106 BANKS OF THE NUN. 



The sovereignty of the river belongs to the 

 most powerful for the time being. The chief of 

 a village of one hundred inhabitants may and 

 does war with that of his neighbours on the oppo- 

 site bank of three times the amount of popula- 

 tion. But theirs are bloodless wars — a human 

 being is too valuable to be shot ; he is caught and 

 expires in the hold of some slave-ship, or, after 

 the purgatory of a voyage, becomes the blessed 

 inhabitant of that negro paradise which, if we 

 believe a sugar-planter, is only to be found in a 

 cane plantation. 



The collection of palm-oil is lazily and indo- 

 lently followed. The trouble of catching a man 

 is trifling — that of manufacturing a ton of oil 

 trifling still, but considerably more ; the price of 

 both is about the same : can it be wondered at, 

 then, that the production of oil does not increase 

 more rapidly ? It is some matter of surprise to me 

 that where there is such a brisk demand for slaves 

 it is manufactured at all. The capture of a man 

 partakes of the exhilarating nature of a hunt, 

 while the collection of palm-oil is devoid of ex- 

 citement, and becomes the sober tedium of busi- 

 ness : this affords nothing to satiate the appetite 



