THE WESTERN COAST. 
possible to give a clear statement of their doc- 
trines ; for they express their sentiments as they 
occur, and generally have the seeds of contradic- 
tion lurking in their minds. The Africans seem 
originally to have represented their deity as black 
like themselves ; but they have been informed 
by Europeans, that this black deity is the devil of 
the whites, and essentially evil. Where they are 
contented with the productions of their soil, and 
their own manner of life, they represent the evil 
deity as white, the protector of white men, and 
the cause of all the evils v/hich the white men 
have brought upon the negroes ; and the good 
deity, the protector of the Africans, as black. 
But where the negroes are discontented, they 
represent the black deity as mischievous and cruel, 
taking pleasure in tormenting them with nume- 
rous evils ; and the God of the whites as benevo- 
lent and kind, bestowing upon them, in abun- 
dance, fine clothes, silks, and brandy. Artus told 
them, that their deity did not neglect them, who 
furnished them with gold, palm-wine, fruits, cows, 
goats, fowls, and fish ; but he found it impossible 
to convince them that these were derived from 
the Deity. " The earth,'* said they, " gives us 
" gold ; the earth yields us maize and rice ; the 
" sea affords us fish ; but if we do not labour our- 
" selves, we may starve, before our God help us. 
Our cattle produce young without the assistance 
