slaves, amidst their own infinitely
greater sufferings, would commiserate mine, and frequently, of their own
accord, bring water to quench my thirst, and at night collect branches
and leaves to prepare me a bed in the wilderness. We parted with mutual
regret and blessings. My good wishes and prayers were all I could bestow
upon them, and it afforded me some consolation to be told that they were
sensible I had no more to give."

The same enlightened traveller remarks, "All the negro nations that fell
under my observation, though divided into a number of petty, independent
states, subsist chiefly by the same means, live nearly in the same
temperature, and possess a wonderful similarity of disposition. The
Mandingoes, in particular, are a very gentle race, cheerful,
inquisitive, credulous, simple, and fond of flattery. Perhaps the most
prominent defect in their character, was that insurmountable propensity,
which the reader must have observed to prevail in all classes, to steal
from me the few effects I was possessed of. No complete justification
can be offered for this conduct, because theft is a crime in their own
estimation; and it must be observed that they are not habitually and
generally guilty of it towards each other. But before we pronounce them
a more depraved people than any other, it were well to consider, whether
the lower class of people in any part of Europe, would have acted, under
similar circumstances, with greater honesty towards a stranger. It must
be remembered that the laws of the country afforded me no protection;
that every one was permitted to rob me with impunity; and that some part
of my effects were of as great value in the estimation of the negroes,
as pearls and diamonds would have been in the eyes of a European. Let us
suppose a black merchant of Hindostan had found his way into England,
with a box of jewels at his back, and the laws of the kingdom afforded
him no security--in such a case, the wonder would be, not that the
stranger was robbed of any part of his riches, but that any part was
left for a second depredator.[AJ] Such, on sober reflection, is the
judgment I have formed concerning the pilfering disposition of the
Mandingo negroes toward me.

[Footnote AJ: Or suppose a colored pedler with valuable goods travelling
in slave states, where the laws afford little or no protection to negro
property; what would probably be his fate?]

"On the other hand, it is impossible for me to forget