Cuffe told him that "he complained in America because he was deprived of these privileges; and then he murmured because he was called upon: Go and fill thy seat, do as well as thou canst."[43] The citizens wished him to begin a settlement at Sherbro, and the African Institution again took occasion to profit by the experience of their "dark colored but civilized ally" who suggested that a house be built on the farm of each settler brought over. When Cuffe began preparations for the return voyage "it was like a father taking leave of his children." He sailed on April 4th, and after a voyage of fifty-four days reached the United States again. After juggling in his mind the various proposals for ameliorating the condition of "that part of the great family of Africa" in America he concluded: "Nothing: Nothing of much amount can be affected by an individual or private bodies until the government removes the obstruction in the way."[44] CHAPTER VIII AFRO-AMERICAN INTERESTS Neither voyage to Africa was financially profitable. Cuffe did not make either visit with that end in view. But he was careful to make use of every opportunity to reduce the expense of the trip. An undated item in his letters says property to the value of $1337.15 was landed from the _Traveller_ and placed in charge of Thomas Wainer. Blue cloth, cassimere and flannels bought through William and Richard Rathbone of Liverpool were imported when Cuffe made his first voyage to Sierra Leone. Peter and Alexander Howard of New Bedford shared equally with Cuffe in this transaction. The estimated value of the goods was $2300; the profit to each party was $439.93.[45] Cuffe imported camwood and squills when he returned in 1816, but neither sold well. Abner Gifford made a small sale of camwood in Albany but the bulk of it was sold by Hicks Jenkins and Company of New York. Peleg Howland and Sons and Swift and Barnes, both of Poughkeepsie, purchased some of the camwood. The _Traveller_, however, was kept busy. In 1816 and 1817 she carried freight along the Atlantic coast and made several voyages to the West Indies. Tuite and Amie, a firm in Port au Prince, was a correspondent of Cuffe. Tuite at one time seems to have lived at Bridgeport and to have established a line of Quaker connections. While Cuffe had business dealings with a number of houses the ones most frequently referred to are Josiah Crodler and Company of Boston, Hicks Jenkins and Company of New York and William Roth, Jr., and Company of New Bedford. At the time of his death Cuffe was constructing salt works at Westport.