522 
PROFESSOR TIEDEMANN ON THE BRAIN OF THE NEGRO. 
slothful, friends or enemies. When well fed and not maltreated, they are contented, 
joyous, ready for every enjoyment ; and the satisfaction of their mind is painted in 
their countenance. But when oppressed and abused they grow peevish, and often 
die of melancholy. Of good and bad treatment they are extremely sensible, and 
against those who injure them they bear a mortal hatred. On the other hand, when 
they contract an affection to a master there is no office, however hazardous, which 
they will not boldly execute to demonstrate their zeal and attachment.” 
The original good character of the Negro tribes on the Western Coast of Africa 
has been corrupted and ruined by the horrors of the slave trade, since they have un- 
fortunately become acquainted with Europeans The introduction of brandy and 
other spirits, and the immorality, dissipation, cruelty, rapacity and fraud of the slave 
traders, have made the Negroes indolent, cunning, dissolute, and thievish. 
This has been satisfactorily proved by many travellers, more particularly by Cap- 
tain Ph. Beaver-^-. The slave trade alone is the principal cause of the slothfulness of 
the Negroes on the coasts J, as the Committee for the African Institution allow, when 
they say, “ IIow can it be expected that men should addict themselves to the arts 
of agriculture and commerce, whilst the labourers in both are themselves the greatest 
articles of trade, and form the chief exports of the country ? What adequate motive 
can be found for toiling to improve their domestic comforts or their possessions, by 
men who are in constant danger of being hurried into perpetual exile ? It is needless 
to take into account the many vices adverse to industry which are generated by this 
traffic ; for it is enough to keep men indolent that no fruit of their labour can be 
secure to them for a moment.” 
It is proved, that since the slave trade has been greatly impeded by the acts of the 
Parliament for abolishing this infamous, dishonourable traffic, and since kidnapping- 
on the Gold Coast has been much diminished, and personal security proportionately 
increased, the natives have become more diligent. This has manifested itself by in- 
creased industry. From those improvements may be inferred the unspeakable and 
innumerable benefits which must accrue to Africa from a total abolition of the traffic 
in slaves. 
The Negro tribes of the interior parts of Africa are a far superior people to those 
* Although the slave trade existed in the time of the Phoenicians, the old Egyptians, Carthaginians, Ro- 
mans, and Saracens, it did not reach its full extent till the beginning of the sixteenth century, introduced on 
the western coast of Africa by the Portuguese Alonzo Gonzales. The Spaniards brought Negroes in the 
year 1502 to St. Domingo, and in the year 1510 to Peru. The slave trade was legal in the time of the Em- 
peror Charles V., Pope Leo X., Queen Elizabeth, and Louis XIII., under the pretence that the Negroes are 
not Christians. 
f African Memoranda, relative to an attempt to establish a British Settlement in the Island of Boulan. 
London, 1805. 
X Report read to the General Meeting on the 15th July 1807, p. 34. 
