^20 Mr Maxwell’s Observatims on Congo and Loango. 
Chaeacter. — They have been called a jealous, cruel, an^ 
revengeful people,— much given to theft ; but, in my opinion, 
very unjustly. I would rather term them, in their ordinary 
mode of life, a mild, inoffensive, and effeminate race ; yet of 
astonishing resolution and perseverance when once roused to 
action. Of ajl the slaves brought from the coast of Africa, 
those of Congo are accounted the most refractory and deter- 
mined on ship-board. 
As an instance of their probity and honour; — Captain Couf- 
flin, when sailing up the river, run his ship upon a sunk rock. He 
was obliged to unload the whole cargo whilst the vessel was re- 
fitting ; and, although the goods remained in their huts all that 
time, not a single article was missing. 
To the spontaneous productions of nature, and to the clir 
mate which causes them to spring up so luxuriantly and in 
such profusion, must be ascribed the effeminacy of the Con- 
goese, not to any inherent defect in the constitution of a race, 
whose outward appearance, time and situation have so altered. 
The Negro, in his native land, is, comparatively speaking, in 
a great measure exempt from toil ; he enjoys life to the full, 
and, by a little tuition, can think as acutely and act as justly 
as the man, who, born in a civhised country, has enjoyed all 
the advantages of education. 
Art. III. — Account of Electro-Magnetic Experiments made hy 
MM. Van Beek, Professor Van Rees of Liege ^ and Profes- 
sor Moll of Utrecht. In a Letter to Dr Brewster. 
My Dear Sir, 
I HAD the honour of addressing to you the details of some Elec- 
tro-magnetic experiments in a former letter, which I hope came 
duly to hand. I have since observed in the Annals of Philosophy 
for August 18S1, a letter from Sir Humphry Davy to Dr Wollas- 
ton, in which experiments are related, which you will have found 
to be of the same kind as those which were communicated by 
me. As Sir Humphry states his experiments to have been 
made in October no doubt can arise respecting their ha*? 
