BOOK ir. CHAP. XIII. 271 



their common friend and father. His authority over them is like 

 that of an antient patriarch : conciliating afFedion by the mildnefs 

 of its exertion, and claiming refped by the juftice and propriety of 

 its decifions and difcipline, it attra£ls the love of the honeft and 

 good ; while it awes the worthlefs into reformation. Amongft 

 three or four hundred Blacks, there muft: be fome who are not to ■ 

 be reclaimed from a favage, intraftable humour, and a6ls of vio- 

 lence, without the coercion of punilhment. So, among the whole 

 body of planters, fome may be found of naturally auflere and in- 

 human tempers. Yet they, who acV up to the dignity of man, 

 ought not to be confounded with others, whofe odious depravity 

 of heart has degraded them beneath the rank of human beings. 

 To caft general refledlions on any body of men is certainly illi- 

 beral ; but much more fo, when applied to thofe, who, if their 

 conduct and charadlers were fully known to the world, would ap-- 

 pear fo little to deferve them. 



The French treat the gentlemen of their Weft-India fettlements^ 

 in a very different manner. " It is with great juftice," faysBoffu,. 

 " that we reckon the Creoles noble in France. Their fentiments 

 " are fo noble and delicate in every ftation of life, that they per- 

 " fedly well merit that appellation." 



I fhould implore pardon of the ladies, for not having given them: 

 the precedence which is their due : but I difpatched the gentlemen^ 

 firft, that I might pay the more attention to the lovelier fex. Fe- 

 minine beauties and virtues are to be found in every clime, the 

 growth of every foil. The Creole women are perfeiftly well- 

 Ihaped ; and many of them remarkably handfome. In general, 

 they have exceedingly good teeth; which fome have imputed to"^ 

 tlie pains they conftantly take in cleaning them with the chaw- 

 ftick ["j], which guards them from the fcurvy. They prefer cho- 

 colate to tea; and do not drink any liquor fo hot as is cuftomary 

 with women in England. It feems to be a vulgar error, that fugar 

 caufes the teeth to decay. It is certainly an anti-feptic, and un- 



[j] A fpecies of rhamnus. It is of a bitter talle, and contains a great quantity of fixed air; 

 both of which qualities render it a vcrj' proper correiflor of any putrid flough that may happen to ■ 

 lodge betv\'een the interftices of the teeth. It is cut into Imall junks, of three or four inches in 

 length ; one extremity of which, being firft foaked a little while in warm water, is foon formed ■ 

 into a foit bruih by chawing; from whence it derives its popular name. 



juftly. 



