614 MEMOIR OF THE LIFE 



ceous plants, which, especially along the shore invest the 

 shrubs and trees to a great height, often forming real vege- 

 table walls, adorned with the sparkling blossoms of Convol- 

 vuli, Cucurbit acete, and Asclepiadea. There is no fruit here 

 adapted to European palates, the best is the Hog-Plum, 

 which is worse than our Sloes, and its name indicates its 

 quality. On the coasts there are good Pine-apples, Bananas, 

 &c, but they are introduced ; the latter alone are cultivated 

 here, though rarely. Horses are very scarce and not larger 

 than asses, and the oxen resemble sheep. Butter and milk are 

 rarely or never procurable, the eggs which are brought are all 

 set upon, we have nothing but old hens for poultry. Bearing 

 these matters in mind, I cannot help exclaiming with 

 Ovid : 



' Heu terra felici non adeunda viro.' 



The natives, who come to us from far and near, behave 

 extremely well ; they have never shewn the slightest sign of 

 enmity, on the contrary, they are rather too confiding. 

 They are not of that deep black hue which is observable in 

 other Africans, and in this neighbourhood they have often 

 very good features. They understand spinning and 

 making cloth ; they know how to work in iron, to manu- 

 facture knives, sabres, nails, &c. ; they cultivate also the 

 fields with some degree of skill. It is sad, however, to 

 think, that they have possessed the same aptness for these 

 arts, probably from an almost inconceivable time, without 

 making any improvement ; they want that spiritual energy, 

 which renders every acquisition a step to further advance- 

 ment. We have a daily market on the shore, whither the 

 inhabitants of a neighbouring village resort in great numbers, 

 to sell or barter what they possess. Small looking-glasses, 

 framed in paper, meet with. very ready purchasers, and 1 

 shall never forget the joy which beamed in the eyes ot 

 many, when they first beheld their own faces in a mirror. The 

 women, especially, cannot be satisfied with gazing on them- 



