it among the children of different wives, concentrates all the mother's
jealous tenderness to one point, the protection of her own offspring. I
perceived with great satisfaction, too, that the maternal solicitude
extended not only to the growth and security of the person, but also, in
a certain 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, p. 86.--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 the
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,