Slavery, I May Add, Is One Great Cause Of Laziness, For The
Masters Become Too Proud To Work, Lest They Should Be Thought
Slaves Themselves.
In consequence of this, the women look after
the household work - such as brewing, cooking, grinding corn,
making pottery and baskets, and taking care of the house and the
children, besides helping the slaves whilst cultivating, or even
tending the cattle sometimes.
Now, descending to the inferior order of creation, I shall
commence with the domestic animals first, to show what the
traveller may expect to find for his usual support. Cows, after
leaving the low lands near the coast, are found to be plentiful
everywhere, and to produce milk in small quantities, from which
butter is made. Goats are common all over Africa; but sheep are
not so plentiful, nor do they show such good breeding - being
generally lanky, with long fat tails. Fowls, much like those in
India, are abundant everywhere. A few Muscovy ducks are
imported, also pigeons and cats. Dogs, like the Indian pariah,
are very plentiful, only much smaller; and a few donkeys are
found in certain localities. Now, considering this good supply
of meat, whilst all tropical plants will grow just as well in
central equatorial Africa as they do in India, it surprises the
traveller there should be any famines; yet such is too often the
case, and the negro, with these bounties within his reach, is
sometimes found eating dogs, cats, rats, porcupines, snakes,
lizards, tortoises, locusts, and white ants, or is forced to seek
the seeds of wild grasses, or to pluck wild herbs, fruits, and
roots; whilst at the proper seasons they hunt the wild elephant,
buffalo, giraffe, zebra, pigs, and antelopes; or, going out with
their arrows, have battues against the guinea-fowls and small
birds.
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