d not do it
himself,--he became almost irresistible in his _empressement_. Yet I
declined the invitation with firm politeness, and took up my quarters
on shore, at the residence of a native _manfuca_, or broker. I was
warned of his allurements before I left Matanzas, and resolved to keep
myself and property so clear of his clutches, that our contract would
either be fulfilled or remain within my control. Thus, by avoiding his
table, his "hells," and the society of his dissipated sons, I
maintained my business relations with the slaver, and secured his
personal respect so effectually, that, at the end of two months, four
hundred and eighty prime negroes were in the bowels of La Estrella.[5]

FOOTNOTE:

[5] Da Souza died in May, 1849. Commander Forbes, R. N., in his book
on Dahomey, says that a boy and girl were decapitated and buried with
him, and that three men were sacrificed on the beach at Whydah. He
alleges that, although this notorious slaver died in May, the funeral
honors to his memory were not yet closed in October. "The town," he
says, "is still in a ferment. Three hundred of the Amazons are daily
in the square, firing and dancing; bands of Fetiche people parade the
streets, headed by guinea-fowls, fowls, ducks, goats, pigeons, and
pigs, on poles, alive, for sacrifice. Much rum is distributed, and all
night there is shouting, firing and dancing."--_Dahomey and the
Dahomans_, vol. i, 49.

CHAPTER XL.

If I had dreamed that these recollections of my African career would
ever be made public, it is probable I should have taxed my memory with
many events and characteristic anecdotes, of interest to those who
study the progress of mankind, and the singular manifestations of
human intellect in various portions of Ethiopia.

During my travels on that continent, I always found the negro a
believer in some superior creative and controlling power, except among
the marshes at the mouth of the Rio Pongo, where the Bagers, as I
already stated, imagine that death is total annihilation. The
Mandingoes and Fullahs have their Islamism and its Koran; the Soosoo
has his good spirits and bad; another nation has its "pray-men" and
"book-men," with their special creeds; another relies on the
omnipotence of _juju_ priests and _fetiche_ worship;[6] some believe
in the immortality of spirit; while others confide in the absolute
translation of body. The Mahometan tribes adore the Creator, with an
infinitude of ablutions,