EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. £67 



proprietors of their moft valuable poffeffions. Thefe CHAP, 



XXVI 



monfters are diftingiiiflied by the name of Wijfy-meriy ' „ji 



perhaps from wife, or knowing, and by their fatal genius 

 car^-y deftrudtion to a moft dreadful length before they 

 are detedled. 



All barbarous and uneducated people have indiftin6l 

 notions of property ; nor can we wonder that flaves, 

 v/ho in their own perfons fuffer the moil flagrant viola- 

 tion of every right, fhould be difpofed to retaliate. The 

 flaves on the plantations are therefore too commonly 

 thieves, plundering whatever they can lay their hands 

 npon with impunity ; nor can any bounds be fet to their 

 intemperance, efpecially in drinking. I have feen a ne- 

 gro girl empty a china-bowl at one draught, containing 

 two bottles of claret, which I had given her by way of 

 experiment, till flie could no more ftand. 



I fhould not foro-et to mention that the Gan^o ne<^roes 

 are fuppofed to be anthropophagi or cannibals, like the 

 Caribbee Indians, inftigated by habitual and implacable 

 revenge. Amongft the rebels of this tribe, after the 

 taking of Boucou, fome pots were found on the fire with 

 human flelli ; which one of the officers had the curiofity 

 to tafte, and declared it was not inferior to fome kinds of 

 be^f or pork. 



I have been fince affured by a Mr. Fangills, an Ame- 

 rican, that having travelled for a great number of miles 

 inland in Africa, he at length came to a place where 

 human legs, arms, and thighs hung upon wooden fliam- 



M m 2 bles, 



