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    of wise policy ^ engaged ^ from time to time , a considerable number of native Africans , from the surrounding nations ' , as laborers , called , in the language of the country , Gruinetas * . It was one main object of the colony to ascertain whether the inhabitants of Africa could not be employed as voluntary paid workmen ; and Capt . B . rejoices that this point , at least s has

    been accomplished . ' It does away the main argument for negro slavery . The Grumetas were at first reluctant to enter into the service of the colonists , supposing , naturally enough , that the settlement was only a decoy for slaves ; but when they found that their wages were regularly paid , and that they were treated with justice and humanity , they came readily to the island , even from places far distant . They were not bad

    labourers , and under good government would be good subjects . In them Capt * B . had a good opportunity pf observing the sentiments and manners of the Africans . . The Africans are great believers in witchcraft , and in the power of charms ( called by them gris-gris ) to secure the wearer from any harm .

    4 t In the evening CJournal , Friday , Dec . 28 , 1792 ) two or three of the Grumetas came to me , and said that Francisco , one of their party , was not a good man j that he wanted to eat one of them ( John Basse ) who had this day been taken very ill . As I could not comprehend what they meant by saying that one of them wanted to eat another , I sent for Johnsofl ( an European , who had lived among them ) to explain . He said that the man accused of eating the other was a witch , and that

    he was the cause of John Basse ' s illness , by sucking his blood with his infernal witchcraft , and that these people had come to request that I would let them tie him to a tree , and flog him , after they had finished their work . I told them , that there was no such thing as a witch ; that it was impossible for this man to suck the blood ot ^ nother , by any art which he could possibly possess ; that he could not TO the cause of another man ' s illness by such means 5 and that with respect to flogging , no one punished , on the island , but myself . Johnson , who is

    as bigotted in this instance as any of them , says that he is w 61 i known to be a witch 5 that he has killed many people with his infernal art , and that this is the cause of his leaving his own country , where , if he should ever be caught , he would be sold as a slave ; and ths * f jtie , with difficulty , had prevented the other Grumetas from throwing him overboard , on their passage from Bassao hither . Johnson , moreover , told me that there was another witch among the Grumetas , who had tile

    power of changing , himself into an alligator , and that he also hap ! killed many people by his witchcraft , and was consequently obliged to run from his country - Tfiey there most earnestly eptreated me to let them punish them ,, country-fashion , and they promised not to kill either of them . Astonished at the assurance tfiat neither of them should be killed , if they wei e permitted to punish them , I told Johnson that if

    * i € From the Portuguese word < Grumete , ' I suppose , " says the author , " which signifies the meanest sort of sailor . It is particularly applied to those natives wjio trade for -Europeans in eanoes , but is generally applicable to all those who labour for others for wages . **

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    African Memoranda-. 323

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    it 3

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1806, page 323, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1725/page/43/