have a striking appearance in their mysterious
turbans, from which folds pass over the
face, so that the keen eyes only are visible, as
with the Tuaricks. They are first-rate riders;
and, galloping about on their Arabians,
saluting each other with animated gestures,
carrying bows and poisoned arrows, they
show themselves to be much more than a
match for the simple-minded, impulsive
negroes. There are here, also, busy markets,
and more stinks than Coleridge ever counted
in Cologne; all the offal of the beast-market
lies in the town rotting under a tropical sun.
The turkey buzzards there enjoy a paradise,
and get between your legs.

It is well known, they say at Rabbah, that
the whites eat black men. This fiction was
invented by the slavers, and has travelled up
the stream. The poor negroes have unbounded
belief in the white man's power. It is easy
for him, therefore, to excite in Africans a
display of cowardice. The negroes are found
often to tell lies, and are caught stealing—the
same is true, we fear, of white communities.
While delayed opposite one village, Mr.
Oldfield, lying in his cabin, saw a woolly head
pop through the cabin-window, and a long
arm reached towards a dressing-case. He
caught the culprit by the ears, and called
down others to assist in holding him, while
two men stepped into the canoe outside, and
found him placed conveniently for a whipping.
The next day the king of the village thanked
the Europeans for the correction bestowed
upon his son, (for the crown prince was the
delinquent), a sad scapegrace. When the
"Albarkah" ran aground she was unloaded
and her wares exposed upon the bank, but
slightly guarded, yet nothing was lost. There
are rascals in all nations. The impulsive
nature of the Africans makes many of them
ask for everything they feel a wish to have;
but, if it be not given them, they do not sulk.
They think, no doubt, with the Sandwich
Islander, who was asked whether refusals did
not disappoint him, "Oh, no," he said, "I
thought if I asked for a thing, you possibly
might give it me, but it was quite certain you
wouldn't if I didn't speak." We must quit
the Niger now, remarking only that it is not
yet proved whether the Niger can be entered
safely or no when its stream is at the flood—
safely, we mean, by fairly acclimatised
Europeans. The Kroomen run but small risk in
the Delta.

Time does not remain to us for the visit
we intended paying to Dahomey. We may
just allude to the lagoons within the coast by
which slave cargoes are conveyed in canoes
from point to point. Striking inland we may
enter the dominions of the King of Dahomey,
one of the most powerful of native chiefs, and
reach his capital, Abomey. He is a man of
more than average ability, with a sincere
respect for the English. He is a great slave-
hunter, carrying on his operations by means
of a large army of women. These women
make their attack with a swift run, and are
trained to climb barefooted and unhurt, over
the thick fences of enormous thorns which are
the usual fortification of a town in Africa.
Those who resist are killed and scalped; but
those who yield without resistance, are tied
with a cord, which each Amazon carries for
the purpose, and marked with chalk upon the
back, that the captor may afterwards identify
her property. After the siege, each woman
is praised and rewarded according to her
deeds. The king's wives form the principal
and bravest band.

To justify each slave-hunt, quarrels are
invented, but revolting as this most
unquestionably is, we must allow fair credit to the
present king. He follows the customs of his
forefathers with so much enlightenment that
he has abolished many barbarous laws, and
introduced many just and equitable practices.
He means well, he respects the English, and
is to all appearance willing to abolish slave-
hunting and slave-trading in his dominions.
But, as our Chancellors of the Exchequer say of
our window-tax, without it what is to become
of the finance? The King of Dahomey will
throw up his part in the slaver's game, if we
will show him how to thrive by other
commerce.

Merchant ships are the true African
blockade. Experience is proving on the coast
of Africa, what has been proved every year
since the Creation, that physical force is but a
weak antagonist to moral wrong. We doubt
whether moral force is brought to bear on a
large scale, by the direct action of missionaries
on the uncivilised mind. One Simon Jonas,
left with Obi to improve his soul, was made
court tailor, Obi beginning with the body
first. History proves that commerce is the
great means ordained by Providence for the
improvement and advancement of the human
race. For this the Africans are ripe. They
do not see the moral wrong of slavery—no
uncivilised nation ever yet did. But they
are quite ready to believe white men, who
say that it is wrong, and show them what is
better; they are eager for instruction from
the white man's wisdom. Unfortunately we
have as yet been able to do little but exhort
the natives on this text. The difficulties in
the way of action certainly are great. It is
our firm conviction that they can and will be
overcome.

THE LAW.

As a happy illustration of the certainty,
cheapness, and expedition of the English law,
in upholding those who are in the right, we
have received the following strange narrative
from an esteemed correspondent, who is
himself a lawyer:—

"The most litigious fellow I ever knew, was
a Welshman, named Bones. He had got
possession, by some means, of a bit of waste
ground behind a public-house in Hogwash