318 HILLS AND LAKES., 



long ago, had no knowledge of the things that belong 

 to civilization ; that they were poor, ignorant, heathen 

 idolaters, that had never heard of the Bible, nor any- 

 thing that belonged to the Christian Religion. That 

 most of the tribes were rovin', and wild barbarians, 

 mostly at war, killin' and plundering and enslavin' 

 each other. I've been told, too, that Africa is away 

 south, and that the sun looks almost straight down upon 

 it, from the beginnin' to the end of the year, ancf that 

 white people of other countries, become weak, and 

 feeble, and die, under the bad influences of the climate, 

 and that the black man is the only human creeter 

 that's fitted to live, and be healthy and strong, there. 

 Well, I see that them savage people have been brought 

 to this country, and slaves though they be, ignorant 

 and foolish though they be, they become acquainted 

 with human ways, and larn to live like civilized and 

 Christian folks. They grow up with some knowledge 

 of the Bible, and of the Christian Religion, and each 

 generation knows more than the one that went before it. 

 Some of them become free, and are edicated, and, one 

 way and another, pick up a great deal of knowledge. 

 I see away down south, in the British islands, they 

 have all become free, so far as actual slavery is con- 



