The Negroes of Angola, Congo, and the eastern coasts of Africa, consider the river-horse, which they call _Fetiso_, as a diminutive of some divinity, notwithstanding which they eat it. The other Negroes also think the flesh excellent. The Portuguese, who are rigid observers of Lent and fast days, pretend that it is a fish, and as such they eat it. They are doubtless in the right, as they find it very palatable. Europeans, on the contrary, have much difficulty in accommodating themselves to such a repast, as they find it to possess a gross taste and strong smell. The skin and teeth of the river-horse are objects of commerce: of the former, when dried and stretched, they make shields and bucklers, which are proof against arrows and bullets; while the teeth fetch a greater price than those of elephants. The dentists buy them up with avidity, as they have found that teeth made of this substance do not turn yellow like those of ivory; besides which they are much harder. It is also asserted that little plates made of these bones, and fixed by a riband round such parts of the limbs as are attacked by cramp and sciatica, prevent the exacerbation of those disorders, as long as they remain on the skin. This is a recipe which I do not guarantee; but it may be easily tried. CHAP. X. RIVER OF SIERRA LEONE, ITS DISCOVERY &c. — EXPEDITIONS OF THE EUROPEANS, THEIR PARTIAL ESTABLISHMENTS, AND PROJECTS OF COLONISATION. — REVIEW OF THEIR RESOURCES AND PROJECTS. — GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ESTABLISHMENTS WHICH MIGHT BE FORMED, AND THE MEASURES TO BE TAKEN FOR PROMOTING THE PROSPERITY OF COMMERCE IN THAT PART OF THE WORLD. THE last French establishment on the western coast of Africa is on the river of Sierra Leone, so named on account of the mountains and lions which are found in the country. The river is situated in 8°. 30′. lat. and 15°. 7′. long.; it was first discovered by the French, who were succeeded by the Portuguese; and these people formed several factories upon it, of which there now remain only the ruins, though a great number of their descendants may be found on both their banks, where they are naturalised, and are scarcely distinguishable from the natives. The other Europeans have confined themselves for a length of time to the making of separate expeditions for the trade of slaves, and this is the market to which the Americans still resort for the same traffic.