ave enveloped it; for we
had our circumcision (a rule I believe peculiar to that people:) we
had also our sacrifices and burnt-offerings, our washings and
purifications, on the same occasions as they had.

As to the difference of colour between the Eboan Africans and the
modern Jews, I shall not presume to account for it. It is a subject
which has engaged the pens of men of both genius and learning, and is
far above my strength. The most able and Reverend Mr. T. Clarkson,
however, in his much admired Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the
Human Species, has ascertained the cause, in a manner that at once
solves every objection on that account, and, on my mind at least, has
produced the fullest conviction. I shall therefore refer to that
performance for the theory[H], contenting myself with extracting a
fact as related by Dr. Mitchel[I]. "The Spaniards, who have inhabited
America, under the torrid zone, for any time, are become as dark
coloured as our native Indians of Virginia; of which _I myself have
been a witness_." There is also another instance[J] of a Portuguese
settlement at Mitomba, a river in Sierra Leona; where the inhabitants
are bred from a mixture of the first Portuguese discoverers with the
natives, and are now become in their complexion, and in the woolly
quality of their hair, _perfect negroes_, retaining however a
smattering of the Portuguese language.

These instances, and a great many more which might be adduced, while
they shew how the complexions of the same persons vary in different
climates, it is hoped may tend also to remove the prejudice that some
conceive against the natives of Africa on account of their colour.
Surely the minds of the Spaniards did not change with their
complexions! Are there not causes enough to which the apparent
inferiority of an African may be ascribed, without limiting the
goodness of God, and supposing he forbore to stamp understanding on
certainly his own image, because "carved in ebony." Might it not
naturally be ascribed to their situation? When they come among
Europeans, they are ignorant of their language, religion, manners, and
customs. Are any pains taken to teach them these? Are they treated as
men? Does not slavery itself depress the mind, and extinguish all its
fire and every noble sentiment? But, above all, what advantages do not
a refined people possess over those who are rude and uncultivated. Let
the polished and haughty European recollect that his anc