SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

TlAvyls,

• Travels in Western Africa, In 1845 and 1846 ; comprising a Journey from Whydah, through the Kingdom of Dahomey, to Adofoodia in the Interior. By John Dun- can, late of the First Life Guards, and one of the late Niger Expedition In two

volumes Bentley.

Mirrozy,

A History of Virginia, from its Discovery and Settlement by Europeans to the pre- sent Time. By Robert E. Howison. Vol. I. Containing the History of the Co- lony to the Peace of Paris, In 1763 Carey and Hart, Philadelphia. !tartan, The Pilgrimage : How God was found of him that sought him not ; or Rationalism in the Bud, the Blade, and the Ear. A Tale for our Times. Translated from the German of C. A. Wildenham, by Mrs. Stanley Carr...01irer and Boyd, Edinburgh.

DUNCAN'S TRAVELS IN WESTERN AFRICA.

Joni' DUNCAN, the new African traveller, was born in 1805, of humble parentage, near Kirkcudbright. He had robust health, an athletic frame, and a turn for military life ; to gratify which, he kilned in the First Life Guards, before he was eighteen. In his leisure hours he practised drawing and painting, and gave some attention to mechanics ; and these -acquirements subsequently turned to account when he became a traveller.

In 1839, he obtained his discharge from the Guards under the condi-

..tions of the good-conduct warrant; and was appointed Master-at-Arms to the foolish and unfortunate Niger Expedition. He was one of the very few who escaped the fever in the river, but was attacked by it at -Fernando Po ; ands wound from a poisoned arrow was so aggravated by -its effects, that he did not recover his health till his return to England.

When the Geographical Society planned a journey of exploration to the long Mountains, (lying between 8 and 9 degrees of North latitude, and extending from about 5° West to 5° of East longitude,) Duncan offered himself for the service, and was accepted.

The original idea was to proceed from Cape Coast Castle through the kingdom of Ashantee : but the barbarian monarch withdrew his consent, on the pretence of danger to the traveller beyond his own dominions. An

• application to the King of Dahomey was more successful; and the town of Whydah, about latitude 6° North and longitude 2° East, became the starting-point. During these diplomatic detentions, our traveller occupied _himself in visiting the different places along the coast, and making short excursions about their neighbourhoods. When the King of Dahomey's consent was obtained, and the preparations completed, Mr. Duncan started for Abomey the capital; and was received there with great distinction. He assisted at reviews and other pageants of a barbaric kind ; and amazed the court by his own equestrian exhibition, in full uniform ; horses being rare in that part of Africa, and the grandees, when they venture to mount, requiring to be held on by two assistants. After the courtly festivities were over, Mr. Duncan was sent on to that part of the Kong Mountains between 2° and 3° East longitude ; and reached them without difficulty, as he had a guard of honour, a chief captain, whose head was responsible for his safety, and orders had been forwarded to the " head men" of the dif- ferent villages to provide attentions and supplies for "the King's stranger." From Baffo, where the power of the King of Dahomey ceased, the tra- veller proceeded to Adofoodia, about four degrees of latitude further ; partly attracted by some distant mountains, partly moved by a wish to meet a Maliometan priest named Terrasso-weea, who had been present at the death of Mungo Park. Evading his guard, Mr. Duncan proceeded towards the mountains; and at the first town he came to, felt the change of country by the coolness of his reception. The name of Terrasso- weea, indeed, procured him civility, though not provisions ; and, learning that Terrasso-weea was at Adofoodia, the traveller pushed on thither. In this journey no absolute danger was incurred, beyond that of the country and the climate ; but Mr. Duncan seems not to have served in the Guards for nothing—he has the military habit of masking his purposes, making imposing demonstrations, and pushing on. In despite of these qualities, inconvenience was sometimes experienced for want of pro- ' visions. Mr. Duncan was no longer a national guest, with the rather ample rights of the African law of purveyance, but a stranger traveller, who must buy his food and be fleeced in the purchase. The White man was indeed a lion, but not a lion to be fed ; and as he did not contemplate -so long a journey at starting, and came away clandestinely, he was not overburdened with articles of barter. However, he reached his destina- tion; met Terrasso-weea; fell in with an old acquaintance of the Niger Expedition ; received a new version of Park's death, which only differs in form from the previous account ; and finally returned to Baffo,—to - the great delight of the Caboceer or head captain, who had thought of starving himself to death. The King, on our traveller's return, was equally gracious as before, and Mr. Duncan reached the coast in • safety, with nothing worse than some threatenings of fever. The hard- ships and exposure he had undergone in such a climate, as well possibly as the violent and rather singular remedies he employed to shake off in- cipient attacks and enable himself to travel, had, however, sown the seeds • of fever; which at last developed itself, and at Cape Coast Castle he nar- - rowly escaped with life: nor did he recover his health till long after he - had left Africa behind.

The book in which Mr. Duncan has given an account of his travels and adventures is a plain, unaffected narrative ; in which many will not perceive his real merits as an explorer in such a country, from the matter- of-course way in which he mentions privations or hardships, and the daily difficulties of the way and the weather. The exactness of a scien- tific traveller, or the depth and comprehension of a man with a more ex- tended education and experience, are not to be looked for. In his remarks on African society, and his suggestions for its improvement, especially the slave-trade, Mr. Duncan exhibits the narrow shrewdness which fre- quently distinguishes the self-advanced and self-educated man. The - views may look sensible enough, and be practicable in their own limitation, but they become impracticable from things beyond their sphere. His observation of the African character at home has not impressed him with a very lofty notion of it as it actually exists; and, seeing how

closely slavery is interwoven with the whole system of national, social, and domestic life, he feels the utter impossibility of abolishing African slavery, or the slave-trade at present. He also finds the returned slaves by far the most industrious and well-conducted persons ; occasionally looking back upon their American existence as most men look back upon the past. Hence, one of his suggestions to abolish the horrors of the foreign slave-trade is, to regulate it ; to allow the exportation of slaves for ten years as the longest period, and a less time as the age passes be- yond the teens. But the day for "regulation" has long since passed. The Anti-Slavery people would of course resist it ; and if they were out of the question, national, and still more, diplomatic pride, could not admit so ridiculous a failure as such retrogression would disclose. Nor, in fact, is the scheme very easily,worked. There would be some difficulty in securing the freedom of the slave at the end of the stipulated period. With an allowance for the narrowness of view we have already spoken of, a good deal of information upon the social system of Africa may be gathered from this work; more, indeed, than in any later publication on the subject. The full picture can only be gained from the volumes, but we will extract a few of the more salient samples.

THE LIBERATED SLAVE: ADOFOODIA.

While thus engaged in conversation, a tall fine-looking man advanced towards us, with a very pleasing and expressive smile on his countenance. To my great astonishment, this man made me a bow, and addressed me, first in Spaiush and then in English.

I can scarcely remember any occurrence in my lifetime that gave me, for the moment, more pleasure than this; such an incident being so little anticipated by me in a region so distant from civilized intercourse. This poor fellow gave me a brief but interesting account of himself, which I here set down in as few words as possible. He was a native of Bornon, but, in the wars, was taken and sold as a slave. From one party to another he was disposed of, till he was brought to Whydah; where he remained some months, and was well treated. He was then shipped from thence to Bahia, and remained there as a slave for the apace of twenty-one years. During ten years of that period, he was principal or head cook to the firm of Boothby and Johnston, of Liverpool. When I told him I was well acquainted with Liverpool, he seemed quite de- lighted, and expressed great anxiety to accompany me thither. He spoke very highly of his former masters, and of the time of his bondage as the happiest days of his life. I asked him how he came to leave them. He informed me, that he was liberated at the emancipation of slaves held by British subjects, and that the early dreams of his childhood were still so strongly imprinted on his memory that he preferred visiting his birth-place to remaining a hired servant in Bahia. Well, he returned in a Brazilian schooner to Whydah; where he was landed, and there fell in with several of his acquaintances of Bahia. At Whydah he remained some mouths, then went to the Yarriba country, and after some mouths arrived at his native town. But now the spell was broken, and all his happy dreams of more than twenty years had vanished. His native town had twice been burnt down by the enemy, and was chiefly inhabited by strangers from a far country. He was now an obscure stranger, and looked upon with sus- picion, and his long-cherished home was a desolate waste. With a lonely heart he again turned from the place; and when on his journey, intending to return to the coast, and to Bahia if possible, he happened to inset Terrasso-weea, at a town where he was trading. He was readily employed, and had since travelled a great deal in different directions with his master; whom he described to be an excellent man. Before leaving my friend, I ought to mention that he wrote his name, and described in Spanish the time he remained in slavery, and also the names of

Boothby and Johnston. * * • *

I have, since my return, called on the firm of Messrs. Boothby and Johnston, and found this story perfectly correct. His old master gave him an excellent cha- racter.

AFRICAN FILIAL AFFECTION: ABOMEY.

A very singular and interesting incident occurred to my Sierra Leone servant. I sent him out to market to purchase some vegetables, accompanied by another man to carry what he might purchase, as these Sierra Leone black gentry [libe- rated slaves] are too proud to carry anything when passing along the market. He observed an old woman, whom he thought much to resemble his mother. The poor old woman, too, scrutinized his features with much interest. To the greet surprise of both, they soon recognized in each other a mother and son. This cir- cumstance would not have come to my knowledge had the mother and her daughter not called at the gate of my house on the following day, requesting to

see her son. • • • • •

Twenty years had now elapsed since the son bad been separated from his mother; and he supposed his mother to be long since dead, while the mother was quite ignorant of the fate of her son. I felt great interest in this meeting; but such is the general brutality of nature in these slave countries, that the meeting seemed to excite little of the warmer feelings of human nature; in fact, they seemed to regard the circumstance as no more than any ordinary event. I asked my servant if he wished his mother to be liberated and allowed to go home with him to Whydah, his residence. At first lie seemed grateful for the proposal ; but after a few days, when his mother again called, and I offered to make a request to the King to grant his mother and sister their liberty, he began to hesitate and calculate the additional expense which it would entail upon himself: although this could not exceed one halfpenny per day, he said, that as they seemed to be comfortable they bad better remain where they were. Such was the filial gratitude of an educated African, who had not seen his parent for nearly twenty years; and although the poor old mother was anxious to be with her son, the heartless fellow seemed glad to shake off the connexion, and to avoid the opportunity, which under such circumstances seldom occurs, of tieing reunited with the parent from whom he had been so ruthlessly torn.

The King of Dahomey appears to be a remarkable man without much allowance for circumstances. He has conquered the adjacent state of the Mahees ; maintained a bold front against the Ashanteea, who formerly claimed a superiority over the kingdom of Dahomey ; is anxious for European connexion and foreign trade ; and, according to his owu account endorsed by Mr. Duncan, has reformed the more barbarous laws and customs of the country ; one improvement being the establishment of a court of appeal to himself from the decision of the village head-men, by which much injustice and local tyranny is prevented. These improve- ments, however, and the very integrity of the kingdom, are dependent upon the life of the present monarch. Under a feeble successor, every- thing would fell back into its old condition ; the Mahees throw off the yoke, and the district chiefs of Dahomey, when favoured by circum- stances, rise into a real independence while nominally slaves. The tastes of the court and people are all barbaric : their forms are of the mast slavish kind; skulls and human bones are the ornaments of the palace; and the punishments are of the most shocking description. This is the first vial of the regal residence.

" On the following morning at an early hour, another bountiful supply of pro- visions amved ; and after an early breakfast I was fully equipped, and rode, at- tended by some of the King's principal men, to the market-place or parade- ound in front of his palace or house. On our march to the market-place, we pained along part of the walls of the palace, which covers an immense space. The walls as well as houses are made of red sandy clay; and on top of the walls, at in- tervals of thirty feet, human skulls were placed along their whole extent. On ap- proaching nearer the market-place, we beheld, on an elevated pole, a man fixed in -an upright position, with a basket on his head, apparently holding it with both his Lands. A little farther on we saw two more men, now in a state of decomposition, hung by the feet from a thick pole, placed horizontally on two upright poles about twenty feet high. Passing close to them, the smell was intolerable. The arms hung extended downwards, and at a little distance a stranger would (from their shrivelled and contracted condition) suppose them to be large sheep or goats; the skin from exposure had turned nearly to the colour of that of a White man. I found upon inquiry the bodies had been in this position about two and a half moons. All reckoning here is by the moon. The vulture was industriously en- deavouring to satisfy his appetite, but the heat of the sun had dried the skin so as to render it impenetrable to his efforts. " On the opposite side of the market were two more human bodies in the same position as those I have just mentioned, with the exception that the bodies had been mutilated. This excited my curiosity, for decapitation is the favourite mode of execution in Abomey. I was informed that these men had been guilty of adulterous intercourse with one of the King's wives; in consequence of which they were sentenced to be put to death by being beaten with clubs, and after death .mutilated."

More fearful matters might be quoted ; such as a very shocking ac- count of an execution, where one of the criminals shifted his position, and, the executioner's nerve failing, the victim was subjected to revolting .suffering. We must not, however, judge too harshly from the immediate present. Life is of little value in Africa; the numbers slain under judg- ment or by caprice are much more numerous than in Europe; but the kind of taste is not so widely different from what prevailed here within the memory of man. Many are yet living who can recollect criminals hanging in chains at Blackwell ; and some can remember persons who could remember the heads of traitors on Temple Bar and other places.

Among the troops of the King of Dahomey are regiments of women ; who seem to have made a strong impression upon the Life Guardsman. This is the account of what we call "a sham fight," got up for him by the King.

"After this procession, which consisted altogether of about eight thousand wo- men, well armed and clothed, had passed, the King asked me to go and see what his women-soldiers were about to perform. I was accordingly conducted to a large space of broken ground, where fourteen days had been occupied in erecting three immense prickly piles of green bush. These three clumps, or piles, of a sort of strong briar or thorn, armed with the most dangerous prickles, were placed in line, occupying about four hundred yards, leaving only a narrow passage be- tween them, sufficient merely to distinguish each clump appointed to each regi- ment. These piles were about seventy feet wide and eight feet high. Upon ex- amining them, I could not persuade myself that any human being, without boots or shoes, would, under any circumstances, attempt to pass over so dangerous a col- lection of the moat efficiently armed plants I had ever seen. Behind these piles already mentioned, were yards or large pens, at the distance of three hundred yards, fenced with piles seven feet high, thickly matted together with strong reeds. Enclosed therein were several hundred slaves belonging to the King. " It may be well to state that this affair was entirely got up to illustrate an attack upon a town and the capture of prisoners, who are of course made slaves. After waiting a short time, the Apadomey soldiers made their appearance at about two hundred yards from or in front of the first pile, where they halted with shouldered arms. In a few seconds the word for attack was given and a rush was made towards the pile with a speed beyond conception; and in less than one minute the whole body had passed over this immense pile, and had taken the sup- posed town. Each of the other piles was passed with equal rapidity at intervals of twenty minutes; after which we again returned to our former station in the market-place. Here we found his Majesty waiting for us. He anxiously inquired how I was pleased with the performance of his female soldiers, and asked if I -thought the same number of Englishwomen would perform the same. I of course anawered, No, we had no female soldiers in England; but we had females who

had individually and voluntarily equally distinguished themselves. * * •

" I may be permitted to make a few remarks on the army of women. It is certainly a surprising sight in an uncivilized country. I had, it is true, often heard of the King's female soldiers; but now I have seen them, all well armed, and generally fine strong healthy women, and doubtless capable of enduring great fatigue. They seem to use the long Danish musket with as much ease as one of our grenadiers does his firelock, but not, of course, with the same quickness, as they are not trained to any particular exercise, but, on receiving the word, make an attack like a pack of hounds, with great swiftness. Of course they would be useless against disciplined troops, if at all approaching to the same numbers: still their appearance is more martial than the generality of the men; and, if undertaking a campaign, I should prefer the females to the male soldiers of this country. From all I have seen of Africa, I believe the King of Dahomey pos- sesses an army superior to any sovereign West of the Great Desert."

We know not the nature of Mr. Duncan's instructions, but he seems to have been liberal of promises when in a strait, and to have under- taken more than he might be well able to carry out. This was often natural, sometimes unavoidable, when surrounded by difficulties ; still, excited hopes which are not fulfilled have a tendency to lower the national 'character for fidelity to a promise. The following opinion upon "domes- tic slavery" would scarcely be supported by the Anti-Slavery Society and Lord Palmerston, if we may judge by their former cool interference in Turkey. It exhibits the shrewdness of the King as an observer of nature both human and animal.

"He admitted our principles to be very humane and just; but remarked, that it would be difficult to abolish slave-holding in his country, as the children of all slaves were the property of the owner of the parent, and were treated as one of his own family; and that if a king were to interfere and abolish this law, it would cause a revolution in the kingdom, as it would affect all his head men, and half heads, besides rendering those domestic slaves homeless and destitute.

"I told him, it was not domestic slavery that we so much objected to as the forcing them from their homes and kindred, separating them for ever from all re- latives, and dooming them to incessant labour all their lives. He asked me whe- ther, when parents voluntarily sold their children, they would then feel any regret. I replied, if the parents did not, they were unnatural, and I was sure that the children would; and to illustrate this, I pointed out a she-goat with two kids, and asked him if one were taken away, whether the young would not show symptoms of regret as well as the mother. At this he laughed heartily; but remarked, that the he-goat, the father of the kids referred to, would feel quite indifferent. I could not help smiling in return."

As Mr. Duncan's descriptive style is not graphic, it is difficult to form any very lively idea of the features of the country ; but it is nearly flat to the Kong range, and level again when that is passed through. It seems to be well intersected by streams, and not devoid of rivers ; with a fertile soil, very scantily cultivated, on account, Duncan says, of the laziness of the people. Their character, however, improves as you recede from the coast : if not more honest under strong temptation, their morals are better, their man- ners more simple and pleasing, their industry greater both in agriculture and manufactures. The inferior character of the coast population ari es, in fact, from their connexion with foreign slave-dealers and other traders; and the half-educated free Negroes from Sierra Leone do much mischief, in Duncan's opinion.

With respect to immediate prospects of future trade, it is difficult to speak favourably. The climate opposes great obstacles to European traders ; two White servants sank under it, and Duncan himself, not- withstanding his strength of constitution and previous seasoning, es- caped with difficulty. A more insuperable obstacle is to be found in the state of anarchy in which the country is placed. The Negro disposition is strongly inclined to trade : it was partly by representing himself as a trader, about to return with a large stock, that Mr. Duncan got so well through the Fellatah country. The chiefs are equally eager ; but, inde- pendently of the absolute tyranny which renders life and property inse- cure, the system of such society and government as there is altogether depends upon the life of the tyrant. The power of the Ashantees, but lately dominant, seems now on the decline. The part of the Pelletal district which Mr. Duncan travelled through appears to be a series of in- dependent towns, rather than the empire which in Denham and Clapper- ton's time was contending for supremacy over this part of Africa. The conquered Mahees will probably recover their independence on the death of the present King of Dahomey, and that country be weakened by intestine contests. There is another difficulty, which diplomacy might remove upon paper, but not in fact. As muskets and munitions of war are the first objects of traffic, each kingdom wishes to deprive the other of such implements of power ; and the chiefs near the coast would do all they could to prevent an inland transit trade. The elements of a large commerce undoubtedly exist in Africa; but we see no ready means of developing them, short of taking the entire government into our hands, as we have done in India,—which of course is out of the question on political grounds, did not the climate forbid it. The best chance we can see for Africa is in the existence of the native merchants ; whom Duncan incidentally notices as forming a wealthy, respectable, and edu- cated class at the trading settlements on the coast, with a taste for Euro- pean customs and luxuries. In various points, no doubt, better mentors might be found, and the process of improvement will be slow enough ; but the habits of three thousand years are not to be changed by tracts or speeches, or acts of Parliament.