I Suspect, Indeed, That In All These Copies,
There Are Interpolations Of Some Of The Peculiar Tenets Of Mahomet, For I
Could Distinguish In Many Passages The Name Of The Prophet.
It is
possible, however, that this circumstance might otherwise have been
accounted for, if my knowledge of the Arabic had been more extensive.
By
means of those books, many of the converted Negroes have acquired an
acquaintance with some of the remarkable events recorded in the Old
Testament. The account of our first parents; the death of Abel; the
Deluge; the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the story of Joseph and
his brethren; the history of Moses David, Solomon, &c. All these have
been related to me in the Mandingo language, with tolerable exactness, by
different people; and my surprise was not greater on hearing these
accounts from the lips of the Negroes, than theirs, on finding that I was
already acquainted with them; for although the Negroes in general have a
very great idea of the wealth and power of the Europeans, I am afraid
that the Mahomedan converts among them think but very lightly of our
superior attainments in religious knowledge. The white traders in the
maritime districts take no pains to counteract this unhappy prejudice;
always performing their own devotions in secret, and seldom condescending
to converse with the Negroes in a friendly and instructive manner. To me,
therefore, it was not so much the subject of wonder as matter of regret,
to observe, that while the superstition of Mahomet has in this manner
scattered a few faint beams of learning among these poor people, the
precious light of Christianity is altogether excluded.
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