c€i ap. iii.] WEST INDIES. 275 
tyn negro that was sick, and perceiving that he was 
thoughtful and dejected, endeavoured, by soothing 
and encouraging language, to raise his drooping 
spirits. Mass a, said the negro, (in a tone of self- 
reproach and conscious degeneracy), since me come 
to white mans country me tub (loreJ life too much! 
Even the children brought from the Gold coast 
manifest an evident superiority, both in hardiness 
of frame, and vigour of mind, over all the young 
.people of the same age that are imported from 
other parts of Africa. The like firmness and intre¬ 
pidity which are distinguishable in adults of this 
nation, are visible in their boys at an age which 
might be thought too tender to receive any lasting 
impression, either from precept or example.—I 
have been myself an eye-witness to the truth of this 
remark in the circumstance I am about to relate. 
A gentleman of my acquaintance, who had pur¬ 
chased at the same time ten Koromantyn boys, and 
the like number of Eboes, (the eldest of the whole 
apparently not more than thirteen years of age), 
caused them all to be collected and brought before 
him in my presence, to be marked on the breast. 
This operation is performed by heating a small sil¬ 
ver brand composed of one or two letters, in the 
flame of spirits of wine, and applying it to the 
skin, which is previously anointed with sweet oil. 
The application is instantaneous, and the pain mo¬ 
mentary. Nevertheless, it may be easily supposed 
that the apparatus must have a frightful appearance 
