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England; and I thought this a good opportunity to quit, not being over
anxious to serve as a lieutenant when I knew I was a commander. I was
also particularly anxious to return to England for many reasons,
the hand of my dear Emily standing at the head of them. I therefore
requested the captain's permission to quit the ship; and as he wished
to give an acting order to one of his own followers, he consented. I
took my leave of all my messmates, and of my captain, who, though an
unfeeling coxcomb and no sailor, certainly had some good points about
him: in fact, his lordship was a gentleman; and had his ship fallen
in with an enemy, she would have been well fought, as he had good
officers, was sufficiently aware of his own incapability, would take
advice, and as a man of undaunted bravery, was not to be surpassed in
the service.

On the third day after our arrival, the frigate sailed. I went on
board the slaver, which had no slaves on board except four to assist
in working the vessel; she was in a filthy state, and there was no
inn on shore, and of course no remedy. Port Praya is the only good
anchorage in the island; the old town of St Jago was deserted, in
consequence of there being only an open roadstead before it, very
unsafe for vessels to lie in. The town of Port Praya is a miserable
assemblage of mud huts; the governor's house, and one more, are better
built, but they are not so comfortable as a cottage in England. There
were not ten Portuguese on the island, and above ten thousand blacks,
all originally slaves; and yet every thing was peaceable, although
fresh arrivals of slaves came every day.

It was easy to distinguish the different races: the Yatoffes are tall
men, not very stoutly built; most of them are soldiers. I have seen
ten of them standing together, the lowest not less than six feet two
or three inches. The Foulahs, from the Ashantee country, are another
race, they are powerful and muscular, ill-featured, badly disposed,
and treacherous. The Mandingoes are a smaller race than the others,
but they are well disposed and tractable.

The island of slaves is kept in subjection by slaves only, who are
enrolled as soldiers, miserably equipped; a cap and a jacket was all
they owed to art, nature provided the rest of their uniform. The
governor's orderly alone sported a pair of trousers, and these were on
permanent duty, being transferred from one to the other as their turn
for that service came on.

I p