On my visit to Sierra Leone, Dr. Oldfield, whose veracity cannot be questioned, and whose position affords a superior knowledge of that traffic, informed me that many of the slaves adjudicated upon at Sierra Leone were obtained through the agency of the colonists of Abbakuta. Does not this fact prove the necessity of devising some means to induce the relinquishment of this unlawful traffic, and to the adoption of honest and remunerative industry? On the coast, especially at Whydah, a ready market might here always be found for corn and other produce, as many ships leave this coast with only half a cargo. I feel confident if a hundred steady men met with some encouragement to emigrate from England as agriculturists and mechanics, they would do well in this country, particularly as the King of Dahomey is so anxious that Englishmen should settle here. I visited a farm-house where I found a hand-mill for grinding corn and manioc. It was a large fly-wheel, not placed horizontally, but perpendicular, like the barley mill: the felloes of the wheel about six inches broad, and worked in a trough of a semicircular form. The rim of this wheel is covered with sheet copper, having small holes punched through. It is then nailed on the rim with the rough side outwards. The wheel is turned in the same way as a grindstone. The trough can be raised or lowered at will according as they require it. This was made by the farmer himself near this place. On the borders of a marsh I found some fern of various species, the lady or female much resembling that in England, and the common fern exactly the same as our English fern, with the exception of the size, both species here being much larger. The lady fern measures five feet, and the others six feet four inches. Mangoes, oranges, limes, three different species of tamarinds, grow wild in this country, and many other delicious fruits, with the names of which I am unacquainted; amongst them a damson, very sweet when ripe, dark, brown, or red, and of the size of a cherry. FOOTNOTES: [13] This toll-bar is composed of piles or stakes driven into the bed of the lagoon, touching each other the whole distance across, leaving a space sufficient for a canoe to pass, but after 12 A.M. secured from passage by a slip-bar. [14] See Mission Reports. CHAPTER IX. Manufacture of Salt--Death of Dr. M’Hardy--Falling Stars--Manioc, the Food of the Slaves--Crops--Mode of storing Grain--Superstition--Hospitality of Don Francisco de Suza--A Tornado--Slave Auctions--Punishment for killing Fetish Snakes--Slaughter of Dogs, &c.--Dogs used as Food--An English Dog rescued--Thievish Propensities of the Natives--Falling Stars--Murder of two Wives--Adjito--A heavy Tornado--Robbed by my Servant--American Brig sold to Slave Merchants--Shipment of Slaves--Sharks--Death caused by one--Preparations for my Journey to the Kong Mountains--M. De Suza’s Liberality--His Opinion of Englishmen.