274 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



My fellow-passengers may be classed in the 

 following categories. First, the official; which 

 consists of officers — military, naval, and civil — 

 going out to the different settlements to fill up 

 the usual monthly death vacancies. Secondly, 

 the invalids of both sexes going to Madeira in 

 search of health. Thirdly, fAe Commercial; ix^idiexs 

 usually known as " Palm-oil Euffians," or " Coast 

 Lambs," a class of men much calumniated. T 

 have generally found them somewhat rough and 

 blunt in their manners, like men who have been 

 long away from female society, but open-hearted, 

 generous to a fault, and extremely hospitable. 

 Fourthly, " dealers in ebony,'' slavers and their 

 agents : sallow, cadaverous, nervous-looking in- 

 dividuals, of Spanish, Portuguese, or Brazilian 

 nationality, who find it convenient to change their 

 names every time they travel up and down the 

 coast, and are not very communicative, but rival 

 the funnel in smoking. Fifthly, the clerical order. 

 Amongst these sometimes, although very rarely, one 

 meets with a gentleman of education, drawn by 

 " impecuniosity" to this cursed land of West 



