man appeared to be better acquainted with the Del Rey and the other rivers which flow into the bights of Benin and Biafra, than any person I have ever conversed with, or any author I have read, excepting only Bosman, whose work certainly contains the best account of the Rio Formoso; it was written by a Dutch captain (Nyandale) in 1702, who had been twice trading in this river, and is to the following effect: "That sixty Dutch miles (or two hundred and ten English) above its mouth, ships may be navigated with safety, sailing by hundreds of branches, some of which are so wide that they well deserve the name of rivers; its length and source, he adds, he was not able to discover, no negro being able to give him an exact account of it."

Granting, however, that the Formoso may not enable us to get to the Niger, still a trial, with steam boats, ought to be made to ascertain how far it will take us into the interior; and then, mooring a vessel well manned and provisioned, at the highest navigable point of the river, small parties could be sent out daily to make incursions, and after becoming in some measure acquainted with the natives, and obtaining information as to the best means of pursuing the journey, a strong detachment, with men of science, might easily be fitted out from the vessel, which should remain moored as already mentioned; so that the party which may be detached, will have an opportunity of communicating to the commander, from week to week, the success of the undertaking, and hence we should be able to get in England the earliest accounts of their progress. Upon this subject, I agree with Mr. M'Queen, that the bights of Benin and Biafra are the most desirable points to set out from to ascertain the course and termination of the Niger. pp. 394-398.

The Niger might, however, Mr. Hutton thinks, be easily reached by an overland journey through Ashantee. The distance from Cape Coast, he is persuaded, would not exceed seven hundred miles, two hundred of which have been repeatedly travelled; and with the king of Ashantee's protection, the remaining five hundred might be with ease accomplished in ten weeks. The country through which the expedition would pass, is stated to be abundantly supplied with fresh water, and the people are hospitable and obliging. That the Niger and the Nile unite, according to the opinions of Mr. Dupuis, Mr. Jackson, and Mr. Bowdich, and the uniform assertions of the Moors, Mr. Hutton does not attempt to dispute; but he inclines to believe, that they will nevertheless be found distinct rivers, connected by the Gir, and that the Niger throws off a great body of its water in some branch not yet discovered, to the eastward of the Leasa, and flowing into the bights of Benin and Biafra.

Mr. Hutton, who was then in the African Company's service, joined the expedition of the unfortunate Major Peddie, and accompanied him, in the capacity of secretary, as far as Senegal ; when a disagreement took place respecting the terms of the engagement, which issued in their separation, the Major consenting

to pay Mr. Hutton's expenses back to Cape Coast. The occasion of the failure of this expedition, is thus stated:

The number of horses purchased by Major Peddie amounted nearly to fifty, and the asses to a hundred, besides several camels; the officers and men exceeded a hundred; and the property purchased for the use of the expedition, the presents, and all expenses, could not have cost less than £50,000.; so that the little good (if any) which has resulted from this expedition, must plainly shew the bad policy of fitting out such large and expensive missions to explore Africa; for what Chief would let such a formidable expedition pass through his territory? The king of Ashantee, and all the African chiefs that I have ever been acquainted with, would object to it from the fear alone of such a strong party joining their enemies. It was, therefore, not at all to be wondered at that the king of the Foulahs would not allow the expedition to pass through his territory. Besides, Major Peddie did a very impolitic thing at Senegal, in trying in public how the horses would carry the two fieldpieces, which were intended for the boats after getting to the Niger, as the Moors who were at Senegal, must have noticed it, and, it was most probable, would send word of the fact to the king of Sego and other chiefs in the interior. But as the fate and particulars of this expedition were long ago known, I shall only add, that Major Peddie lost his life at Kakundy, in the Rio Nunez; and Captain Campbell, who succeeded him in the command, advanced into the Foulah country, where his haughty conduct obstructed his further progress, and constrained him, amidst a thousand difficulties, to retrace his steps to Kakundy, where the fever prevented the execution of a plot formed by his soldiers to assassinate him. Lieutenant Stokoe, of the Inconstant frigate, then succeeded to the command; and there was a gentleman of the name of Dochard, a surgcon, who was the next officer to Stokoe, and who, I believe, is now in England; but what became of Lieutenant Stokoe I have never heard. Upon the subject of this expedition, experience has convinced me, that such formidable missions will never succeed in exploring Africa, as the natives are too jealous and too much alarmed at such a force. My humble opinion is, that we must either have no appearance of force at all, or else such a force as will surmount every obstacle.' pp. 13-15.

We observe that our Author, in his notices respecting the Coast country, refers repeatedly to Mr. Mollien as an authority; in particular as to the remarkable proximity of the sources of the Senegal, the Faleme, the Gambia, and the Rio Grande near Labbe and Teembo. He bears testimony also to the correctness of Mr. Robertson's description of the Coast in his Notes on Africa, and agrees with him as to the great importance of the harbour of Succondee, and of a settlement either at Cape Lahou or Cape Palmas. The latter is recommended by that gentleman as one of the most desirable situations for a European colony on the west coast of Africa, and a valuable link of connexion between Sierra Leone and the British possessions on the Gold Coast. But our Author inclines in favour of Cape Lahou, which

is 140 miles further to the Eastward, on account of the river,` 'which large craft may enter with safety during the rains,' and which, the natives say, is a branch of a great river in the interior; and also, as it would afford an opportunity of opening a commu-. nication with the Buntakoos, a large and powerful nation to the N. W. of Ashantee; by whose means we might be able to prevent the king of Ashantee from disturbing our settlements on the Gold Coast.

We shall not go into the details connected with the mission, or the disgusting and discreditable disputes between the governor and council, and the Conductor of the Embassy, by which its successful progress was thwarted in every stage, and its ultimate objects in great measure defeated. Our Author's short stay at Coomassie did not enable him to collect much additional information relative to the manners and customs of the Ashantees, of which Mr. Bowdich has given so full a description. The following anecdote from Mr. Hutchinson's diary, is introduced to illustrate the amiable character of the present king, who is represented as courteous and dignified, and more eloquent than any of his counsellors, except Adoosey, the prime minister.

Ilis Majesty, some years ago, took one of Apokoo's daughters to wife: she is now one of the finest women in Coomassie, and must have been a great beauty. It was discovered by the chief eunuch, that she had intrigued with one of the attendants. It was told the king that one of his wives had proved false. "Let her die instantly," said he in a rage. The slave whispered him, "It is Apokoo's child." He rose in silence, and went to the harem, and the culprit being sent for, the king turned his head away while he folded his cloth around him, and lifting the curtain to let her pass, he exclaimed: " Go, you are free! your father was my father; he is my friend, and for his sake I forget you : when you find any man good enough for you, let me know, and I will give him gold."' p. 316.

The Fantees and the Ashantees, though distinct and hostile tribes, appear to be, in fact, branches of the same nation. Their manners and superstitions are similar, and their meagre language is the same, the Fantee being merely a dialect of the Ashantee. The population of the latter country is estimated by Mr. Bowdich at a million; but Mr. Hutton thinks that he greatly overrates it. Fantee, which extends along the coast from West to East nearly ninety miles, being about seventy miles square, is estimated to contain 40,000 inhabitants. They have here some idea of a Supreme Being, whom they call Yaung Coompon, and when they hear thunder, will sometimes remark that Yuung Coompon is riding in his carriage. But in the specimens given of the language, although both demon' and devil' appear, (aboinsum aud oboinsam, probably the

same word,) yet, neither God, soul, nor spirit occurs: there is, however, ghost, saman. The natives of all these countries on the western coast of Africa, are, in fact, idolaters of the lowest description, their worship being literally an adoration of the Principle of Evil under the most appropriate symbols. At Discove in Ahanta, on the Gold Coast, they worship the cro. codile.

.

· Any person,' says Mr. Hutton, " going a shore here, may see one of these animals at the expense of a fowl and a bottle of liquor, which is given to the feetish man (Tando Cudjoe), who obliged me with a sight of it in the following manner. This fetish man, or priest, took a white fowl, (which colour, it appears, the fowl must be, as the natives have most faith in it,) and on arriving at the pond near the fort, it was placed near the ground, Tando Cudjoe making a little noise with his mouth, when the crocodile instantly made its appearance on the opposite side of the pond, and, plunging through the water, came very near the spot where we were standing; but as the fowl made its escape into the bush, or forest, the crocodile, instead of following it, pursued me and my companion, Captain Leavens, so closely for a short distance, that had not a small dog been behind me, which it laid hold of and was thus satisfied, the animal would, in another minute, most probably have taken a fancy to one of my legs. The path being narrow, and Captain Leavens before me, I could neither run so fast as I wished, nor turn to the right hand or to the left, on account of the thick underwood which prevailed on both sides of the path.' pp. 41, 2.

Our Author had nearly paid dear, in this instance, for raising the Devil.-At Accra, the hyena is the favourite object of worship; in the kingdom of Dahomey, the snake; and vultures all over the coast. The practice of sacrificing human victims on the death of a person of distinction, is equally prevalent, and is attended, in some parts, by circumstances of aggravated barbarity.

At Ashantee hundreds, sometimes thousands, are sacrificed on the death of a person of distinction, or on the commencement of the yam season; at Dahomey, in like manner, at the beginning of the harvest, sixty-five human beings have been known to be butchered! And these horrid customs are repeated annually, and sometimes oftener. Similar barbarous customs also prevail at other parts of the coast. In Appollonia, (if we may believe Bosman,) the tenth child is always buried alive; in the Benin country, if twins are born, not only the mother but the children also are destroyed; and, if the father should happen to be a priest, he must destroy his own children.

In the same country, "A vestal female is frequently impaled as a sacrifice to improve the navigation of the river and extend the trade. The ceremony is performed with the most barbarous brutality, by pressing the body on a sharp stake, the extremities being fastened to two

adjoining posts; in this state the victim is left to expire. The bustards, which are very numerous here, sometimes attack the body before life is extinct."' pp. 86, 7.

The extension of our geographical knowledge, and the opening of fresh markets for our commerce, are objects which render it highly important to pursue the exploration of Africa, more especially if it can be accomplished by inland navigation. But all that has as yet been ascertained respecting the population, has tended to repel rather than to excite curiosity, displacing the romantic speculations of fancy by facts of the most mournful and humiliating kind. There are, however, higher objects, and more efficient motives, to prompt to further exertions, than those which actuate either the man of science or the commercial adventurer. When we turn from the petty disputes, and idle negotiations, the mismanagement and the rapacity, the small advantages of any kind, and the total inefficiency in some respects, of these Colonial settlements, to what our Missionaries have already effected for Western Africa in a few years, and with means so inadequate, we cannot but be struck with the contrast. 'Missionaries alone,' says Mr. Hutton, will never succeed in civilizing Africa.' It is well that people are beginning to admit, that Missionaries may be of some use. If Missionaries alone will not do it, it is pretty clear by this time, that only Missionaries will do it; and to them we may look with the greatest confidence for the solution of the grand geographical problems which yet remain to be solved with regard to the unknown Interior of the African Continent. The reproach which long attached to the colonists of Sierra Leone, of having done nothing to enlarge our intercourse with the Interior, has been removed by the recent successful mission of Mr. O'Beirne, Assistant Staff Surgeon, to Almamy, the Mahomedan king of Foutah Jallon, at Teembo, with which place a regular intercourse may now be considered as established while an application to the Sierra Leone Govern›ment from a Heathen prince still further distant,—Dhaa, king of Bambarra, promises to lead to still more important consequences. The king of Bambarra, who is said to be the most powerful monarch of the Interior, resides at Sego, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, on the Niger; and it is by this route, through Teembo and the amicable territory of Almamy, that a line of intercourse with the Interior will in all probability be opened and maintained with the greatest facility and advantage.*

The fatal results of a long series of adventures, abundantly shew, that neither by force nor by fraud can the work be suc

* Vide Missionary Register, Jan. 1822, for some highly interesting particulars relating to this subject.