OR, PLAIN TEACHING. 145 



folds over the shoulders ; it is of 

 a material between silk and cot- 

 ton, and is richly ornamented. 

 The cap is of several gaudy 

 hues. 



Central Africa is supposed to 

 be wholly inhabited by negro 

 races, 9 ; but very little is known 

 of this vast district. Few arts 



9 



464. 



have been brought to perfection 

 by the negroes, because the divi- 

 sion of labour has been little 

 known among them. The same 

 individual spins, weaves, sews, 

 hunts, forms baskets, fishing 

 tackle, instruments of agricul- 

 ture ; makes soap, dyes cloth 

 with indigo, and makes canoes. 



The knowledge of the negroes, with regard 

 to all speculative subjects, is extremely limited. 

 Their notions of geography and astronomy, like 

 those of other rude nations, are altogether 

 puerile. They regard the earth as a vast plain, 

 the boundaries of which are covered with clouds 

 and darkness. The sea is a great river of salt- 

 water, beyond which is the land of the white 

 people ; and at a still greater distance is the 

 land to which the slaves are carried, which is 

 inhabited by giants, who are cannibals. Eclipses 

 are ascribed to enchantment, or to»the interpo- 

 sition of a great cat, which puts its paw between 

 the moon and the earth. They divide the year 

 by moons, and calculate the years by the num- 

 ber of rainy seasons. They seem to believe in 

 oi.e God, who has power orer all things ; but j 



7 



their religious opinions are extremely undefined, 

 so that it is in vain to expect to find among 

 them any system of belief that is either univer- 

 sally received or even consistently adhered toby 

 the same individuals. They in general seem to 

 think that the god of the blacks or negroes is 

 different from the god of the whites. When 

 they are pleased with their own condition and 

 their country, they represent the black deity as 

 a good being, and the white deity as a kind of 

 devil, who sends the white people to make slaves 

 of the negroes. But when they are in ill- 

 humour, they complain of their black deity as 

 mischievous and cruel ; while they say that the 

 white deity gives his people, the Europeans, 

 brandy and fine clothes, and other good things 

 that are denied to the negroes. Their nations 

 of a future are of the same fluctuating nature. 

 They have a confused idea that the existence of 

 the human mind does not terminate with this 

 life ; and they seem to venerate the spirits of 

 the dead, regarding them as protectors, and 

 placing victuals at the graves of their ancestors 

 upon stated occasions. In general, however, 

 they regard death with a great horror ; and in 

 Whidah it was a law that no person, on pain of 

 death, should mention it in presence of the king. 

 Some of them have a notion of a future state as 

 cc-nnected with rewards and punishments of 

 their conduct in this life. They imagine that 

 the deceased are conveyed to a mighty river hi 

 the interior regions of Africa, where God judges 

 of their past lives, and particularly of the regu- 

 larity with which they have celebrated the new 

 moons, which among the negroes are kept as 

 festivals; and of the fidelity with which they 

 have adhered to their oaths. If the judgment 

 is in their favour, they are gently wafted over 

 the great river to a happy country, resembling 

 in description the paradise of Mahomet, where 

 they enjoy plenty of all those things which they 

 were accustomed to value in this world ; but 

 if the judgment is unfavourable, they are 

 plunged in the river, and never heard of more. 

 They also believe, like the vulgar of most other 

 countries, that the ghosts of persons who have 

 been guilty of great and unexpiated crimes, 

 find no rest after death, but haunt and wander 

 about those places in which their crimes were 

 committed. The Asiatic doctrine of the trans- 

 migration of the souls of men after death into 

 the bodies of other animals, is also entertained 

 by some of them. 



There are numerous European 

 settlements in Africa, among 

 which are the Cape of Good 

 Hope, Sierra Leone, Elmina, 

 Cape Coast Castle, Liberia, &c. 



The city of Algiers is a sea- 

 port on the north-west of Africa. 

 The streets, 10, are mostly nar- 

 row, winding, and dirty, as is 

 the case in most of the Moorish 

 towns. The houses are annually 

 whitewashed ; and, in conse- 

 quence of frequent earthquakes, 



