" Almost every African is guilty of gross exaggeration in his
statements, and too many of them areconfirmed liars." — Lander’s
Travels in Africa^ Vol. J., page 375.
** The negro feels that, in energy of character, in scope of un-
derstanding, in the exercise of mechanical skill, and in the prac-
tice of all the useful acts of life, he is hopelessly distanced by the
white man." — Wilson^s Africa, pctg^ 343.
and after fwking our women this is what they said:
“The European stranger, travelling in their country, is expected
to patronize their wives and daughters ; and they feel hurt, as if
dishonored, by his refusing to gratify them. The custom is very
prevalent along this coast. At Gaboon, perhaps it reaches the
acme ; there a man will in one breath offer the choice between his
wife, sister, and daughter. The women of course do as they are
bid by the men, and they consider all familiarity with a white
man a high honor.” — Ilutcliinson’s Western Africa^ Vol. 11.,
page 24.
*’ Negro women can gratify the desire of a libertine, but they
can never inspire a passion of the soul, nor feed that hunger of
love which must sometimes gnaw the heart of a refined and cul-
tivated man. The negress has beauty, — beauty in spite of her
black skin, — which might create a furore in our demi-monde, and
for which fools might fling their fortunes to the dogs. And she is
gentle, and faithful, and loving in her own poor way. But where
is the coy glance, the tender sigh, the timid blush ? Where is the
intellect, which is the light within the crystal lamp, the genius
within the clay ? No, no, the negress is not a woman ; she is a
parody of woman; she is a pretty toy, an affectionate brute, —
that is all." — Meade’s Savage Africa, page 210.
In childhood I believe the negro to be in advance, in intellec-
tual quickness, of the white child of a similar age, but the mind
does not expand ; it promises fruit, but does not ripen ; and the
negro mind has grown in body, but has not advanced in intellect.
The puppy of three months old is superior in intellect to a child
of the same age, but the mind of the child expands, while that of
the doo- has arrived at its limit. The chicken of the common fowl
has sufficient power and instinct to run in search of food the mo-
ment that it leaves the egg, while the young of the eagle lies
helpless in its nest ; but the young eagle outstrips the chicken in
the course of time. The earth presents a wonderful example of
variety in all classes of the human race, the animal and vegetable
kingdoms. People, beasts, and plants belonging to distinct class-
es, exhibit special qualities and peculiarities. The existence of
many hundred varieties of dogs cannot interfere with the fact that
they belong to one genus, — the greyhound, pug, bloodhound,
pointer, poodle, mastiff, and terrier, are all as entirely different
in their peculiar instincts as are the varieties of the human race.
The different fruits and flowers continue the example, — the wild
grapes of the forest are grapes, but, although they belong to the
same class, they are distinct from the luscious Muscatel ; and the
wild dog-rose of the hedge, although of the same class, is inferior
to the moss-rose of the garden. From fruits and flowers we may
turn to insect life, and watch the air teeming with varieties of the
same species, —the thousands of butterflies and beetles, the many
members of each class varying in instincts and peculiarities. Fish-
es, and even shell-fish, all exhibit the same arrangement; that
every group is divided into varieties, all differing from each other,
and each distinguished by some pecuhar excellence or defect." —
Baker’^s Great Basin of the Nile, page 195.
" Up to the age of fourteen, the black children advance as fast
as the white, but after that age, unless there be an admixture of
white blood, it becomes, in most instances, extremely difficult to
carry them forward." — Sir Charles LyelVs Second Visit to the United
States, Vol. L, page 105.
A certain skill in mechanics, without the genius of invention;
a great fluency of language, without energy in ideas ; a correct
ear for music, without a capacity for composition, — in a word,
a display of imitative faculties, with an utter barrenness of
creative power ; there is your negro at the very best. Even these
are rare, almost exceptional, cases; and to show such trained
animals as fair samples of the negro is to make an exhibition of
black lies. One might almost as well assert, after the sights
which one sees at a country fair, that all pigs are learned ; that
the hare plays on a drum in its native state ; and that it is the na-
ture of piebald horses to rotate in a circle to the sound of a brass
band." — JReade’'s Savage Africa, page 33.
and I am laughing at this:
“A Shangalla woman, upon bearing a child or two, at ten or
eleven years old, sees her breast fall immediately down to near
her knees. Her common manner of suckling her children is by
carrying them upon her back, as our beggars do, and giving the
infant the breast over her shoulders. They rarely are mothers
after twenty-two, pv begin child-bearing before they are ten ; so
that the time of child-bearing is but twelve years.” — Bruce’s
Travels, Vol. 11. , page 559.
they couldnt help it because of the level we were at. You would do the same to them if it were you.
This one still holds true today