ic with the
interior; but I soon discovered that the slave-trade was alone thought
of by the natives, who only bring the neighboring produce to the
beach, when their captives are ready for a market. I came, moreover,
to the conclusion that the interior negroes about Cape Mount had no
commerce with Eastern tribes except for slaves, and consequently that
its small river will never create marts like those which have direct
communications by water with the heart of a rich region, and absorb
its gold, ivory, wax, and hides. To meet these difficulties, I
hastened the building of my vessel _as a coaster_.

About this time, an American craft called the A----, arrived in my
neighborhood. She was loaded with tobacco, calicoes, rum, and powder.
Her captain who was unskilled in coast-trade, and ignorant of Spanish,
engaged me to act as supercargo for him to Gallinas. In a very short
period I disposed of his entire investment. The trim and saucy rig of
this Yankee clipper bewitched the heart of a Spanish trader who
happened to be among the _lagunes_, and an offer was forthwith made,
through me, for her purchase. The bid was accepted at once, and the
day before Christmas fixed as the period of her delivery, after a trip
to the Gaboon.

In contracting to furnish this slaver with a craft and the necessary
apparatus for his cargo, it would be folly for me to deny that I was
dipping once more into my ancient trade; yet, on reflection, I
concluded that in covering the vessel for a moment with my name, I was
no more amenable to rebuke, than the respectable merchants of Sierra
Leone and elsewhere who passed hardly a day without selling, to
notorious slavers, such merchandise as could be used _alone_ in
slave-wars or slave-trade. It is probable that the sophism soothed my
conscience at the moment, though I could never escape the promise that
sealed my agreement with Lieutenant Seagram.

The appointed day arrived, and my smoking semaphores announced the
brigantine's approach to Sugarei, three miles from Cape Mount. The
same evening the vessel was surrendered to me by the American captain,
who landed his crew and handed over his flag and papers. As soon as I
was in charge, no delay was made to prepare for the reception of
freight; and by sunrise I resigned her to the Spaniard, who
immediately embarked seven hundred negroes, and landed them in Cuba in
twenty-seven days.

Till now the British cruisers had made Cape Mount their friendly
ren