It Is Observable, However,
That Although Many Species Of The Edible Roots Which Grow In The
West India Islands Are
Found in Africa, yet I never saw, in any part
of my journey, either the sugar-cane, the coffee, or
The cocoa-tree,
nor could I learn, on inquiry, that they were known to the natives.
The pine-apple and the thousand other delicious fruits which the
industry of civilised man (improving the bounties of nature) has
brought to so great perfection in the tropical climates of America,
are here equally unknown. I observed, indeed, a few orange and
banana trees near the month of the Gambia, but whether they were
indigenous, or were formerly planted there by some of the white
traders, I could not positively learn. I suspect that they were
originally introduced by the Portuguese.
Concerning property in the soil, it appeared to me that the lands in
native woods were considered as belonging to the king, or (where the
government was not monarchical) to the state. When any individual
of free condition had the means of cultivating more land than he
actually possessed, he applied to the chief man of the district, who
allowed him an extension of territory, on condition of forfeiture if
the lands were not brought into cultivation by a given period. The
condition being fulfilled, the soil became vested in the possessor,
and, for ought that appeared to me, descended his heirs.
The population, however, considering the extent and fertility of the
soil, and the ease with which lands are obtained, is not very great
in the countries which I visited. I found many extensive and
beautiful districts entirely destitute of inhabitants, and, in
general, the borders of the different kingdoms were either very
thinly peopled or entirely deserted. Many places are likewise
unfavourable to population from being unhealthful. The swampy banks
of the Gambia, the Senegal, and other rivers towards the coast, are
of this description. Perhaps it is on this account chiefly that the
interior countries abound more with inhabitants than the maritime
districts; for 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 in their dispositions,
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 of them, to steal from me the few effects I was possessed
of. For this part of their conduct no complete justification can be
offered, 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.
On the other hand, as some counterbalance to this depravity in their
nature, allowing it to be such, it is impossible for me to forget
the disinterested charity and tender solicitude with which many of
these poor heathens (from the sovereign of Sego to the poor women
who received me at different times into their cottages when I was
perishing of hunger) sympathised with me in my sufferings, relieved
my distresses, and contributed to my safety.
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