captains of the vessels then in the river went on shore to condole with them on their loss, and to offer them such assistance as they had the power of granting. On landing, they found the principal men assembled together, and joined them. Soon afterwards, John Africa commenced an harangue, and stated the great loss he with others had sustained by the fire, and, directing his discourse to one of the captains in particular, said, 'Me tank you too much you be proper man for dis country. Me lose all ting, no more two puncheon brandy me get you ship. Him no burn; fire no make him burn. Bonny man tank you enough. You brandy won't burn; too much water live dere:' meaning that there was more water than brandy in the puncheons. These satirical remarks were delivered by him in so dry and sarcastic a manner, and with so much gravity of countenance, that the brandy-and-water captain became the laughing-stock of the company, and was so mortified, that he made a precipitate retreat, Vowing vengeance against the black cynic for holding him up to ridicule.

"We anchored at this place early in October; when the rains had just commenced, and on landing we were not a little surprised and amused at the grotesque figures which many of the natives made, who had on their heads large wigs, made apparently of the bristles of pigs, not a hair of which had a curve in it, and at the extremity of each stood a dew drop, for it was a mizzling rain, with now and then a dash of sunshine. At this time the wigs made a very brilliant appearance;

they were of all colours, although red and white were the predominant ones, which, contrasted with the black visages and naked bodies of the wearers, gave them a most ludicrous appearance; they had been purposely made and carried to Majumba on speculations, by a Čaptain Higgin, of London, an eccentric character.

"During the months of January and February, there occur here what the natives call smokes, from the atmosphere being rendered so extremely thick that objects cannot be seen at the distance of a hundred yards, except when the sun is near the meridian, when it clears away a little. These smokes are accompanied by a moderate north-east wind, which frequently continues six weeks, and produces on plants the same effect as the harmattan, by withering their leaves; and precisely as the blast, or north wind, does on the cotton plant and the other vegetable productions of Guyana. The thermometer generally sinks ten degrees, and the natives feel the change so sensibly, that they wrap their bodies up in cloth very closely, and have fires constantly in their houses. Their skin has at this time a white scurf upon it, and this season is extremely obnoxious to them. The rigging of a vessel acquires hardness, and rattles as if it were frozen, from the peculiar astringency which the air at this time seems to possess.

"The harmattan wind blows generally once or twice during the months of January and February: it sometimes lasts a fortnight, but more frequently only three or four days. From Cape de Verd to Cape Palmas, the direction

from

from which this wind blows is north-east; but from the latter place to Benin, E.N.E. by compass. "In one of my passages between the Cape de Verd islands and the continent of Africa, in the month of January, a harmattan commenced, which continued four days. The atmosphere, during this period, was so hazy that we could not discern any object fifty yards from the vessel, in any direction. But this haze is not like that which accompanies the easterly wind of Europe, but is more intense; for it is occasioned by an impalpable powder floating in the atmosphere, which, in this instance, adhered to those parts of the sails of the vessel that received the greatest impulse from the wind, and gave them the same colour and appearance as if they had been immersed in a tanpit. The powder, when collected, had an earthy smell, and its colour very much resembled clay."

This powder is thought to be raised by the violent whirlwinds from the north, which traverse the great Saharra.

"Soon after an earthquake, or seaquake, that occurred at Cabenda, and which extended to some distance to the southward and northward of that port, a flight of locusts took place, that continued three days and three nights, so that the sea was literally covered with their drowned carcases; and the ships' decks, masts, yards, and rigging swarmed with them to such excess, as to require the constant attention of the crews to sweep them overboard. The earthquake, which had preceded their flight only a few hours, drove in upon the shore from the

westward several tremendous seas, so as to cause some of the vessels when in the trough of them to strike the ground in five and a half fathoms water. Many of the natives, both here and at Malemba, were drowned upon the beach, in consequence of it being so very narrow, and the cliffs which bound it so extremely precipitous, that they could not escape the overwhelming waves which came suddenly upon them. To this calamity was added the destruction of many canoes, by this sudden inundation of the sea; and the locusts destroyed every blade of grass, and all the vege table productions of the soil, for many miles round.

"An extraordinary flight of small butterflies, or moths, with spotted wings, took place at Annamaboo. After a tornado, the wind veered to the northward, and blew fresh from the land with thick mist, which brought off from the shore so many of these insects, that for one hour the atmosphere was so filled with them, as to represent a snow storm driving past the vessel at a rapid rate, which was lying at anchor about two miles from the shore."

of

and preserved it by a process peculiar to these islanders, took it out of a basket where it had hitherto been concealed, and threw it into the lap of the unhappy daughter. At once she seized it with a degree of frenzy not to be described, pressed its inanimate nose to her own, and held it in this position until her tears ran over every part of it. She then laid it down, and with a bit of sharp shell disfigured her person in so shocking a manner, that in a few minutes not a vestige of her former beauty remained. She first began by cutting her arms, then her breasts, and latterly her face. Every incision was so deep as to cause a gush of blood; but she seemed quite insensible to pain, and performed the operation with heroic resolution.

"He whose cruelty had caused this frightful exhibition, was evidently amused at the horror with which we viewed it; and, laying hold of the head by the hair, which was long and black, offered to sell it to us for an axe, turned it in various ways to show it off to the best advantage, and, when no purchaser was to be found, replaced it in the basket from whence he had taken it. The features were as perfect as when in life, and though the daughter was quite grown up, the head of her father appeared to be that of a youthful and handsome man."

This touching example of filial piety, we learn, afterwards married her father's murderer. But what are we to expect from these ruthless savages? What follows will tell.

"We were visited by many of the neighbouring chiefs, and, among others, by Perehico, the man to whom we had brought the news of the death of his child at Port Jackson, and, as he had lost the use of his limbs, he was hoisted up in the chair. A fine little child, the son of a British sailor by a native woman *, was observed in a canoe alongside, and its mother consented, after some hesitation, to permit it to come on board. She seemed very fond of it, and was quite uneasy during its absence from her. It was nearly naked, but as fair as if it had been born in England; and it naturally excited so much interest in the ship, that it was returned to its parent with a very comfortable supply of clothing and several days' provisions. One of the men who had been employed in cutting food for the bullocks, reported that, curiosity having led him to lift up a mat which he saw spread upon the ground near King George's village, he discovered underneath it the body of a recently murdered child, with the entrails taken out, as if preparatory to its being devoured. The story was so shocking, and almost incredible, particularly as the New Zealanders are very fond of their children, that no belief was attached to it, until it was corroborated by the testimony of some of the other men who were with him.

"One of the officers of the ship having visited the missionaries' settlement at Tippoona, was presented with a human bone, curiously carved. The person

which accounted for so few being seen.

who