them for ever from her sight.

But let us leave the cries of this unfortunate woman, and hasten into
another district. And what do we first see here? Who is he that just now
started across the narrow pathway, as if afraid of a human face? What is
that sudden rustling among the leaves? Why are those persons flying from
our approach, and hiding themselves in yon darkest thicket? Behold, as
we get into the plain, a deserted village! The rice-field has been just
trodden down around it; an aged man,--venerable by his silver
beard,--lies wounded and dying near the threshold of his hut. War,
suddenly instigated by avarice, has just visited the dwellings which we
see. The old have been butchered, because unfit for slavery, and the
young have been carried off, except such as have fallen in the conflict,
or have escaped among the woods behind us.

But let us hasten from this cruel scene, which gives rise to so many
melancholy reflections. Let us cross yon distant river, and enter into
some new domain. But are we relieved even here from afflicting
spectacles? Look at that immense crowd which appears to be gathered in a
ring. See the accused innocent in the middle! The ordeal of poisonous
water has been administered to him, as a test of his innocence or his
guilt: he begins to be sick and pale. Alas! yon mournful shriek of his
relatives confirms that the loss of his freedom is now sealed.

And whither shall we go now? the night is approaching fast. Let us find
some friendly hut, where sleep may make us forget for a while the
sorrows of the day. Behold a hospitable native ready to receive us at
his door! let us avail ourselves of his kindness. And now let its give
ourselves to repose. But why, when our eyelids are but just closed, do
we find ourselves thus suddenly awakened? What is the meaning of the
noise around us, of the trampling of people's feet, of the rustling of
the bow, the quiver, and the lance? Let us rise up and inquire. Behold!
the inhabitants are all alarmed! a wakeful woman has shown them yon
distant column of smoke and blaze. The neighbouring village is on fire:
the prince, unfaithful to the sacred duty of the protection of his
subjects, has surrounded them. He is now burning their habitations, and
seizing, as saleable booty, the fugitives from the flames.

Such then are some of the scenes that have been passing in Africa, in
consequence, of the existence of the Slave Trade; or such is the nature
of the evil, as