We
Are Anxious To Draw From Obscurity The Opinions And Records Of
Antiquity, The Beauties Of Arabian And Asiatic Literature,
Etc.; but
while our libraries are thus stored with the learning of various
countries, we distribute with a parsimonious hand
The blessings of
religious truth to the benighted nations of the earth. The natives
of Asia derive but little advantage in this respect from an
intercourse with us; and even the poor Africans, whom we affect to
consider as barbarians, look upon us, I fear, as little better than
a race of formidable but ignorant heathens. When I produced
Richardson's Arabic Grammar to some slatees on the Gambia, they were
astonished to think that any European should understand and write
the sacred language of their religion. At first they suspected that
it might have been written by some of the slaves carried from the
coast, but on a closer examination they were satisfied that no
bushreen could write such beautiful Arabic, and one of them offered
to give me an ass and sixteen bars of goods if I would part with the
book. Perhaps a short and easy introduction to Christianity, such
as is found in some of the catechisms for children, elegantly
printed in Arabic, and distributed on different parts of the coast,
might have a wonderful effect. The expense would be but trifling;
curiosity would induce many to read it; and the evident superiority
which it would possess over their present manuscripts, both in point
of elegance and cheapness, might at last obtain it a place among the
school-books of Africa.
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