THE GREAT JOURNEY FROM SEA TO SEA. 811 



houses of an American town, the line being preserved by fences of 

 the tall yellow tiger-grass of Uganda. There are also squares and 

 open spaces, and the whole is kept in perfect order and neatness. 

 The inner courts are entered by means of gates, each gate being 

 kept by an officer, who permits no one to pass who has not the 

 king's permission. In case his vigilance should be evaded, each gate 

 has a bell fastened to it on the inside. 



How the Negro has lived so many ages without advancing 

 seems marvellous, when all the countries surrounding Africa are 

 so forw^ard in comparison. And, judging from the progressive state 

 of the world, one is led to suppose that the African must soon either 

 step out from his darkness, or be superseded by a being superior to 

 himself. The African neither can help himself nor be helped by 

 others, because his country is in such a constant state of turmoil 

 that he has too much anxiety on hand looking out for his food to 

 think of anything else. 



CHARACTER OF THE AFRICAN. 



As his fathers did, so does he. He works his wife, sells his 

 children, enslaves all he can lay hands on, and, unless when fighting 

 for the property of others, contents himself with drinking, singing, 

 and dancing like a baboon, to drive dull care away. A few only 

 make cotton cloth, or work in wool, iron, copper, or salt, their rule 

 being to do as little as possible, and to store up nothing beyond the 

 necessaries of the next season, lest their chiefs or neighbors should 

 covet and take it from them. 



There are many kinds of food which the climate affords to 

 anyone of ordinary industry, such as horned cattle, sheep, goats, 

 pigs, fowls, ducks, and pigeons, not to mention the plantain and 

 other vegetable products, and with such stores of food at his com- 

 mand, it is surprising that the black man should be so often driven 

 to feed on wild herbs and roots, dogs, cats, rats, snakes, lizards, 

 insects, and other similar animals, and should be frequently found 

 on the point of starvation, and be compelled to sell his own children 

 to procure food. 



Moreover, there are elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, buf- 



