“He would appear rather a degeneracy from the civilized man than a savage rising to the first step, were it not for his apparent incapacity for improvement. He has not the ring of the true metal. There is no rich nature as in the New Zealander for education to cultivate. He seems to belong to one of those childish races, which, never rising to man’s estate, fall like worn out links from the great chain of animated nature. He unites the incapacity of infancy with the unpliancy of age. For centuries he has been in direct intercourse with the most advanced people of the Eastern Coast (Arabs), still he has stopped short at the threshold of progress; he shows no sign of development; no higher or varied orders of intellect are called into being.[15]” “I have,” says Du Chaillu, “been struck with the steady decrease of the population even during the short time I have been in Africa, on the coast and in the interior, but before I account for it, let me raise my voice in defense of the white man who has been accused of being the cause of it. Wherever he settles, the aborigines are said to disappear. I admit that such is the case; but the decrease of the population had already taken place before the white man came; the white man noticed, but could not stop it. The decrease of African population is due to several causes—witchcraft taking away more lives than ever the slave trade did. “I have found no vestige whatever of ancient civilization. Other travelers in different parts of Africa have not been more successful—I think everything tends to show, that the negro is of great antiquity, and has always remained stationary. As to his future capabilities I think extreme views have prevailed. Some think that the negro will never rise higher than he is; others think he is capable of reaching the highest state of civilization. I do not agree with either of these opinions. I believe that the negro may become a more useful member of mankind than he is at present, that he may be raised to a higher standard, but if left to himself he will soon fall back into barbarism, for we have no example to the contrary. “The efforts of missionaries for hundreds of years have had no effect. The missionary goes away and the people relapse into barbarism. That he (the African) will disappear in time from the land I have but little doubt; and that he will follow in the course of time the inferior races who have preceded him. So let us write his history.”[16] The foregoing is from the pen of a man of science, an eminent naturalist, and is worthy of the thoughtful consideration of all persons to whom evidence has meaning.