TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
339 
which is not usually to be found in merely sa- 
vage life. Like most half taught people their 
cunning generally supersedes their wisdom, but 
then I am still prepared to argue, that if you 
allow them the full exercise of their industry ; 
if you improve and protect it ; if, by wise and 
judicious policy, you lift the Negro in his own 
esteem, and teach his Chief, that what is 
good was intended for all, though not in the 
same proportion, for the servant as the master ; 
if you abate their superstition by the careful 
introduction of evangelical truths ; if, in a word, 
you realize those things, the condition of Africa 
will soon assume the appearance of health, lon- 
gevity, and happiness. 
Their wants are, generally speaking, few and 
easily satisfied ; and their soil, though barren, 
yields a sufficiency of those common necessaries 
of life which are required in tropical climates. 
They have not, unfortunately, any common lan- 
guage to knit them together in society, hence 
must their intercourse with each other be ex- 
tremely limited ; their curiosity is not awakened 
by the contemplation of new and remote objects, 
they know few artificial necessities to induce 
the visits of strangers to supply them, and hence^ 
except in war, they seldom pass the boundaries 
of the hut that shelters, and the field of rice 
or corn that feeds them. Nor are these the 
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