sands have met there with a miserable and untimely end, yet it is
not so with the Negroes, who enjoy a good state of health[B] and are
able to procure to themselves a comfortable subsistence, with much less
care and toil than is necessary in our more northern climate; which last
advantage arises not only from the warmth of the climate, but also from
the overflowing of the rivers, whereby the land is regularly moistened
and rendered extremely fertile; and being in many places improved by
culture, abounds with grain and fruits, cattle, poultry, &c. The earth
yields all the year a fresh supply of food: Few clothes are requisite,
and little art necessary in making them, or in the construction of their
houses, which are very simple, principally calculated to defend them
from the tempestuous seasons and wild beasts; a few dry reeds covered
with matts serve for their beds. The other furniture, except what
belongs to cookery, gives the women but little trouble; the moveables of
the greatest among them amounting only to a few earthen pots, some
wooden utensils, and gourds or calabashes; from these last, which grow
almost naturally over their huts, to which they afford an agreeable
shade, they are abundantly stocked with good clean vessels for most
houshold uses, being of different sizes, from half a pint to several
gallons.

[Footnote A: _Gentleman's Magazine, Supplement, 1763. Extract of a
letter wrote from the island of Senegal, by Mr. Boone, practitioner of
physic there, to Dr. Brocklesby of London._

"To form just idea of the unhealthiness of the climate, it will
be necessary to conceive a country extending three hundred
leagues East, and more to the North and South. Through this
country several large rivers empty themselves into the sea;
particularly the Sanaga, Gambia and Sherbro; these, during the
rainy months, which begin in July and continue till October,
overflow their banks, and lay the whole flat country under
water; and indeed, the very sudden rise of these rivers is
incredible to persons who have never been within the tropicks,
and are unacquainted with the violent rains that fall there. At
Galem, nine hundred miles from the mouth of the Sanaga, I am
informed that the waters rise one hundred and fifty feet
perpendicular, from the bed of the river. This information I
received from a gentleman, who was surgeon's mate to a party
sent there, and the only sur