226 
THE CONFERENCE. 
never saw them afterwards. How can I let my son 
go, if those already sent have never been heard of? 
Commissioners. — That shall be inquired into. Obi 
must also give every facility for forwarding letters, &c., 
down the river, so that the English officer who receives 
them may give a receipt, and also a reward for sending 
them. 
Obi. — Very good, {snapping his fingers). 
Commissioners. — Have you any opportunity of send- 
ing to Bonny ? 
Obi. — I have some misunderstanding with the people 
intermediate between Aboh and Bonny ; but 1 can do 
it through the Brass people. 
Commissioners. — Will you agree to supply men-of- 
war with firewood, provisions, &c. &c., at a fair and 
reasonable price. 
Obi. — ^Yes, certainly. 
The Commissioners requested Mr. Schon, the re- 
spected missionary, to state to King Obi, in a concise 
manner, the difference between the Christian religion 
and heathenism, together with some description of the 
settlement at Sierra Leone. 
Mr. Schon. — There is but one God. 
taken by the Filatahs in one of their predatory excursions, and, by 
the chances of war, came once more into the hands of Obi. 
This little history of the life of one so young serves to shew the 
extraordinary vicissitudes and uncertainty to which the Africans are 
liable ; the prospect of which being constantly before their eyes, 
must tend very much to loosen all ties of honour or kindred. 
