d banner, adorned by a central star, which I
caused to be baptized, in presence of Fana-Toro, with a salvo of
twenty guns.

I am not naturally of a mischievous or revengeful temper, but I can
scarcely find language to express the mortification I experienced when
Lord Stanley thwarted my honest intentions, by his refusal to protect
the purchase whereon I had firmly resolved to be an ally and friend,
in concentrating a lawful commerce. I was especially disgusted by this
mistrust, or mistake, after the flattering assurances with which my
design had, from the first, been cherished by the British officers on
the station. I may confess that, for a moment, I almost repented the
confidence I had reposed in the British lion, and was at a loss
whether to abandon Cape Mount and return to my former traffic, or to
till the ground and play waterman to the fleet.

After proper deliberation, however, I resolved to take the plough for
my device; and before Christmas, I had already ordered from England a
large supply of agricultural implements and of every thing requisite
for elaborate husbandry. After this, I purchased forty youths to be
employed on a coffee plantation, and to drag my ploughs till I
obtained animals to replace them. In a short time I had abundance of
land cleared, and an over-seer's house erected for an old
barracoonier, who, I am grieved to say, turned out but a sorry
farmer. He had no idea of systematic labor or discipline save by the
lash, so that in a month, four of his gang were on the sick list, and
five had deserted. I replaced the Spaniard by an American colored man,
who, in turn, made too free with my people and neglected the
plantations. My own knowledge of agriculture was so limited, that
unless I fortified every enterprise by constant reference to books, I
was unable to direct my hands with skill; and, accordingly, with all
these mishaps to my commerce and tillage, I became satisfied that it
was easier to plough the ocean than the land.

Still I was not disheartened. My trade, on a large scale, with the
interior, and my agriculture had both failed; yet I resolved to try
the effect of traffic in a humble way, combined with such _mechanical_
pursuits as would be profitable on the coast. Accordingly, I divided a
gang of forty well-drilled negroes into two sections, retaining the
least intelligent on the farm, while the brighter youths were brought
to the landing. Here I laid out a ship-yard, blacksmith's sho