving. strangers, and of holding grand palavers. Here, on such occasions, the king sits on the root of a large tree for his throne, the branches serving as his canopy, as simple in his appearance as the meanest of his subjects.

In Major Laing's time (1822), the king and some of the elders were Moslems, while the younger part of the community were pagans; but it is more than probable that in. the steady progress which Islam has since been making in this quarter of Africa, it has by this time acquired the predominance among the Soolimas.

expert. Warlike songs and exercises figure largely in all their public rites and amusements. Where their predatory habits. do not interfere, their dispositions are mild and inoffensive, and they exercise the most open hospitality to the strangers who visit them as traders.

The king monopolises the whole trade of the country, and no barter takes place without his knowledge and actual presence. The trade is chiefly with the Sangaras on the

do not eat them they are consumed by the Chinese. Wild hogs are abundant. There are goats, some with skins spotted like leopards, and some beautiful small antelopes. The Sooloo Islands are the most eastern country in which the elephant is found. The elephant was introduced from Borneo, but it is no longer used for religious purposes, since the Islam has spread among the inhabitants. The breed of elephants is now kept up only in one place; but there are still wild elephants in the more extensive forests, and as they damage the crops, there is a grand hunt of them every year. The swallow which makes the edible bird's-nest is common in most of the islands.

The seas are abundantly stocked with fish. Hunt enumerates thirteen species which are found in Europe or the West Indies, and forty-one which are peculiar to these seas. The most important productions of the sea, as yielding articles of commerce, are the sea-slugs, which under the name of tripang are sent to China, and the prawns and shrimps, which, after being pounded in a mortar into a soft mass, are an important article of commerce all over the Indian Archipelago and the countries beyond the Ganges, under the name of blachang. Sea-weed, collected from the rocks that surround the islands, is exported to China. There are several places in which excellent pearls are found; the pearls go to China.

A little gold has been found. Common salt is not used, but a salt made from burnt sea-weed is in general use.

The Sooloo chain consists of three groups, those of Basilan on the east, Sooloo in the middle, and Tawi-Tawi on the west. The first-mentioned group is composed of the large island of Basilan and several smaller ones. Basilan is about 45 miles long, and the average width may be 12 miles; the surface is therefore 540 square miles, or somewhat more than Monmouthshire. The centre is hilly, but the sea-coast low and woody. It is very fertile, and sends much rice to Sooloo. It exports besides birds'-nests, tepoy or mother-of-pearl shell, some tortoise shell, and a few pearls; cowries are abundant. The principal ports are Maloza on the south west side and Gubawang on the north east coast.

The Sooloo group consists of the larger island of that name and of several small islands. Sooloo is about 40 miles long and 10 wide on an average. The area is about 400 square miles. The surface presents two hilly tracts, separated by a low and level plain. It is very populous. Forrest estimated the population at 60,000, but Hunt states it to be 200,000, or 500 to each square mile. There are many small towns on the coast. The largest is Sooloo, or Soog, near the western extremity of the island, with a permanent population of 6800 souls, among whom are 800 Chinese. More than half of the inhabitants are always engaged in trading voyages, in the pearl and tripang fisheries, and the collecting of birds'-nests. On the north coast is Bokol, with 6000 inhabitants, and on the south coast Parang, with 8000. It exports all the products which have been mentioned as articles of export. The larger of the other islands belonging to this group are Pargutarán, Tapul, and Sihasi, lying north-west and west of Sooloo.

Tawi-Tawi is about 40 miles long and 12 wide. The surface may amount to 400 square miles. In the centre are some hills of considerable elevation, and two lakes of some extent. One of the lakes, called Dungon, is united to the sea by a channel which is from five to seven fathoms deep, but has a bar, on which there are only 1 fathoms at lowwater, and about four at spring-tides. The lake itself is about eight fathoms deep and is fresh at low water. It is an excellent harbour for vessels which can pass the bar. The island is thinly inhabited. It exports tepoy, white and black tripang, white and black birds' nests, and many valuable pearls, but does not produce rice enough for the consumption. The principal town is Dungon, on the banks of the lake. The chain of small islands which extends along the southern coast of Tawi-Tawi consists of low islands, with numerous shoals between them. The channels that divide them are from six to eight fathoms deep, but they are extremely intricate, and so narrow that. the Chinese Junks in some places require to be pushed on with poles. The most valuable pearl fishery is in those straits, which are accessible at all seasons, and fish is very plentiful and of large size. North of Tawi-Tawi is the Tahaw Bank, which consists of coral rocks covered with a layer of sand, and is in some places overgrown with shrubs and trees. It has no fresh water, but the pearl fishery is very valuable.

Between the north-eastern extremity of Borneo and the

large island of Palawan are several smaller islands, and the three islands of Banquey, Balambangan, and Balabac, which are of some extent. They are thinly inhabited, and overrun with jungle and timber trees. They produce chiefly wax, tripang, and tortoises. Balambangan, together_with_the north-eastern part of Borneo, was ceded to the British by the sultan of Sooloo, and a settlement was established there in 1763. But the British were expelled in 1774 by the Sooloos, who, finding the garrison weak and sickly, and off their guard, murdered them and set fire to the settlement. In 1803 the settlement was re-established, but again abandoned in the following year, on account of the expense of maintaining it.

The large island of Palawan, or Palwan, is more than 275 miles long, and on an average 32 miles wide. The area is therefore about 8700 square miles, which exceeds that of Wales by 600 square miles. A continuous range of hills runs along the west side of the island. But along the eastern shores a low and generally level country extends from 10 to 20 miles inland. The northern portion of the island is subject to the Spaniards, and called Paragua. It forms a part of the province of Calamianes, one of the political divisions of the Philippines, and contained in 1818 a population of 11,097, among which there was only one Spaniard and 28 Spanish creoles. In this census some adjacent islands were included. The low country south of 10° 20' N. lat. is tolerably well peopled, and subject to the sultan of Sooloo, but the hilly and mountainous region is in possession of the aboriginal inhabitants, who resemble the Papuas, and are continually at war with the inhabitants of the plains. The productions of the low lands and the adjacent seas are canes, especially ratans, cowries, wax, tortoises, tripang, and gum copal, of which last forty or fifty peculs may be had yearly. Rice is also exported. The principal town is Babuyan, which is well fortified, and has a population of about 2000.

The islands north of Palawan, viz. Linacapan, the Calamianes, and Coron, form politically a portion of the Philippines, and are little known.

Besides the islands hitherto noticed, the sway of the sultan of Sooloo extends over a large portion of the north-eastern part of Borneo. This country, which was ceded to the English in 1763, extends from the river Kimanis, which enters the Chinese sea opposite the island of Pulo Tiga, not many miles east of the town of Borneo, to Cape Kaniongan, which forms on the west the entrance of the Straits of Macassar, comprehending a sea-coast probably exceeding 800 miles in length. It may seem strange that the sovereign of such comparatively small clusters of islands has been able to subjeet to his sway such extensive countries, and to preserve his dominions, but the peculiar constitution of his government and the want of powerful neighbours account for this apparently extraordinary fact.

The government of Sooloo resembles that which existed in the last century in Poland, and in the beginning of this century in the Mahratta dominions. Each chief or nobleman is sovereign in the country which belongs to him, and his authority depends on the number of his followers, or rather slaves, called ambas, who are his soldiers. The sultan is a mere cipher, and his orders are disputed by the meanest individual; he is unable to decide the most trivial points without the concurrence of his privy council called Ruma Bechara.' In 1814 this council was composed of eighteen members, the most wealthy and powerful of the chiefs, aud most of them were relations of the king, and assumed the title of datu.' They hold their seat however not by hereditary title, but may be deprived of it by the sultan with the advice and consent of the Ruma Bechara. The sultan seems to derive all his revenues from his own estates, as no taxes

are paid by the noblemen or their subjects, and the only revenue, consisting of the customs on goods imported, is shared in unequal proportions among the sultan and the members of the Ruma Bechara, according to their rank. The petty chiefs of the more remote islands and those on the coast of Borneo do not appear to have any share in the government, but they acknowledge the authority of the sultan, in order that they may be protected from the piracy of his subjects, or share the advantages arising from such predatory expeditions.

The Sooloos belong to the Malay race, and most of the chiefs speak the Malay language. But the indigenous language is the Bisayan, which is generally spread over the southern Philippines, also commonly called the Bisayas

and contains a great number of words which are used in the language of Sumatra. Many of the chiefs speak the Spanish language, and some the Chinese fluently; the former they have learned from the Christian slaves, kidnapped by the pirates in the Bisayas, and the latter from the Chinese, who are settled all over the Sooloo possessions. The Sooloos have made considerable progress in civilization in the last two centuries. From their commercial intercourse with the Chinese and Spaniards they have learned the comforts of various articles of civilised life, and though their houses are small and mean, they are usually furnished with various objects of Chinese and some of European and Indian manufacture. Every rich man has a considerable number of Chinese chests with locks for holding his valuables, and many of them dress in silks and satins of all colours imported from China. The court-dress of the datus on solemn occasions is of the most splendid Chinese mandarin robe, made of costly silks and satins, embossed and filagreed with gold, and pink satin breeches decorated with gold dragons and splendidly embossed. The people are Mohammedans, but they know little of the tenets of their faith, and observe its religious rites still less, which is partly ascribed to the great number of Christian slaves annually imported by the pirate prows from the Philippines.

Besides the Christian slaves, there are two classes of men, the 'Bajows' (fishermen), also called 'Orang lant,' and the Lanuns or Illanos. The Bajows fish for the pearls, tripang, and sea-weed. They are very numerous in all the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago, where a great number of them are continually fishing, shifting their places according to the prevalence of the moonsoons. In the Sooloo Islands they are stationary, and inhabit the small towns on the seashore. They speak the same language as the Sooloos, and are Mohammedans. Though free, they are much oppressed by the datus and other chiefs.

The Lanuns, or Illanos, are properly from the island of Magindano, the most southern of the Philippines, and, without exception, the greatest pirates on the globe. Their depredations are conducted in large fleets of small prows in the Straits of Macassar, among the Moluccas, but more particularly among the Bisayas. The whole produce of their enterprises is sold at Sooloo, which is their grand entrepôt. But they have many stations on most of the other islands. Hunt has enumerated twelve larger stations. They are intimately connected with the piratical establishments on the island of Magindano. They have obtained the protection of the sultan by giving to him and the Ruma Bechara 25 per cent. on all their captures; but they must respect the Sooloo flag, and commit no depredations on vessels actually at anchor in Soog roadstead. The chiefs advance them guns and powder, for which they are paid by a stipulated number of slaves.

The principal force of the sultan and chiefs consists of their personal slaves (ambas or humbes), who are Christians purchased from the pirate prows. They are very numerous all over the islands, and constitute the bulk of the population of the capital, Soog, but hundreds annually effect their escape to the Philippines or to the interior. The Chinese who are settled in these islands are for the most part engaged in traffic. They keep shops in the towns, or in the trading prows, and many of them carry on the pearl and tripang fisheries, or birds'-nesting, but as soon as they have scraped together a small competency, they retire to their native country. At Soog alone more than 800 of them are settled; but in all places they are much oppressed by the chiefs.

The manufacturing industry of the inhabitants is very limited; but a large number of prows is built. Certain cotton-cloths, called sarongs and tanjam, are of a very fine texture and tartan-striped; some of them are exported to the neighbouring islands. Sugar, indigo, saltpetre, and chocolate are only made for home consumption. There are cutlers who make creeses or daggers, and some goldsmiths who make jewellery.

The position of the island of Sooloo is very favourable for commerce, being situated between the Moluccas, Celebes, Borneo, the coasts of Cochin China, China, and the Philippines, and the trade would be very considerable if it were not continually interrupted by the pirates. At present it is limited to the produce of the country, which chiefly goes to China, being less adapted for other markets. It is carried on by the Chinese from the province of Fukian, and especially from the harbours of Amoy and Pactow. The Chinese

junks always arrive from the middle of March to the middle of April. They are from one to five in number, and from 3000 to 7000 pekuls burden. They leave Sooloo by the 1st of August. Their cargoes consist of furniture, particularly of chests, brass utensils and wire, iron unwrought and iron pans, raw silk, nankeens, linen, a great quantity of porcelain and crockery, some piece-goods of flowered silk, cutlery, sugar-candy, tea, and some smaller articles. They take in return tepoy or pearl shells, cut betel-nuts, tripang, wax, sugar, agar-agar, or sea-weed, white and black birds'-nest, shark fins, camphor barus, tortoise shells, pearls, ebony, sapan-wood, clove-bark, cinnamon. cowries, pepper, and sago. Sometimes British vessels from Singapore visit the Sooloo Islands. Their cargo consists mostly of opium, cotton goods from the coast of Coromandel and from Bengal, with some others from Java, English chintzes, Swedish flat iron and steel, large spike nails for prow building, and some hardware. They receive in return the various products of the country, which they take to Canton, and thence return with a cargo of tea and other Chinese articles. The trading season in the town of Sooloo does not extend beyond August. After the departure of the junks, the fair, which up to that time is actively maintained at the port, is broken up, and the remaining produce is either sent to the port of Yloylo, in the island of Panay, or retained on hand for the next season. The people then disperse to Borneo and the other islands in search of articles of commerce for the

next season.

(Forrest's Voyage to New Guinea; Moor's Notices on the Indian Archipelago, Singapore, 1837.)

SOOT is that portion of fuel which escapes combustion, and which is mechanically carried up and deposited in chimneys. The soot of coal and that of wood differ very materially in their composition; the former indeed does not appear to have been accurately analysed, but it evidently contains more carbonaceous matter than the latter. Coalsoot contains substances usually derived from animal matters; it contains sulphate and hydrochlorate of ammonia, and has been used for the preparation of the carbonate; to hot water it yields a brown bitter extract, and it contains an empyreumatic oil; but its great basis is charcoal in a state in which it is capable of being rendered soluble by the action of oxygen and moisture, and hence, combined with the action of the ammoniacal salts, it is used as a manure, and acts very powerfully as such. Sir H. Davy observes that for this purpose it is well fitted to be used in the dry state, thrown into the ground with the seed, and requires no preparation.

The soot of wood has been minutely analysed by Braconnot, who found it to consist of the following substances:Ulmin (about)

Azotised matter

Carbonate of lime and traces of carbonate

30.20

20:00

100'

Braconnot considers the ulmin as absolutely similar to that obtained_artificially by the action of potash on woodsawdust, but Berzelius is of a different opinion, and calls it geine. The azotised matter is very soluble in water, and insoluble in alcohol. As coal-soot contains much more carbonaceous matter than wood-soot, and also a much larger portion of ammoniacal salts, it must be more active as a manure, and altogether a more useful substance.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. [FREDERIC I. of Prussia.] SOPHIA of RUSSIA. [PETER of Russia; RUSSIAHistory.]

SOPHISM (ópioμa), that superficial and incomplete aspect of the truth, which at first sight looks like the truth, but on closer inspection turns out to contain some radical