2^41 TRAVELS IN THE 
their own nation and neighbourhood, and especially when the 
objects of their compassion are endeared to them by the ties of 
consanguinity. Accordingly, the maternal affection (neither 
suppressed by the restraints, nor diverted by the solicitudes of 
civilized life) is every where conspicuous among them ; and 
creates a correspondent return of tenderness in the child. An 
illustration of this has been given in p. 47. " Strike me," said 
my attendant, " but do not curse my mother." The same 
sentiment I found universally to prevail, and observed in all 
parts of Africa, that the greatest affront which could be offered 
to a Negro, was to reflect on her who gave him birth. 
It is not strange, that this sense of filial duty and affection 
among the Negroes, should be less ardent towards the father 
than the mother. The system of polygamy, while it weakens 
the father's attachment, by dividing it among the children of 
different wives, concentrates all the mother's jealous tenderness 
to one point, the protection of her own offspring. I perceived 
with great satisfaction too, that the maternal solicitude ex- 
tended not only to the growth and security of the person, but 
also, in a certain degree, to the improvement of the mind of 
the infant; for one of the first lessons, in which the Mandingo 
women instruct their children, is the practice of truth. The 
reader will probably recollect the case of the unhappy mother, 
whose son was murdered by the Moorish banditti, at Funing- 
kedy, p. 102. — Her only consolation, in her uttermost distress, 
was the reflection that the poor boy, in the course of his blame- 
less life, had never told a lie. Such testimony, from a fond 
mother, on such an occasion, must have operated powerfully 
