Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 461, by Various

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Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 461
Volume 18, New Series, October 30, 1852

Author: Various

Editor: William Chambers
Robert Chambers

Release Date: January 12, 2008 [EBook #24261]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.

No. 461. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d._

THE SLAVER.

On the 18th day of February 1850, Her Majesty's steamship _Rattler_
was lying at anchor about twenty miles to the northward of Ambriz, a
slave depot situated on the western coast of Africa. Week after week
had passed away in dull uniformity; while the oppressive heat, the
gentle breeze which scarcely ruffled the surface of the deep, and the
lazy motion of the vessel as it rolled on the long unceasing swell
that ever sets on that rocky shore, lulled the senses of all into a
sleepy apathy. The only music that ever reached our ears was the
eternal roar of that monotonous surf, as it licked the rugged beach
with its snowy tongue.

A few miles off, a range of low brown hills, covered with a stunted
vegetation, runs parallel with the shore--along their undulating
sides, angular spires of granite project through the parched and
scanty soil; while on their highest brow one solitary giant stands,
resembling an obelisk, from which the anchorage derives its name, 'The
Granite Pillar.' No appearance of human life or labour exists
around; the whole is a desert, over which these columnar
formations--resembling a city of the Titans, crumbling slowly into
dust--hold an empire of solitude and death. The imagination is
oppressed with a sense of utter desolation that withers every mental
effort.

This day was passing like so many before it; the sun was low on the
horizon