* * * * *
_Trade._
The currency of Ashantee is gold dust, that of Inta, Dagwumba, Gaman,
and Kong, cowries. Mr. Lucas writes, “to the merchants of Fezzan who
travel to the southern states of the Negroes, the purchase of gold,
which the dominions of several, and especially those of Degombah,
abundantly afford, is always the first object of commercial
acquisition.” I could not learn that any gold was dug or collected in
Dagwumba, though considerable quantities are imported, from its
extensive commerce. Sixteen ackies make an ounce or newemeën, 36 a
benda, 40 a periguin: eight tokoos (a small berry) are reckoned to the
ackie, but it will not weigh more than seven: there are eight distinct
names for quantities of gold dust from one to eight ackies. Five strings
or 200 cowries are equal to a tokoo, as at Accra. The clearest manner of
shewing the articles, prices, and profits of the Ashantee, Inta, and
Dagwumba markets, will be by a table with remarks; substituting, for the
greater convenience, English monies calculated at the currency of gold
here, which is £4. the oz.
[Q.: Quantity.; P.: Profit.; P. pC.: Profit. per Cent.;
Pce.: Piece.; Gll.: Gallon.; Brl.: Barrel.; fth.: fathom.;
hdk.: hdkchf.; chg.: charge.]
+------------------------------+------------------+------------------+
| _Cape Coast._ | _Coomassie._ | Sallagha and |
| | | Yahndi. |
+---------------+--+--+--+-----+--+--+--+-----+---+--+--+--+-----+---+
| Articles. |£ |s.|d.| Q. |£.|s.|d.| Q. |P. |£.|s.|d.| Q. |P. |
| | | | | | | | | |pC.| | | | | |
+---------------+--+--+--+-----+--+--+--+-----+---+--+--+--+-----+---+
|(_a_) Silk, |4 | | | per | |5 | | 1 |175| | | | | |
|India | | | |Pce. | | | |span.| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| —— Fezzan | | | | |2 | | | 1 |100|1 | | | 1 | |
| | | | | | | | |fth. | | | | |fth. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_b_) |1 |10| | | |2 |6 | 1 |400| | | | | |
|Sarstracunda | | | | | | | |span.| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_c_) Glasgow |1 |10| | | |5 | | 1 |75 | | | | | |
|Dane | | | | | | | |hdk. | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_d_) Romal |1 | | | |1 |5 | |pce. |20 | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_e_) Guinea | |10| | | |15| | |33 | | | | | |
|Stuff | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_f_) Silesia | |10| | | |15| | |33 | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Dagwumba | | | | | |5 | | sq. |100| |2 |6 | sq. | |
|white Cotton | | | | | | | |yard.| | | | |yard.| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Rum | |10| |Gll. | | |7½|dram.|400| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_g_) Tobacco, |6 | | |Roll.|10| | |roll.|75 | | | | | |
|Portuguese | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |7½|span.| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| —— Inta | | | | | |2 |6 | lb. |150| | | | lb. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_h_) Gunpowder|4 | | | ¼ | | |7½| 1 |400| | | | | |
| | | | |Brl. | | | |chg. | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Iron |1 | | |Bar. |1 |15| |bar. |75 |3 | | |bar. |200|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Lead | |10| | | | |7½| ½ |75 | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |inch.| | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Flints | |5 | | 100 | | |¼ |each.|600| | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_i_) Spanish | |5 | | ea. | |5 | | | | | | | | |
|Dollar | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|(_k_) Sandals | | | | | |10| |pair.|100| |5 | |pair.| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Cushions | | | | |1 | | | ea. |100| |10| | ea. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|Marrowa Locks | | | | | |5 | | |100| |2 |6 | | |
+---------------+--+--+--+-----+--+--+--+-----+---+--+--+--+-----+---+
(_a_) The red taffetas (11 yards in each piece) are unravelled by the
Ashantees, and wove into the cloths of their own manufacture: they
unravel a few of the fancy silks, but these are generally bought for
wear, though they prefer those from Fezzan for that purpose, because the
colours are more shewy. Coarse thick scarves are also brought from the
interior, equal in substance to a double wove ribbon. One ackie a span
was the price in the public market, where it was retailed in these small
quantities, for the convenience of the weavers, who did not require, or
could not afford to purchase more: the price of a piece was uncertain,
as the person who could purchase so much, generally sent a trusty
servant to the foreign market, and seldom bought of the traders but when
they were necessitated to sell at little more than prime cost. The
richest silks, I saw, were worn by the Moors, who had bought them at
Yahndi and Houssa.[105] Reckoning nine inches to a span, there are eight
spans in a fathom, which is the Ashantee measure; but the fathom of Inta
and Dagwumba, contains only six spans. Even if the Ashantee traders give
twenty shillings a fathom, in barter of boossee, salt, rum, iron, &c.;
it is considerably cheaper to them than ours, considering that they get
100 per cent. on it at Coomassie. Mr. Lucas mentions “silk wrought and
unwrought amongst the articles exported from Fezzan to Kassina. Apokoo
and several others related to me, that Saï Cudjo bought a piece of silk
at Yahndi, so very fine, that although it could be compressed between
two hands, it was nevertheless larger than any cloth I had seen the
present King wear, and his appeared monstrous. Apokoo added, that six
slaves were paid for it, which would have produced £160. at the water
side.
(_b_) This is a highly glazed British cotton of bright red stripes with
a bar of white: it is bought solely for the red stripe, (as there is no
red dye nearer than Marrowa) which they weave into their own cloths,
throwing away the white. There are 280 inches in a piece. A cloth of
Ashantee manufacture will be sent to the British Museum, and, I expect,
the size, fineness, and variety will surprise.
(_c_) This is also a highly glazed British cotton of more colours, and
in handkerchiefs; ten of which are in a 30_s._ piece.
(_d_) This is an unglazed India cotton, not much in demand, and yielding
the least profit. The Manchester cotton called Tom Coffee is preferred.
(_e_) This is India cotton unglazed, for all of which there is, in
proportion, but a small demand. The Ashantees invariably prefer cloths
of the Dagwumba, or their own manufacture, and we rarely saw any others
worn in Coomassie.
(_f_) These are white cottons, six yards in a piece, but narrow, they
are bought for fetish cloths; but the next article, the white cotton
cloth of Dagwumba, is preferred, a piece of which, painted, will be sent
to the British Museum.
(_g_) These are the wholesale and retail prices at Coomassie, the
average length of a roll is 42 fathoms.
(_h_) Powder is retailed for customs or festivals: those who purchase it
for war, or can afford a ¼ barrel, send to the water side for it. A ¼
barrel contains 25 lbs. and the Ashantee charge weighs 16 ackies, equal
to ¾ of an ounce avoirdupoise.
(_i_) This was owing to their brisk intercourse with the Spanish and
Portuguese slave ships, a dollar generally fetches two ackies or 10_s._
Mr. Park writes, from £1. 5_s._ to £2. 10_s._ at Sansanding.
(_k_) Sandals and a cushion will be sent to the British Museum. In
Marrowa they decoct a good red dye from a tree called mossarātee.
The reason green ells are purchased by the Warsaws only, is, that they
must be the wedding garment of the females of that country: if they are
fast colours, and will not change to a blue with lime-juice, they will
not look at them.
Most of the slaves in Coomassie, were sent as part of the annual tribute
of Inta, Dagwumba, and their neighbours, to Ashantee; very many were
kidnapped, and for the few who were bought, I was assured by several
respectable Ashantees, 2000 cowries, or 1 basket of Boossee was the
greatest price given; so full were the markets of the interior. I have
brought some pods of the Boossee; it is astringent, and the natives chew
it to excite a flow of saliva, and allay the sensation of hunger.
The[106] Boossee must be the Gooroo nut, which Mr. Lucas describes as
one of the articles of trade between Fezzan, Kassina, Bornoo, and the
states south of the Niger. He writes, “Gooroo nuts, which are brought
from the Negro states on the south of the Niger, and which are
principally valued for the pleasant bitter that they communicate to any
liquor in which they are infused,” and again “a species of nut—which is
much valued in the kingdoms to the north of the Niger, and which is
called Gooroo. It grows on a large and broad leafed tree, that bears a
pod of about 18 inches in length, in which are inclosed a number of nuts
that varies from 7 to 9. Their colour is a yellowish green; their size
is that of a chesnut, which they also resemble, in being covered by a
husk of a similar thickness, and their taste, which is described as a
pleasant bitter, is so grateful to those who are accustomed to its use,
and so important as a corrective to the unpalatable or unwholesome
waters of Fezzan, and of the other kingdoms that border on the vast
Zahara, as to be deemed of importance to the happiness of life. They
are purchased at the rate of 12_s._ for 100 pods.”
Sal ammonia is found abundantly in Dagwumba: in the Ashantee market, a
lump the size of a duck’s egg, was sold for 2_s._: they grind it to mix
with their snuff, (of which they take large quantities,) as it gives it
a pungency agreeable to them. They also dissolve it in the water they
give to their cattle, and sometimes drink it themselves for pains in the
bowels. The Tamool practitioners in the East Indies suppose it to be a
useful remedy in certain female obstructions, and morbid uterine
enlargements. Mr. Lucas writes, “No commercial value appears to be
annexed to the fleeces which the numerous flocks of the Negro kingdoms
afford; for the cotton manufacture, which, the Shereef says, is
established among the tribes to the south of the Niger, seems to be the
only species of weaving that is known among them.” In Dagwumba, however,
they manufacture a coarse kind of blanket from sheep’s wool. There is a
white grease, which has long been called Ashantee grease by the natives
on the coast, who supposed it to be produced in that country. They use
it daily to anoint their skins, which otherwise become coarse and
unhealthy. The Ashantees purchase it from the interior, and make a great
profit by it: it is a vegetable butter, decocted from a tree, called
Timkeëä: it is doubtless the Shea butter of Mr. Park.[107] Mr. Lucas
mentions, “small Turkey and plain Mesurata carpets,” among the articles
exported from Fezzan to Kassina: a small carpet fetches 2 oz. of gold at
Coomassie. The Ashantees procure most of their ivory from Kong, where
they give 8 ackies, or 40_s._ in barter, for a very large tooth.
“The preference of the Ashantees for the Dagwumba and Inta markets, for
silk and cloth, results not merely from their having been so long
accustomed to them, but because they admit of a barter trade. The
Boossee or Gooroo nut, salt, (which is easily procured, and affords an
extravagant profit,) and small quantities of the European commodities,
rum, and iron,[108] yield them those articles of comfort and luxury,
which they can only purchase with gold and ivory from the settlements on
the coast. Gold they are all desirous of hoarding; even those less
covetous than is generally their nature, that they may be prepared for
the purchase of guns and powder to a large extent, on any sudden war,
and thus ingratiate themselves with the king and the government. Were
the Ashantees a commercial people, they might be the brokers between the
interior and Europeans, or, purchasing supplies more adequate to the
demands of their neighbours for European commodities, which would be
bought with avidity, realize large properties. But they have no idea of
buying more of the various articles than will supply themselves; and
leave a small residue to barter for the cloth, silk, and tobacco in the
Inta and Dagwumba markets. They are as little commercial as the Romans
were in their infancy, and their government would repress rather than
countenance the inclination, (believing no state can be aggrandized but
by conquest,) lest their genius for war might be enervated by it, and
lest, either from the merchants increasing to a body too formidable for
their wishes to be resisted, or too artful from their experience to be
detected, they might sacrifice the national honour and ambition to their
avarice, and furnishing Inta, Dagwumba, or any of their more powerful
neighbours (who have yielded to circumstances rather than force) with
guns and powder (which are never allowed to be exported from
Ashantee,[109]) break the spell of their conquests, and undermine their
power. The chiefs are fed bountifully by the labours of their slaves,
and sharing large sums of the revenue, (the fines their oppression has
imposed on other governments,) with incalculable fees for corruption or
interference, refine upon the splendor of equipage even to satiety, and
still possess a large surplus of income daily accumulating. Were they to
encourage commerce, pomp, the idol of which they are most jealous, would
soon cease to be their prerogative, because it would be attainable by
others; the traders growing wealthy, would vie with them; and for their
own security, stimulated by reflections they have now too little at risk
to originate, they would unite to repress the arbitrary power of the
Aristocracy; and even if they did not, inevitably (as the chiefs
conceive) divert the people’s genius for war.
It will occur that even to furnish the necessities or luxuries of the
Ashantees alone, in cloth, silk, &c. would, considering the extent of
the kingdom, considerably augment the returns of our commerce in this
part of the world; and therefore it would be well to wean them,
gradually, from the markets of the interior, by inducing their
cultivation of cotton, which grows abundantly, is of a superior quality,
and which, offered in quantities, in addition to the ivory, would lessen
the balance of trade now in our favor, and by enabling them, in some
degree to purchase with produce instead of gold dust, remove the present
comparative disadvantage in trading with Europeans entirely. This
occurred to me, and I explained the view not only to the king, but to
the more enterprising and reflecting natives: but they had no idea of a
quantity, and immediately concluded cotton to be so desirable to us,
that 40 or 50 lbs. would be received in barter for twenty times its
value; and they required one tokoo and a half per lb. for it, (say one
shilling,) even in gold, and on the spot. When I urged that they must
clear the ground, form plantations, and superintend the labours of their
slaves; they replied, that the Boossee or Gooroo nut grew spontaneously,
and required no labour, that salt was brought to their frontier by
poorer nations, and sold for little without the trouble of fetching it;
and these articles, with the value, their prevention of all intercourse
but their own with the water side nations, attached to a little rum and
iron in the interior, furnished them with silks and cotton cloths at a
much easier rate, pattern and quality.
A serious disadvantage opposed to the English trade, is that the
Ashantees will purchase no tobacco but the Portuguese, and that eagerly
even at 2 oz. of gold the roll. Of this, (the Portuguese and Spanish
slave ships regularly calling at Elmina,) the Dutch Governor-General is
enabled to obtain frequent supplies, in exchange for canoes, two of
which, though they cost him comparatively nothing, fetch 32 rolls of
tobacco; and the General has sometimes received 80 oz. of gold a day
from the Ashantees for tobacco only. If they cannot have this tobacco,
they will content themselves with that grown in the interior, of which I
have brought a sample. A preference for the Dutch has long been natural
to the Ashantees, from an earlier though limited intercourse with them,
and from the natural impression, that the English settling amongst their
enemies, the Fantees, have encouraged and assisted their provocations
and resistance. With this bias in his favor, though the Dutch market,
destitute of supplies, had not been visited for many years, the talent
of General Daendels, “callidum quicquid placuit,” would no doubt have
again raised it to a level with the English, cæteris paribus; and his
unlimited importation of powder and guns in the first place, with the
still more valuable supplies of Portuguese tobacco he receives at
present, as superior advantages, have, of course, possessed the Dutch
market of superior inducements.
It is to be lamented, the indifference of the Dutch and Danes to their
settlements here, being evident from their neglect and reduction of
them, that the British government did not take advantage of the
disregard, and add them to their own. Elmina is a much finer position
for head quarters than Cape Coast; the Dutch fort at Succondee, the best
point for the Warsaw trade, and where we have but a house, is strong,
admirably situated, and might be put in good condition for £1000. in
addition to which, Axim, near the mouth of the Ancobra, would be the
only fort to windward worth keeping; and the Danish head quarters,
Christiansburg Castle at Accra, with their fort at Adda, (to secure the
navigation of the Volta,) would have answered every purpose and view to
leeward. One system could then have been acted upon towards the natives,
the commerce, confined to the English, would have grown from wholesome
regulations, which no other settlers could counteract by selfishness,
jealousy, or by facilitating the illegitimate trade we would crush; and
the benevolent views of the British government for the improvement and
civilization of the natives, would not be defeated by those, who,
holding their private interest superior to views in which their own
government has evinced no interest, militate against them by fostering
suspicions to bar our progress in the interior, and by indulging those
habits and customs of the natives, which it must be our first step to
correct and divert.
In addition to the obstacles which the inconsistent and selfish conduct
of the different European powers towards the natives presents to
intercourse and civilization, the continuance of the slave trade under
the Spanish flag, is one more serious: no one can imagine the stubborn
impediment it was to our negotiations at Ashantee, where the native
emissaries from these slave ships arrived not long after us. It not only
injures the British commerce here, almost to annihilation, but, slaving
being the natural trade of the natives, because it is the most indolent
and the most lucrative, the opposition, which is insinuated and believed
to proceed from the English alone, conveys a disagreeable impression of
us to the interior, as inauspicious to our intercourse and progress, as
the even partial continuance of such a trade is to legitimate commerce
and civilization. One thousand slaves left Ashantee for two Spanish
schooners or Americans under that flag, to our knowledge, during our
residence there, doubtless the whole number was much greater; since our
return it must have been very considerable, for the slave trade was
never more brisk than it is at this moment under the cloak of the
Spanish flag, and great risk has been incurred, in consequence, of
offending our new friend and formidable neighbour the King of Ashantee,
from the firm resistance of his strong intreaties to the Governor in
Chief, to allow the return of a powerful mulatto slave trader to Cape
Coast town, whence he had been expelled under the present government, as
the most daring promoter of that commerce. It is a great pity, in the
infancy of our intercourse with this great interior power, that there
should have been occasion either for the request or refusal; which there
would not have been had the slave trade been abolished, instead of
crippled, at the expense, probably, of our own interests and views in
the interior, and, which is worse, of the happiness and improvement of
the natives. For it is certainly our duty, because it is the most
acceptable and the only efficient acknowledgment we can make of the
superior blessings and endowments by which we are so indulgently
distinguished from these nations, to extend the influence and the
participation, both by enterprise and policy, even if our commerce may
not be benefitted; and if we gain no other recompense than the
satisfaction of our own minds in the ameliorated condition of others,
and the opportunity we have made to ourselves of exemplifying our own
gratitude.[110] Whilst one slave ship is allowed to visit this coast,
the great convenience and the great profits of the trade will recur, and
be perpetuated amongst the Ashantees; they will linger in the hope of
its entire renewal, and view the English invidiously, as the enemies to
what they conceive to be their only natural commerce; this is another
advantage to the Dutch, added to the inherent bias in their favour; and,
from the reception and facilities which slave ships meet with at Elmina,
our odium is aggravated instead of being participated. “Delenda est
Carthago.”
Let us suppose this irreconcilable obstacle to be annihilated, as no
doubt it will be, and resume our reflections on a commercial intercourse
with the interior. The people of Inta and Dagwumba, being commercial
rather than warlike, the object, deliberately to be obtained, is an
intercourse with them, which would in fact be an intercourse with the
interior as far as Timbuctoo and Houssa northwards, and Cassina, if not
to Bornoo, eastwards. The wealth, civilization, and commerce of
Dagwumba, Mr. Lucas has before reported. Now, in effecting such an
intercourse through the Ashantees, who are indisputably the greatest and
the rising power of western Africa, and who, having acquired their
present extent of influence and command in little more than a century,
may be expected to aggrandize their empire considerably; in seeking this
connection through them, there are these adverse circumstances, their
policy, their jealousy, and their inaptitude to commerce. It has been
suggested to the King, and urged with all the address of General
Daendels, to open a path to the interior through his kingdom, and to
receive a duty or tax on all the merchandize transported, which would
afford him a certain and considerable addition to his revenue; but even
this appeal to the avarice of the Ashantee government has had no
influence. It would be dangerous as well as impolitic to offend the King
of Ashantee at any time, with the present garrisons of the forts,
madness; and though his influence through that of Dagwumba, which is at
his command, would extend to the Niger, yet, I think our anxiety to
explore so far should be suppressed for two or three years, until he is
satisfied that commerce and not ambition is the impulse. But in the
interim, it would be desirable gradually to approach Inta and Dagwumba,
by establishing a settlement up the Volta, which has been shewn to run
close to Sallagha, the grand emporium of Inta, and is navigable within
four days of it; and possibly might be made so even nearer. The Danes
would no doubt relinquish their claim to the navigation of the Volta,
for it is a doubtful one. Dalzel writes, “the Danes claim the exclusive
navigation of the Volta, which is disputed by the English, who have a
settlement near it, called Loy.” The great prices the Ashantees get for
rum, iron, &c. from the people of Inta and Dagwumba, and the avidity
with which they purchase their small supplies, leave no doubt of the
eagerness with which they would resort to our market; and the silks they
obtain from Fezzan being dearer than our own, I should think we could
induce a preference. Our Manchester cloth and cotton manufactures would
be novel and useful to them, as those I saw wore vests and tunics. But
here I must observe, that whenever our commerce with the interior may be
established, the returns of it, in my opinion, will fall short of the
general idea and expectation.
The King of Ashantee viewing our settlements on the Volta, would, I have
no doubt, be reconciled by our undertaking to sell neither guns or
powder to any but his own people; a measure due to humanity as well as
policy, for the preponderance of one great nation is auspicious to the
civilization as well as the tranquillity of Africa; but for that, the
slaughter of the human species would be incalculable; there would be a
constant warfare between the numerous states, naturally querulous, and
our passage to the interior would be impossible, not only on that
account, but because there would be no powerful monarch to recommend or
protect us. If the King of Ashantee were not satisfied with our new
settlement confining the trade of guns and powder to himself, he would
certainly be repressed by the alarming reflection, that it was at our
discretion, (depending on his behaviour,) to supply Inta and Dagwumba
with both, and thus to undermine his empire; for it is well known, and
has been confessed, that the greater population of these countries,
could they but procure fire-arms, would give them a superiority over the
Ashantees, to which their greater civilization seems to entitle them.
Our force and establishments should be respectable; not to arrogate or
to intrude, but to protect the legitimate commercial views, sanctioned
and invited by the voice of less arbitrary powers, and also to make
their first impression of the English imposing and preservative.
Residencies should be established at these courts, and young men of
talent, temper, and discrimination be found to fill them, collecting the
geographical and statistical desiderata, and forwarding them to be
investigated and digested into one report at head quarters, before they
were transmitted to England. One or two intelligent Moors might also be
engaged to trade by different routes, and minute the directions,
distances, and descriptions of the several places; thus paving the way,
and lessening the difficulties of a future Mission to the Niger. If the
working of gold mines were also an object, the vicinity of the Ancobra
affords a rich field; and a small district might either be purchased of
the natives, or they might receive a dividend of the proceeds, which
would produce them much more than their present inadequate researches,
suppressed by their more powerful neighbours the Warsaws.
The benevolent and politic views of the British Government, would thus,
by making use of what we have or might easily get, be more probably, if
not more speedily realized, than by the perilous, desultory, and limited
enterprises of two or three individuals.
[Footnote 105: Since my return to England I have seen some silk brought
from Aleppo, and manufactured there, precisely resembling these, which
were frequently enriched by gold threads interwoven.]
[Footnote 106: Sterculia acuminata _Palis de Beauvais Flore d’Oware_, 1.
_p._ 41, _tab._ 24.]
[Footnote 107: See Sketch of Gaboon.]
[Footnote 108: Though iron is manufactured in Dagwumba, that from Europe
is preferred for finer purposes. The former is an imperfect steel
containing a mechanical mixture of unreduced ore.]
[Footnote 109: “Fire arms are unknown to such of the nations on the
south of the Niger as the Shereef has visited; and the reason which he
assigns for it is, that the kings in the neighbourhood of the coast,
persuaded that if these powerful instruments of war should reach the
possession of the populous inland states, their own independence would
be lost, have strictly prohibited, and by the wisdom of their measures
have effectually prevented this dangerous merchandize from passing
beyond the limits of their dominions.” Lucas.]
[Footnote 110: The dissuasion from barbarities of which millions are now
the victims, as the descriptions of the customs of Ashantee and the
interior have shewn, and the interests of science, render this duty more
imperious. It has been well observed, “apologies for our present
ignorance of every thing that regards geography, &c. might be pleaded by
mercantile speculators, but can have little weight with those who have
the interests of science at heart, or the national honour and fame,
which are intimately connected with those interests. It was not with a
view to any immediate commercial advantages, that this liberal
encouragement for the discovery of the north-west passage was held out,
but with the same expanded objects that sent Cook in search of a
southern continent.”
Voltaire’s remark on India is now only applicable to Africa, “Plusieurs
y ont fait des fortunes immenses, peu se sont appliqués à connoître ce
pays.” I would even recommend indulging the wish of the King of Dahomey
to renew and perpetuate his connection with the English, not indeed by
resuming the fort, that would be a useless expense, as there is no trade
but in ivory, but by establishing a Residency at his capital, the most
frugal method of collecting the various accounts of the interior of that
neighbourhood for geographical investigators, besides supplying the
naturalist. Geographical discoveries in Africa have long been ardently
emulated between England and France, and they have stimulated a generous
rivalry of investigation between the men of science of both countries.
An Englishman first penetrating to the Niger, and determining its course
at the moment a learned investigator of the other kingdom had concluded
it to be a contrary one, was one of those rational and illustrious
triumphs which adorn the historical pages of a nation much more than
those of war; for the gratification and the benefit is shared by both,
and such successes cease to be invidious when the interests of science
are thus mutually at heart. The following immortal tribute from a
classic of a rival nation, should stimulate us to challenge as
illustrious a record of intellectual research,
· · · · “monumentum ære perennius,
Regalique situ pyramidum altius;”
by a correspondent pursuit of intelligence in Africa.
“Un Anglais, détruit tout ce vain amas d’erreurs dont sont remplies nos
histoires des Indes, et confirme ce que le petit nombre d’hommes
instruits en a pensé.” Voltaire.]