AFRICA. 43 
me with the fame kindnefs. Without the 
flighteft preamble, Slaber coolly aiked mc 
which of the birds 1 fliould like to have. I 
ventured to point one out, though I had no 
doubt he was laughing at me. Immeoiately, 
flourifhing his enormous whip, he brought to 
the ground with a fmgle ftrcke the very fame 
bird. In twenty inftances that 1 put his fkill 
to the proof, he never once miffed his aim. 
This dexterity of the w^bip, indeed, is an 
acquirement general among the planters; but 
Slaber was an adept in the exercife, v;hom I 
never faw furpaffed. It forms an article in the 
education of their youth, and is in my opinion 
of more w^orth than the imbecil^fports of our 
fchools and colleges. I fhall return again to 
this fubjefl: hereafter, thinking it entitled to a 
minuter inveftigation. 
There are fome cantons, meanwhile, in 
which this art is much lefs pradifed than in 
others. All the planters have neither the fame 
occupations nor the fame ufages. They lead, 
indeed, for the moft part, a life fimple and uni- 
form ; there are points of contaft and habits 
of refemblance that apply to them all ; on the 
other hand, they differ according to their ori- 
gin j and though the monotony of their life ex- 
tends 
