they were employed in planting corn, bringing fire-wood, and in other servile offices, through the day. Exclusive of the Koran, and a book or two of commentaries thereon, the schoolmaster possessed a variety of manuscripts, which had partly been purchased from the trading Moors, and partly borrowed from Bushreens in the neighbourhood, and copied with great care. Other MSS. had been produced to me at different places in the course of my journey ; and on recounting those I had before seen, and those which were now shewn to me, and interrogating the schoolmaster on the subject, I discovered that the Negroes are in possession (among others), of an Arabic version of the Pentateuch of Moses, which they call Taureta la Moosa. This is so highly esteemed, that it is often sold for the value of one prime slave. They have likewise a version of the Psalms of David ( Zabora Dawidi) ; and, lastly, the book of Isaiah, which they call Lingeeli la Isa, and it is in very high esteem. 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 tins unhappy prejudice;; always performing their own devotions in secret, and seldom condescending to converse with the Negroes in a friendly and instructive manner. T o 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. I could not but lament, that although the Coast of Africa has now been known and frequented by the Europeans for more than two hundred years, yet the Negroes still remain entire strangers to the doctrines of our holy religion. We are anxious to draw from obscurity the opinions and records of antiquity, the beauties of Arabian and Asiatic literature, &q. but while our libraries are thus stored with the learning of various countries, we distribute with a parsimonious hand, the blessings of religious truth, to the benighted nations of the earth. The natives of Asia derive but little advantage in this respect from an intercourse with us; and even the poor Africans, whom we affect to consider as barbarians, look upon us, I fear, as little S s a
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