TRADING WITH CENTRAL AFRICA. 407 



open hostility, it is out of the question : their 

 influence does not extend beyond their own 

 towns. 



I can safely assert that, as far as my experience 

 goes, European traders will be received with 

 open arms by all the inhabitants of the interior ; 

 that no hostility, but, on the contrary, every kind- 

 ness and respect, will be shown to them ; that 

 their property and life will be as safe (except- 

 ing from the effects of climate) upon the Niger 

 as upon the Thames ; and that nothing prevents 

 the Eboes and other nations in the interior trad- 

 ing direct with the Europeans upon the coast 

 but the terror that a white man's name carries 

 with it, — a terror which is artfully kept up by the 

 chiefs upon the coast, and the disorganised state 

 of the country produced by the slave-trade* 



Another and more serious objection is, the risk 

 of human life. I firmly believe that this in a 

 great measure may be reduced by substituting 

 as much as possible coloured men for Europeans. 

 Four or five white men at the most are sufficient 

 for the steam-vessel ; the rest should be Kroo- 

 mefi and American negroes, plenty of whom 

 could be got at Liberia. By the steam-vessel 

 being constructed of iron, and her hold divided 



