THE WESTERN COAST. 
£59 
ceiving, at the departure of the vessels, that, with- 
out industry, their destruction was inevitable, be- 
gan to plant rice and Indian corn. The sickness, 
soon after, entirely ceased, but the habits of many 
of the colonists still continued ; addicted to intoxi- 
cation, many sold their arms and musquets for 
rum, and afterwards emigrated to the adjacent 
slave-factories. By a slight species of agriculture, 
and a great increase of poultry, the remainder sub- 
sisted for some time ; but as the most industrious 
were unable to purchase live-stock, and were dis- 
appointed of intended supplies, by the knavery of 
an unprincipled shipmaster, this partial emigration 
still continued till November IJS9 > when the in- 
fant colony was dispersed and their town burnt, by 
an African chief, in revenge of some depredations 
committed by a slave-factor, to whose party two of 
the colonists had been compelled to serve as guides. 
The colonists who escaped found a temporary asy* 
lum at Bance Island factory, and at the town of a 
native chief, who, compassionating their distress, 
received them under his protection. These were 
collected by Mr Falconbridge, who was employed 
in the beginning of 1791, by a number of gentle- 
men, anxious for the civilization of Africa, asso- 
ciated under the name of the St George's Bay 
Company, to carry out stores for the relief of the 
dispersed colonists, and to form them again into a 
permanent settlement. Mr Falconbridge found 
