of his
nation on this part of the coast, the Foolahs, and the Mahomedan tribes in
the vicinity of the Island of Goree, I am persuaded the following is the
portion of the Islam faith believed by them.

1st. That God is above all, and not born of woman.

2d. That Mahomet stands between God and man, to intercede for him; that he
is superior to all beings born of woman, and is the favorite of God. And,

3d. That he has prepared for the meanest of his followers and believers
_seventy-two bouris_, or black-eyed girls of superior beauty, who are to
administer to all their pleasures, and participate with them in the
enjoyment of the fountains and groves of paradise, and in the gratification
of those appetites congenial to their nature and existence in this world.
This nearly amounts to the entire belief of Mahomet's doctrine, which is
nothing but a compound of this eternal truth and necessary fiction; namely,
"that there is only one God, and Mahomet is the apostle of God:" from
hence, in the idiom of the Koran, the belief of God is inseparable from the
apostolic character of Mahomet. The fertile and politic imagination of this
impostor admirably adapted his tenets to the prevailing and established
customs; he tolerates polygamy, &c. and to add to the sanctity of his
pernicious doctrines, he represents himself as having been visited by the
angel Gabriel, in the cave of Hera, where he communicated to him the
precepts of the Koran, in the month of Ramadan, which he enjoins as a fast;
he interdicts wine, and inculcates the necessity of praying five times a
day, facing the holy city, &c.; forming together a system of the most
insidious character towards the establishment of pure Christianity. In the
performance of the duties of their belief, the Mahomedan nations of Africa,
upon the coast, are exact and scrupulous, but they have no idea of the
intellectual doctrines of the Islam faith, or the happiness described by
Mahomet as enjoyed by superior saints in the beatitude of vision; they are
as perplexed on this subject as they are in their conceptions of the divine
nature, and discover a surprising contraction of mental powers, when
considered as human beings endowed with reason.

The nations, upon the Windward Coast, are in general little influenced by
belief in their actions. Forgiveness of injuries they conceive incompatible
with the nature of man; and a spirit of retaliation is very prevalent and
hereditary, descending in succe