1830.] The Slave Trade. 295 



have terminated fatally. At the Gambia, out of 112 admissions, only 12 

 have recovered." 



" No cultivation, no sanatory regulations, I feel convinced," says Dr. 

 Barry, " will ever render these colonies congenial to European consti- 

 tutions, particularly to the common soldier, whose irregular habits are 

 too strongly confirmed ever to be eradicated : and the generality of the 

 men of that description who escape the first season, will drag on a 

 miserable useless existence, exhibiting in their diseased and broken con- 

 stitution, the most appalling spectacles of faded manhood." 



Is it necessary to say one word more regarding the climate ? 



With regard to the progress of civilization and moral condition of the 

 population, the African Institution, among other good news, told us, in 

 1816, that " the conduct of the settlers is said to differ very little from 

 that of the generality of English villagers/'* The Commissioners say, 

 " with the exception of those who have been brought up to trades those 

 who have been educated and clothed for several years in the schools 

 and those who are employed as domestics, the great bulk of the libe- 

 rated African population of Sierra Leone appears, at this day, as ill 

 clothed as any of the native tribes on that part of the coast, and are, in 

 this respect, very far indeed behind the Mandingoes, who occupy the 

 opposite bank of the river/' " Of two or three hundred women, frequently 

 assembled in the market-place, from 15 to 20 would be a large average of 

 those who have any other clothing than a piece of cotton or linen cloth 

 fastened round the loins, and reaching nearly to the knee. This is the 

 usual dress of the women, and of many of the labouring men in the 

 villages."! 



We presume, when such is the market-day dress of the females, their 

 ordinary dress will be somewhat more scanty ; and, in fact, we find, 

 generally speaking, that the men use only a piece of clout before and 

 behind, and that full-grown young women go perfectly naked, with the 

 exception of a kind of stuffed cushion over certain parts, which only 

 serves to make nakedness more conspicuous. Even at the boasted 

 schools many of the children were nearly naked, and ff some of them 

 entirely so."J 



To expect any thing like delicacy or propriety of conduct in such a 

 society, would evidently be absurd. We, however, find their moral de- 

 gradation at a lower point than we could possibly have imagined. And 

 " probably not a little" says the Rev. Mr. Raban, " may be ascribed to 

 the unchristian lives of too many of the European residents, whose ex- 

 ample, were they Christians indeed, would have an influence on the minds 

 of the natives which would be incalculably beneficial." 



Concubinage is universal, and no punishment by loss of " caste" is 

 the- consequence of it. Prostitution of the most degrading kind is undis- 

 guised and regardless ; " disgusting assaults upon female infants" say 

 the commissioners, p. 98, " have of late been frequent." We forbear 

 from further detail, but could a certain noble lord, a staunch supporter of 

 the " civilizers of Africa" look in, for an hour or two, upon a " quality 

 ball/' or accompany some of the whites on a Sunday's excursion to the 

 Bullam shore, he would not find it hard to believe that, instead of being 

 likely to civilize Africa, the most untutored and unlettered African 



* Appendix to 10th Report, p. 73. 

 f Parliamentary Peport 312, p. 49. 

 $ Parliamentary Report 312, p. 69. 



