ntending to
complete his water in Port Praya Bay, previous to a long cruise after
the American squadron.

We found here a slave-vessel in charge of a naval officer, bound to
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 mess-mates, 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
their being only an open roadstead before it, very unsafe for vessels to
lie it. 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 everything 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.

This island of slaves is kept in subjection by slaves only who are
enrolled as soldiers, miserably equipped; a cap and a jacket were all
they owed to art; nature provided the rest of their unif