434 ETHNOLOGY. Chap. XXI. 



tlie same language liaA'e in the course of lime been 

 separated from one another, and finally come to con- 

 sider themselves as different nations. We must con- 

 clude that Africa has never been very thickly inha- 

 bited ; hence the villages on migrating have settled 

 where they chose. 



I have been struck with the steady decrease of the 

 population, even during the short time I have been 

 in Africa, on the coast and in the interior ; but before 

 I account for it, let me raise my voice in defence of 

 the white man, who is accused of being the cause of it. 

 Wherever he settles the aborigines are said to dis- 

 ajDpear. I admit that such is the case ; but the decrease 

 of the population had already taken place before the 

 white man came, the white man noticed it but could 

 not stop it. Populous tribes whom I saw for a 

 second time, and who had seen no white man and 

 his fiery water, have decreased, and this decrease 

 took place before the terrible plague that desolated 

 the land had made its appearance. The negroes 

 themselves acknowledge the decrease. Clans, in the 

 lifetime of old men, have entirely disapjoeared ; in 

 others, only a few individuals remain. 



Where the Slave Trade exists the population must 

 certainly decrease in a greater ratio ; and where the 

 fiery water is sold to the natives in great quantity, 

 it must also affect their health. Happily the Slave 

 Trade will never flourish as it did in times past, and 

 it may be said now to be almost entirely done away 

 with. In the country of my late exploration, the 

 only people who continue the traffic in slaves are 

 negro agents, from the two Portuguese islands St. 



