Mr. How, a botanist in the service of Government, stated, that on
the arrival of an order for slaves from Cape Coast Castle, while he was
there, a native chief immediately sent forth armed parties, who brought
in a supply of all descriptions in the night.
But he would now mention one or two instances of another sort, and these
merely on account of the conclusion, which was to be drawn from them.
When Captain Hills was in the river Gambia, he mentioned accidentally to
a Black pilot, who was in the boat with him, that he wanted a cabin-boy.
It so happened that some youths were then on the shore with vegetables
to sell. The pilot beckoned to them to come on board; at the same time
giving Captain Hills to understand, that he might take his choice of
them; and when Captain Hills rejected the proposal with indignation, the
pilot seemed perfectly at a loss to account for his warmth; and drily
observed, that the slave-captains would not have been so scrupulous.
Again, when General Rooke commanded at Goree, a number of the natives,
men, women, and children, came to pay him a friendly visit. All was
gaiety and merriment. It was a scene to gladden the saddest, and to
soften the hardest, heart.
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