82 
VOYAGè TO SENEGAL. 
hand four hundred lashes, of which the unfortunate creature died 
a few days after. He also, on detecting a criminal intercourse 
between one of his slaves and a Negress, fastened them to a bar- 
rel of pitch and set it on fire. 
Ormond was as superstitious as he was cruel : he believed, 
like the Africans, in sorcery. But nothing could prevent the 
blows with which Providence, after permitting him to continue 
in his career of wickedness, attacked him. lîis health declined, 
and he retired to the isles of Los, leaving the management of his 
affairs to a mulatto, who was his son. A horde of the Bagos^, 
With whom he had had a quarrel, took that opportunity to avenge 
themselves, and plundered his factory, in which they were assisted 
by his slaves. All the buildings were burnt, and twelve or fif- 
teen hundred slaves, worth S0,000l. were set at liberty. Young 
Ormond was put to death on this occasion, and the father was so 
afflicted at the news, that he survived only a month. 
The French received their possessions on the river of Sierra 
Leone in consequence of a treaty with Panabouri, proprietor of 
Gambia, which was signed between the Negro king and M. de 
Lajaille on the I4th January, 1785. The king gave his son, named 
Pedro, as a hostage for his performance of the contract; and the 
youth was conveyed to France, where he received a pension of 
1200 livres per annum for two years. On returning to Africa, 
his father sent him back to France to finish his education. The 
king himself not being able to read or write, made a cross as his 
signature to the treaty. 
M. de Lajaille has not giveniis a description of the island in 
the Gambia which was ceded to the French by this treaty, nor 
has he said any thing of the manners and religion of the people. 
From the accounts, however, which I procured, it appears that 
the island is very small and unhealthy : there are scarcely six acres 
of soil capable of cultivation ; all the rest is a vast swamp. The 
trade which we carry on consists in slaves and wax. The posi- 
tion of the port was badly chosen; and though water abounds in 
the place, the garrison have to go a considerable distance to ob- 
tain it; in short, tlie establishment is of trivial advantage. The 
French who ^vere left on the isle of Gambia, were neglected and 
abandoned by their countrymen; and after experiencing all the 
horrors of want, they almost all perished in the month of August, 
1793. Two or three individuals only retuined, in a state of ir- 
ritation against the government which ought to have protected 
them, and so ill in health, that they did not long survive. Not- 
withstanding this failure, the river of Sierra Leone abounds in fa- 
vourable spots both for culture and commerce, on which the 
French or any other nation might establish powerful colonies, 
Tte English, who about fifteen yeaVs ago had fixed them in vari- 
