108 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
At Corisco, the Gaboon, Mayumba, Loango, Congo, Cabenda, 
Ambrizette, Loanda, Novo Redondo, Quicombo, Benguelo, Mos- 
samedes, and many other places up and down the coast, vessels 
may ride at anchor in perfect safety, and some of the rivers are 
navigable for six hunched miles or more from the sea. 
At present the trade is conducted in a very primitive man- 
ner, either on the deck of the vessel that conveys the home 
manufactures from Europe and returns with the raw produce of 
Africa, or in “ stores” on land, superintended by resident agents 
of the European houses. 
In some cases the traffic is carried on by direct barter, the 
natives bringing their produce to the store or trading vessel, 
and receiving in return a quantity of European materials ; at 
other times, the captains, supercargoes, or agents, trust the 
more honest native chiefs and their subjects with various com- 
modities, for which they are expected to supply within a given 
time a certain quantity of palm oil, ivory, &c. 
A cursory examination of the articles employed in this trade 
will give us a better insight into the character of the natives 
than all the opinions that have been expressed concerning them. 
We find, for example, that spirits, tobacco, gunpowder, salt, 
silks, cloths,* beads, guns, &c., are always in demand; whilst 
knives, buttons, rods of brass and copper, caps, shirts, paint, 
oil, lamps, and soap, are usually more or less at a discount. 
Never do we find rum to be a drug ; never is there a glut of 
gunpowder ! nor are paint and soap ever “ in demand.” 
Then as to the native chiefs, many of them are grand seigneurs 
in their own way. From one of them (King Peppel), we find 
the following order to a Liverpool firm : — “ Four dozen sherry, 
four dozen porter, four dozen ale, one small cask white bread, 
one box wax candles ! ” and we are informed that on some parts 
of the coast champagne, liqueurs, &c., are in great request 
amongst the chiefs. 
The same articles which were in demand twenty or thirty 
years since are still in request ; so that, excepting in some of the 
Portuguese and British settlements, the natives appear not to 
have made the slightest advance in civilization, save only as 
regards its vices and indulgences. 
The evils of the “ trust ” system have, we believe, been very 
much overrated by travellers and others unacquainted with 
trade ; for many of the largest houses declare that during the 
whole of their intercourse with the natives they have not lost 
ten casks of oil by this mode of conducting their business, t 
* Used as a vestment round the middle ; the only clothing that is worn. 
f It is right to state that, in a report presented to the Board of Trade, 
Consul Hutchinson declares the trust system to be a vicious one. 
