III. CHAP. lated to an intimate friend of mine by the furgeon of the ship who was present at the inauguration. fhewing that luxury would incite them to agricul ture, and o pen their minds. 38. The conduct of the king (formerly grand marabou *) of Almammy, while I was in Africa, appeared to me more interesting; as it seemed to evince the manly and fagacious character of the negroes, when enlightened, even by an African education. His understanding having been more cultivated in his youth than that of the other black princes, he foon rendered himself entirely independent on the whites. He not only prohibited the flave-trade throughout his dominions; but, in the year 1787, would not suffer the French to march their flaves from Gallam, through his country, so that they were obliged to change their route. He redeemed his own subjects, when seized by the Moors, and encouraged them to raise cattle, to cultivate the land, and to practise all kinds of industry. As grand marabou, he abftained from ftrong liquor, which, however, is not an univerfal rule among that order; for fome who travel with the whites are not very scrupulous in this refpect. His fubjects, imitating his example, were more fober than their neighbours. 39. This inftance feems to prove to what a degree of civilization these people might be brought, if this noble enterprize fhould be purfued with prudence and patience; for it will undoubtedly require a great deal of both. But fome degree of luxury (in my restrained sense) appears to me to be abfolutely neceffary to the fuccefs of any plan of this kind. Indeed, I cannot comprehend how the human understanding can be led on, from it's first imperfect dawn The marabous ere the chief priests among the negroes, and are the only people I have feen who can read and write Arabic. 111. ings, to that fate of improvement which is neceffary to the CHA P. formation of civilized fociety, without a relish for the comforts of life. Mere animal instinct impels uncivilized tribes to procure mere neceffaries: wishes for innocent gratifications would ftimulate them to cultivation, which would furnifh equivalents for the objects of their new defires. And when they are once brought to beftir themselves, and reconciled to regular, but moderate, labour, the improvement of their understandings will follow of course. For a people who have acquired habits of application, and whose industry, having secured them from want, affords them leisure for thought, will not be long without a defire for moral and intellectual improvement: or, at least, many individuals will feel, and haften to gratify, this defire, and will gradually impart a degree of knowledge and refinement to the whole community. 40. To accomplish this magnificent defign, in Africa, let us form agricultural colonies on its coaft, which present a variety of fituations, where we shall be little, or not at all, disturbed in our operations. Let us kindly mix with the inhabitants, and affift them in cultivating their fertile foil, with the view of inviting them to participate with us in it's inexhaustible stores, and in the concomitant bleffings of improving reafon and progreffive civilization. Let us give them a manly and generous education, which will make them feel the nobility of their origin, and fhew them of what great things they are capable-an education which will teach them no longer to suffer themselves to be dragged, or to confpire to drag others, from their fimple, but improveable and beloved focieties-which will teach them to avenge themselves on the blind and fordid men who chase them, only by becoming more useful to them as free E 2 pur men, Agricultural commended. colonies re IV. CHA P. men, than ever they have been, or can be, as flaves. Thus, on the wreck of tyranny, let us build altars to humanity, and prove to the negroes that the Europeans, become just from found policy, and generous from a sense of their true interefts, are at last disposed to make some atonement for the irreparable mischiefs their perverted fyftem of commerce has occafioned in Africa, 41. On principles nearly approaching to thefe, a colony has already been formed at Sierra Leona, and another attempted at the island of Bulama, of both which some account will be given in the following pages. CHA P. IV. CLIMATE, SOIL, AND WATER. CLIMATE. 42. THE climate of Africa, like that of other countries, varies with the nature of the foil, in it's dryness or moisture, it's elevation or depreffion, the comparative state of improvement, the height of thermometer, and other circumstances, perhaps, not yet fufficiently investigated. The latitude of a place is by no means a certain criterion of it's climate, as feems to be commonly supposed*. Even in the midst of the torrid zone, we meet with all possible gradations of heat and cold, almost the only circumstances which enter into the common idea of climate. The lofty summits * See an excellent difcourfe on this fubject, delivered in the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, by B. Ferner, counsellor of the king's chancery. IV. of the Andes, in South America, though under the equator, CHA P. and the high lands of Camarones, on the coast of Africa, though within between three and four degrees of it, are covered with everlasting fnow. 43. In the temperate zones, the year is divided into win- Wet and dry ter and summer; for spring and autumn may be confider. feasons. ed as transitions from each of these extremes to it's oppofite. But, in most parts of the torrid zone, nature has diftinguished the seasons into the wet and the dry. The former is, in Guinea, the season of sickness; but during the greater part of the latter, that country is, upon the whole, as healthful as any other whatever. up 44. From what I have seen, and been able to collect, the rainy seasons follow the paffage of the fun to either tropic, fo as generally to prevail in those places where the fun is vertical. Eaft of Cape Palmas, however, they feldom set in before June, when the fun returns from the northern tropic; but to the weftward of that cape, and the whole country, those feafons generally commence within the month of May, and continue for three or four months. In the beginning of this season, the earth being foftened with rain, the negroes till and plant their grounds; and, after the return of dry weather, they gather in their crops; occupations which they feldom abandon, even though allured by the most advantageous commerce. rain. 45. To give the reader fome idea of the quantity of rain, Quantity of which deluges Africa during the wet season, I need only mention that, at Senegal, one hundred and fifteen inches in depth of rain were found to fall in four months; a quantity which exceeds that which falls in most parts of Britain during four years*. Even during the dry feason, the dews are See Lind on the Difcafes of hot Climates, p. 43. fo IV. CHA P. fo copious as to preserve young and ripening vegetables from being scorched by the heat. It may indeed be queftioned, whether the rain which falls in fome countries, equal the dews which distil on most parts of the fertile fhores of Africa. But the magnitude and number of the rivers, which rise and fall, in the wet and dry seasons, are evident proofs that that continent is abundantly watered. In short, the notion of the ancients, that the torrid zone was not habitable for want of moisture, is perfectly inapplicable to most parts of the western tropical coast of Africa. Thermometer and Barometer. From Cape Blanco down Gambia. 46. The range of the thermometer is but in confiderable in the tropical regions; and, what is. ftill more remarkable, the barometer remains almoft ftationary during those furprising transitions from dry to wet, and the contrary. In Europe, the mercury rifes and falls about three inches; in the torrid zone, feldom half an inch. It is even faid to be but little affected by the most violent hurricane *. But M. Weft, in a description of St. Croix, published at Copenhagen laft year, fays that in a hurricane, or violent ftorm, which happened there in 1791, the mercury in his barometer rose very confiderably t. SOIL. 47. The foil all along the coaft is very unequal. From to the River Cape Blanco down to the River Gambia, it is in general very fandy; but the fand contains a very large admixture of broken fhells, and is covered, in many places, with a rich black mould. Even the most barren and unpromising tracts of this part of the country, except just on the sea shore, are covered with bushes and grass of a great growth; and * Lind ibid. + Bidrag til Beskrivelse over St. Croix, &c. where |