INTRODUCTORY DETAILS.
I n the month of October, 1815, the Editor of the following
pages was informed b j a friend, that a Gentleman of his
acquaintance, recently arrived from Cadiz, had accidentally
recognised an American seaman, in- the streets of London,
whom he had seen, only a few months before, in the service
of an English merchant in Cadiz, where his extraordinary
history had excited considerable interest; the man hating
been a long time in slavery in the interior of Africa, and having
resided several months at Tombuctoo.
Such a report was too curious not to have attracted the
peculiar attention of the Editor at all times; but the interest
of the story was much heightened at that particular moment,
by the circumstance of the recent embarkation of Major
Peddie and his companions, to explore those very parts of
Africa which this person was said to have visited: and
the Editor entreated his friend to assist him by all the
means in his power, to find the seaman in question, in
