BIAFA RAS, a nation ofAfricans inhabiting a dis trict lying between 11° and 12° of N. Lat. and from IS° to 11° 30' W. Long. bounded on the south by the Rio Grande. Very little is known either of themselves or the limits of their country ; but it ap pears that they formerly possessed more extensive territories to the south ',vest, and in particular the island Bulama, which we unsuccessfully attempted to colonize. From these they were expelled by their warlike neighbours towards the end of the seven teenth century, when they retired further up the Rio Grande merely for the enjoyment of peace. In stature the Biafaras are rather tall, but of a slender feminine figure, unlike the strong and robust natives of other parts Of Africa, and are also unlike them being a mild, peaceable, and inoffensive race, whence they are held in great contempt by the Bijugas, another nation with whom they are constantly at war. They are of a lively disposition, have a won derful propensity to talking, and seem to be endow ed with a ready apprehension of things within the li mits of their understanding. Captain Beaver, to whom they paid frequent visits, relates, that one evening, having several Biafaras in his room, he shewed them prints by candle light, but it was some time befotle they could comprehend that they were intended to represent living or inanimate objects in nature ; and probably they would not have done so, had he not casually turned to a view of Sierra Leone, where an elephant and a monkey were introduced, which highly delighted them. Then resorting to
the plates of Lavater's Physiognomy, he at length came to that of the angry tacked man. The instant the Biafaras beheld it, they all screamed and fled out of the room.
No calculation can be formed of the numbers com posing the Biafara nation. It is certain, that they are governed by different chiefs, and that they have several towns, among which are named Goli Gon fode, Ghinala, and Bulola. According to M. Du rand, the first contains 4000 inhabitants • a fact. we are much inclined to doubt, as well as other parts of his account of the western coast of Africa, so far at least as respects his personal acquaintance with them. Ghinala, or Inala, is thirty miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande, and Bulola seventy. There were two kings or chiefs in the district of Ghinala while Captain Beaver was on Bulama, with whom he made a treaty for the island, and likewise for a large portion of their continent. Bulola was governed by a wo man. The Biafaras are said to trade to some extent with the Portuguese. They brought ivory, cloths, and poultry to the English settlement, and were ex tremely desirous that Captain Beaver should cstablist himself among them. See Beaver's African Memo. rands. Lajaille, Voyage an Senegal, par Lab'arthe. Durand's i oyage to Senegal. (c)