"Charles Irving." CHAPTER II. "What's all that Afric's golden rivers roll, Her odorous woods, and shining ivory stores? Ill-fated race! the softening arts of peace, And all-protecting freedom, which alone Sustains the name and dignity of man: These are not theirs!" Presuming that our young readers are not uninterested in the accounts of Charles Irving, we shall make a few more extracts from his correspondence. "You tell me," he observes in reply to the expressed wishes of his sister, "you tell me, my dear Sophy, to give you some information respecting the inhabitants of Whidáh. I am myself unable to speak very decisively, but I am assured by those who have visited other parts of Africa, that those of Whidáh exceed the other negroes in civilization, and they certainly appear to me, both industrious and ingenious. The women, I can assure you, are very important personages, truly help-meets to their lords. They brew the beer, dress the food, sell all sorts of articles, (except slaves!) at the markets; they are also, I am sorry to add, employed in tilling the land with the slaves. But, Sophy, this may be accounted for: the light of Christianity has not yet beamed upon this land. Its humanizing spirit we have, you know, often remarked, as peculiarly favourable to the weaker sex; and were Africa free, and blessed with the genial ray of true religion, doubtless her women would acquire that consideration which is their due, and be regarded as what they ought to be, as the companions and solace, not the slaves of man. In reference to their ingenuity, I have many specimens. They spin cotton yarn, weave fine cotton cloth, make calabashes, wooden vessels, plates, dishes, &c. I have now lying before me, a present from a great man, a pipe for smoking, which is remarkably neat. It is formed of clay of a reddish hue, the stem a reed about six feet in length. It is beautifully and finely polished, perfectly smooth, white, and even elegant. The bowl and stem are fastened together with a piece of delicate red leather. It has also a fine leather tassel, attached to about the middle of the stem; and so neat is the work, that although the end of the reed goes into the bowl of the pipe, it appears as if formed of one piece. They clean the reed, when filled up with the smoke, by drawing long straws through it, and the bowls, by scraping them with a small sharp instrument. "Last week we had quite a gala day, one of the country chiefs paying a visit to the governor at the fort. He was saluted with five guns on his landing: I was much pleased that my duty obliged me to go to the fort at the time.