6095. THE AFRICANS. They appear in striped linen garments. Their women likewise [in striped garments] but silken. They, more than others, imbibe truths from ardent desire. They call this being fed; for, when they are in the desire of those [truths], they go forth and search for food. This is innate in them, as is manifest from their infants, in that they frequently tell their nurses that they want to eat; and, when food is given, they examine whether it agrees, and this from correspondence; and, after they have eaten, they again ask to eat; from which is manifest that it is spiritual hunger which effects it. - They [i.e. the Africans] say that they are indeed permitted by the civil law to take two or three wives; but they say that yet they take but one, for the reason that love which is distributed among many is external, and hence lascivious, but with one wife, is internal, and truly conjugial. They know in what state of spiritual intelligence they are, by looking at a sword. If it glitters, it is a sign of the reception of truth in abundance, with a difference according to the brightness. - They said that monks sometimes penetrate to them but they then hear what they know, and when they find that it is nothing but rubbish, they inquire what the monks are useful for; and, when they are not serviceable in labors, or in managing anything, they are sold for slaves, and they are then allowed by their law to chastise them and, if they cannot then be compelled to perform anything useful, they sell them for a small price to the lower classes.