255 
IN WESTERN AFRICA. 
I am longing for Mr. V/ilberforce to come and 
help me. Joseph Gomer. 
April, 1878. 
FIFTY YEARS AGO'. 
After crossing Yahrah Bay, the first point and 
the most westerly of the mainland of the Sher- 
bro country is Shengay, where the Sherbro Mis- 
sion is located. About two miles west of the 
mainland are the famous Plantain Islands, — fa- 
mous for having once been the fortified residence 
of the late King Caulker. Fifty years ago the 
foreign as well as the domestic slave-trade was in 
full operation on this part of the coast. King 
Caulker was largely engaged in this business. 
Out of the money he obtained from the sale of 
his people he built a handsome and substantial 
stone structure on the largest of these islands, as 
well as a fort of no mean pretensions, upon which 
were mounted cannon. Here the unfortunate 
wretches who were taken in war and in other 
ways were confined until a sufficient number had 
been collected to constitute a cargo for the slave- 
trader. But King Caulker is dead and gone, and 
his works do follow him. The island was long 
since deserted. Time, wind, and tide have demol- 
ished houses and fort. The writer himself had 
some of the stones removed from the king’s pal- 
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