î6ô
£ H À A - 1 > * Iiïkginattoà ! wbô cto fing tbÿ force ?
XXVI. u Or where defcribe the fwiftnels of thy 'cotide ?
*c Soaring through air to find the bright abode,
W-Th’ itoperial palace of fte thtindering Gód, ?
“ We on thy pinions can ftrpafi the wind,
■ ** And ïeavè the rolling-tinivtrfe behind.
** From ftar te'ftar the mental optics rove,
* Mèaïure the ïkiës, and -range "the realms above 5
** There in one view we gràfp die mighty whole*
*c Or with new worlds amaife th’ ^jnbou'ndfcd .FôÆ . -
What can be moré beautiful and fublime ? --------
Ignatius Sambo, a negro, many y&ays fervant to the
Duke of Montagu, whpfe feafimental letters, fo generally
known, would not difgraee the ;pe« o f an European* raiay
alfo be mentioned on this occafioix; and with regard th
their powers o f memory and calculation:, I fliall only notice
'Thomas fu ller, a negro, the property of a Mrs. Goa? in
MarylandNorth America ; and quote one lingular anecdote,
as it is related by Dr. Ruß o f Philadelphia, in a letter
to a gentleman at Manchester.
*f Being travelling,” fays the Doctor, u with fome other
“ gentlemen o f this city, through Maryland, and having
“ heard of the aftonifhing powers o f memory in arith-
w metical calculation poffeffed by Thomas Fuller, a negro,
u we fent for him; when one of the gentlemen in eom-
“ pany alked him, how many féconds a man of feventy
u years, fome odd months, weeks and days, had lived ?
“ He told the exa<S number in a minute and a half,
f I When
« When the gentleman who had afked the queftion took c h a p ,
« his pen, and having calculated the fame by figures, told
*e the negro he muft be mifiaken, as the number he had
« mentioned was certainly too great. 4 Top, Maffera,’ faid
« the negro, 4 you have omitted the leap-years ;’ when
<< having calculated thevfoconds contained in the number
« o f leap-years, and added them, the number was found
« exaSly: the fame s® that calculated by the negro. This
« fame man multiplied nine figures by nine, by me,
« mory, before-another company.? Another lately repeats
cd Alcoirm from recollection only.—What amazing
mental faculties in African negrocjS, who could neither
read -nor write 1 Yet that fuch things are, is well authen-^
tkMed;^ h
To what I have already advanced, I may add, that all
negrb^ firmly believe-the being o f --a- God» -upon whole
goodneFsthey rely, and whofe power they adore, while
they have no fear o f death, and never tafte food without
o f f e r in g a libation. In. the rivens Gambia and Senegal they
are moftly Mahometans; but generally the worfbip and
religious ceremonies of the Africans vary, as do the n,um-
berlefs fuperftitious pradtices of all favages, and indeed
o f too many Europeans. Perceiving that it was: their
cuftom to bring their offerings to the wild cotton-tree’5>
* This tree grows to a copfidejable
height and thicknefs, very ftraight, and
’coveted with a Urong grey pricklybark.
T h e boughs fpread very much*with fmall
digitated leaves. The cotton, which- it
produces triennally, is neither white nor
plentiful, which makes it little (ought
after. It bears fome refemblance to the
Britifh oak, the largeft of which it fur-
paffes both iiVeleguice and-magnitude.
I enquired