The soil here abounds with particles of gold, which the natives wash when their daily wants require small means, but they are destitute of the merit of perseverance unless forced to it. The white population consists here of only a few officers in the fort, supported by native or apprenticed soldiers. The native houses or huts are of wicker or reed work, plastered with mud and covered with palm leaves or branches. The Wesleyan missionaries have a fine, eligible establishment. I found three of their number here present, as also some native preachers and teachers. One of the number is the nephew to the king of the Ashantees. He had been sent to England for an education. They were well provided with the good things of this life in eating and drinking, which they are entitled to in this barbarous country.
I saw sheep and goats on the grounds—some monkeys chattering about; large numbers are found in the woods; the natives are fond of them, and their skins are an article of exportation, for ladies’ muffs.
We have had a melancholy duty to perform: one of our fellow passengers, who-occupied a state room opposite to me, died night before last. He was a physician, who could not heal himself according to the command in Scripture. Our number of passengers was now reduced to four. He had supped with us, and two hours after was a corpse. I felt it a duty to assist in performing the last rites of a Christian burial, not knowing but others might be called upon to perform a similar service for one seven thousand miles from home. The ship carpenter made a rude pine coffin, which was covered with the English union jack. We solicited the offices of a missionary, but whether from the sudden shock, or fear of fever, I know not, but I found myself the only passenger among the group following his mortal remains to the white man’s little graveyard, carried upon the shoulders of negroes. The captain, purser, first engineer, and myself, stood with white umbrellas under a broiling sun, the parched earth almost blistering our feet, until the burial service was read by the officiating Episcopal clergyman in his white robes. It was the mournful sight of a Christian burial in strong contrast with the listless, idle, and gazing groups of dark, naked figures, which curiosity had attracted to the spot. A civil engineer in the Government employ, was the only resident who joined us in the funeral, and to whose house we adjourned after the ceremonies were over; we were provided with refreshments, which we stood in need of.
Many forts along the coast, which once amounted to thirty, have fallen into decay; they were used for slave factories, and were in the possession of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes, and the English, to provide the Colonies with slaves.
We proceed to Acra, further along the coast, in possession of the Dutch and English, and thence to the territory of the king of Dahomy, who is now waging war to procure slaves for the annual sacrifice, and I may be able to give you some of these barbarous statistics.
CLIX.
Steamer Athenien, off Lagos, West Coast of Africa, March 23, 1860.
After visiting the Grain, Ivory, and Gold Coasts, and the territory of the king of Dahomy, we now find ourselves off the formidable breakers of Lagos. The mail bags we headed up in a puncheon, in the event of capsizing the native boat. The landing is so unsafe, and being probably the worst on the coast of Africa, none of us are allowed to make the attempt. Two passengers from Acra go on board of vessels lying outside, at anchor, until a more favorable opportunity offers. Sometimes no landing is effected for weeks. The sharks are so abundant that they upset crews of natives, and strangers are often lost.
Acra, our next landing-place after Cape Coast Castle, is one-half occupied by the English fort and native town, and the other half by a Dutch fort and settlement. The resident traders complain of the want of commerce, as the king of the country, whom the English had punished and laid under tribute of ten thousand pounds, payable in palm oil, at fixed prices, would not execute the payment. I there found two merchants from Cape Coast, who had bought the contract, &c., which the king now rejects. It remains to be seen if the British will enforce it.
The Danes were in possession of a large fort at Christianborg, a few miles from Acra, which they have sold to the English for the nominal sum of five thousand pounds. The Commandant of the English fort politely offered me his horse, and a recommendation to the officer in command, which I accepted, and found, in the absence of the Governor, only one officer and the doctor of the station. Five officers had died of the African fever, and the soldiery consisted of one hundred and thirteen negroes. The town looked abandoned, and in part battered down, as the native tribes had attacked the fort, which is well mounted with small brass guns. They were soon put to flight, and the broken walls of the village indicated the result.