42G DIFFERENCES IN 



they carefully examine all our goods, piece by piece, to as- 

 certain if their quality and measure are correctly stated : 

 and shew as much sagacity and clearness in all these trans- 

 actions, as any European tradesman could do/' 



Of those imitative arts, in which perfection can be at- 

 tained only in an improved state of society, it is natural to 

 suppose that the Negroes can have little knowledge ; but 

 the fabric and colours of the Guinea cloths are proofs of 

 their native ingenuity ; and, that they are capable of learn- 

 ing all kinds of the more delicate manual labours, is proved 

 by the fact, that nine tenths of the artificers in the West In- 

 dies are Negroes. Many are expert carpenters, and some 

 watchmakers. 



The drawings and busts executed by the wild Bosjesmen 

 in the neighbourhood of the Cape are praised by Barrow * 

 for their accuracy of outline and correctness of proportion. 



Negroes have been known to earn so much in America 

 by their musical exertions, as to purchase their freedom 

 with large sums. The younger Freidig, in Vienna, was an 

 expert performer, both on the violin and violoncello; he was 

 also a capital draftsman, and had made an excellent paint- 

 ing of himself. Mr. Edwards f, however, speaks very 

 contemptuously of their musical talents in general : he says, 

 " they prefer a loud and long-continued noise to the finest 

 harmony ; and frequently consume the whole night in beat- 

 ing on a board with a stick.'' 



The capacity of the Nergoes for the mathematical and 

 physical sciences is proved by Hannibal, a colonel in the 

 Russian artillery, and Lislet of the Isle of France, who 

 was named a corresponding member of the French Academy 

 of Sciences, on account of his excellent meteorological 

 observations. Fuller, of Maryland, was an extraordinary 

 example of quickness in reckoning. Being asked in a com- 

 pany, for the purpose of trying his powers, how many se- 

 conds a person had lived who was seventy years and some 



* Travels &c. v. i .p. 239, 307. 



+ Ilisl. ofihc West Indies, V. ii. p. 102. 



