SECT. II.] UNCULTIVATED WHITE RACES. 311 



the Negroes, and are pretty numerous, they live in forests ; 

 and it is their influence which obstructs the progress of the 

 Liberia Republic among the Negroes. 1 The indolence of the 

 Portuguese on the east coast of Africa nearly equals that of the 

 Negroes; their chief object is an existence which may be 

 attained by the least possible effort. 2 The horrors of their 

 dominion and their own degeneration are described by Om- 

 boni. 3 In Angola, they have introduced no other agricultural 

 implement but the hoe ; and maniok, which affords but small 

 nutriment, is still the chief vegetable aliment. 4 The condition 

 of the Europeans in the Banda Islands is but little better. 5 

 Nearly all the Spanish and Portuguese colonies rival each other 

 in proving how little these nations are able to spread civilization 

 in other regions, since separated from their native country they 

 are not even capable of preserving the culture they have 

 brought with them. The English and the French have in this 

 respect proved more successful ; but this superiority can only 

 partly be ascribed to the superiority of the original stock, and 

 to the care of the government of their mother- countries to keep 

 up the intercourse of the colonies with the civilized world. 

 Nevertheless, we learn that in the Mauritius, for instance, the 

 population of which is chiefly French, the condition of agricul- 

 ture before the advent of the English (1810), was as bad as in 

 the Spanish colonies : ploughs were scarce, and the fields were 

 not manured. 6 



. It may be objected that several of the instances cited re- 

 ferred to mixed populations and not to pure Europeans. Still, 

 it must be admitted that even in these cases the European 

 blood, despite the improvement of the race which is usually 

 ascribed to its infusion, has not proved its efficiency in raising 

 the breed one step above the condition of the aborigines ; and 

 that even in such cases where there was no intermixture, or a 



1 Foote, " Africa, and the American flag," p. 72, New York, 1854. 



2 Owen, " Narr. of a voyage to explore the shores of Africa," ii, p. 13, 1833. 



3 " Viaggi neU. Afr. occ.," p. 100, Milano, 1845. 



4 Livingstone, ii, p. 72. 



5 Kogel in Ausland, p. 1066, 1857. 



6 D'Unienville, " Statistique de 1'He Maurice," i, p. 305, 1838. 



