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