8. It was of these parts of _Guinea_, that Mons. _Adanson_, Correspondent of the Royal Academy of Sciences at _Paris_, from 1749, to 1753, gives the following account, both as to the country and people, “Which way soever I turned my eyes, I beheld a perfect image of pure nature: an agreeable solitude, bounded on every side by a charming landscape; the rural situation of cottages, in the midst of trees; the ease and quietness of the Negroes, reclined under the shade of the spreading foliage, with the simplicity of their dress and manners: the whole revived in my mind the idea of our first parents, and I seemed to contemplate the world in its primitive state. They are, generally speaking, very good natured, sociable and obliging. I was not a little pleased with my first reception, and it fully convinced me, that there ought to be a considerable abatement made, in the accounts we have of the savage character of the _Africans_.” He adds, “It is amazing that an illiterate people should reason so pertinently concerning the heavenly bodies. There is no doubt, but that with proper instruments, they would become excellent astronomers.” 9. The inhabitants of the _Grain_ and _Ivory-coast_ are represented by those that deal with them, as sensible, courteous, and the fairest traders on the coasts of _Guinea_. They rarely drink to excess: if any do they are severely punished by the King’s order. They are seldom troubled with war: if a difference happen between two nations, they commonly end the dispute amicably. 10. The inhabitants of the _Gold_ and _Slave-coast_ likewise, when they are not artfully incensed against each other, live in great union and friendship, being generally well tempered, civil, tractable, and ready to help any that need it. In particular, the natives of the kingdom of _Whidah_, are civil, kind, and obliging to strangers. And they are the most gentleman-like of all the Negroes, abounding in good manners toward each other. The inferiors pay the utmost respect to their superiors: so wives to their husbands, children to their parents. And they are remarkably industrious; all are constantly employed; the men in agriculture, the women in spinning and weaving cotton.