TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
363 
of our intercourse with the people, and the en- 
couragement and protection of the internal com- 
merce of Africa. By this we can improve them 
in the way of example, by the other we can be- 
nefit them and ourselves in the way of inter- 
change of commodity; our habits and our man- 
ners will gain upon them in time, and our skill 
tend to stimulate and encourage theirs. 
By increasing their commerce we also obtain 
another happy consummation, we give them em- 
ployment, and we consequently to a certain ex- 
tent, secure them from the incessant meddhng 
of their maraboos. We could congregate them 
in greater numbers together, and therefore the 
more readily instruct them ; and I may venture 
to add, that, if a fair degree of zeal were used in 
such a delightful employment, within a very 
few years they would prove themselves not un- 
fitted for the enjoyment of liberal institutions. 
When once a people feel their moral power im- 
proving it is not difficult to give it a degree of 
perfection, and when once the chief found his 
former slave so far lifted in the scale of being, 
as to have some notion of the place and duties 
assigned him here, it would not be easy for him 
to continue his sway without limit or controul. 
While, however, the negro dreams of nothing 
beyond a mere animal support, he is admirably 
calculated for a slave ; but give him an insight 
