TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
349 
our steps, we might as well tell them that a white 
man never bought a slave. Whenever I spoke 
of the Niger, or my anxiety to see it, they asked 
me if there were no rivers in the country (we 
say) we inhabit ; for the general belief is, as be- 
fore stated, that we live exclusively in ships on 
the sea. The Moors too, who are general tra- 
ders, and visit all the states of the interior in 
their commercial pursuits, are aware that any 
encouragement given by the native chiefs to our 
direct and friendly intercourse with them must 
tend to undermine their own trade, and in the 
course of time to remove from the eyes and un- 
derstandings of those chiefs and their subjects 
the veil of superstition by which they are now 
shrouded. They therefore take advantage of the 
credit and respectability which in their charac- 
ters as Maraboos they so invariably enjoy, to 
circulate reports prejudicial not only to our views 
in Africa (which they, if they do not really be- 
lieve like the negroes, represent in the same 
way) but to our character as a people, whom 
they designate by the degrading applellation of 
Kafer, or unbeliever. 
From the simple calculation and expose just 
now made, it must be obvious that the native 
princes and traders have a strong and direct in- 
terest to oppose the abolition of slavery; although 
as regards the negro population it is equally clear 
