The Author. "Offspring of love divine, Humanity! ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Come thou, and weep with me substantial ills, And execrate the wrongs that Afric's sons, Torn from their native shore, and doom'd to bear The yoke of servitude in foreign climes, Sustain. Nor vainly let our sorrows flow, Nor let the strong emotion rise in vain. But may the kind contagion widely spread, Till, in its flame, the unrelenting heart Of avarice melt in softest sympathy, And one bright ray of universal love, Of grateful incense, rises up to heaven!" Roscoe's Wrongs of Africa. "E'en from my pen some heartfelt truths may fall; For outrag'd nature claims the care of all." SAMBOE; OR, THE AFRICAN BOY. CHAPTER I. "Slaves of gold! whose sordid dealings Tarnish all your boasted powers, Prove that ye have human feelings, Ere ye proudly question ours." "Encourage the chiefs to go to war, that they may obtain slaves; for as on many accounts we require a large number, we desire you to exert yourself, and not stand out for a price." Such was the direction, and such the order, of the slave-merchants at Cape Coast Castle, to one of their factors in the interior, for the collection and purchase of slaves; who, dreadful as was his occupation, yet at all times faithfully endeavoured to obey the orders of his employers. This person had, by studying the character, peculiarities, prejudices, and language of the natives, obtained a great influence over the chiefs of a country, peculiarly blessed by Providence, with all that can enchant the eye, or gratify the wants of man. It is a well-known, but melancholy truth, that, by the introduction of spirituous liquors, and other desirable articles to an uncivilized people, the Europeans have greatly augmented and cherished the dreadful traffic in human beings: the African kings and chiefs being induced, by these temptations, to barter their subjects and captives, for commodities they estimate so highly; frequently even fomenting quarrels, and making war with each other, at the instigation of the slave-factors, for the sole purpose of obtaining captives, in order to exchange them for European articles, with which the factors, who visit their country for the dreadful purpose, are well furnished; to tempt the appetites, and provoke the wild passions, of the wretched beings they intend to make the instruments of their inhuman thirst of gain. (Note A.)