which seems inherent in the whole Ethiopian race. Individuals of this type, who are in the enjoyment of liberty, give daily and unequivocal proofs of their superior aptitude. I have seen negro mechanics, merchants, priests, physicians, and lawyers, who, even by the admission of the people of the country, could boldly compete with whites in the same professions. It is to this vigorous race that those kings of Soudan belonged, who for years maintained supremacy over that immense country.
THE REPUBLIC OF PALMARES
In Brazil, the negro Henriquez Diaz, celebrated in the annals of the Portuguese, compelled the king, Don João IV., to appoint him colonel, and make him a knight of the order of Christ, by his bravery and military talents. The Dutch still remember the terrible blows he inflicted on them in the so-called war of independence, at the head of his African regiment.[1]
INFERIOR TRIBES
Unfortunately, alongside these superior tribes are others who seem as nearly allied to brutes as to men, and to descend by insensible degrees to the man-monkey of Oceanica. Slavery, seizing upon the negro from his infancy, makes him a mere machine for producing sugar or coffee, and not only saps his intelligence, but perverts all the nobler instincts of his nature. Here lies in a great measure the secret of the inferiority of the so-called 'sons of Ham.'
- ↑ If the Portuguese annals are to be believed, the negroes of the Province of Pernambuco made themselves famous in the seventeenth century by their energetic efforts to secure their independence. Some of them, lying from servitude, took refuge about thirty leagues from the city, in the depths of the forest, at a point which they called Sertão dos Palmares, (the Wilderness of Palms.) More than twenty thousand of their fellows responded to their call, and soon Palmares became a republic, with its laws, and a fortified capital. A chief selected from the most renowned warriors, administered justice, looked to the public defence, and commanded expeditions, This colony was not much to be feared by the towns on the coast, for it lacked arms and munitions; but those nearer to it suffered considerably. There was need of women, iron, tools, salt and provisions, to establish the new city and make it prosperous, and expeditions of every sort occasionally came to rain and terrify the neighboring planters, who vainly claimed the protection of the government, which was then at war with the Dutch. At length Holland yielded, and thenceforth the destruction of Palmares was resolved upon. It would still take years to repair the disasters of the war of independence and organize the expedition. Finally there appeared before the wooden ramparts a force of seven thousand men. Having brought no artillery with them, they were at first repulsed, and the siege turned into a blockade. Famine soon began to decimate the blacks, and artillery having arrived, the defences were stormed, The zambé, or chief, and the surviving defenders, finding themselves overwhelmed, preferred death to servitude, and threw themselves from the pinnacle of the rock that had formed their citadel. The remaninder of the inhabitants were reduced to slavery. The black republic of Palmares had enjoyed an existence of more than half a century.
