15th.--I went with Captain Layton on board the _Cygnet_, and was received with great kindness by the officers. During the night or previous evening, the _Sea Lark_, Captain Gooch, had anchored near the _Cygnet_. Captain Gooch came on board, and dined with Captain Layton and myself. Both these gentlemen expressed their willingness to assist me in any way in their power consistent with their duty. On the 25th, at three o’clock A.M., during a dreadful tornado, accompanied with the most vivid lightning and loudest thunder I ever heard, the thermometer fell from 87° to 78° Fahrenheit. At ten A.M. I was present at a sale by auction of the slaves belonging to a Portuguese merchant, who died on the 23d instant. Being domestic slaves, they sold high; one, a cook, sold for two hundred and fifty dollars. The slaves are led in one at a time in succession as they are sold, and their persons examined. They are sold to the highest bidder, in the same way as cattle are sold in England. At half-past six a fiery meteor passed to the southward of Whydah, from east to west. 26th.--The wind changed regularly since the 20th from west to north, and at daybreak returned to west, forming the circle of the four cardinal points in twelve hours. This day and night the thermometer ranged between noon and midnight from 82° to 78° Fahrenheit. May 1st.--Punishment was inflicted for accidentally killing two fetish snakes, while clearing some rubbish in the French fort. This is one of the most absurd as well as savage customs I ever witnessed or heard of. Still it is not so bad as it was in the reign of the preceding King of Dahomey, when the law declared the head of the unfortunate individual forfeited for killing one of these reptiles, even by accident. The present King has reduced the capital punishment to that described below. On this occasion three individuals were sentenced, as guilty of the murder of this fetish snake. A small house is thereupon made for each individual, composed of dry faggots for walls, and it is thatched with dry grass. The fetish-men then assemble, and fully describe the enormity of the crime committed. Each individual is then smeared over, or rather has a quantity of palm-oil and yeast poured over them, and then a bushel basket is placed on each of their heads. In this basket are placed small calabashes, filled to the brim, so that the slightest motion of the body spills both the oil and the yeast, which runs through the bottom of the basket on to the head. Each individual carries a dog and a kid, as well as two fowls, all fastened together, across his shoulders. The culprits were then marched slowly round their newly-prepared houses, the fetish-men haranguing them all the time. Each individual is then brought to the door of his house, which is not more than four feet high. He is there freed from his burthen, and compelled to crawl into his house on his belly, for the door is only eighteen inches high. He is then shut into this small space with