BOOK III. CHAP. I. 353 



particularly the latter, who are likewife the moft ftiipld of tlie Ncgroc 

 race, are the moft offenfive; and thofe of Senegal (who are diltinguHluU 

 from the other herds by greater acutenefs of underftaiiding and uiild- 

 nefs of difpofition) have the leaft of this noxious odour. 



This Icent in fome of them is fo ex'ceffively ftrong, cfpccially when 

 their bodies are warmed either by exercife or anger, that it continues 

 in places wliere they have been near a quarter of an hour. 



I fliall next confider their difparity, in regard to the faculties of the 

 mind. Under this head we are to obferve, that they remain at this 

 time in the liime rude fituation in which they were found two thoufand 

 years ago. 



In general, they are void of genius, and fcem almoft incapable of 

 making any progrels in civility or fcience. They have no plan or 

 lyftem of morality among them. Their barbarity to their children 

 debafes their nature even below that of brutes. Tliey have no moral 

 ienfations} no tafte but for women; gormondizing, and drinking to 

 cxcefs ; no wifh but to be idle. Their children, from their tendercft 

 years, are fuffcred to deliver themfelves up to all that nature fuggefls 

 to them. Their houfes are miferable cabbins. They conceive no plca- 

 fure from the moll: beautiful parts of their country, preferring tlic 

 more ftcrile. Their roads, as they call them, are mere fheep-paths, 

 twice as long as they need be, and almoft impafiable. Their country 

 in moft parts is one continued wildcrnefs, befet with briars and thorns. 

 They ufe neither carriages, nor beafts ot burthen. They are rcpre- 

 fented by all authors as the vileft of the human kind, to which they 

 have little more pretenlion of refemblance than vv'hat arifes from tiicir 

 exterior form. 



In fo vaft a continent as that of Afric, and in fo great a variety 

 of climates and provinces, we might exped to find a proportionable 

 diverfity among the inhabitiuts, in re<jard to their qualifications of 

 body and mind ; ftrengtb, agility, induftry, and dexterit_\*» on the 

 one hand ; ingenuity, learning, art<^, and Iciences, on the other. But, 

 on the contrary, a general iniiformity runs through all thefe varloui 

 regions of people ; fo that, if any difference be found, it is only in 

 degrees of the fame qualities ; and, what is more ftrangc, thofe of 

 the worfl kind j it being a common known proverb, that all people 

 on the globe have fome good as well as ill qualities, except the 

 VpL. II. Z 7- Africans. 



