SPliSBURY's VOYAGE TO AFRICA. 
some distance from the town. The pleasantest and most com- 
mon nut here^ and which is found in great quantities, is the 
ground nut^a pound of which is worth about twopence : they boil 
and dry them before they expose theiti for sale. There is a good 
hospital here ; and while 1 remained it had only one surgeon, 
who, though he pays the greatest attention, is not able to do jus- 
tice to the great number of inhabitants. As to the schools, I 
fear they will be of little utility, unless good mastei s with liberal 
salaries are sent out. 
Most of the inlrabitants are methodists; and on a Sunday not 
only the black men preach, but the worsen also. For the smail- 
ness of the place, there are more public houses by far, than in 
any town I ever saw in England. It has a mayor, alderman, 
sheriff, and common council, and is governed by the same laws 
as England. Over the stocks is the pillory, which is different 
from ours, in being placed horizontally. Their greatest enemies 
are the Timmanees; with wliom they have had several wars. 
Tiieir own people, the American blacks, rebelled some years 
ago : but were reduced by the accidental landing of the Maroons 
just in the critical moment. The latter are a brave set of men, 
who well deserve every encouragement of the settlers. Two of 
the ringleaders in this rebelliou were tried, condemned, and exe- 
cuted. So suddenly was the attack of the Tinimanees, who at 
this time were to have been joined by the above mentioned 
rebels, that they had riearly carried the settlement, having 
actually got among the houses. Mr. Ludlow the acting go- 
vernor, to whom we were much obliged both before and after 
our capture, related the following anecdote. One of king Tom's 
wives had a grisgris, made by one of their magicians : she was 
to hold two bottles of water in her hands; and was to dance in 
tli€ front, aud to sprinkle the water about : this charm was to 
damp our powder. She tried this experiment, until a shot 
broke her arm : when she let fall the bottles, and ran screaming 
away. After the action, on asking some of the prisoners what 
they thought of our manner of attack, they answered, " You 
don't fight like men, lire and have done, but you poke em, poke 
"em," alluding to the charge with the bayonet. As to the Ame- 
rican settlers, they have not nor ever will forget the shock they 
felt on the landing of the Maroons ; their savage warlike appear- 
ance struck them with dismay : even the girls can still scarcely 
speak to each other with couimon civility. In the Maroon girl 
you evidently see the consciousness of freedom, while the un- 
fortunate American, in her mind, feels yet the lash of an unfeeling 
master. The character of the latter is liberal and profuse, 
while the Maroon is saving even to parsimony ; these may be 
called the permanent settlers of Sierra Leoiie, 
