used in
fishing or the chase. In this country, and many others where I have
been, I observe that nobody thinks himself happy till he has got
together a thousand things which he does not want, and can never use;
you live in houses so big that they are fit to contain an army; you
cover yourselves with superfluous clothes that restrain all the motions
of your bodies; when you want to eat, you must have meat enough served
up to nourish a whole village; yet I have seen poor famished wretches
starving at your gate, while the master had before him at least a
hundred times as much as he could consume. We negroes, whom you treat as
savages, have different manners and different opinions. The first thing
that I can remember of myself, was the running naked about such a
cottage as I have described, with four of my little brothers and
sisters. I have observed your children here with astonishment; as soon
as they are born, it seems to be the business of all about them to
render them weak, helpless, and unable to use any of their limbs; the
little negro, on the contrary is scarcely born before he learns to crawl
about upon the ground. Unrestrained by bandages or ligatures, he comes
as soon and as easily to the perfect use of all his organs as any of the
beasts which surround him; before your children here are taught to
venture themselves upon their feet, he has the perfect use of his, and
can follow his mother in her daily labours.

"This, I remember, was my own case. Sometimes I used to go with my
mother to the field, where all the women of the village were assembled
to plant rice for their subsistence. The joyful songs which they used to
sing, amid their toils, delighted my infant ear, and when their daily
task was done, they danced together under the shade of spreading palms.
In this manner did they raise the simple food which was sufficient for
themselves and their children; yams, a root resembling your potato,
Indian corn, and, above all, rice: to this were added the fruits which
nature spontaneously produced in our woods, and the produce of the chase
and fishing. Yet with this we are as much contented as you are with all
your splendid tables, and enjoy a greater share of health and strength.
As soon as the fiery heat of the sun declined, you might behold the
master of every cottage reposing before his own door, and feasting upon
his mess of roots or fruits, with all his family around him. If a
traveller or stranger happened to