We know that the Zanj are the least intelligent and the least discerning of mankind, and the least capable of understanding the consequences of actions.
there is no marriage among them; the child does not know his father, and they eat people
despite their dimness, their boundless stupidity, their obtuseness, their crude perceptions and their evil dispositions, they make long speeches.
like the crow among mankind are the Zanj for they are the worst of men and the most vicious of creatures in character and temperament.
people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence.
Their ignorance is notorious; men of learning and distinction are almost unknown among them, and their kings only acquire what they know about government and justice from the instruction of learned visitors from farther north.
To the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings.
If all types of men are taken, and one placed after another, the Negro from Zanzibar does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth ... Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and is more intelligent.
Therefore, the Negro nations are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because Negroes have little that is human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals.