At daybreak sent the gig to board a brigantine observed to be at anchor about seven miles to the south-east. She proved to be the _Sarah Ann_, an English vessel, belonging to a company of merchants, who have purchased from the native chiefs several small spots of land along the coast, on which they have built some wigwam-looking huts, where they deposit a portion of English goods, such as broadcloth, muskets, knives, beads, etc. These huts are styled British factories, through which means a traffic is carried on with the natives, bartering their goods for palm-oil or ivory. The Company send a vessel out every two or three months, which vessel remains on the coast, going from one factory to another, until their cargoes are completed, leaving one or two of their crew and a few Kroomen at each place to carry on the trade. The _Sarah Ann_ had been five months out, and had on board about seven tons of oil. The captain and five of her crew had died; the remainder were in a sickly state. Although inexperienced and scarcely a month out, I could neither think nor dream of anything but slavers. On visiting the British factory at Piccaninny Cestos, a small thatched hut, nearly hidden in Jungle, I found a sickly-looking lad surrounded by a number of natives, each of whom brought a small portion of oil--about a gallon--in calabashes, in exchange for a small measure of cloth. By way of protection, the hut was surrounded by a high sort of railing formed of stakes, just wide enough apart to admit the muzzle of a musket, by which means the companion of the sick lad was shot through the head a few days previously. This brutal act was supposed to have been committed by the King’s son. I offered to set fire to all his black Majesty’s huts along the coast, but was informed that by so doing I should put a stop to the trade, which appeared to be of much more consequence than the poor lad’s life. [Illustration: _West African Natives._] The natives are odd-looking animals. They are not troubled with too much clothing, but besmear their face and bodies with mud by way of ornament, and wear a necklace of pigs’ teeth by way of a charm, to keep the devil at a distance. I reached the ship at the same time as the other boats from this expedition. They had pulled up in the dark towards the anchorage of Trade Town, and at midnight were just able to discern their vessels lying in the anchorage. Goldsmith directed that each boat should take one, which they did by pulling alongside their respective vessels as nearly as possible at the same time.