degree, to the improvement of the mind of the infant; for one of the
first lessons in which the Mandingo women instruct their children is
THE PRACTICE OF TRUTH. The reader will probably recollect the case
of the unhappy mother whose son was murdered by the Moorish banditti
at Funingkedy. Her only consolation in her uttermost distress was
the reflection that the poor boy, in the course of his blameless
life, HAD NEVER TOLD A LIE. Such testimony from a fond mother on
such an occasion must have operated powerfully on the youthful part
of the surrounding spectators. It was at once a tribute of praise
to the deceased and a lesson to the living.

The negro women suckle their children until they are able to walk of
themselves. Three years' nursing is not uncommon, and during this
period the husband devotes his whole attention to his other wives.
To this practice it is owing, I presume, that the family of each
wife is seldom very numerous. Few women have more than five or six
children. As soon as an infant is able to walk it is permitted to
run about with great freedom. The mother is not over solicitous to
preserve it from slight falls and other trifling accidents. A
little practice soon enables a child to take care of itself, and
experience acts the part of a nurse. As they advance in life the
girls are taught to spin cotton and to beat corn, and are instructed
in other domestic duties; and the boys are employed in the labours
of the field. Both sexes, whether bushreens or kafirs, on attaining
the age of puberty, are circumcised. This painful operation is not
considered by the kafirs so much in the light of a religious
ceremony as a matter of convenience and utility. They have, indeed,
a superstitious notion that it contributes to render the marriage
state prolific. The operation is performed upon several young
people at the same time, all of whom are exempted from every sort of