In the Seventh Year after the conclusion of the Convention to prevent illicit Traffick in Slaves, it must be matter of great indignation, that a people owing obedience to the Laws of Portugal should pursue the Slave Trade in the very worst of its abominable ways.

It is the practice of the people of Bissao, it is confidently asserted, to send armed Boats, or Canoes, about the Coasts and Islands in their vicinity, to surprise their Inhabitants and to carry them off to supply the wants of their Slave Market. This practice is, no doubt, often resorted to where the Slave Trade is legally pursued, but it may be thought that where the Trade is proscribed it would not be dared to be carried on by Portuguese Subjects.

In the course of the last Year some Boats from Bissao, it is said landed at the mouth of the Rio Nunez; sacked some of the Villages there, and carried off to Bissao, to be sold into Slavery, as many of their Inhabitants as they could take.

Besides the barbarity of this practice, its consequence is, that the Natives within the reach of such kidnapping expeditions, are rendered savage and untractable, so much so that they are always disposed to deal harshly with such Europeans as may fall into their hands. The Natives of one of the Bisago Islands, which lie about the mouth of the River on which Bissao is situated, possessed themselves of a Boat with its Crew belonging to the Spanish Schooner "Joseph," condemned in the Mixed Court in the year 1822, which had incautiously approached the Island to obtain information as to the proper course to be pursued by the "Joseph," in order to reach Bissao. The Boat's Crew were with some difficulty, after suffering great hardships, ransomed through the interference of the Governor of Bissao. Although this interference was in the end successful, we should think that the Natives were more swayed by interest in liberating the Europeans of the "Joseph" who were in their possession, than by a friendly regard for the Governor of Bissao; the difficulty with which the ransom was effected shews this to have been the case.

It may be said by the Portuguese Authorities at Bissao, if they do not deny the fact, that it is not they nor those under their controul who pursue the system of kidnapping that has been mentioned, but that that system is pursued by the Natives near Bissao, over whom those Authorities have no power. Even should this be asserted, and the assertion be true, it is the demand for Slaves for exportation, which induces these independent Natives to pursue such a mode of supplying that demand. If the Authorities at Bissao did not themselves export Slaves, or allow them to be exported within the extent of their influence by others, these Natives would not have sufficient inducement to attack their neighbours for the purpose of enslaving them. We think that if the influence of the Authorities of Bissao and Cacheo were exerted to discountenance that Trade, as it is now exerted to encourage it,

the Trade would not be pursued on the Coast in the vicinity of these Places, as that Coast is described as being difficult of access from the intricacies and dangers of the navigation about it.

The Country about Bissao is said to be very fertile, and capable of producing most tropical fruits. A little wax and ivory is at times exported from Bissao by the Slave Ships, but we believe that Slaves form the chief article of export from thence.

Occasionally, about the months of May and June, a few Sloops come to Sierra Leone from Bissao, laden with stock for this market, which is generally sold to advantage.

In the Rio Nunez there has not been any Slave Ship for a considerable time past. Formerly this River was frequented by Slave Ships from The Havannah and other Places. The Natives of the River are now beginning to turn their exclusive attention to another and better sort of commerce than that of Slaves, so as to make it worth the while of respectable mercantile people at Sierra Leone and at the Isle de Los, to enter into dealings with them.

Some time ago, even when some few Slave Ships entered the River for Slaves, small Vessels from the Isle de Los occasionally traded in the River, for different articles, but their trade was subject to interruption, as the Natives attended more to supplying the demands of the Slave Ships.

Some Mercantile Establishments have recently been formed at the head of the River. We trust that these Establishments will eventually be productive of much benefit to their founders, and to the Natives with whom they would traffick. If the exportation of Slaves directly from the River should not again be resumed, benefit to both Parties must be produced.

It is said that some Slaves are sent in canoes from the Rio Nunez to Bissao to be sold there. We would not disbelieve this assertion; yet we would hope that this kind of traffick is very limited. Our hope on this point seems to be realized, by the fact that one of the old Slave Traders of the River, named Bateman, an Englishman we are sorry to say, is now in a state of poverty, although formerly a successful Slave Trader. This man, averse as he is represented to be to engage in any other traffick than the traffick in Slaves, would, since Slave Ships ceased to enter the Rio Nunez, have employed to advantage, it may be presumed, whatever capital he might have possessed at that time in the Slave Traffick betwixt that River and Bissao, if such a Traffick were extensive.

A Coffee Plantation is proposed to be established in the Rio Nunez by one of the White Traders of the River.

No Slave Ship has been in the Rio Pongos since the month of January, 1822, when the Spanish Schooner "Rosalia" was brought to Sierra Leone from thence.

Francisco Freire, the late Pilot of the "Rosalia," has left the

Rio Pongos; he only had the opportunity of leaving the River a few months since, in the American Schooner "Dolphin," mentioned in the last Report of the Commissioners. The "Dolphin" was bound for The Havannah and Charlston. It is said that Freire left with John Ormond, his friend, in the Rio Pongos, the sixty Slaves (not having had an opportunity of disposing of them) that had been kept back from Lieu tenant Hagan, when Lieutenant Hagan made the demand of John Ormond, of the whole of the Slaves that had been purchased for the Schooner "Rosalia." It is reported that Freire proposed, on his return to The Havannah, to pay himself the value of these sixty Slaves, as well as the value of the same number of Slaves that John Ormond delivered up to Lieutenant Hagan, by attaching some property that Ormond possessed at The Havannah.

We trust that the Slave Trade will not be renewed in the Rio Pongos, but that River and the Rio Nunez require to be occasionally visited by the Cruizers, to shew to the Natives that a vigilant eye is kept over their Proceedings. These Rivers have not been visited by the Cruizers since the month of March, 1823, when some of the boats of His Majesty's Ship Owen Glendower went up their Streams, and searched them strictly, but did not find any Slave Ship.

We understand that most of the old Slave Traders of the Rio Pongos, are employed in the collection of the produce of the surrounding Country, to dispose of it to the British traders of the Isles de Los, or to those of this Colony.

In the last Report of the Commissioners, it was stated that John Ormond was unwilling to relinquish the hope of being again enabled to carry on the Traffick in Slaves. He, however, has been obliged to follow the example of the other Traders in the River, and to turn his attention to a better traffic. The Schooner that was mentioned in the last Report of the Commissioners as having been built by John Ormond, or under his direction, in the Rio Pongos, was recently despatched by him to Sierra Leone, with a cargo of rice, for the account of a Merchant of this Place. The Schooner, a few days after her arrival at Sierra Leone, was seized by the Collector of the Customs, for a breach of the British Navigation Laws, she not being British built nor owned by a British Subject. On the direction of the Colonial Government, the Schooner was released by the Collector. It was conceived, that to have applied the strictness of the Navigation Laws.to this Vessel, would have materially checked the desire of Ormond in particular, and of the Natives in general, to engage in Commerce with this Colony.

Along the Coast from the Rio Pongos to Sierra Leone, the foreign Slave Trade has ceased. The Natives of this Coast are in constant intercourse with the Colony of Sierra Leone. This intercourse is highly beneficial to the Natives and to the Colony. The Natives bring hither supplies of rice, cattle, poultry, and vegetables, for the Colonial market;

they also bring some coffee, which is said to be of an excellent quality; some ivory is also, at times, brought by them, which they procure from the interior. European goods are taken in return by these Traders. We wish we could add, that the visits of these Natives to Sierra Leone made a visible improvement in their moral condition; but they are so wedded to their own particular customs, that time only can affect a change in that condition, but that change, we are sure, must be sooner or later effected through the influence of the Colony of Sierra Leone.

Disturbances have lately existed in the tract of Country of which we have just made mention. These disturbances were caused chiefly by the jealousies of Chiefs of different districts. They have been, in some measure, removed by the friendly interference of the Colonial Government between the contending Parties.

We are happy to be enabled to say that the trade of Sierra Leone has increased since the date of the last Report of the Commissioners. This increase we ascribe principally to the great influx of traders into the Colony which has taken place within [the last year, and to the demand for African timber within the same period.

The traders from the interior consisted of the Natives of Foutah Jallon and of the Natives of more distant Countries.

The Natives of Foutah Jallon, or Foulahs as they are termed, brought hither great numbers of large and small cattle with a considerable quantity of gold; considerable, we mean, in comparison with the quantity brought to the Colony in former years. The Natives of Countries more distant than Foutah Jallon brought mostly gold. It was a singular circumstance that the influx of Native traders into the Colony was greatest in the months of August and September, when the rains yet fell in the tract of Country around Sierra Leone, and at Sierra Leone, with considerable violence. This circumstance shews the eagerness with which the Natives were possessed to exchange their articles of commerce for the European goods to be found at Sierra Leone, and shews that energy is not wanting amongst the Natives to make them engage in a commerce of a different nature from the commerce in Slaves. The rainy Season in the tropical parts of Africa is so inclement, that it is a matter of surprise that these people should expose themselves to it, in a journey of several hundreds of miles, for the sake of what a European would consider trifling gain.

It is not possible to estimate the quantity of cattle that was brought into the Colony by the Foulahs, but that quantity must have been very great; so great, indeed, that although the daily consumption of meat by the Colonists is, at all times, considerable, it was apprehended that the traders would overstock the market, and that they would not obtain a price for their cattle sufficient to remunerate them for their trouble and expense of bringing them hither. We understand, however, that in general these traders in cattle were very well satisfied with their journey to Sierra Leone.

The traders in gold were eagerly sought after by the Merchants of the Colony, who treated them liberally in every respect, even to maintaining them on their own premises, to their personal inconvenience. These traders must have been very well satisfied with their expedition to this Colony, and it is to be expected that the favourable reports of this Colony which they will be likely to spread in the interior Countries, will induce the visits of other and more distant traders.

By far the greater part of these traders came to Sierra Leone from the interior, by the way of Port Logo, a small Native Town, situated at the head of one of the principal branches of the Sierra Leone River, about fifty miles from Freetown.

Formerly the greater part of the traders from the interior came to this Colony by the way of the Scarcies River, which enters the Sea at about twenty miles to the north of the River Sierra Leone.

The way to Sierra Leone from Foutah Jallon by Port Logo is more direct than by that of the Scarcies, and preferable, it would seem, in every respect, as the Foulahs prefer to take it, when they are free to travel by it without being vexatiously interrupted by the Natives of the Chieftainships which intervene betwixt Port Logo and Foutah Jallon.

The way, or path as it is more emphatically termed, of Port Logo, was quite open last year to the Foulah traders, and to the Natives of the Countries beyond them.

In the Report of the Commissioners of the 5th of January, and 16th of April, 1821, it was mentioned that the Colonial Government had sent a Mission under the charge of Mr. O'Beirne, of the Medical Staff, to the King of Foutah Jallon, at his residence at Teembo, with the view to open a direct intercourse with the Foulahs by Port Logo. That Mission, it was said, succeeded in its object, and Mr. O'Beirne brought with him, on his return to Sierra Leone, a number of Foulah traders accompanied by a Nephew of the King of Foutah Jallon, who was sent as a sort of Envoy by the King to the Governor of Sierra Leone.

Since the period of the return of the Envoy to his Country, in 1821, to the months of May or June, 1823, very little intercourse was kept up betwixt Foutah Jallon and Sierra Leone by the Port Logo path. Among the Foulahs, civil commotions arose in that period. The King who had received the Mission, was deposed by his Subjects, and another was appointed to govern in his stead. We believe, also, that obstacles were thrown in the way of the march of the Foulah traders to Port Logo, by Chiefs who were interested in their proceeding to Sierra Leone® by the old path of the Scarcies.

Some time in the course of last year, the deposed King of the Foulahs was reinstated in his authority by his former Subjects, who preferred his milder virtues to the arbitrary disposition of the Person whom they had recently elevated to power; and the commotions of the Country subsided.