196 
Up the Gaboon River. 
guns on board the steamer were double-loaded and 
discharged, at the instance of our host, who very 
properly insisted upon this act of African cour¬ 
tesy—“ it would be shame not to fire salute.” 
We were answered by the loudest howls, and by 
the town muskets, which must have carried the 
charges of old chambers. Mr. Tippet, an intelli¬ 
gent coloured man from the States, who has been 
living thirteen years on the Gaboon, since the age 
of fourteen, and who acts as native trader to Mr. 
R. B. N. Walker, for ivory, ebony, rubber, and 
other produce, escorted me to his extensive esta¬ 
blishment. At length I am amongst the man- 
eaters. 
