ne peculiar feature of which is worth noting.
The persons who had assembled were hospitably entertained with bread
and cheese, and abundance of wine and spirits, with a view, no doubt,
to increase the animation and excitement of the scene. Whether the
bidders became extravagant in consequence, I do not know, but I think
it very likely; at all events I suspect that the auctioneer was trying
an experiment on the animal spirits of the company. This custom,
although by no means familiar to Englishmen, is very generally
practised in the north of England. It is probably a relique of ancient
manners.

I left Freetown, about five in the afternoon, with Mr. McCormack to
visit his timber establishment at the island of Tombo, a distance of
twenty miles up the river, which we made, with a slight breeze, in
about three hours. We passed two similar establishments, the one on
Tasso, and the other on Bance Island, of the former of which Messrs.
Babington and Macauley are the proprietors, the latter belonging to Mr.
Williams. The account I received of Mr. McCormack's enterprise was full
of interest.

When that gentleman first visited Tombo, he found the interior covered
with a dense jungle, and the shores choked up with mangroves. There was
only one solitary hut on the island near the beach, which was used as a
resting place for boats trading up the river. At that time there was a
slave factory in full occupation at Bance Island. It would be very
difficult to compute the expense, and almost impossible for persons who
are not practically acquainted with African mangroves and jungle, to
estimate the exertion and perseverance which must have been necessary
to bring this place to its present state of improvement. The wildness
of the surface has given way before the hand of industry, and that
which was some years before a wilderness of underwood, now presents an
aspect of cultivation. The whole of this point is as clear as the
streets of Freetown; and on a fine open situation, where the breeze
plays from almost every point of the compass, an excellent stone house,
with out-offices, has been erected. The site is well chosen and the
building is scarcely inferior to the best houses in Freetown. The upper
part is used as a private dwelling, and the lower part is appropriated
to storage. A good boat-house, a saw-pit, upwards of twenty plastered
huts, for the mechanics and labourers employed on the spot, and a well
cut through the solid rock, fr