as will sell to advantage in a distant market, or from the European traders,on the Coast; payment to be made in a given time. In both cases, the situation of the adventurer is exactly the same. If he succeeds, he may secure an independency. If he is unsuccessful, his person and services are at the disposal of another ; for in Africa, not only the effects of the insolvent, but even the insolvent himself, is sold to satisfy the lawful demands of his creditors. * The fourth cause above enumerated, is the commission of crimes, on which the laws of the country affix slavery as a punishment. In Africa, the only offences of this class, are murder, adultery, and witchcraft; and I am happy to say, that they did not appear to me to be common. In cases of murder, I was informed, that the nearest relation of the deceased had it in his power, after conviction, either to kill the offender with his own hand, or sell him into slavery. When adultery occurs, it is generally left to the option of the person injured, either to sell the culprit, or accept such a ransom for him, as he may think * When a Negro takes up goods on credit from any o f the Europeans on the Coast, and does not make payment at the time appointed, the European is authorized, by the laws o f the country, to seize upon the debtor himself, i f he can find h im ; or i f he cannot be found, on any person o f his family ; or, in the last resort on any native o f the same kingdom. T h e person thus seized on, is detained while his friends are sent in quest o f the debtor. When he is found, a meeting is called .of the chie f people o f the place, and the debt or is compelled to ransom his friend by fulfilling his engagements. I f he is unable to do this, his person is immediately secured and sent down to the Coast, and the other released. I f the debtor cannot .be found, the person seized on is obliged to pay double the amount o f the debt, or is himself sold into slavery. I was given to understand, however, that this part o f the law is seldom enforced. equivalent to the injury he has sustained. By witchcraft, is meant pretended magic, by which the lives or healths of persons are affected : in other words, it is the administering of poison. No trial for this offence, however, came under my observation while I was in Africa ; and I therefore suppose that the crime, and its punishment, occur but very seldom. When a free man has become a slave by any one of the causes before mentioned, he generally continues so for life, and his children (if they are born of an enslaved mother) are brought up in the same state of servitude. There are however a few instances of slaves obtaining their freedom, and sometimes even with the consent of their masters ; as by performing some singular piece of service, or by going to battle, and bringing home two slaves as a ransome; but the common way of regaining freedom is bv escape, and when slaves have once set their minds on running away, they often succeed. Some of them will wait for years before an opportunity presents itself, and during that period shew no signs of discontent. In general, it may be remarked, that slaves who come from a hilly country, and have been much accustomed to hunting and travel, are more apt to attempt their escape, than such as are born in a flat country, and have been employed in cultivating the land. Such are the general outlines of that system of slavery which prevails in Africa ; and it is evident, from its nature and extent, that it is a system of no modern date. It probably had its origin in the remote ages of antiquity, before the Mahomedans explored a path across the Desert. How far it is maintained and supported by the slave traffic, which, for two hundred years, the S f l
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