A True and ExaB Hiflory 



This point of Philofophy was a little too hard for him , and fo he 

 ftood in a ftrange mufe ^ which to put him out of, I bad him reach his 

 axe, and put it near to the Compafs, and remove it about , and as he 

 did fo^the Needle turned with it, which put him in the grcateft ad- 

 miration that ever I faw a man, and fo quite gave over his queftions, 

 and defired me, that he might be made a Chriftian ^ for, he thought 

 to be a Chriftian, was to be endued with all thofe knowledges he 

 wanted. 



I promifcd to do my beft endeavour and when I came home ^ 

 {poke to the Mafter of the Plantation, and told him, that poor Sambo 

 defired much to be a Chriftian. But his anfwer was , That the people 

 of that Illand were governed by the Lawes of England , and by 

 thole Lawes, we could not make a Chriftian a Slave. I told him , my 

 requeft was far different from that, for I defired him to make a Slave 

 a Chriftian. His anfwer was. That it was ttue , there was a great 

 difference in that : But, being Once a Chriftian, he could no more 

 account him a Slave , and fo lofe the hold they had of them as 

 Slaves, by making them Chriftians , and by that means ftiould open 

 fucha gap, as all the Planters in the Ifland would curie him. So I 

 was ftruck mute, and ^^ooxsamho kept out of the Church , as inge- 

 nious, as honeft, and as good a natur'd poor foul, as ever wore black, 

 or eat green. 



On Sundayes in the afternoon, their Mufick playes, and to dancing 

 they go, the men by themfclves , and the women by themfelves, no 

 mixt dancing. Their motions are rather what they aim at, than what 

 they do 5 and by that means , tranlgrels the ieis upon the Sunday 3 

 their hands having more of motion than their feet,and their heads more 

 than their hands. They may dance a whole day,andne'r heat them- 

 felves 5 yet, now and then, one of the aftiveft amongft them will leap 

 ? bolt upright, and fall in his place again, but without cutting a capre. 

 When they have danc'd an hour or two, the men fall to wreftle, (^the 

 Mufick playing all the while) and their manner of wreftling is , to 

 ftand like two Cocks, with heads as low as their hips, and thrufting 

 their heads one againft another, hoping to catch one another by the 

 leg, which fometimes they do .• But if both parties be weary,and that 

 they cannot get that advantage, then they raife their heads, by prel^ 

 fing hard one againft another, and fo having nothing to take hold of 

 but their bare flefti, theyclofo, and grafp one another about the mid- 

 dle, and have one another in the hug , and then a fair fall is given on 

 the back. And thus two or three couples of them are engaged at once, 

 for an hour together, the women looking on : for when the men be- 

 gin to wreftle, the women leave oft their dancing, and come to befpe- 

 ftators of the fpOrt. 



Whenanyof them dye, they dig a grave, arid at evening they bury 

 him, clapping and wringing their hands, and making a doleful found 

 with their voices. They are a people of a tiraerous and fearful dif^ 

 pofition, and confoquently bloOdy , when they find advantages. If 

 any of them commit a fault, give him prefent puniftiment, but do not 

 threaten him ; for if you do, it is an even lay, he will go and hang him- 

 ielf^to avoid the puniftiment* 



tVhat 



