Africa

Journal of an African Cruiser Comprising Sketches of the Canaries, the Cape De Verds, Liberia, Madeira, Sierra Leone, and Other Places of Interest on the West Coast of Africa

_June_ 5,1843.--Towed by the steamer Hercules, we go down the harbor of New York, at 7 o'clock A.M. It is the fourth time the ship has moved, since she was launched from the Navy Yard at Portsmouth. Her first experience of the ocean was a rough one; she was caught in a wintry...

Chapters

4. CHAPTER IV.

Return to Monrovia--Sail for Porto Praya--The Union Hotel--Reminiscences of famine at the Cape de Verds--Frolics of Whalemen--Visit to the island of St. Antonio--A dance--Fertil...

7. CHAPTER VII.

High character of Governor Roberts--Suspected Slaver--Dinner on shore--Facts and remarks relative to the slave trade--British philanthropy--Original cost of a slave--Anchor at S...

6. CHAPTER VI.

Settlement of Sinoe--Account of a murder by the natives--Arrival at Monrovia--Appearance of the town--Temperance--Law-suits and Pleadings--Expedition up the St. Paul's river--Re...

15. CHAPTER XV.

Jack Purser's wife--Fever on Board--Arrival at Cape Palmas--Strange Figure and Equipage of a Missionary--King George of Grand Bassam--Intercourse with the Natives--Tahon--Grand...

16. CHAPTER XVI.

Visit from two English Trading-Captains--The Invisible King of Jack-a-Jack--Human Sacrifices--French Fortresses at Grand Bassam, at Assinee, and other points--Objections to the...

8. CHAPTER VIII.

Palaver at Sinoe--Ejectment of a Horde of Fishmen--Palaver at Settra Kroo--Mrs. Sawyer--Objections to the Marriage of Missionaries--A Centipede--Arrival at Cape Palmas--Rescue o...

10. CHAPTER X.

Palaver at Little Berebee--Death of the Interpreter and King Ben Cracko, and burning of the Town--Battle with the Natives, and Conflagration of several Towns--Turkey Buzzards--A...

17. CHAPTER XVII.

Dutch Settlement at El Mina--Appearance of the Town--Cape Coast Castle--Burial-place of L. E. L.--An English Dinner--Festivity on Ship-board--British, Dutch, and Danish Accra--N...

21. CHAPTER XXI.

Sierra Leone--Sources of its Population--Appearance of the Town and surrounding Country--Religious Ceremonies of the Mandingoes--Treatment of liberated Slaves--Police of Sierra...

12. CHAPTER XII.

Passage back to Liberia--Coffee Plantations--Dinner on Shore--Character of Col. Hicks--Shells and Sentiment--Visit to the Council Chamber--the New Georgia Representative--a Slav...

18. CHAPTER XVIII.

Excursion to St. Anne de Chaves--Mode of drying Coffee--Black Priests--Madame Domingo's Hotel--Catering for the Mess--Man swallowed by a Shark--Letters from Home--Fashionable Eq...

11. CHAPTER XI.

Madeira--Aspect of the Island--Annual races--"Hail Columbia!"--Ladies, Cavaliers, and Peasants--Dissertation upon Wines--The Clerks of Funchal--Decay of the Wine-Trade--Cultivat...

19. CHAPTER XIX.

June 18.--A weary blank! Since my last date, I have had the coast fever, caught by sleeping on shore, at St. Anne de Chaves, and am now just recovering my physical force. My sic...

1. CHAPTER I.

_June_ 5,1843.--Towed by the steamer Hercules, we go down the harbor of New York, at 7 o'clock A.M. It is the fourth time the ship has moved, since she was launched from the Nav...

20. CHAPTER XX

Glimpses of the bottom of the Sea--The Gar-Fish--The Booby and the Mullet--Improvement of Liberia--Its Prospects--Higher social position of its Inhabitants--Intercourse between...

13. CHAPTER XIII.

The Theatre--Tribute to Governor Buchanan--Arrival at Settra Kroo--Jack Purser--The Mission-School--Cleanliness of the Natives--Uses of the Palm-Tree--Native Money--Mrs. Sawyer-...

9. CHAPTER IX.

_December_ 9.--At Cape Palmas. We again landed, as on the preceding day, and met the redoubtable King Freeman, and twenty-three other kings and headmen from the tribes in the vi...

14. CHAPTER XIV.

American Trade--Mode of Advertising, and of making Sales--Standard of Commercial Integrity--Dealings with Slave-Traders--Trade with the Natives--King's "Dash"--Native Commission...

2. CHAPTER II.

_July_ 1.--Ashore at Santa Cruz. The population of the city is reckoned at six or eight thousand. The streets are clean, and the houses built in the Spanish fashion. Camels are...

5. CHAPTER V.

_September_ 9.--Weighed anchor, and stood out to sea. At 8 o'clock A.M., made the frigate Macedonian. She saluted the broad pennant, and both ships bore up for Porto Grande, whe...

3. CHAPTER III.

_August_ 2.--We were visited by Governor Roberts, Doctor Day, and General Lewis, the latter being colonial secretary, and military chief of the settlement. They looked well, and...

22. CHAPTER XXII.

Failure of the American Squadron to capture Slave-Vessels--Causes of that Failure--High character of the Commodore and Commander--Similar ill-success of the French Squadron--Suc...