CONTRAST OF SLAVES AND FREE NEGEOES. 
99 
coast or iieiglibourmg isles, are much more vigorous, better 
shaped, braver, more active, and less superstitious than those 
of the country parts : this difference must be attributed to their 
connection with Europeans, to their food,and the salubrious air 
which they respire. ^ 
The Bulams, Tommanies, and Bagos are strong, of a good 
countenance, and of a fine black colour ; their limbs are strait 
and muscular,, their features agreeable, and they are above the 
middle size. The Tommanies hi particular have an open and 
ingenuous physiognomy, and the women are generally handsome. • 
The Suzees have a yellow complexion ; their shape and height 
are inferior to those of the Tommanies, and they have thick lips 
and pug noses. The Mandingos seem to be, and in fact are, 
a separate race : they are tall, but thin, and of a dull black 
colour ; their eyes are small, and they wear their beards like 
the Jews of Europe. The Buiams, Suzees, and several others 
shave themselves when they are young ; and when they begliî 
to turn grey, they let their beards grow, as they consider \\ hite 
liair to be indicative of wisdom. 
The difference of features between the free Blacks and the 
slaves is so striking, that an eye of the least penetration imme- 
diately distinguishes their condition. The former exhibits a 
noble dignity and pride in his whole person, and his looks are 
confident and commanding. Tlie slave, on the contrary, de- 
pressed by his unfortunate situation, has a servile gait, and 
neither speaks nor walks without casting down his eyes. The 
slaves which are brought from the interior, are smaller, less 
robust, and worse shaped than the free Negroes. Those v^lio 
live near th^ sea, are of the same size as their masters. 
The language of the Suzees appears to be the mother tongue 
of the idioms of the other tribes : it is mild and agreeable. That 
of the Mandingos, like the people w ho ^peak it, is very different 
from the others ; it is a corrupted kind of Arabic, and "totally 
different from that which they teach in their schools, and which 
they call the language of prayer. 
The character of the Blacks is nearly the snrne every w here : 
they are indolent, exxept when animated by the desire of ven- 
geance,* implacable, perfidious, and dissimulating when they 
have received an injury, in order that they may find an oppor- 
tunity of avenging it with iinpunity : on the other hand, they are 
gentle and hospitable to every one, but inclined lo larceny, and 
remarkable for an extreme inconstancy of taste and conduct. 
The w^omen behave with great propriety, and fulfil all don;< -iic 
duties with the utmost attention. '1 hey never wean their chil- 
dren till they are capable of walkir f>,, and can brin^ lo their 
mother a calabash filled with water: they Ice no time in icach- 
N 2 
