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PRESERVATIVE AGAINST THE
INFLUENCE OF AFRICAN MA-
LARIA.

washes. They are both equally exposed to the influence of malaria-the one escapes, the other is nearly annihilated. The circumstance now adverted to, though WE shall not venture an opinion upon sufficiently remarkable, would not of itself the ingenious theory of the gentleman warrant a conclusion either way; let us whose letter we are about to publish. see, therefore, how it agrees with what has The statements and arguments however been observed in other countries. by which he supports it are not a little Turkey where the plague (not the same "It has been noticed in those parts of remarkable; and there is this to be as the African fever certainly, but still a said for the expedient which he re-fever) is most prevalent, that there is a commends, that whether it be found to realize his anticipations or not, it can at all events do no harm. We should be glad to hear of its being put to the test of experiment. Even its author can hardly wish it more complete success than we do.

To the Editor of "The Times."

"SIR,-I am not in the habit of obtruding my opinions on the public, but at a time like the present, when all our newspapers teem with accounts of the disastrous mortality which has attended the unfortunate adventurers in the African expedition, I think it becomes the duty of any one who has a reasonable suggestion to offer, to use his best endeavour to make it known. It would be out of place here to enter into a physiological discussion; but I may state, that one of the conclusions at which I arrived as the result of some very extended inquiries into the nature of fever was, that what we call malaria, or whatever it may be that causes fever, makes its noxious impression, not upon the lungs, but upon the general surface of the body. A fever caused by exposure to cold in this climate, is a familiar illustration of the mode in which I conceive malaria produces fever in hot countries. However, be this as it may, it was this view which led me to entertain the idea of the possibility of defending the skin from the action of malaria by means of some unctuous application, or oil alone. This opinion was no sooner formed, than it struck me as a very remarkable circumstance, that the most distinctive characteristic in the personal habits of the natives of Africa, as contrasted with those of the strangers who visit them, is, that the common custom of the one people is to anoint the whole surface of their bodies freely, while the other, on the contrary, with the aid of soap, are at great pains to remove everything of the kind which even the natural secretion of the skin provides. Here, then, is a broad distinction between the personal habits of the two people-the one anoints, the other

class of persons who appear to possess an immunity from its attacks, in fact a charmed life;' and this class consists of those who are engaged in the practical part of the oil trade. It is quite impossiclean; their clothes imbibe the oil, and ble for these persons to keep themselves they seem consequently to move about clad as it were in an armour plague-proof. One more example will suffice: it is the fact mentioned as having been observed in London at the time of the great plagueviz., that no tallow-chandler was known to suffer from it. It has been supposed that the effluvium of the melted fat might be the cause why these persons escaped the destruction which raged around them. I am, however, disposed to attach great weight to the fact of the clothes of these men being in the same condition as those of the oil traders, because here are examples of three totally distinct classes of men having no one thing on earth in common except greasy skins and freedom from infection. Surely this cannot be mere chance; indeed, I think it not at all unlikely that the practice of anointing, so common to several nations of antiquity, took its rise from some similar observations and experience. It is quite possible that the custom may be continued among the Africans, even at the present day, from some idea of its being conducive to health, though more probably all recollection of its origin has long been lost. But, whatever may be, or might have been, the reason why these people anoint themselves with oil, it is sufficient for us to note the fact and its consequence, and to profit by it.

"I trust, Sir, I have said enough to justify my intruding myself upon your notice. A great and urgent necessity exists, for which I propose a remedy, which there is great reason to believe will prove effectual -a remedy so simple that all may obtain and use it, for the wonderful goodness of God has placed the oil-bearing plants, as He has the great coal beds, in those regions where they may be most useful to mankind. As the cleanly habits of Europeans may be somewhat shocked_at the idea of

wearing clothes saturated with palm-oil, it may be as well to state, that I do not apprehend it to be at all necessary to use it to any such extent. The skin will retain a certain quantity of oil when rubbed in without giving rise to the inconvenience of soiling the dress, and perhaps that might be sufficient; but, however, the quantity, and the most convenient mode of applying it, are matters that could very soon be ascertained by those immediately concerned in using it. I would only add, that I think it important that it should be used in the evening as well as in the morning, because it would appear that the influence of malaria is most powerful between the hours of sunset and sunrise. I am,Sir, your obedient servant, "A SURGEON.'

"Cheltenham, Jan. 18, 1842.”

the Times has said, yet I can scarcely think that its Editor intended to convey such an impression; because the pain which it is calculated to cause, he must be well aware, would be likely to increase the bitterness of the sorrows of many of those who are at this moment mourning the loss of near and dear relatives; since many of them (the surviving relatives) are numbered amongst the active friends who, after much reflection and inquiry, have advocated and supported the enterprise from its commencement.

It is extremely painful to me to obtrude myself on the public notice; but, I repeat, as an act of justice due alike to the feelings of the living and the revered and beloved memory of the dead, it seems to me a duty, in defiance of my own feelings, to do so.-Inclosing my name and address, I subscribe myself, Mr. Editor, your obedient humble servant,

THE BROTHER OF ONE WHO HAS DIED
IN THE NIGER EXPEDITION.

THE NIGER EXPEDITION. To the Editor of the MORNING HERALD. SIR,-As a very near relative of one of those who have fallen, whilst endeavouring to benefit Africa, in the Niger Expedition, I am induced as an act of justice, due alike to the feelings of the living and also to the memory of the dead, to ask permission to say a word upon the remarks which the Times has thought it right to make upon the mournful tidings received last week from Africa.

The remarks of the Times are, I think, calculated to convey a wrong impression to all unacquainted with the subject, of the manner in which the Expedition was formed; and therefore, it ought to be

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understood, that the Niger Expedition by the Treasurer, J. Gurney Hoare, Esq.; Subscriptions and Donations are received was a volunteer one, that the gallant men composing it offered their services, and, I by Messrs. Barnett, Hoares, and Co., 62, believe, that one of the difficulties en- and Co., 54, Lombard-street; Messrs. Lombard-street; Messrs. Barclay, Bevan, countered at its outset lay in the selection, Coutts and Co., 59, Strand; Messrs. Drumout of those who volunteered their ser-monds, Charing-cross; Messrs. Hanbury, vices, of the men most suitable for its purposes. The pain already felt by the friends and supporters of the Expedition is sufficiently acute, without its being ag gravated by the idea being spread abroad that they entrapped persons into it who knew nothing of the nature of the service they were entering upon; and to suppose so (which supposition the remarks alluded to would perhaps tend to create) detracts, in a measure, from the honour due to the patient courage and devotion displayed by those who survive, and by those who have fallen in the sacred cause of humanity and religion.

Although, sir, I think that the wrong impression might be conveyed by what

Taylor, and Lloyd, 60, Lombard-street;
Messrs. Hankeys, 7, Fenchurch-street;
Messrs. Williams, Deacon, and Co., 20,
Messrs. Hoares, 37, Fleet-street; and
Birchin-lane; and by the Secretary, the
Rev. J. M. Trew (to whom all communi-
cations relative to the business of the
Society may be addressed), at the Office
of the Society, 15, Parliament-street.

LONDON: Printed by THOMAS RICHARD HARRISON, of No. 45, St. Martin's Lane, in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields; and published by JOHN WIL

LIAM PARKER, of No. 445, West Strand. Sold also by Murray; Rivingtons; Hatchard; Seeley; Nisbet; Richardson; Mason; and Madden; and supplied to

order by all Booksellers and Newsmen in Town and Country-Tuesday, 1st February, 1842.

BY

THE COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE EXTINCTION OF THE
SLAVE TRADE AND FOR THE CIVILIZATION OF AFRICA.

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AWAKENING OF THE PUBLIC MIND IN CUBA.

THE accounts which have reached this country from the Island of Cuba at various times during the last twelvemonth, have given rise to a confident expectation that the day is not distant when that "Queen of the Antilles" shall no longer be obnoxious to the terrible judgment which God has denounced against the mystic Babylon:-"Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double, according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double." (Rev. xviii. 5, 6.) Our readers cannot have forgotten two remarkable Memorials which were published in the eighth and eleventh numbers of this Periodical, both of them emanating from influential bodies of the Cuban community, and both reprobating, in the very strongest terms, the longer continuance of the African Slave Trade. Nor have these been the only expressions of public opinion upon this question of (in Cuba at least) all-absorbing interest. Not only were other documents of a similar character drawn up and presented about the same time, some to the Colonial and some to the Home Government, but as we were informed by a correspondent of the AntiSlavery Society*, various "corporations as well as distinguished individuals, to whom the Captain-General addressed himself" on a late occasion (of which by and by), sent in replies, "without any exception decidedly favourable to the suppression of the Slave Trade." One large and influential body, the Royal Patriotic Society, composed of some of the chief citizens in the Havannah, even had "the boldness and liberality" to declare itself in favour, not only of the excision of this monstrous evil, but also of "the preparation of the public mind for the cessation of slavery itself."

It is most gratifying to know that these indications of an improved tone of feeling amongst the Spanish colonists generally, are mainly to be attributed to the energetic remonstrances, the persevering efforts, and above all, the noble and self-denying example of Great Britain. With regard to this last we shall but say, that the day which saw the British

VOL. II.

* See Friend of Africa, No. 15.

D

Slave Trade abolished, rendered certain not only its destruction, but the destruction of slavery also all over the world. The tree of liberty was then planted-its growth and maturity became thenceforth merely questions of time. Let it not, however, be said, that the subsequent efforts of our country have been either unnecessary, or expended in vain. The attention which the subject has excited throughout every nation and in every cabinet of Europe, is a proof to the contrary. The recent treaty for the more effectual suppression of the Slave Trade, and the measures now understood to be in progress in France, for the amelioration and ultimately for the emancipation of the slave, afford evidence to the contrary-the agitation of the question in Holland and Denmark, nay, in Spain itself the fierce but not doubtful conflict between the abolitionist and the slave-dealer now either actually begun or on the eve of beginning in the Brazils, in Dutch Guiana, and in Cuba, and daily rolling on a deeper and broader tide in the United States,-all these, to say nothing of successful efforts at sea and on the Coast of Africa, are plain and incontrovertible evidences to the contrary. To advert to a special instance, one of the latest which has come to our knowledge, what was it, let us ask, that called forth the expression of "the public mind" in Cuba, which the correspondent of the Anti-Slavery Society described?

It was the demand made some time ago by the British Governmnt upon the Government of Spain, and transmitted by the latter to the Captain-General, to be furnished with an account of the twenty-five thousand Africans apprenticed in the Colony during the last ten years. This demand, at once so just and reasonable, seeing that British money and British life had been expended in their deliverance from the slaveship, occasioned an agitation, from which everything was and is to be hoped for in Cuba.

With a fettered press-a conscience hardened by long habituation to guilt on the one hand, and misery on the other-and what is more appalling still, the constant and all-pervading, though unseen influence of a mighty demon, ever dragging in his train insurrection and bloodshed, blazing cane-fields and ruined homes, anything that has power to rouse the miserable inhabitants to something like a hopeful effort for deliverance from such grinding and crushing thraldom, must needs be counted for a blessing. Had we, therefore, no more in view than the good of the Cuban slave owners themselves, we should rejoice, nay it were impossible not to rejoice, in the demand made by the British Government. But when we consider that that demand was connected directly with the happiness of some thousands of Africans besides, indirectly with that of some hundreds of thousands, and yet more remotely with that of millions, we cannot but offer thanksgiving to God for putting it into the hearts of those whose station gave them both the right and the power to take order for the protection of the innocent, and the calling of the guilty to account. We trust there is not a Briton (we are sure there is not one possessing a true British spirit) within the free shores of our native land, who regrets a single effort which his country has put forth in behalf of the wronged and suffering African; or who would have her slacken her exertions, or abate her zeal, while there remains a single bolt upon the door which keeps "liberty from the captive, and the opening of the prison from them that are bound."

THE NIGER, ITS BRANCHES
AND TRIBUTARIES.

[Continued from p. 26.j

"THE Súg, or Market of Kanó, is well supplied with every necessary and luxury in request among the people of the interior. There is no market in Africa so well regulated. The Sheikh of the Súg lets the stalls at so much a month, and the rent forms a part of the revenues of the governor. He also fixes the prices of all wares, for which he is entitled to a small commission. There

it is immediately sent back as a matier of course, the name of the dylala, or broker, being written inside every parcel. In this case, the dylala must find out the seller, who, by the laws of Kanó, must forthwith refund the purchasemoney."

Clapperton was solicited by some resident merchants from Ghadamis, to take supplies of goods or money to any amount, for his bill on our consul at Tripoli, which accommodation, however, he did not happen to require.

Kanó is famous for its spinning, weaving, and dyeing establishments, as well as for tanning, and the manufacture of leathern jars. part It might form, perhaps, a better post for Europeans than Sakatú, as its purely commercial character preserves it from the disturbing jealousies of neighbouring tribes. The weather was found to be cold in the month of February, and a fire required, and any unhealthiness in the city seems to depend upon local causes, which a residence at a little distance might effectually remove.

is another custom, regulated with equal certainty, and in universal practice; the seller returns to the buyer a stated of the price, by way of blessing as they term it, or of luck-penny, according to our less devout phraseology. This is a discount of two per cent. on the purchase-money; but if the bargain is made in a hired house, it is the landlord who receives the luck-penny'. Particular quarters are assigned to distinct articles; the smaller wares being set in booths in the middle, and cattle and bulky commodities in the outskirts of the market-place. The interior is filled with stalls of bamboo, laid out in regular streets; where the most costly wares are sold, and articles of dress, and other little matters of use or ornament made and repaired. Bands of musicians parade up and down, to attract purchasers to particular booths.

"The market is crowded from sunrise to sunset every day, not excepting their Sabbath, which is kept on Friday. The merchants understand the benefits of monopoly as well as any people in the world; they take good care never to overstock the market, and if any thing falls in price, it is immediately with drawn for a few days. It is regulated with the greatest fairness, and the lations are strictly and impartially enforced. If a tobe, or turkadee, purchased here, is carried to Bornú, or any distant place, without being opened, and is then discovered to be of inferior quality,

regu

The currency is composed of cowries and dollars. Throughout Upper Súdán, barter, manufactured trinket-gold, cowries, and a thin gold coin, called the mitskal, (the national coin of most of the Arabian and Turkish governments,) of high antiquity, and worth about 11s. sterling, form the legal tenders. In Ashanti and Gaman, gold-dust is used instead.

Southward of Kanó, a road traversed by its merchants leads through a beautiful country, and several populous towns, to the great market of Kuttup. From this place it runs over a range of lofty hills to the city of Jakóbah, to which Lander was pressingly invited by its sovereign, whom he met in Háusa". Thence it descends to Fandah, and reaches the Chadda.

V. THE NIGER ABOVE THE FERRY.

From Comie to Búsah the bed of the river is full of rocks and islands, which are mostly inhabited and cultivated, and to which our manufactures have already penetrated. Narrow and deep channels intersect these natural barriers, through which the current rushes with fearful velocity.

The banks are covered with shaggy woods, which stretch far inland, and are tenanted by elephants, buffaloes, and an ancient tribe of pagans, termed Kambri, by all accounts the aborigines

2 CLAPPERTON, p. 51-53.-He found here English green cotton umbrellas, brought by way of

Ghadamis from the Mediterranean.

3 Unfortunately, within half a day's journey of this town, he was turned back by the Zegzeg messengers. Jakóbah has a considerable trade in antimony, used for tinging the eye-lids.

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