Chapter I: Preface

The following pages have afforded occupation for many hours, which might else have been wasted in idle amusements, or embittered by still idler regrets at the destiny which carried the writer to a region so little seductive as Africa, and kept him there so long. He now offers them to the public, after some labor bestowed in correction and amendment, but retaining their original form, that of a daily Journal, which better suited his lack of literary practice and constructive skill, and was in fitter keeping with the humble pretensions of the work, than a re-arrangement on artistic principles. At various points of the narrative, however, he has introduced observations or disquisitions from two or three common-place books, which he kept simultaneously with the Journal; and thus, in a few instances, remarks are inserted as having been made early in the cruise, while, in reality, they were perhaps the ultimate result of his reflection and judgment upon the topics discussed.

If, in any portion of the book, the author may hope to engage the attention of the public, it will probably be in those pages which treat of Liberia. The value of his evidence, as to the condition and prospects of that colony, must depend, not upon any singular acuteness of observation or depth of reflection, but upon his freedom from partizan bias, and his consequent ability to perceive a certain degree of truth, and inclination to express it frankly. A northern man, but not unacquainted with the slave institutions of our own and other countries--neither an Abolitionist nor a Colonizationist--without prejudice, as without prepossession--he felt himself thus far qualified to examine the great enterprise which he beheld in progress. He enjoyed, moreover, the advantage of comparing Liberia, as he now saw it, with a personal observation of its condition three years before, and could therefore mark its onward or retreating footsteps, and the better judge what was permanent, and what merely temporary or accidental. With these qualifications, he may at least hope to have spoken so much of truth as entirely to gratify neither the friends nor enemies of this interesting colony.

The West Coast of Africa is a fresher field for the scribbling tourist, than most other parts of the world. Few visit it, unless driven by stern necessity; and still fewer are disposed to struggle against the enervating influence of the climate, and keep up even so much of intellectual activity as may suffice to fill a diurnal page of Journal or Commonplace Book. In his descriptions of the settlements of the various nations of Europe, along that coast, and of the native tribes, and their trade and intercourse with the whites, the writer indulges the idea that he may add a trifle to the general information of the public. He puts forth his work, however, with no higher claims than as a collection of desultory sketches, in which he felt himself nowise bound to tell all that it might be desirable to know, but only to be accurate in what he does tell. On such terms, there is perhaps no very reprehensible audacity in undertaking the history of a voyage; and he smiles to find himself, so simply and with so little labor, acquiring a title to be enrolled among the authors of books!

APRIL 5, 1845.

LIST OF CONTENTS

CHAP. I.

Departure--Mother Carey's Chickens--The Gulf Stream--Rapid Progress--The French Admiral's Cook--Nautical Musicians--The sick Man--The Burial at Sea--Arrival at the Canaries--Santa Cruz--Love and Crime--Island of Grand Canary--Troglodytes near Las Palmas.

CHAP. II.

Nelson's Defeat at Santa Cruz--The Mantilla--Arrival at Porto Grande--Poverty of the Inhabitants--Portuguese Exiles at the Cape de Verds--City of Porto Praya--Author's Submersion--Green Turtle--Rainy Season--Anchor at Cape Mesurado.

CHAP. III.

Visit of Governor Roberts, &c.--Arrival at Cape Palmas--American Missionaries--Prosperity of the Catholic Mission--King Freeman, and his Royal Robe--Customs of the Kroo-People--Condition of Native Women.

CHAP. IV.

Return to Monrovia--Sail for Porto Praya--The Union Hotel--Reminiscences of Famine at the Cape de Verds--Frolics of Whalemen--Visit to the Island of Antonio--A Dance--Fertility of the Island--A Yankee Clockmaker--A Mountain Ride--City of Poverson--Point de Sol--Kindness of the Women--The handsome Commandant--A Portuguese Dinner.

CHAP. V.

Arrival of the Macedonian--Return to the Coast of Africa--Emigrants to Liberia--Tornadoes--Maryland in Liberia--Nature of its Government--Perils of the Bar--Mr. Russwurm--The Grebo Tribe--Manner of disposing of their Dead.

CHAP. VI.

Settlement of Sinoe--Account of a Murder by the Natives--Arrival at Monrovia--Appearance of the Town--Temperance--Law-Suits and Pleadings--Expedition up the St. Paul's River--Remarks on the Cultivation of Sugar--Prospects of the Coffee-culture in Liberia--Desultory observations on Agriculture.

CHAP. VII

High Character of Governor Roberts--Suspected Slaver--Dinner on Shore--Facts and Remarks relative to the Slave-Trade--British Philanthropy--Original cost of a Slave--Anchor at Sinoe--Peculiarities and distinctive Characteristics of the Fishmen and Bushmen--The King of Appollonia--Religion and Morality among the Natives--Influence of the Women.

CHAP. VIII.

Palaver at Sinoe--Ejectment of a Horde of Fishmen--Palaver at Settra Kroo--Mrs. Sawyer--Objections to the Marriage of Missionaries--A Centipede--Arrival at Cape Palmas--Rescue of the Sassy-wood drinker--Hostilities between the Natives and Colonists.

CHAP. IX.

Palaver with King Freeman--Remarks on the Influence of Missionaries--Palaver at Rock-Boukir--Narrative of Captain Farwell's murder--Scene of Embarkation through the Surf--Sail for Little Berebee.

CHAP. X.

Palaver at Little Berebee--Death of the Interpreter and King Ben Cracko and burning of the Town--Battle with the Natives, and Conflagration of several Towns--Turkey Buzzards--A Love-Letter--Moral Reflections--Treaty of Grand Berebee--Prince Jumbo and his Father--Native system of Expresses--Curiosity of the Natives.

CHAP. XI.

Madeira--Aspect of the Island--Annual races--"Hail Columbia!"--Ladies, Cavaliers, and Peasants--Dissertation upon Wines--The Clerks of Funchal--Decay of the Wine-Trade--Cultivation of Pine-Trees--A Night in the Streets--Beautiful Church--A Sunday-evening Party--Currency of Madeira.

CHAP. XII.

Passage back to Liberia--Coffee Plantations--Dinner on shore--Character of Colonel Hicks--Shells and Sentiment--Visit to the Council-chamber--The New-Georgia Representative--A Slave-ship--Expedition up the St. Paul's--Sugar Manufactory--Maumee's beautiful grand-daughter--The Sleepy Disease--The Mangrove-tree.

CHAP. XIII.

The Theatre--Tribute to Governor Buchanan--Arrival at Settra Kroo--Jack Purser--The Mission School--Cleanliness of the Natives--Uses of the Palm-tree--Native Money--Mrs. Sawyer--Influence of her character on the Natives--Characteristics of English Merchant-Captains--Trade of England with the African Coast.

CHAP. XIV.

American Trade--Mode of Advertising, and of making Sales--Standard of Commercial Integrity--Dealings with Slave-Traders--Trade with the Natives--King's "Dash"--Native Commission-Merchants--The Gold Trade--The Ivory Trade--The "Round Trade"--Respectability of American Merchant-Captains--Trade with the American Squadron.

CHAP. XV.

Jack Purser's wife--Fever on board--Arrival at Cape Palmas--Strange figure and equipage of a Missionary--King George of Grand Bassam--Intercourse with the Natives--Tahon--Grand Drewin--St. Andrew's--Picaninny Lahoo--Natives attacked by the French--Visit to King Peter--Sketches of Scenery and People at Cape Lahon.

CHAP. XVI.

Visit from two English Trading-Captains--The invisible King of Jack-a-Jack--Human sacrifices--French fortresses at Grand Bassam, at Assinoe, and other points--Objections to the locality of Liberia--Encroachments on the limits of that Colony--Arrival in Axim--Sketches of that Settlement--Dixcove--Civilized Natives--An Alligator.

CHAP. XVII.

Dutch Settlement at El Mina--Appearance of the Town--Cape Coast Castle--Burial-place of L. E. L.--An English dinner--Festivity on shipboard--British, Dutch, and Danish Accra--Native wives of Europeans--A Royal Princess--An Armadillo--Sail for St. Thomas--Aspect of the Island.

CHAP. XVIII.

Excursion to St. Anne de Chaves--Mode of drying Coffee--Black Priests--Madam Domingo's Hotel--Catering for the Mess--Man swallowed by a Shark--Letters from home--Fashionable equipage--Arrival at the Gaboon--King Glass and Louis Philippe--Mr. Griswold--Mr. and Mrs. Wilson--Character of the Gaboon People--Symptoms of illness.

CHAP. XIX.

Recovery from Fever--Projected Independence of Liberia--Remarks on Climate and Health--Peril from Breakers--African Arts--Departure for the Cape de Verds--Man Overboard.

CHAP. XX.

Glimpses of the bottom of the Sea--The Gar-fish--The Booby and the Mullet--Improvement of Liberia--Its prospects--Higher social position of its Inhabitants--Intercourse between the White and Colored. Races--A night on shore--Farewell to Liberia--Reminiscence of Robinson Crusoe.

CHAP. XXI.

Sierra Leone--Sources of its Population--Appearance of the Town and surrounding Country--Religious Ceremonies of the Mandingoes--Treatment of liberated Slaves--Police of Sierra Leone--Agencies for Emigration to the West Indies--Colored Refugees from the United States--Unhealthiness of Sierra Leone--Dr. Fergusson--Splendid Church--Melancholy Fate of a Queen's Chaplain--Currency--Probable Ruin of the Colony.

CHAP. XXII.

Failure of the American Squadron to capture Slave-Vessels--Causes of that Failure--High character of the Commodore and Commanders--Similar ill-success of the French Squadron--Success of the English, and why--Results effected by the American Squadron.

JOURNAL OF AN AFRICAN CRUISER.