Chapter C: W. V (15)

The past month has been full of exciting events. Austria has renounced negotiation. The war decree has gone forth. Sardinia has been invaded. The French Emperor with his troops has been called upon for relief. Austria is intriguing and stimulating the German powers to unite with her in fortifying the Rhine. The German press was most violent against the French Emperor, giving him the most opprobrious names and calling it a war of conquest. Austrian securities have fallen from eighty-five to thirty-eight. Frankfort held some fifty million florins of that national paper. The war loan was rejected and Austria made an arrangement with the National Bank, which only last year resumed specie payments, to grant a loan of a hundred millions in small circulating notes, making the same a legal tender. Up went the price of specie. The bankers and commercial classes suffered, and large failures occurred. Commerce and trade were paralysed. I met two Hungarians, who were leaving for the United States, who were fortunate enough to obtain specie at a loss of thirty-five per cent, against paper. This stubborn act of Austria lost her the sympathies of Europe, excepting the small German states, Bavaria, Wirtemburg, Hesse Cassel, Baden &c., some of whom are connected by family ties. Prussia has stood and still stands firm in resisting the warlike disposition of the small states of the confederation, observing an armed neutrality until the real interests of Germany proper are attacked.

The French people who opposed the war are now almost universally in its favor. The triumphal departure of the Emperor, his reception in Piedmont, the subscription to the French loan of more than four times the amount, justifies this belief. The report of a secret alliance between Russia and France, and the advancement of a corps of observation upon the Austrian and Prussian frontier, caused great consternation on the continent. The English funds fell five or six per cent., and many dealers and brokers were ruined by the panic which ensued. The Tory cabinet was denounced by the English. The report proved untrue. Then came the declaration of neutrality by England.

War declared, the French army were transported south by rail, and then crossed the Alps, while other regiments went by steamers on the Mediterranean to Genoa. The departure of the troops, the enthusiasm of the populace, the martial display and equipage of war has kept up a lively interest. The reports of the first battle and victory of Montebello are received, and we are anxiously waiting the news of further engagements. The national guard are the protectors of the city, and few regular troops are seen, which is another evidence of the popularity of the war of Italian independence.

France is engaged in a righteous cause in effecting the liberation of Italy from the yoke of tyranny and bondage of Austria. Having passed so much time in Italy, I may be permitted to judge of the hatred of foreign domination.

Sardinia was worthy of assistance, being the only really liberal and free government in the south of Europe. The Emperor, sagacious as he is, wanted the Italian question settled; and through the proposal of Russia for a congress, in which Austria dared not show her hand, he brought the matter to a focus. The occupation of the army, the glory of France at the head of European civilization, and the confirmation of the dynasty were needed. All these things had their influence. Austria was put in a false position. The result is war, and if confined to Italy good may grow out of it. If Germany attacks France on the Rhine, then the war becomes general; but the French government and press are doing everything possible to suppress such a move. The public journals are now unanimous in favor of Italian liberty, and the war cry is, down with the Austrians, and their expulsion from the shores of the Adriatic.

Last year this time I was riding and walking over the battle-grounds and fields of Alma, Inkerman, Kamiesch, Eupatoria, and Kertsch, where half a million lie buried, and probably some curious tourists among the number.

The death of the king of Naples has delivered that beautiful land of a tyrant. Probably the neutrality of the young king may be accepted. He is a cousin of Victor Emanuel, king of Sardinia, but the queen mother is the second wife of the deceased king, and of the house of Austria. She has been intriguing for the accession to the throne of her eldest son, and troubles are expected.

Strangers are getting away by small steamers in crowds, without comfort or accommodation. The war will make it very inconvenient for travellers. The Lloyd steamers in the Levant are withdrawn to the neutral harbor of Malta. The French have already blockaded the ports of the Adriatic and taken many Austrian prizes. I am thankful I have nothing undone in that direction, and can remain a neutral spectator.

1860.

CLIV.

TETUAN, COAST OF MOROCCO, AFRICA, _February 15, 1860_.

After a short sojourn in the French capital, I took the rail for Marseilles. The distance of five hundred miles we made in twenty hours, in comfortable cars, warmed by shallow metallic vessels filled with hot water, and placed under the feet. This was even shorter time than two years since, when I passed over the same road to embark for Algeria.

It is now nearly four months since the declaration of war on the part of the Spaniards, who at vast expense have landed an army of thirty-five thousand men upon the coast of Morocco. Tangiers being well fortified, although blockaded, they could only land at Ceuta, a point occupied by them for convicts. A distance of six leagues then had to be made by land along the coast to the small river Tetuan, where they encamped in presence of the Moors, who occupied the heights and the city of Tetuan, which is upon an eminence six miles from the coast. A great battle was fought, and finally the city was besieged. The Moors in great numbers occupied the heights, and coming down in masses from the mountains headed by the brothers of the emperor of Morocco, harassed and attacked the Spaniards. They were, however, dislodged and cut up by the latter, who report in killed and wounded two thousand of the enemy and two hundred of their own; but verbal reports here say they lost one thousand in killed and wounded. The latter were sent away immediately to the hospitals of Malaga and Cadiz. Finding resistance useless, orders were given to evacuate the city, and the Moors fled in every direction in the mountains, but the Jews, a much oppressed race, remain, as also do the old and disabled Moors.

The city, which contained a population of some thirty thousand, now presents a strange aspect, the narrow streets being filled with soldiery, mules, and donkeys. The Jews have suffered much from pillage at the hands of the Moors and Kabyles of the Riff, who are not unlike their pirate associates, and the doors of a great number of houses are still seen broken open by these marauders, who regarded neither friend nor foe. The Israelites are rejoiced at the result, as such was the intolerance of the Mussulmans that they were obliged to take off their shoes in approaching a mosque.

Subscriptions have been made in different countries for the Jews who are at Gibraltar, who have been obliged to abandon the ports of Morocco. An agent has just arrived here with supplies for the sufferers in Tetuan, who stand much in need.

I scarcely know how to describe the singular scene that presents itself. On entering the roadstead I counted some forty-five steamers of different nations, including several Spanish war vessels, besides a large number of small sailing vessels, also several tugs for the purpose of discharging and towing, while feluccas, scows, and small boats loaded with merchandise and munitions of war were scattered about in the mouth of the river to the landing place near the square tower or citadel. The beach and quays are covered with cannon, bombs, balls, wheels for mounting, scores of pipes of red wine, boxes, bales and packages of all kinds for the supply of the army, and for venders and speculators in and around the different camps.

The first camp presented itself near the shore, quite in repose. Horses, mules, and donkeys were feeding. The soldiers were preparing their dinner over little fires of sticks, and from the little tents of the Spanish venders were heard the cries of oranges, cigars, liquors, and every conceivable article which can be disposed of to the troops. A temporary fort had been thrown up of earthwork and the branches of the cactus, which attains the height of a small tree in this climate, and cannon were planted at the angles and other openings to prevent surprise. Little tents for the soldiery, for six each, were spread upon the ground; those of the officers are of larger dimensions, and more comfortable.

As we proceeded further, martial music was heard in the distance, and an army of horsemen with lances came up followed by infantry and cavalry. Four thousand fresh troops had just arrived, and the road was lined with mules and horses, already jaded out with hard service, carrying provisions to the camps. Here and there was lying a poor animal who had drawn his last breath, while disabled Moorish cannon and balls were scattered about.

To the right and left the encampments were seen, and the music of bands was heard, mingling with the national airs of the Spanish soldiers, who appear happy, notwithstanding the fatigue of the campaign in an enemy’s country during a rainy season, with the accompaniment of cholera, which has cost the lives of many thousands. The weather is now, however, dry, and favorable to the health of the troops.

The orange gardens, with the olive and other trees, look fresh in the valleys, which extend for miles around, and the well whitewashed walls of the city glisten in the sun’s rays, so that one who was not familiar with Mussulman cities and structures would imagine its contents beautiful. The camp of Gen. O’Donnell is placed upon a plateau near the entrance, and over the fortified archway is already inscribed “_Puerta de la Reyna_,” or Queen’s Gate.

As soon as the entrance is effected, one finds the streets narrow and dirty. The houses are one and two stories high, with small courts in the centre and lodging rooms above. Fountains abound, as in all Moorish cities, for the washing of the feet of the faithful before entering the mosques. The principal mosque upon the great square is already occupied by the cross, and the burning wax candles beside the Virgin, in singular contrast with the suspended ostrich eggs usual in Mussulman temples.

Scarcely any accommodations can be found for strangers at any price, and such as can be found at enormous prices, remind me of California in its early days. Fortunately our steamer is supplied with all the comforts and conveniences, and we may go and come when we please.

The presumption is that the Moors will now sue for peace, which Spain will probably be glad to accept, as it will be difficult to penetrate a country where several millions of barbarians are found. If report tells the truth, the resources of the Emperor of Morocco in treasure are enormous, the result of hoarding from his ancestry down, and if the Spaniards can extract a few millions towards the expenses of the war, they will relieve themselves of a heavy burden, and put an amount of gold and silver in circulation now lying idle.

The Spaniards have landed already rails and ties for a short railroad for the transport of heavy war material to the city. They have also commenced a telegraph, probably for communication with Madrid, or to give the Moors an idea of European civilization. It struck me as curious that they should do in Africa what they have been so backward in accomplishing in their own country.

CLV.

MOGADORE, COAST OF MOROCCO, _February 29, 1860_.

My last from Tetuan, informed you of its occupation by the Spaniards and the flight of the Moors, which has created the greatest burst of enthusiasm and national feeling throughout Spain; and if we can judge from the Spanish journals, which are filled with the events and incidents of the war, the praises of the army are being sung in all parts of Spain.

Gen. O’Donnell has been created Duke of Tetuan. Report says the Emperor of Morocco has sued for peace, and the Queen’s counsellors have demanded the permanent possession of Tetuan and twenty millions of dollars in part payment of the expenses of the war. It now remains to be seen if the Emperor will accede to the proposition.

Our steamer received orders to discharge her cargo at Gibraltar, where I took up my quarters at the hotel for a few days. Having visited this strongly fortified key of the straits twice before, and once described it to you, I will only add that no practical changes have taken place. The garrison of six thousand well-equipped and well-disciplined troops is kept up. Only a portion of the English and French fleet, which were sent here when the war broke out, now remain in the bay. The gates of the city, which inclose twenty thousand souls, including troops, are closed at sundown and opened at sunrise. A permit is granted for visitors who are not lodged in the city, which is good till the evening; but a longer sojourn requires application at the police. There the steamers coal which are bound up the Mediterranean, and to England and Portugal. The supplies are drawn from Spain or the coast of Morocco, and vessels from different sources. The natives, by derision, are called Rock Scorpions, and are mostly Jews and Spaniards. The Spanish is commonly spoken, although the schools are in part English. The streets are kept neat and clean. The houses rise one above another, like the sides of an amphitheatre, to a great height, and the ascent requires considerable climbing.

On the summit of the rock, with its frowning batteries and tunnelled galleries, with cannon pointing in all directions, is seen the telegraph; and by it, in the brush and scrubby trees, are monkeys grinning and climbing, the only representatives of the race in Europe, and who would have been extinct long since did not heavy penalties prevent it. On the African side, the mountains are infested with them.

The carnival season was being enjoyed by the masqueraders, but the balls and costumes were rather sorry affairs in comparison with those of Madrid, and other large cities of Spain.

Gibraltar is a free port, and gives employment to merchants and traders, who are celebrated for their sharp and acute transactions. The captains of vessels whom I met, who had put in for repairs or in distress, say they are worse than Key West wreckers. Smuggling and contraband trade with Spain has fallen off, however, with lower duties and the close of civil wars.

The weather was cool for the season. Snow was seen upon the African mountains, and bad reports of cholera came in from Tetuan; large numbers were dying among troops and residents. I had seen sufficient evidence of its existence, and concluded it was safest to be out of the district.

The American gunboat Iroquois came into Gibraltar and took our consul, Mr. Brown, to Tangiers, being the first consular return to Morocco since the war began, when those of all nations, with their families, decamped, and all the subjects of foreign governments who could, did likewise. The only consul in the whole of Morocco who remained, was the English, Mr. Hay, at Tangiers, who received express orders, and was protected by war vessels from Gibraltar, that port being considered blockaded.

Finding our steamer was going all along the Moorish coast, and thence to the Canary Islands, I concluded to embark. Our first stopping place was in thirty-six hours, at Casa Blanca, where we landed the French and Portuguese consuls, who were old residents, but, like all others, had abandoned their posts, fearing the fanaticism of the Moors, and the loss of their heads, as the wild Arabs don’t distinguish among Christians as to what race they belong. We remained a day. The Moors had heard of the taking of Tetuan, and were uneasy, and less sanguine. These two gentlemen we left, but the thought was painful, that they were running the risk of losing their lives in their own houses.

We next proceeded to Mazagan, an old fortified city of six thousand inhabitants. It is of square form, with strong walls and ramparts, situated upon an iron-bound coast. It was built some centuries since by the Portuguese, who protected it by cannon on the land side as well as the sea, and occupied it for a long time during the height of the commercial prosperity of Portugal. At length, from the encroachments of the Moors, however, they were obliged to abandon it. Before leaving, they mined it in every direction, and then by stipulation removed their population and supplies. The keys of the city having been given up, the wild Arabs rushed in, and filled up the deserted streets and houses. While looking for booty, a doubloon was discovered, and eagerly seized, which was attached by a thread to a concealed pistol, which exploded the mine, and blew up the greater part of the city, causing great destruction of life, and satisfying the vengeance of the Portuguese.

The old subterranean cisterns, or reservoirs, still exist, and are worthy of their authors, reminding one of the old Roman and Carthaginian masonry. The city is now mostly of one story buildings, with flat roofs, except consular and a few other private houses and magazines. Europeans make themselves as comfortable as possible amidst the filth which prevails ankle-deep in the narrow streets, and smells, badly suited to the olfactories, from dead dogs and cats. The English consul being absent, I noticed a dead donkey lying near his house. Himself and his colleagues had all fled the country, and cleanliness was out of the question.

The Jews from all these points along the coast had been removed, or made their escape as far as possible. Outside the walls of Gibraltar, I saw some five hundred tents, furnished by the English government, where about thirty-five hundred had congregated, and some eighteen hundred still remained. The government had given rations daily, and the French government made liberal allowances for such subjects as were under the protection of its consuls. It was a curious sight, reminding one of the descriptions of the camp of Israel. Men, women, and children, in the African Jewish costume, were performing the culinary operations of the separate households. The canvas streets had their names. The ground floors were whitewashed, or limed against infection. English sentries were on patrol, and all well regulated.

The country about Casa Blanca and Mazagan is fertile, but badly cultivated, and produces wheat and barley of excellent quality. Cattle, sheep, horses, and donkeys are kept, but the camel is the principal beast of burden. The export of horses is prohibited; other animals pay a considerable head tax. Poultry and eggs are abundant and cheap; gum, wool, and grain were the chief articles of export before the war.

We left two European merchants who had their houses there, and proceeded to this place, Mogadore, the farthest point on the Morocco coast, at which a steamer lands, and which is the chief city for the trade of the capital, Morocco, that lies one hundred and ten miles in the interior.

This is, for a Moorish city, strongly built, and is surrounded with walls. The houses are one or two stories high, and well whitewashed. The bastions and fortifications are upon a rocky shore. The small island of Mogadore forms a breakwater against the northerly storms; but like all African harbors, this is only a roadstead. The vicinity consists of desert for some miles, and then agricultural and grazing country. The town is dry and clean, reminding me of Tripoli, on the Barbary coast, for cleanliness, as Mazagan and Casa Blanca compare with Tunis for filth.

The sight of a steamer, being the first for six weeks, brought the whole population out. The walls and battlements were crowded with Arabs from the country, there being twelve hundred who had come in to protect the city from an expected attack of the Spaniards. The long white woollen mantles, or cloaks, and red caps, covering their swarthy bodies, the natural growth of black beard, and the long carabines, presented a strange aspect, as they looked grim and surly upon the Christians, and wondered what business we had there.

The women, with their heads covered with white veils, and feet with yellow boots, looked slyly at us out of one or both eyes, or were peeping through the blinds as the strangers passed.

Here we have a Jewish quarter, also, which is locked at night. The daughters of Israel are very fair, and some of them beautiful; they don’t hide their faces like the Moorish women. Some disorders had occurred, and some of their houses been broken open and pillaged, for which they had no redress, as all foreign consuls were absent.

The climate here is delightful, being from seventy to seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, and never varying more than ten degrees throughout the year.

One of our passengers, an English merchant long in this country, had left his house in possession of a trusty Moor, and found all satisfactory. Indeed, the residents among the Moors have more to apprehend from pillage on the part of the wild hordes of the country, than from those of the city. My friend, at whose house I am, will not remain, although he speaks Arabic, but will go on to the Canary Islands with us, with the intention of returning when the war is over. Another of our passengers, a merchant, who was born in a Mohammedan city, will remain and take his chance.

No sooner had we landed than we were surrounded and followed by groups of friends and listeners, who followed close on our heels to the house, which was closed by main force to prevent intrusion. Soon after, the familiar and monotonous songs of the Arabs, accompanied by primitive violins, reached my ears from the gallery. There sat five musicians, whose music and song was spiced from time to time with a peculiar howl or whistle from two blind women, which I at first took for the escape of steam from the steamer.

To my surprise the health officer, when he came off, spoke English and French. He looks the Moor in costume, with his patriarchal white beard, and is now seventy-six years of age. I have been to his house to-day, and found him squatted, legs crossed, upon a divan, taking his repast of tea, instead of coffee, with oranges, dates, raisins, pomegranates, and a liquor which he offered us, made from figs, from his little table about two feet high. His father was an Englishman and his mother a Spanish woman. He has been forty-six years in Morocco, having come as interpreter to an English gentleman who wanted to travel in the interior, and was there murdered. His speaking Arabic saved him from the same fate. When the war broke out he sent his family to Gibraltar, and is now quite alone.

CLVI.

BATHURST, RIVER GAMBIA, WEST COAST OF AFRICA, _March 10, 1860_.

From Mogadore we proceeded to the island of Lancerota, one of the group of Canary Islands, landing and spending part of a day at the principal town, Arecife, whence the island of Forteventura is in plain view.

The product of these islands, since the failure of the grape crop, consists mostly of cochineal, as the salubrity and uniformity of the climate are admirably adapted to the raising of the cactus plant upon which the insect feeds. The principal islands, Lancerota, Teneriffe, Gomera, and Palma, contain some one hundred and eighty thousand population.

My immediate destination was Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, the capital of the Canary Islands, and the seat of the Spanish Governor. The approach to the well whitewashed town, with its large roadstead, backed by high mountains of hard basalt and soft pumice stone, of which it is built, is very picturesque. In the distance looms up the Peak of Teneriffe, said to be fifteen thousand feet high. The atmosphere was clear and soft, and overcoats and cloaks were no longer needed. They have had an unusually wet season, and apprehend a loss from excess of humidity in a climate where it rains usually so little.

Here I found several Germans, who had spent most of the winter in Madeira, four degrees further north, and give the preference to this climate. The accommodations, apartments, and society I have found better there than here.

The town is clean and well paved, with good roads, and a fair hotel. The island is evidently volcanic, as the wild and irregular masses of rock around the town testify.

Camels are here used as beasts of burden, showing conclusively they can be employed over similar roads on the overland routes in the United States, as well as on the sands of the desert.

My intention was, if I arrived in time at Santa Cruz, which I had before visited some years since, to take the West African Coast steamer for the Gambia river, and from thence down to Sierra Leone. In this I was not disappointed; after a few days’ delay I embarked. The steamer from Fernando Po, on her return touched at all the ports along the Grain, Ivory, and Gold Coasts of Guinea, and several passengers were landed and lodged at our hotel. They reported the season as being most favorable for a visit; the fevers, which had desolated the settlements, existed no longer: but their yellow and jaundiced appearance was not encouraging for the traveller. Having been so much in tropical climates, and having had much experience in fevers, I hope to pass unscathed.

On board of the good screw steamer Athenian, with favorable breezes and increasing heat, in four days we made Bathurst, near the mouth of the Gambia River, one thousand miles from Teneriffe. The approach to this English colony up the broad serpentine river is directed by a negro pilot.

The public and private buildings are well and substantially built. The beach on one side is sandy, and the tide leaves a road bed for equestrians at the ebb. The date, mango, and other tropical trees give the place a picturesque appearance. The garrison is composed of English officers, and native black soldiery. The epidemic has made sad work among the whites; out of seventy-one, twenty-one died.

The negro population is upwards of five thousand, who live in reed huts, upon streets laid out at right angles, the different tribes in their respective quarters. They present a curious sight for the European, a fair proportion requiring only the garments of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Mothers carry their young, not unlike the squaws of our Indian tribes, upon their backs, but with this difference, that the little black urchin is nestled in the folds of a cotton shawl or girdle around the waist, the child being in the hollow of the back. The little boys and girls instead of clothing are supplied with strings of beads and amulets, as ornaments, and to keep away the evil spirit.

The river is navigable beyond Macarthy island to the cataracts, which are some one hundred and eighty miles from its mouth, and trading stations are found as high up. There are some thirteen tribes under different chiefs, and several different languages and dialects are spoken. The country is unsafe to travel in without a sufficient force for protection. It was here that Mungo Park, the renowned traveller, commenced his explorations, and it is supposed that he was killed on the Niger, after losing his soldiers and marines by fever and exhaustion. One of our fellow passengers, a colonel in the service, owned a farm ten miles from the town; his house was attacked, several killed, and he had a narrow escape.

I find much hospitality on the part of the inhabitants, which is quite natural when they have a steamer from Europe at long intervals. The Governor of Gambia, Col. D’Arcy, and his interesting wife, to whom I was recommended, offered me their house. I dined with them and passed an evening; breakfasted with our consul, a Brazilian by birth; visited several other of the prominent residents; and rode some miles along the coast, passing by the English burying ground, which seemed fast filling up. The government house belongs to the crown. It is a fine mansion, pleasantly situated among tropical trees and flowering plants. Negro soldiers as sentinels at the gate reminded me in this particular of the entrance to Soulouque’s palace in the island of Hayti.

A number of French vessels are in port loading with ground nuts for making oil; many dry hides are also shipped. The trade of Senegal, the French colony, lying farther north, is of considerable importance. I find here a small vessel loading with peanuts, or ground nuts, for Boston; she hails from Salem. The down-easters are the most enterprising mariners in the world. They are met with in the most remote quarters of the globe. I have found them where I thought no trade could be furnished--up the Red Sea, the Island of Sumatra, Zanzibar, and other places, picking up coffee, spices, gums, and all sorts of products, in exchange for hard biscuits, coarse cotton cloth, lumber, wooden clocks, and an infinity of Yankee notions. The captain of this small vessel is quite a youth; he had his head cut and his nose broken by a mutinous sailor, but he came off victorious.

While at Teneriffe, the war steamer San Jacinto, belonging to the American squadron, watching the African slave coast, came in port. She was proceeding to Cadiz for repairs, as her machinery was out of order, and the nearest point was Spain. Capt. Armstrong was in command. Several of the officers were from our state. They had been cruising eight months, and, as you can imagine, were pleased to meet with one who could give direct news from Europe and the United States.

CLVII.

SIERRA LEONE, WEST COAST OF AFRICA, _March 14, 1860_.

Two days’ steaming brought us from Bathurst, Gambia river, to this, the oldest English settlement on the west coast of Africa. It is situated upon a broad bay at the entrance of the Sierra Leone river, with high hills and peaks in the distance. The soil looks reddish, like that of New Jersey, but is thoroughly charged with iron. The vegetation is decidedly tropical, producing palm oil, ginger, spices, gum, bread-fruit, oranges, bananas, pineapples, etc. The heat is oppressive.

The fever epidemic has destroyed fifty-eight out of ninety-eight white residents within thirty days. The Catholic mission is closed, the bishop and the priests under his charge having died. The other missions also suffered, but not to the same extent. One of the prominent colored missionaries of the English Episcopal church I found to be a native of Charleston, South Carolina. He had lost his white German wife by fever.

I visited the schools for the education of the young males and females, and found them getting on very well in their studies. The sons of negroes who have been slaves in other countries, and who are traders and general dealers, appreciate the importance of education; but those of the villages and in the suburbs live in that listless manner characteristic of the negro. They perform but little labor, sufficient only to procure rum and tobacco as luxuries, for nature furnishes yams and other necessaries of life without much effort, preferring to bask and sleep in the rays of the broiling sun, which are death to the white man.

The French consul, to whom I had a letter and with whom I dined, drove me to his villa on the shore, some miles from town, a beautiful spot, where nature appeared in all her loveliness; but the insidious fever had closed the mission edifice in the neighborhood. We drove through villages at different times and in different directions up and down the coast, among hedges of lime trees twenty feet high, filled with fruit, resembling the wild vegetation of Venezuela. The umbrella-topped palm grows in profusion. The oleander and other hot-house plants with us, standing fifteen feet high, in bloom, as in the West Indies; pine-apple bushes laden with fruit are growing in a wild state; and the wide-spreading branches of the mango offer opportunity for repose, but the threatened fever for the white man breaks the charm.

The African fever this year has carried off thousands of the negroes also. The present population, mostly black, is computed to be forty thousand. The garrison is English, but the officers only are white, the soldiery consisting of natives and captured slaves, who are apprenticed. The vessels in the harbor during the epidemic, a few months since, lost in some cases captains, officers, crews, and even the cats on board, leaving the vessel riding alone at anchor. We don’t sleep ashore as yet on any occasion.

The few white residents left are most hospitable, and my letters were such as to furnish all the civilities the settlement can afford. A wealthy German merchant, who has a native wife, as most persons have on the African coast, did all the honors for the Vaterland, a German missionary, whom I knew at Teneriffe, and who had left for his health, having given me letters.

The thermometer stands at from eighty-eight to ninety-seven in the shade, so that a piece of ice from the steamer, sent as a present by the officers of our ship to their friends and acquaintances, is esteemed a great luxury. White umbrellas are in vogue.

The next steamer will bring out the new Governor and English Bishop, his predecessor being dead. The Spanish consul and vice-consul both died, and the acting French consul has just been decorated by the Spanish Queen for services rendered during the crisis.

The English steamer Pluto is in port, having just returned from St. Helena after the capture of the American bark Orion with eight hundred and fifty slaves. These are apprenticed for a number of years, and a bounty of five pounds or twenty-five dollars her head is paid to the officers of the ship by the English government in addition to the thirty-five shillings per ton upon the hull. The vessels are then condemned and sawn in two. Several such half hulks lie on the beach here. I noticed two American schooners in port, fine rakish looking vessels, appearing as if they were for what they call here the “black-bird trade.” Our American officers, whom I met in the Canary islands, complain that they cannot get prizes, as the English have spies all along the coast and get information, which they can afford to pay for, as John Bull pays such large prize money, while our people pay only in sympathy.

An amusing incident has just occurred. A negro soldier came on deck and handed me a note. I found he spoke but little English jargon, which the negroes use, and I asked him where he came from. He said he was a captured slave, and now received half-pay for military service. At that moment he recognised a Portuguese passenger as the man who had sold him on the coast. His eye glistened with anger as he spoke to the person, and said, “You sold me.” The Portuguese could not recollect him, as he was one out of one hundred and sixty which he admitted he bought, and sold at a profit of twenty-eight dollars per head. On further conversation, the negro admitted that he was now very glad of the change.

The brig Harris, an American, has lately been taken. The English had watched the vessel for a long time as suspicious, and, in fact, knew what it was up to, but it is policy for them to wait until the negroes are on board; thus they get apprentices and the bounty money. In the evening the Englishman visited the ship, the cargo was already on board, the hatches closed, and some negroes lying on deck, who were reported as native sailors of the coast. The crew were pulling the tails of pigs to make them squeal, to prevent the hearing of noise from the hold, where officers stood with revolvers, threatening the negroes if they did not keep quiet. The hatches were down twenty minutes. The commander left, satisfied that the game was not yet bagged, and went away, when an English captain informed him that he had seen the negroes going on board. Had it not been for this information the American would have been off. He was watched, boarded, and commanded to haul down his flag and give up his papers. The American denied the right to board him, according to treaty. Then, said the commander, I will detain you until I find an American cruizer, and you will be delivered up and tried as a pirate. The effect was produced, and a compromise took place. The Englishman turned his back, the flag was hauled down, and the papers were thrown overboard, officers and men permitted to leave with their effects, and the vessel seized as a prize, without nationality of papers, or flag.

CLVIII.

CAPE COAST CASTLE, WEST COAST OP AFRICA, _March 18, 1860_.

On our departure from Sierra Leone, we proceeded down the coast of Liberia, and landed at Harper, Cape Palmas. I found the Rev. Mr. Ramba in charge of the Missionary Establishment. There were two young ladies who had recently arrived from the United States. One of them had not recovered from the African fever. I found there, in the little town, many manumitted slaves from Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland, with whom I conversed; also, some of the recaptured slaves from the brig Echo, which were sent out by the frigate Niagara. The United States Government pay one year’s schooling, and those unable to take care of themselves are apprenticed. I was invited to dine by the family who occupy the Asylum buildings, erected by the Protestant Episcopal Society of the United States. The position is most commanding and elevated, on a promontory bathed by the rolling surf, with tropical fruits and flowers in the background. But notwithstanding its advantageous location, the malignant fever of Africa finds its way. Being in a country where no distinction is made in color, I find myself at table with white and black missionaries and their wives, reminding me of my peregrinations in the island of Hayti, where my table companions in some outside villages were only of the sable hue. You are aware that the English and French are unlike the Americans in their prejudices in this particular. On board our steamer, we have had in the first cabin, and at table, practical amalgamation. Foreigners have native wives, and you find children running about of every dye. It goes even further, in the marriage of white women with black men.

Liberia, you are aware, is a republic, having its President, Senators, and Representatives. The towns are mostly occupied by the native population, whose wants are quite limited, as is the case with the black race generally in this country, whose dress consists at most of a small handkerchief or a string of pearls about the loins. The incentive to labor is slight, and the efforts of the missionaries meet with little success; and unless through some special providence, this benighted coast can make but little progress. An intelligent mulatto woman came down with us to Cape Coast Castle, in the cabin. She was from Savannah, Georgia. She had come over with her husband, to visit her father and mother, who had emigrated to Liberia, and died with fever. She had lost her husband by the same disease, and wished herself back again. She remarked, that at times she had hopes for the Colony, and then again felt discouraged, as many of the manumitted slaves, instead of showing an example to the heathen, fell into their vices. The trade of Liberia is very limited; and, were it not for the Colonization Society, their case now might be hopeless. They have a small war schooner, presented by the British Government; one schooner, called the Monrovia, was in port, which trades with the United States. I must here mention a circumstance which occurred in sending over a parcel of manumitted negroes from New Orleans. A philanthropic captain offered to bring over the party for a nominal sum; he supplied himself with water casks well filled, and abundant provisions for a long voyage, and returning with ample berth accommodations. Of course he obtained his clearance for such a benevolent object without difficulty, landed the released blacks, ran down the coast, filled up with slaves, and landed his cargo of human flesh on the island of Cuba!

We proceed along, down to the Dutch town and fort of Elmina, and the English fort and town of Cape Coast Castle, on the Gold Coast. The surf and breakers along this coast at times are frightful; but the naked natives, in boats dug out of the trunks of trees, containing from ten to fifteen persons, with side oars or paddles, not unlike huge wooden shovels, swarm around the ship, and carry you ashore through the foaming billows. Once the beach struck, they jump in the water to draw the boat up, and then carry you on their backs to dry land. The Dutch Governor, six miles above here, has just visited the English Governor, and held what is termed a Palaver with the Queen of Assin, who was escorted by bands of nearly naked negro troops or subjects, with the most wild and discordant music from tom-toms or kettle-drums, reed flutes, frightful sounding gongs, ringing of small bells, etc., amid the yells and shouts of this maddened crew. Another body of Bushmen, who were going to war with a neighboring tribe, were congregating with their muskets, which they are all provided with; they had been parading with a white umbrella over the captain’s head, under a vertical sun, with as much veneration as the carrying of the Host over the head of the Pope, in the church ceremonies of Rome. At length they bivouacked under the shade of a wide-spread mango tree, where rum, the usual beverage of the natives, was passed around, amid the shouts, laughter, and war songs of these half savages, much to the edification of a half dozen slave girls, who were peeping over a wall adjoining.

Ships come down to the coast of Guinea from Boston and New York, loaded with the two staples of negro luxury, rum and tobacco; but I am sorry to learn that some of those people who cry out so strongly against our domestic institution of the South, and would willingly sacrifice our beloved Union, lend themselves to the slave trade, in furnishing empty rum casks to slavers, which are filled with water, and get a clearance from the Custom House, as if engaged in legitimate traffic; thereby enabling them to run along the coast for the sale of articles without suspicion, when they fill up with slaves and start for Cuba.

The soil here abounds with particles of gold, which the natives wash when their daily wants require small means, but they are destitute of the merit of perseverance unless forced to it. The white population consists here of only a few officers in the fort, supported by native or apprenticed soldiers. The native houses or huts are of wicker or reed work, plastered with mud and covered with palm leaves or branches. The Wesleyan missionaries have a fine, eligible establishment. I found three of their number here present, as also some native preachers and teachers. One of the number is the nephew to the king of the Ashantees. He had been sent to England for an education. They were well provided with the good things of this life in eating and drinking, which they are entitled to in this barbarous country.

I saw sheep and goats on the grounds--some monkeys chattering about; large numbers are found in the woods; the natives are fond of them, and their skins are an article of exportation, for ladies’ muffs.

We have had a melancholy duty to perform: one of our fellow passengers, who-occupied a state room opposite to me, died night before last. He was a physician, who could not heal himself according to the command in Scripture. Our number of passengers was now reduced to four. He had supped with us, and two hours after was a corpse. I felt it a duty to assist in performing the last rites of a Christian burial, not knowing but others might be called upon to perform a similar service for one seven thousand miles from home. The ship carpenter made a rude pine coffin, which was covered with the English union jack. We solicited the offices of a missionary, but whether from the sudden shock, or fear of fever, I know not, but I found myself the only passenger among the group following his mortal remains to the white man’s little graveyard, carried upon the shoulders of negroes. The captain, purser, first engineer, and myself, stood with white umbrellas under a broiling sun, the parched earth almost blistering our feet, until the burial service was read by the officiating Episcopal clergyman in his white robes. It was the mournful sight of a Christian burial in strong contrast with the listless, idle, and gazing groups of dark, naked figures, which curiosity had attracted to the spot. A civil engineer in the Government employ, was the only resident who joined us in the funeral, and to whose house we adjourned after the ceremonies were over; we were provided with refreshments, which we stood in need of.

Many forts along the coast, which once amounted to thirty, have fallen into decay; they were used for slave factories, and were in the possession of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes, and the English, to provide the Colonies with slaves.

We proceed to Acra, further along the coast, in possession of the Dutch and English, and thence to the territory of the king of Dahomy, who is now waging war to procure slaves for the annual sacrifice, and I may be able to give you some of these barbarous statistics.

CLIX.

STEAMER ATHENIEN, OFF LAGOS, WEST COAST OF AFRICA, _March 23, 1860_.

After visiting the Grain, Ivory, and Gold Coasts, and the territory of the king of Dahomy, we now find ourselves off the formidable breakers of Lagos. The mail bags we headed up in a puncheon, in the event of capsizing the native boat. The landing is so unsafe, and being probably the worst on the coast of Africa, none of us are allowed to make the attempt. Two passengers from Acra go on board of vessels lying outside, at anchor, until a more favorable opportunity offers. Sometimes no landing is effected for weeks. The sharks are so abundant that they upset crews of natives, and strangers are often lost.

Acra, our next landing-place after Cape Coast Castle, is one-half occupied by the English fort and native town, and the other half by a Dutch fort and settlement. The resident traders complain of the want of commerce, as the king of the country, whom the English had punished and laid under tribute of ten thousand pounds, payable in palm oil, at fixed prices, would not execute the payment. I there found two merchants from Cape Coast, who had bought the contract, &c., which the king now rejects. It remains to be seen if the British will enforce it.

The Danes were in possession of a large fort at Christianborg, a few miles from Acra, which they have sold to the English for the nominal sum of five thousand pounds. The Commandant of the English fort politely offered me his horse, and a recommendation to the officer in command, which I accepted, and found, in the absence of the Governor, only one officer and the doctor of the station. Five officers had died of the African fever, and the soldiery consisted of one hundred and thirteen negroes. The town looked abandoned, and in part battered down, as the native tribes had attacked the fort, which is well mounted with small brass guns. They were soon put to flight, and the broken walls of the village indicated the result.

The fort is eligibly situated; the sand was scorching hot, but the sea breeze in the shade was cool and refreshing; the surf was rolling in strongly, and hundreds of negroes were in it bathing. The little cemetery, as I passed, showed the new-made graves; the African ants had thrown up, hastily, pyramids of a conical form, ten feet in height.

Notwithstanding the curious scenes to occupy the mind, and the white umbrellas as a protection from heat, I felt the blood boiling in my veins, and if I had given way to my emotions, would have fancied the fever was upon me.

In Acra, I met with a Yankee trader, whose house was situated among and surrounded by the huts of the natives. The walls of the court inclosed his cooperage and his buildings for palm-oil casks, and supplies of rum, tobacco, and notions.

A group of nearly naked boys and girls were counting cowrie shells from Zanzibar, which furnishes small currency, and which are separated in little parcels with great alacrity. They are there worth forty to the cent, or four thousand to the dollar. They are also strung as beads, and worn about the neck and loins by both sexes.

The Yankee looked sallow, as if the African climate was doing its work; but the desire of gain is an incentive sufficient for the white man to try to live in a climate which nature designed only for the black race.

The king of Dahomy, whose capital is about ninety miles from the coast, permits no forts in his dominions. Whydah and Badagry have been famous for the slave trade. When the late king died some six hundred slaves were buried alive with him. They were made drunk and then driven into an excavated grotto or prison house, which was then walled up. I here give you a list of the articles and objects deposited on the occasion of the funeral from an eye-witness:

Ten pieces of silk, five dozen country cloths, twenty guns, eight bags of cowrie shells, two boxes soap, male and female slave, as present from the Yavogah of Whydah, scarfs, table cloths, satin, silk handkerchiefs, velvets, carpets, packages of unbleached shirting, a present from the great slaver Domingo, a cocked hat and plume, gold chains, slippers, ten puncheons of rum, forty kegs of powder, another male and female slave, with letter to the deceased king, in addition to the six or eight hundred already mentioned.

The king of Dahomy is now at war with his neighbors to procure prisoners and slaves for the anniversary custom of sacrifices and consecration to the memory of the late king. All the whites within his territory on the coast are invited and commanded to be present at the sacrifices. All resident traders and vessels are compelled to pay tonnage dues for the privilege of trade, or make presents to the king. A Portuguese whom we landed from the steamer, and who had delivered a cargo of negroes in Havana, for which he obtained one thousand dollars per head, and which had cost from twenty-five to forty dollars, had four trunks of valuable goods, comprising rich crimson velvets, and other articles, as presents for the king.

He is said to have some twenty-five thousand warriors, and a body-guard of eight thousand Amazons, with a vast number of wives in addition. He also possesses extensive buildings and palaces, all of which have been contributed without doubt by the whites in the way of trade, or for the purchase of slaves.

If a vessel is wrecked, or goes ashore, the whole property belongs to the king, and the officers and crew are sent up to his capital. A Hamburg brig just wrecked lost everything, and the captain and crew would have been sent up, had not the king been absent making war for slaves. We found three of the crew on board of an American brig now in the offing.