The Negroes have therefore been upwards of a hundred and thirty years in this country: but the winters here especially in New England and New York, are as severe as our Swedish winters. I therefore very carefully enquired whether the cold had not been observed, to affect the colour of the Negroes, and to change it, so that the third or fourth generation from the first that came hither, were not so black as their ancestors. But I was generally answered, that there was not the least difference of colour to be perceived; and that a Negro born here of parents which were likewise born in this country, and whose ancestors both men and women had all been blacks born in this country, up to the third or fourth generation, was not at all different in colour, from those Negroes who are brought directly over from Africa. From hence many people conclude, that a Negro or his posterity do not change colour, though they continue ever so long in a cold climate; but the mixing of a white man with a Negro woman, or of a Negro with a white woman [[397]]has a different effect, therefore to prevent any disagreeable mixtures of the white people and Negroes, and that the Negroes may not form too great an opinion of themselves, to the disadvantage of their masters, I am told there is a law made prohibiting the whites of both sexes to marry Negroes, under pain of death, and deprivation of the clergyman who marries them: but that the whites and blacks sometimes mix, appears from children of a mixed complexion, which are sometimes born.
It is likewise greatly to be pitied, that the masters of these Negroes in most of the English colonies take little care of their spiritual welfare, and let them live on in their pagan darkness. There are even some, who would be very ill pleased at, and would by all means hinder their Negroes from being instructed in the doctrines of christianity, to this they are partly led by the conceit of its being shameful, to have a spiritual brother or sister among so despicable a people, partly by thinking that they should not be able to keep their Negroes so meanly afterwards; and partly through fear of the Negroes growing too proud, on seeing themselves upon a level with their masters in religious matters.
Several writings are well known, which mention, that the Negroes in South America [[398]]have a kind of poison with which they kill each other, though the effect is not sudden, but happens a long time after the person has taken it: the same dangerous art of poisoning is known by the Negroes in North America, as has frequently been experienced. However only a few of them know the secret, and they likewise know the remedy against it, therefore when a Negro feels himself poisoned and can recollect the enemy, who might possible have given him the poison, he goes to him, and endeavours by money and entreaties to move him to deliver him from the poison; but if the Negro is malicious, he does not only deny that he ever poisoned him, but likewise that he knows a remedy against it: this poison does not kill immediately, for sometimes the sick person dies some years after. But from the moment he has the poison he falls into a consumption and enjoys few days of good health: such a poor wretch often knows that he is poisoned, the moment he gets the poison. The Negroes commonly employ it on such of their brethren as behave well, are beloved by their masters, and separate as it were from their countrymen, or do not like to converse with them. They have likewise often other reasons for their enmity; but there are few examples of their [[399]]having poisoned their masters. Perhaps the mild treatment they receive, keeps them from doing it, or perhaps they fear that they may be discovered, and that in such a case, the severest punishments would be inflicted on them.
They never discover what the poison consists of, and keep it secret beyond conception. It is probable that it is a very common thing which may be got all the world over, for wherever they are they can always easily procure it. Therefore it cannot be a plant, as several learned men have thought; for that is not to be met with every where. I have heard many accounts here of Negroes who have been killed by this poison. I shall only mention one incident which happened during my stay in this country. A man here had a Negro who was exceedingly faithful to him, and behaved so well, that he would not have given him for twenty other Negroes. His master likewise shewed him a peculiar kindness, and the slave’s conduct equalled that of the best christian servant; he likewise conversed as little as possible with the other Negroes; on that account they hated him to excess, but as he was scarce ever in company with them, they had no opportunity of conveying the poison to him, which [[400]]they had often tried. However on coming to town during the fair (for he lived in the country) some other Negroes invited him to drink with them. At first he would not, but they pressed him till he was obliged to comply. As soon as he came into the room, the others took a pot from the wall and pledged him, desiring him to drink likewise: he drank, but when he took the pot from his mouth, he said what beer is this? It is full of ******. I purposely omit what he mentioned, for it seems undoubtedly to have been the name of the poison with which malicious Negroes do so much harm, and which is to be met with almost every where. It might be too much employed to wicked purposes, and it is therefore better that it remains unknown. The other Negroes and Negro-women fell a laughing at the complaints of their hated countryman, and danced and sung as if they had done an excellent action, and had at last obtained the point so much wished for. The innocent Negro went away immediately, and when he got home, said that the other Negroes had certainly poisoned him: he then fell into a consumption, and no remedy could prevent his death.
End of Vol. I.
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[1] The same opinion has been confirmed by Mr. Buffon in his Hist. Naturelle. tom. 1. art. xix. Vol. 2. p. 419 of the edit. in twelves. F. [↑]
[2] The name of Porpesse is certainly derived from the name [[17]]Porcopesce, given to this genus by the Italians; and it is remarkable that almost all the European nations conspired in calling them Sea-hogs, their name being in German Meer Schwein; the Danish, Swedish, and Norvegian, Marsuin, from whence the French borrowed their Marsouin. The natives of Iceland call them Suinhual, i.e. a Swine-whale, and so likewise the Slavonian nations have their Swinia Morskaya. Whether this consent arises from their rooting the sand at the bottom of the sea in quest of Sand-eels and Sea-worms like swine, or from the vast quantity of lard surrounding their bodies is uncertain. F. [↑]
[3] Mr. Kalm is certainly mistaken in reckoning the Bottle-nose amongst the Dolphin kind; it has no teeth in its mouth as all the fish of that class have, and therefore belongs to the first order of the Whales, or those that are without teeth. See Mr. Pennant’s British Zoology, Vol. 3. p. 43. where it is called the beaked Whale, and very well described; a drawing is seen in the explanatory table, n. I. Perhaps it would not be improper to call it Balæna ampullata. F. [↑]