When that gentleman first visited Tombo, he found the interior covered with a dense jungle, and the shores choked up with mangroves. There was only one solitary hut on the island near the beach, which was used as a resting place for boats trading up the river. At that time there was a slave factory in full occupation at Bance Island. It would be very difficult to compute the expense, and almost impossible for persons who are not practically acquainted with African mangroves and jungle, to estimate the exertion and perseverance which must have been necessary to bring this place to its present state of improvement. The wildness of the surface has given way before the hand of industry, and that which was some years before a wilderness of underwood, now presents an aspect of cultivation. The whole of this point is as clear as the streets of Freetown; and on a fine open situation, where the breeze plays from almost every point of the compass, an excellent stone house, with out-offices, has been erected. The site is well chosen and the building is scarcely inferior to the best houses in Freetown. The upper part is used as a private dwelling, and the lower part is appropriated to storage. A good boat-house, a saw-pit, upwards of twenty plastered huts, for the mechanics and labourers employed on the spot, and a well cut through the solid rock, from whence excellent water is obtained, complete the conveniences of the establishment.
Mr. McCormack does not fell any timber in the island; he merely uses his location here as a depôt for the wood which is brought down the rivers Rokelle and Porto Logo from the upper countries. For this trade he contracts with the natives inhabiting the lands lying near the shores of the rivers, and the wood is floated down on rafts to Tombo, where ships come to take in their cargoes. The African oak is so heavy that the natives are obliged to raft it on wood of a much lighter specific gravity. This trade is of considerable benefit both to our colonists and the native tribes. It not only promotes a friendly intercourse between them, but affords constant employment to great numbers of the latter, by which they are enabled to secure many of the comforts of civilized life, of which they must otherwise have been destitute. It has also had the happy effect of releasing them from vassalage, which formerly prevailed universally, and which was in some degree necessary as a protection against the arbitrary power of the different chiefs during the existence of the slave trade.
A statement of the annual export of timber from Tombo, since the commencement in 1816, will shew with what rapid strides the trade has increased.
| In 1816 | 716 logs. |
| 1817 | 7,087 do. |
| 1818 | 1,341 do. |
| 1819 | 2,251 do. |
| 1820 | 6,271 do. |
| 1821 | 4,454 do. |
| 1822 | 1,429 do. |
| 1823 | 4,593 do. |
| 1824 | 10,093 do. |
| 1825 | 22,206 do. |
| 1826 | 24,456 do. |
There is a mud bar across the river about one mile and a half below Tombo; and as the depth here is not more than 14 feet at high water, vessels ought not to load more than 13 feet before they drop below.
Tuesday, Sept. 25th.—Heavy rain in the night, but a fine warm day. Soon after noon I left Tombo, and visited Bance Island. The only objects of interest that presented themselves were the remains of an old slave factory, and a burial ground. The road to the latter place was by a path through a lime and orange plantation, which grew so luxuriantly that it quite obstructed our way, and we were compelled to have a black pioneer, who went before us with a sword to cut down the thorny branches. In this remote and lonely place I found the following epitaph on a tombstone, which appeared to me so curious that I caused it to be transcribed.
Here lies The Residue of The Honourable Sea Captain, GEORGE ANDREW HIORT, Born in Denmark, the 6th of September, 1746, Married January 8th, 1766, to the virtuous Lady Mary Catherine Schive, who, extremely sorrowful, with two good-natured Daughters, deplores the too early Death of this now eternally-blessed Person.
Died on the Coast of Guinea, the 15th October, 1783. His Body reposes here, waiting for a glorious Resurrection, whilst his Soul is in the hands of GOD, where no pain can reach.
In this place we discovered a tombstone of the date of 1680, but unfortunately the inscription was illegible.
We made an excursion to the island of Tasso before dinner, and returned to Bance Island where we passed the night. On approaching Tasso, we saw a large alligator, which Mr. McCormack fired at, but apparently without any effect. It is a well-known fact that the scales of these creatures will turn a bullet. They abound in the river, and are very fearless and ravenous. Some of the men belonging to the timber rafts, who incautiously trusted themselves in the water, have been on several occasions seized by the alligators and carried off, sometimes escaping with the loss of a leg or an arm; at other times, when the people on the rafts happened to sit at the sides, with their feet hanging over, the alligators have been known to seize them by their legs and drag them into the water. They have been taken of the enormous length of 18 feet.