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cans, than that after death they shall go back to 

 Africa, and pass an eternity in revelling and feast- 

 ing with their ancestors. The proprietor of a 

 neighbouring estate lately used all his influence to 

 persuade his foster-sister to be christened ; but it 

 was all in vain : she had imbibed strong African 

 prejudices from her mother, and frankly declared 

 that she found nothing in the Christian system so 

 alluring to her taste as the post-obit balls and 

 banquets promised by the religion of Africa. I 

 confess, that this prejudice appears to me to be 

 so strongly rooted, that in spite of the curates ex- 

 pected from the hands of the bishop of London, 

 I am sadly afraid, that " the pulpit drum eccle- 

 siastic" will find it a hard matter to overpower the 

 gumby ; and that the joys of the Christian paradise 

 will be seen to kick the beam, when they are 

 weighed against the pleasures of eating fat hog, 

 drinking raw rum, and dancing for centuries to the 

 jam-jam and kitty-katty. In the negro festivals in 

 this life, the chief point lies in making as much 

 noise as possible, and the Africans and Creoles 

 dispute it with the greatest pertinacity. I am just 

 informed that at the dance last night the Eboes 

 obtained a decided triumph, for they roared and 

 screamed and shouted and thumped their drums 

 with so much effect, that the Creoles were fairly 

 rendered deaf with the noise of their rivals, and 

 dumb with their own, and obliged to leave off" 

 singing altogether. 



