Page:Benezet's A caution and warning to Great Britain and her colonies.pdf/15

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food, and but little cloathing is requisite, by reason of the continual warmth of the climate; the necessaries of life are much easier procured in most parts or Africa, than in our more northern climes. This is confirmed by many authors of note, who have resided there; among others M. Adanson, in his account of Gorée and Senegal, in the year 1754, says,

'Which way soever I turned my eyes on this pleasant spot, I beheld a perfect image of pure nature; an agreeable solitude, bounded on every side by charming landscapes, the rural situation of cottages in the midst of trees; the ease and indolence of the Negroes reclined under the shade of their spreading foliage; the simplicity of their dress and manners; the whole revived in my mind the idea of our first parents, and I seemed to contemplate the world in its primitive state: they are, generally speaking, very good-natured, sociable and obliging. I was not a little pleased with this my first reception; it convinced me, that there ought to be a considerable abatement made in the accounts I had read and heard every-where of the savage character of the Africans. I observed, both in Negroes and Moors, great humanity and sociableness, which gave me strong hopes, that I should be very safe amongst them, and meet with the success I desired, in my inquiries after the curiosities of the country.'

William Bosman, a principal factor for the Dutch, who resided sixteen years in Guinea, speaking of the natives of that part, where he then was, says, 'They are generally a good sort of people, honest in their dealings;' others he describes as 'being generally friendly to strangers, of a mild conversation, affable and easy to be overcome with reason.' He adds,

' That