Chap. I. ARRIVAL OFF THE COAST. 5 



in the bountiful harvest. My ardent longing to be 

 on shore with them and have a last look at the happy- 

 land of England was one day gratified, for Mr. Dom- 

 brain, the ship-missionary of Deal, kindly took the 

 captain and myself to the town, and we had a charm- 

 ing drive through the country lanes. I never enjoyed 

 the country so much. Every face we met seemed so 

 pleasant, and Nature seemed so tranquil ; I felt that 

 England was more than ever dear to me. 



I will not weary my readers by a description of 

 our voyage to the West Coast. As far as the weather 

 and the captain were concerned, it w^as a pleasant one. 

 We arrived at Accra, a British settlement, east of 

 Sierra Leone, in the Gulf of Guinea, on the 20th of 

 September. According to my agreement with the 

 owners of the vessel, the Mentor ought to have sailed 

 direct from this place to the Fernand Yaz, but I now 

 made the discovery that she w^as ordered to call at 

 Lagos. At this unhealthy spot I declined the invita- 

 tion to go ashore. We left it on the 2nd of October, 

 and after a few days pleasant sailing came in sight of 

 the Commi Coast on the 8th of the same month. 



The part of the African coast in the neighbourhood 

 of the mouth of the Fernand Yaz has a monotonous 

 aspect as viewed from the sea. A long line of 

 country, elevated only a few feet above the sea-level, 

 stretches away towards the south, diversified here and 

 there by groups of trees, and enlivened only at inter- 

 vals of a few miles by a cluster of palm-clad huts of 

 the natives, amongst which is always conspicuous the 

 big house which the villagers construct for the " fiic- 

 tory " that they are always expecting to be established 



