Sir John Hawkins made three voyages from the coast of Africa to the West Indies and Spanish America with cargoes of slaves; and the good Queen Bess, having overcome her scruples regarding this lucrative trade, fitted out as a private enterprise two ships and sent them under the command of Hawkins, who lost the whole of her money, the ships being taken by the Spaniards. Sir Francis Drake, who at that time had command of the barque of fifty tons called the _Judith_, escaped and returned to England. [Illustration: WHERE HAWKINS MAY HAVE LANDED FOR SLAVES.] It is not surprising that the name of the great Elizabethan hero, Hawkins, is not held in reverence by the inhabitants of Freetown, who assert that, far from being a national hero, if he had lived in the present day he would have been hanged for some of the acts committed on their forbears. In this connection a story is told of a prominent Sierra Leonean who, on hearing the words “Britons never shall be slaves” sung, remarked with some feeling, to a near neighbour, “But they have been—Julius Cæsar took them as slaves to Rome.” Captain Keeling, who visited Sierra Leone in August, 1607, wrote the following account of his visit: “About 7 p.m. we anchored in twenty fathoms on hard sand, the south part of Ilha Verde bearing E. and the Cape of Sierra Leone, which is a low point, N. by E. about eight leagues distant. But the land over the Cape is very high, and may be seen fifteen leagues off in clear weather. About six next morning we made sail for the road, and had not less than 16, 15, 10 and 9 fathoms till we ranged north and south with the rocks which lie about one and a half miles west of Cape Sierra Leone; and when one mile from the nearest shore we had seven fathoms good shoaling between us and the rock. Immediately when past the rock we had 20 fathoms, and shoaled to 18, 16, 12 and 10 fathoms all the way into the roads, keeping very near the South shore; for a sand lies about two miles from the North shore or a league from the South shore, and upon it the sea continually breaks. We came to anchor in ten fathoms on good ground, the point of Sierra Leone bearing W. by N., the north point of the bay N. by W., and the sand or breaker N.N.E. In the afternoon we were waved by some men on shore, to whom I sent my boat, which, leaving two hostages, brought off four negroes, who promised us refreshments. My skiff sounded between our anchorage and the breakers, finding fair shoaling, with two fathoms water within two boats-length of the beach or sand on which the sea breaks. All the previous observations of the variation, since our coming from 2 N. latitude to this place proved erroneous; for to each distance, having reference to any Meridian eastwards, there must be added 30 leagues, and from such as referred to western Meridians 30 leagues must be subtracted; for it appeared, by our falling in with the land, that the ship was so much more westerly than