E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| VOL. X, NO. 281.] | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1827. | [PRICE 2d. |
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.
NO. XIV.
![[Illustration]](https://oldbook.b-cdn.net/kitaplar/2/pg16098-h/images/281-1.png)
![[Illustration]](https://oldbook.b-cdn.net/kitaplar/2/pg16098-h/images/281-2.png)
The first of the above engravings represents one of the Body Guardsof the Sheikh of Bornou, copied from an engraving after a sketchmade by Major Denham, in his recent "Travels in Africa." These negroes,as they are called, meaning the black chiefs and favourites, all raisedto that rank by Some deed of bravery, are habited in coats of mail,composed of iron chain, which cover them from the throat to the knees,dividing behind, and coming on each side of the horse; some of them wearhelmets or skull-caps of the same metal, with chin-pieces, allsufficiently strong to ward off the shock of a spear. Their horses'heads are also defended by plates of iron, brass, and silver, justleaving room for the eyes of the animal; and not unfrequently they arehung over with charms, enclosed in little red leather parcels, strungtogether, round the neck, in front of the head, and about the saddle.
Their appearance is altogether of a warlike character, the horses beingwell caparisoned, and the riders well clothed for personal defence; andthough their equestrian evolutions be somewhat wild, the lance or spearis doubtless a formidable weapon in their hands. The savage splendour oftheir dress, together with the pawing and snorting of their fierysteeds, render them appropriate auxiliaries to royalty, in countrieswhere such attributes of power are requisite to impress the people withthe importance of their rulers, and where the milder aids ofcivilization and refinement are wanting to protect the sovereign fromviolence.
The second engraving, copied from the same authentic source as thatpreceding it, is a somewhat grotesque portraiture of one of theLancers of the Sultan of Begharmi, described, in an historicaland geographical account by a native prince, as an extensive country,containing woods and rivers, and fields fit for cultivation; but nowdesolated, as the inhabitants say, by the "misconduct of the king, who,having increased in levity and licentiousness to such a frightfuldegree, as even to marry his own daughter, God Almighty[pg 298]caused Saboon, the prince of Wa-da-i, to march against him, and destroyhim, laying waste, at the same time, all his country, and leaving thehouses uninhabited, as a signal chastisement for his impiety."
Major Denham having applied for the covering of the above warrior andhis horse, in his journal thus describes their arrival:—"Aug. 11. Soon