INSTANCE OF DEMORALIZATION. 259 



On our voyage up. King Obie had presented 

 Mr. Lander with a slave, a native of Kacundah. 

 While the Alburkah was lying at the confluence, 

 he absconded, and nothing was heard of him un- 

 til he was discovered by Mr. Hector, at Bocqua, 

 where he was on sale ; his own brother having 

 enticed him on shore from the Alburkah and 

 brought him down to the market as a slave. On 

 seeing the boat, he made a run for her, and get- 

 ting hold of the gunwale, roared out for assist- 

 tance. His brother claimed him as his slave and 

 seized upon him ; but after a violent struggle he 

 managed to get into the boat, and as he was then 

 under the British flag, he was carried off in tri- 

 umph, glad to get back to his old masters. He 

 was remarkably stout when he absconded ; but 

 we hardly knew him when he was brought back, 

 he was so dreadfully emaciated. Several hun- 

 dred people had crowded to the boat, shouting 

 and encouraging the man to assert his right to 

 the slave ; and matters appeared so alarming, that 

 Hector ordered the Kroomen to fix their bayo- 

 nets on their muskets, while he primed the swivel 

 and pointed it at the crowd. At these threaten- 

 ing movements they disappeared in a few seconds. 

 As the man was carried off* in the face of the 



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