596 



Adams's Account of the Country extending from Cape Palmas. 



ject, are yaws, a bad cutaneous disease ; 

 also a contagious pustular eruption, 

 elephantiasis, leprosy, and hernia. But 

 few deformed persons are to be met 

 will), although that lusus natures, the 

 white negro, born of black parents, is 

 to be seen in almost every populous 

 town. The colour of the skius of these 

 unfortunate persons is a pale ash, 

 evidently arising either from the epi- 

 dermis or mucous membrane which it 

 covers being diseased, for they appear 

 not to perspire freely; they aie also 

 generally purblind, and form an extra- 

 ordinary contrast to their black parents 

 and companions, in whose opinion they 

 are unfortunately by this malady de- 

 graded. 



MORTALITY. 



On a voyage to Lagos and Benin, 

 out of a crew consisting of fifty-five 

 persons thirty-five died; among whom, 

 were all the principal officers. This 

 mortality arose in consequence of their 

 being employed, either in the factories 

 on shore, or in boats in the rivers. 

 Those wiio remained on board of the 

 vessel, which was at anchor oO' the 

 coast, enjoyed good health. 



At the island of Princes, where the 

 vessel called for refreshments, three of 

 the crew, consisting of the cooper, his 

 mate, and a seaman, (and who had 

 previously enjoyed excellent health), 

 died, in consequence of their duty re- 

 quiring them to be much on shore. 



On a voyage to the Gold Coast, I 

 was the fourth officer that took charge 

 of a factory at Lagoo; a town about 

 twenty-three miles to the eastward of 

 Annaniaboo, and near the British fort 

 at Tantumquerry. At this place my 

 three predecessors bad died in little 

 more than three months, notwithstand- 

 ing this town is built on the top of a 

 liill, having an elevation of three or 

 four hundred feet, the base of which 

 is washed by the sea. 



In two voyages to Bonny, I remark- 

 ed, that the coxswains who had charge 

 of the boats that took the captains on 

 shore every evening (where they re- 

 mained two or three hours), frequently 

 lost their lives, by being exposed to the 

 effluvia, arising from the slimy bed of 

 the creek, which leads to the town, 

 unless inured to the climate. The 

 remainder of the boats' crews, being 

 natives, did not of course suffer. 



Vessels, which anchor near the south 

 point of this creek, (the cemetery of 

 Europeans, and where many thousands 

 have been interred), and which many 



imprudently do for the paltry conve- 

 nience of having a quicker communi- 

 cation with the shore, are in general 

 very sickly, while those lying in the 

 middle of the stream remain healthy. 



On a voyage to Benin, when the 

 vessel having a crew of twenty men 

 proceeded into that river, and anchored 

 off New Town, ten of them died in 

 four weeks, although none of them 

 except myself ever went on shore. 

 On this voyage, my residence was 

 occasionally at Lagos, Badagry, Ardrah, 

 Wydah, as well as at Benin : and I 

 remarked, that the major [)art of those 

 ofEcers and men who had occasion to 

 be on shore, at any of these places, and 

 were not inured to the climate, generally 

 fell victims to it in three or four weeks. 

 I observed the same to occur at Lagoo 

 on the Gold Coast. 



At Malemba none died, and those 

 who had been sick recovered, except 

 my surgeon, who had imprudently, and 

 contrary to my express orders, slept 

 one night on shore at Accra on tile 

 Gold Coast, and lost his life, by fever, 

 in fourteen days afterwards. 



In the four following voyages to the 

 Gold Coast, the vessels commanded by 

 me had crews of fifty men each, none 

 of whom died, in consequence of being 

 strictly prohibited from sleeping on 

 shore, and never allowing them to be 

 exposed to the rains, two instances only 

 excepted. One occurred, in conse- 

 quence of my being compelled, in self- 

 defence, to establish a factory at Lagoo, 

 where three officers ilied iu three 

 months. 



On another occasion, the governor of 

 Dixcove fort prevailed on my second 

 officer to allow the armourer of the ship 

 to remain on shore for one night, in 

 order to complete a job he had in hand 

 for him, although he had been sent by 

 me in the boat to bring him on board. 

 The consequence to the poor man was, 

 that he died in three weeks. 



CIVILIZATION. 



The climate of Africa is unfa- 

 vourable to any rapid progress be- 

 ing made in the civilization of its 

 inhabitants. 



That the Africans are endowed by 

 nature with faculties as capable of 

 receiving ins.tiHction as the savages 

 inhabiting any other country we arc 

 acquainted with, is at this day not to 

 be questioned ; although this climate, 

 as before remarked, is unfavourable to 

 cither bodily or mental exertion ; and 

 the uature of their civil and religious 

 institutions 



