diff --git a/edit/ChangeLog b/edit/ChangeLog
index 880326cb0..553121f17 100644
--- a/edit/ChangeLog
+++ b/edit/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 2002-07-14  Pavel Roskin  <proski@gnu.org>
 
+	* syntax.c (edit_load_syntax): Do nothing in black and white
+	mode.
+
 	* edit.h [!HAVE_SLANG]: Enable syntax highlighting.
 	* editdraw.c [!HAVE_SLANG]: Respect attributes for color pairs
 	by using MY_COLOR_PAIR macro.
diff --git a/edit/syntax.c b/edit/syntax.c
index 41ef95987..5924b59b3 100644
--- a/edit/syntax.c
+++ b/edit/syntax.c
@@ -365,8 +365,6 @@ static void translate_rule_to_color (WEdit * edit, struct syntax_rule rule, int
     *color = k->color;
 }
 
-extern int use_colors;
-
 void edit_get_syntax_color (WEdit * edit, long byte_index, int *color)
 {
     if (edit->rules && byte_index < edit->last_byte && 
@@ -975,6 +973,9 @@ void edit_load_syntax (WEdit * edit, char **names, char *type)
 
     edit_free_syntax_rules (edit);
 
+    if (!use_colors)
+	return;
+
     if (!option_syntax_highlighting)
 	return;