c h a p . u the officer o f the college brought the;body o f a cruel
XXVI., tt wretch who had murdered the ion o f one Mafter.Scot,
** a furgeon o f good note in this city. This wretch was
te o f a very truculent countenance and afped; his; hair
« was black and curled, not very long, but thick' and
tc bufhy.; his forehead little above an inch high ; his
u brows great and prominent; his eyes fet deep in their
<c fockets; his nofe crooked, with a round knob-pr .button
“ at the end, which alfo fomewhat turned upwards ;■ on
tc his upper lip he had fome quantity of black hair, on
u his chin yery few, ftraggling, black and Riff; ^nd his
“ nether lip was as big as three lips. .Such* w$s ljis^face :
** but the great;eft deformity was; his, feet, and that almoft
u to admiration; for they were both cloven, but not
“ alike. One foot was equally divided between four and
*< five inches deep into two toes, jointed like other men's
“ toes, but as large each o f them as half the foo%pould
te make them, with nails proportionable, The left foot
u was divided likewife in the middle, but the divifion
u was not above three inches deep, or fc^rge fo much j
“ the orfe half, which was towards the body, made one
« large toe, with a nail proportionable, like the inward
“ half o f the right foot; but the outward half was com-
*( pounded o f two toes, yet'growing cjofe and faft to-
« gether. This monftrous fijape o f a man I have thought
« good to give this relation of, from certain knowledge,
« for there were a tboufand witneffes of it prefent/’
With the languages o f the African negroes 1 am but
little
little acquainted; as a fpecimen, however, I will infert a
few fentences of that called the Cdromantyn} upon the
credit o f my boy Quaco, who belonged to that nation, together
With a tranflatibn in Englifh ; and only obferve,
that they break off their words very fliort, in a kind of
guttural manner, which I cannot ealily deferibe:— For in-
fiance .— “ Co fa anfyo, na baramon bra, Go to the
f c jiye r, and bring me fome w a t e r Mee yefee, naco»
“ Mak 'met# My w ife , I Want fome f c b d .^ ^ S o much
for the Coromantyn language, as fpoken by tfcfe negroes
on: the. coqfi of Guinea..
Bnb-is" to that fpoken by the black people in Surinam,
Leon Oder myfdf a perfect mafter, it being a compound
o f Dutch, French, Spanifh, Portuguese, and Eng-
lilh. The latter they like belt, and coificquently -ufe the
mofi. It has been already obferved, that the Englilh
w'erethe fir ft Europeans who poffefled this colony, hence
probably the predilection for that, language, which they
have ;ffiil retained^ In this mixed dialed, for which I
hayefeen a printed grammar, :the words end moftly with
a vowel, like the Indian and Italian, and it is fo fweet, fo
«fohnSous and ifbft, that the genteeleft Europeans in Surinam
fpeak little elfe; it is alfo wonderfully expreffive
and fentimental, fitch as, “ Good eating, fjoeety-muffo.”-*
«Gun-powder, man fanny”—f I will love you, with all
“ my heart, fo long as I live, Mee faloby you, langa alia
il ipee baity?f$ langa me. l e e b y A pleafing \^?ananajfy
(j. V ol. II, L I *< iory”
CHAP.
XXVI.