234 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



so much sl<ixl. The marine enterprise, however it may have 

 been occasioned, is manifest even among tribes residing far 

 inland;* such, for example, are the brave and honest Menas 

 or Kroomen of Western Africa, who all become in some degree 

 sailors; and colonial Negroes, who are often seamen in the 

 merchant service. 



In what manner the black Caribs of St. Vincent first reached 

 the Western Hemisphere, is narrated upon questionable evi- 

 dence. Those said to be remains of this adventitious race, are 

 still excellent boatmen ; and if Peter Martyr (Decads) may be 

 credited, there was a Negro population already established on 

 the coast of America t before the arrival of the Spaniards. 



On the west coast of Africa the most energetic tribes are 

 Coromantees, very black, and marked on the cheeks with tri- 

 bal scars. They are a daring and martial people ; when en- 

 slaved, often rebellious. The Eboes, on the contrary, are less 

 vigorous, paler in color, with a more slender form and elon- 

 gated features. They are a gentler race, yet more truly sav- 

 ages ; and, though addicted to despondency and suicide, they 

 were formerly sought for house servants. The Widahs, or 

 Fidahs, are of the stem usually called Papaws and Nagas in 

 Africa; they resemble the Papuas of the Indian Ocean more 

 than any other race ; and they assimilate likewise with the 

 Eboes, but are still more submissive as slaves. They have 

 a baboon-like expression, and the peculiarities of the Negro 



* The fearless propensity to venture on the sea was shown in Jamaica, 

 during our residence on the island, by two very young Negro lads, both 

 natives of the interior of Africa, who could know little more of a water 

 life than perhaps fishing on the Niger ; yet they stole a canoe ; and, unpro- 

 vided with food or water, went to sea from Port Royal harbor, with the 

 resolution of returning to their own country! The poor lads were fortu- 

 nately picked up by a merchant ship, when they had already drifted far out 

 to the south-west, and were nearlv dead from exhaustion. 



t Peter Martyr, who wrote from the manuscript documents of the first 

 discoverers then living, cites Vasco Nunez meeting with a colony of 

 Negroes at Quariqua, in the Gulf of Darien. This, it should be 

 remarked, is anterior to the introduction of black slaves. 



