CHAP. XX.] NEGRO PRAYER. 5 



prayer, composed by himself,, for the ordination of a 

 minister of his sect, which, said he, was admirable in 

 its conception, although the sentences were so im- 

 grammatical, that they would pass, with a stranger, 

 for mere gibberish. The prayer ran thus : 



&quot; Make he good, like he say, 

 Make he say, like he good, 

 Make he say, make he good, like he God.&quot; 



Which may be thus interpreted : Make him good as 

 his doctrine, make his doctrine as pure as his life, and 

 may both be in the likeness of his God. 



This anecdote reminds me of another proof of negro 

 intelligence, related to me by Dr. Le Conte, whose 

 black carpenter came to him one day, to relate to him, 

 with great delight, a grand discovery he had made, 

 namely, that each side of a hexagon was equal to the 

 radius of a circle drawn about it. When informed 

 that this property of a hexagon had long been known, 

 he remarked that if it had been taught him, it would 

 have been practically of great use to him in his busi 

 ness. 



There had been &quot; a revival &quot; in Savannah a short 

 time before my return, conducted by the Methodists, 

 in the course of which a negro girl had been so much 

 excited, as to be thrown into a trance. The physi 

 cian who attended her gave me a curious description 

 of the case. If the nerves of only one or two victims 

 are thus overwrought, it is surely more than ques 

 tionable whether the evil does not counterbalance 

 all the good done, by what is called &quot; the awakening&quot; 

 of the indifferent. 



I inquired one day, when conversing with some of 



B 3 



