Thus nearly all the most important information has been here made use of for placing in the hands of seamen the best directions how to proceed on their several courses in the Atlantic Ocean. But, although the directions given here have been confirmed by many observations, it must not be imagined that they will be absolutely correct under all circumstances. Nothing can be more variable than the elements that have been here treated on. The Seaman should make them his constant study, in order to be able, according to circumstances, to avail himself of the most probable result of general appearances, and to shape his course as most convenient when exceptions occur in the general laws here defined.

A GLANCE AT THE SLAVING PLACES ON THE AFRICAN COAST.Extract.

Proceeding from Cape St. Paul to Blookos, there I landed. Numerous slaves have been shipped there from time to time, more particularly through the medium of its late principal resident, a Senor Bieta, at present living in Brazil. A connection of his named Lema, a Brazilian, educated in England and speaking the language of that country with considerable fluency, at present resides there. He is now engaged in legal traffic, but in 1854 he dabbled in that of negroes and in so doing burnt his fingers most amazingly.

Elmina Chica is just now exporting a very fair quantity of palm oil, but it is a trade to which its chiefs have only turned their attention per force the old Adam is as strong with them as ever. At Porto Seguro are usually to be seen one or more Dutch vessels loading with oil. Little Popoe, as bad a place as need be, has for some years been the residence of an Austrian named Amadie. He has frequently tried his hand at the forbidden trade, but I fancy from his appearance, &c., it has fared with him but indifferently. I saw him at Accra last July on his way to Europe. I do not think any European resides there at present.

At Ahgwey the presence formerly of a factory belonging to a London or Liverpool firm named Hutton had no effect in the way of rescuing its name from a deservedly slave dealing polluted reputation; but of late legitimate trade has made rapid strides there. A Mr. Le Grisley-half Scotch, half Jerseyman-is the head, indeed the only white resident. He has a considerable connection with Lagos, and is doing, for a man sprung from an obscure position, a large business in palm oil. In passing Great Popoe I have generally seen an American vessel loading.

Whydab is becoming as thriving a place for the trade of palm oil as it was formerly for that of slaves, though that those good times should have passed away-good times according to the creed of the

Messrs. Le Souza and other slave dealing merchants there is a circumstance deeply regretted by the inhabitants. Next comes an isolated spot named Jackin. It will frequently be found furnishing a couple of ships at a time with cargoes of oil; but if the slave trade was to break out again with any force I could not put my hand on a more likely place from whence negroes would be embarked.

Leaving it, we reach the district lorded over by the notorious Jose Domingo Martinez, whose residence is now at Appi Vista anon at Porto Novo. A large number of Bristol ships are annually consigned to him; and at either one or the other place, according as the paths from the interior may be open or closed, quite a fleet will always be found loading with palm oil. This man's wealth has been set down as something fabulous, but numerous captures and severe losses attending his trade in slaves of late years have caused him, I rather imagine, at present to be anything but a millionaire, although continued consignments from England are made to him in part payment for oil, consisting of most magnificent articles of plate, such as candelabra, epergnes, vases, horses, cups, fountains, a bath, splendid clocks, &c., all made either of silver or gold, or both, and weighing from three to five hundred ounces each, and these he as constantly tranships and sends to Bahia. One would almost be led to suppose that he kept a perfectly regal establishment there. I know that his house is more like a palace than anything else, yet for these many years is he residing in a hut and eating with an iron fork and spoon! I have heard that he is an outlaw from Brazil, but I do not know if it be so. Altogether he is a mysterious character, but he has dealt enormously in slaves and would with pleasure do so again if he had the chance.

Badagry appears to have become a favoured field for the operations of the servants of the Wesleyan Mission. This of itself should do away with its celebrity as one of the best marts for slaves on that part of the coast.

It is the peculiar province of the higher authorities of the African squadron to speak of Lagos. I shall therefore say nothing regarding it save the fact that whenever I have had an occasion to pay an official visit to the Consul, Benjamin Campbell, Esq., I have been received and entertained with much hospitality.

With regard to the state of the ship's company's health during our period of service in the Bights, though with a crew consisting of seventy-five men and officers, the number sick did certainly not average more than 1.8 daily.

Whilst at anchor in the roads of Accra, in the early part of August, a Spanish barque, named the Fernando Po, arrived, last from Barcelona, bound to the island after which she was named. The appearance of the Spanish flag in those waters being a most unusual if not unprecedented event, it was deemed advisable to search her. Finding a number of large casks on board, together with some two or three hundred packs, of which the Captain could give no reasonable account, also a second name, such as vessels put on their stems, stowed away in her hold, we conceived we had more than sufficient grounds for

seizing her, and she was accordingly sent to the Mixed Commission Court at Sierra Leone for the purpose of adjudication.

A considerable connection existed between this vessel and two brothers of the name of Mustach: one, Pedro, a notorious slave dealer at Whydah; Domingo, the other, recently appointed Governor of Fernando Po in the place of the late Mr. Consul Beecroft. This man also either is or was a slave merchant, and actually at the time that he was appointed he was at the Havana prosecuting some case having reference to slave transactions.

Though the seizure was made so long ago as August, I regret to say that up to the present time no news concerning her of any kind whatever has reached me.

On the 7th of September H.M. brigantine crossed the equator on her way to join the southern division of ships. Till the 11th ultimo we were, with the exception of a trip to St. Helena, stationed to the southward of the River Congo,-visiting in that period St. Pauls Loando, Ambriz, and Ambrizette, besides some of the bays of the southern shore of the river, up as far as Madora Creek.

I am forcibly struck here, as I have been in other parts of the world, with the fact that the presence of the Portuguese Government at any place, however fair it may be, acts on it as a blight, and that nothing of a healthy character can thrive within its baneful influence. It seems to be quite evident that they are desirous of extending their dominions northward. They have already seized upon Ambrize, a place at which the trade in ivory, red and white gum, copper ore, and palm oil has been gradually increasing; but that I opine will now cease, for as their obnoxious custom-house duties come into operation so will the natives take their wares to some other place where the same are not in force and where consequently the European merchant can afford to pay a better price for them. Into their rapacious maw would they also have drawn its neighbour Ambrizette but for the energetic measures of the Commodore. One of their brigs, the Villa Hora, has been excessively busy of late up the Congo. I should not be surprised at hearing that the factories at Punta da Linha had become amenable to the authority of the Portuguese Governor-General. Their factories are also increasing at the Bananas, at least they would have done so if the other day some natives of the Congo had not burnt them down. To proceed further North,-I do not think the people of Kabenda consider themselves perfectly safe from encroachment, though the advent to them of the Portuguese as a government would be, so they say, the greatest blow that could be inflicted on them. Whilst at anchor at Loango the other day one of the English residents there mentioned a report that had just reached him, founded on what he considered to be good authority, that three Portuguese men-of-war-the two brigs at present on the station and a three masted frigate-built ship which I believe left Loando some months since for the Mozambique with the view to return here—had arrived and were then anchored in the Bay of Kabenda. I proceeded there as soon as possible, but found that it was not the case. It is evident,

however, from the above that an official visit from the Loando authorities would not create any very great astonishment.

The trade of this last-named place if it ever has been of any magnitude is sadly fallen off. It possesses now but one factory, that the property of Messrs. Hatton and Cookson, of Liverpool, and the country produce their factor is enabled to export is confined to a few teeth, an exceedingly limited amount of the almost valueless white gum, with a quantity of palm oil so small as scarce to be worth mentioning; and this factory even it is thought will shortly be given up.

At Kabenda is no European to be found, nor would it seem that its trade at present is sufficient to justify any one making it his residence. It has a far famed notoriety as a slave dealing spot, and such a reputation is quite sufficient to account for its having no legitimate sources of commerce. It should be otherwise, for its country, as far as beauty and richness of soil are concerned, has scarce an equal; its bay abounds in fish; and the population is most dense-towns being as thick as hamlets or, one might almost say, houses at other places. In no part of the world did I ever find stock so plentiful or so cheap. Money is appreciated at its proper value, but old clothes and empty bottles continue to be at a premium. I cannot speak in praise of its water, it arrives on board in a very discoloured state and very soon turns almost black, leaving a deposit at the bottom of the tank surprising to behold. The water from the river at Loango is not considered particularly good, but a small stream filtering through the rock close to the entrance of the creek running up inside the spit and the mainland, some fifty yards from the landing-place of the factory, is delicious. We watered there and found it quite equal to the island

water.

One, if not the principal, chief at Kabenda, an educated coloured man named Chico Franca, residing at a beautifully clean and neatly built town called Porto Rico, stated that he wished to place himself in communication with the officer in charge of the southern division relative to our government giving permission, or perhaps more properly speaking, affording its countenance to the settlement there of liberated Brazilian slaves originally imported from Africa, similar to what has been done at Lagos for some time past. Such a desire was very praiseworthy, and I suggested that prior to his making such an application, himself and his brother chiefs endeavoured to improve the excessively questionable reputation that their country at the present time enjoyed.

Though no barracoons appear to be extant, domestic slavery is carried on to such an extent that slaves abound in any number, and their value is something frightfully small. It is the same at Loango, possibly to a greater extent. I am convinced that at either place one or more slave ships might be supplied with a cargo at any moment.

The only factory on this part of the coast belonging to the Portuguese is an unimportant one at Malemba Bay, and which I visited for the purpose of learning something of it, as well as to see if water was easy to be procured. Strange to say, there is none there at all, except

here and there may be a dirty hole used by the natives. The Europeans have to send three miles to the southward for it, to a low point slightly projecting to seaward, and this even I believe they have to dig for.

During our short sojourn here we have discovered the currents to be extremely uncertain in their strength though not in direction. We have been led to expect frequent heavy rains and numerous tornadoes at this season, but on the contrary we have had but little of the former, and the two or three breezes that we have met with have been of little moment. The season is however not an ordinary one, for the natives sadly complain of the want of rain, their crops being in a very backward state; they cannot account for the dryness of the present time.

To the southward of the Congo I more than once observed that in running down the coast it was necessary to make a considerable allowance say as much as two points-for the inshore set of the current.

In crossing over to St. Helena, when leaving the neighbourhood of Ambrizette I made frequent tacks to windward, not liking to go so far to the northward as the prevailing winds at the time would have compelled me had I kept on the port tack. But this I have reason now to think was so much time thrown away, for I did but little by it, only gaining in the end what I have thought proper to call a "turning point" situated near about the latitude and longitude of 7° 30′ S. and 6° 15′ E.; from thence I made nearly a fair wind for the island. And on returning, before I could shape a course for the original place of our departure, I had reached to the same position; and, strange to say, which will be a confirmation of what I have asserted, at that spot I fell in with H. M. screw steamer Plumper, bound on precisly a similar voyage as that from which I was returning. Up to that period she had met with adverse winds, but afterwards made her course good. She had steamed some distance to windward prior to getting away from the coast, but it would not seem that it had advantaged her much. At any future time making the same passage I would at once go away on the port tack if that the ship headed anything to the westward of North (which she would be sure to do) the variation being in my favour.

From the Colonization Herald of Philadelphia we borrow the following.

New Church and Seminary at Cape Palmas.

We have received from the Rev. J. S. Payne, our Missionary at Cape Palmas, and from the quarterly conference of the mission there very gratifying intelligence, under date of November 22nd, 1855.

Our new substantial stone church is finished and stands as a beacon light without, and offers the light of the knowledge of the glorious Gospel within. It was dedicated by the Pastor on the 16th of November last. The members of the mission contributed the money for NO. 6.-VOL. XXV.

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