the subject, and the beneficial conse- Armed with vehement volubility, quences resulting from a judicious and fortified with argument, his exdevelopment of its principles, to as-pressions compel his hearers to shrink sign a conspicuous place to the science of Political Economy; and, under this impression, we hail, with particular pleasure, the second appearance of Dr. Kidd as the advocate of its merits, and the expounder of its intricacies. "On the evening of Monday last, the Doctor delivered his introductory lecture, in the presence of a crowded and respectable audience, who seemed highly gratified by the eloquence he displayed in tracing the progress, enforcing the utility, and defining the objects of Economical Science. The lecture was eminently calculated to confer lustre on the literary character of the learned Professor. Originality of design, and ability of execution, were its distinguishing features; while energy of conception was clothed in perspicuous language, and logical precision combined with accuracy of detail. We sincerely wish that the Doctor's meritorious exertions may be crowned with complete success; and that the indefatigable labour he must have bestowed on the preparation of such a mass of useful information,' amidst the avocations of so many other important duties, may be repaid by the attendance of a numerous and respectable class. Political Economy is a science indispensably connected with the best interests, not only of the whole nation, but also of every individual member of it-a science from which the most important advantages are to be derived, and of which a competent knowledge may be acquired at the expense of a little attention and perseverance." But none of these engagements are ever suffered to infringe upon his pulpit labours. In discharging the duties of this office he is indefatigable. Here he is quite at home; and the zeal of the pastor more than rivals the splendid abilities of the man. involuntarily before him; and even where his reasonings fail to produce conviction, they find, in their minds, doubt strangled in its birth. In their estimation, he sits on the pedestal of truth, and is the common centre round which they all revolve. Among them his influence is almost unbounded, and scarcely any of their movements can escape the penetration of his eye. His doctrines are highly Calvinistic, and nearly all his discourses are impregnated with the peculiarities of his creed. In support of what he advances, his appeals to scripture are frequent and various, and he embraces every opportunity of giving glory to God, and of exalting the Saviour of fallen man. The spirit of his sermons being imbibed by his hearers, no heresy can grow up within the atmosphere of his church. Discussion trembles to generate the seeds; and, if they were deposited, the soil would be found uncongenial to their growth. To palliate error, to diminish the magnitude of offence, to remain silent in cases that require reprehension, and to call that an infirmity which merits a severer name, are lessons which Dr. Kidd has yet to learn. In the temporizing schools of modern days he has never yet been a pupil; and no one, who attends his ministry, expects to hear title complimented, wealth flattered, or vice spared. But although in these respects the raiment of Dr. Kidd is of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle is about his loins, his chapel is invariably crowded with attentive hearers, and the number of his communicants is scarcely exceeded in any place of worship throughout the united kingdom. This is a tribute of respect which the unsophisticated understandings of men pay to profound erudition, splendid talents, and plain dealing, supported with a"Thus saith the Lord.' As a minister, Dr. Kidd's language Such, with Dr. Kidd, has been the is bold, piercing, and energetic. His march of industry, and the career of manner is warm, fervent, and com- intellect, from comparative obscurity manding. United together, his preach-in Ireland, to that refulgence of talent ing assumes the character of a mighty torrent, rushing onward with a force that is irresistible; warning opposition of its danger, and overwhelming, with its impetuostiy, whatever would appear to withstand its progress. which has seated him in the Professor's chair at Aberdeen, and encircled his brow with a garland of amaranth. The summary thus given of his theological character and general reputation, we have gleaned from various sources, without either soliciting his assistance, or even making him acquainted with our design. Had delicacy permitted us to make the application, we doubt not that he could have supplied some deficiencies, and furnished many interesting incidents. But, satisfied with the general correctness of what we have stated, we must rest content with having given the faithful outline of a character that is not to be drawn in miniature. On Dr. Kidd's publications, our limits will not permit us to make so many observations as they justly merit. His profound work on the Trinity, exhibits a conspicuous monument of the vast capabilities of the human mind; and his Treatise on the Eternal Sonship of Christ, is a volume of sterling and imperishable worth. Between the language of his printed sermons and his pulpit discourses, there is a great affinity. The vigour of thought, and expansiveness of mind, that characterize the latter, are decidedly applicable to all his works. Intellect beams in every paragraph, and all his sentences contain a proportionate degree of argumentative energy. WEST INDIAN SLAVERY. THE climate is so intolerably warm, and the soil so rich, a free negro may be tempted to abstain from work, by a savage independence, founded on his voluntary self-privations. He is content with a shed hastily constructed of those materials which cost nothing. His garden of yams, and drink from the fountain, suffice to his support; his clothing a white apron, his bedding the leaves of trees. This man will live a torpid animal life; and, being habituated to indolence, will supply any other wants by theft, and defend himself from detection by lies. This is nature, and not confined to negroes. The wretchedness of the Irish peasant is caused by the farmer finding it necessary to keep him in the bondage of misery. He is allowed no means of independence, because he can subsist on potatoes and water, he is bound by agreement to work for small wages, in liquidation of the rent of his cabin and potato ground. The remedy is the same for the negro and the Irish peasant. Behold them educated under the influence of true religion. The mind is dignified; they are raised in the scale of humanity. They want wholesome dwellings, good furniture, clothes, and food, books and education for their children. To attain this, they willingly work for fair wages. They become industrious, and the lies and bad faith which discouraged the proprietor from doing good to them, are replaced by respectable conduct, deserving every prosperity. The preaching - houses, chapels, prayer-meetings, and schools, are the nurseries for producing good free negroes, when the day of their emancipation arrives. This straight-forward course is the path of safety. If the negroes are free, without education and religion, the islands may be lost to the civilized world; and if the negroes are not made free in due time, or educated, the garrisons must be increased in proportion to the strength of discontent; and during a future war, a descent of an enemy on the islands, may destroy the property on the estates, by the explosion of wellprepared negro disaffection. All this may be avoided by education, religion, consequent civilization, and the enjoyment of the comforts of life, both external and intellectual. But, unhappily, those who feel an interest in giving perpetuity to slavery, withhold from the negroes that moral and intellectual culture, which, they contend, is necessary to qualify them for the enjoyment of freedom, and then assign their degradation of character as a reason why they must remain enslaved. Their years of servitude cannot, however, in all probability, continue much longer. The independence of Hayti, now fairly acknowledged by France, presents among the islands a spectacle of portentous aspect, in the vicinity of which slaves will not long be able to breathe. In South America, and also in Mexico, the revolutions which have lately taken place, give strong intimations that the dominion of slavery is drawing to a close. It is scarcely possible to conceal from the negroes all knowledge of these interesting facts; and every ray of light which they receive will prepare them for a grand convulsion, in which the altar of freedom will be erected on the extermination of their oppressors. THE island of Fernandi Po is the largest and finest of the three islands in the Bight of Biafra. It was discovered (together with the whole of this part of Africa) by the Portuguese, in the reign of Alphonso the Fifth, sometime about the year 1480, and was then named, from its beautiful appearance, Ilha de Formosa,(or Fair Island.) On some part of its eastern side the Portuguese built a fort, which was afterwards abandoned; and about the beginning of the last century it was given up to the Spaniards in exchange for the island of Trinidad, situated about 500 miles east of the coast of Brazil, in a parallel with the bay of Espirito Santo. Some time about the year 1765, the Spaniards, who had changed its name from Ilha de Formosa to Fernandi Po, attempted to settle it, but afterwards relinquished the design, (as it is said,) from the opposition offered by the natives, who are described as a most ferocious race of people ;-but, if true, a lapse of years has softened their ferocity into a state of timidity. Since that period, little or no communication has taken place between ships navigating those seas and the inhabitants of this island. About 30 years since, an American brig called the Mary, Capt. Anderson, sailed from Philadelphia for the river Bonni, to trade for palm oil, and on her homeward voyage was wrecked on some part of this island. The brig was navigated by the captain and twelve seamen, of whom five of the latter only were saved, and out of those five one only is now alive, the others having died many years since: the present survivor is a French mulatto, as well as I could understand him, from Martinique, and calls himself Tom Dixon. He describes himself as being a very little boy when he left Philadelphia, and says his mother was then living there; he appears at present to be about 36 or 37 years of age. From this man I collected some information respecting the interior of the island, and the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and expected to have 85.-VOL. VIII. been furnished with much more, as he promised to accompany me on board the following day; but in that I was disappointed, as he never again appeared, and I suspect was prevented from coming to us, under an impression that he would receive more than a proportionate share of the few things we had to give in exchange for their stock and yams, such as knives, bits of iron, &c. I offered to take him off the island, if he was disposed to quit it; but he declined, saying he had two wives and a family, which he should reluctantly leave behind. In short, from being very young when first landed, and from the length of time he had resided here, he differed very little from the natives, except in colour. His French was so mixed up with the language of the country, that it was sometimes difficult to understand it, and the little English he ever knew is now reduced to a few words. As a proof of what very little exterior communication these people have had, I was told by this man, the Pheasant was the only ship he had seen in the Bay, ever since he first landed on the island. Having thus stated from what source I derived some of my information, and the little intercourse formerly held by Europeans with the inhabitants of this island, I shall now proceed to give an account of its present appearance, the manners and customs of its modern inhabitants, and all such information as I was enabled to collect during the time the Pheasant was lying at anchor in George's Bay. The island of Fernandi Po is about 31 miles long from north to south; its form is nearly that of a human foot as high as the ancle; George's Bay being the instep, its breadth therefore must vary considerably. The north-west side has the appearance of a most extensive bay, formed by the north-west and north extreme points, bearing from each other N. 320 E., and S. 320 W., (true) distant 23 miles. The principal features in this view, (which I believe is the finest that can be taken of it,) are two high mountains, one extending right across the west end, and terminating in the sea by two gently sloping points. On the west side it seems to rise from the sea with a very steep ascent, and falls on the other as suddenly for nearly a third, and then finishes in George's Bay with a more с Animals in a savage state, I believe, are not numerous in the island; but of this I judge only from its being the custom for the person who kills one, to suspend the jawbone or skull about his person, as a proof of his prowess, and of which I saw none larger than the small hyæna. Monkeys are numerous; snakes appear to be very plentiful, as their vertebræ are worn about their loins, neck, and wrist, as ornaments, and scarcely any person is seen with gentle declivity. The other, which is considerably the highest, appears to rise from the east end of the island, but I have particularly to regret that time would not admit of my visiting that part of it, as I was under the necessity of returning hastily to Cape Coast roads, to meet Sir George Collier, who was expected from England, This mountain, in consequence of the north point running from it far into the sea, shews itself more in the centre of the island than the other; it termi-out them. One was killed by our nates in a high peak, the top of which, I have no doubt, is a crater, as volcanic matter is to be seen in all parts of the island, and the sand on the seabeach is perfectly black, and evidently of the same description. These two mountains are connected together by a chain of hills of no very considerable height. From the north point round to the western mountain, the land, from the sea, rises upon a very gently inclined plane nearly to the summit of the connecting hills, the greater part of which is covered with wood of a most luxuriant growth, evidently bespeaking the richness of the soil in which it has root. The rest of the hills, and onethird of the whole height of the mountains, nearly on a level with them, are the parts occupied by the inhabitants of the island, and appear to be in a general state of cultivation. The yam, which seems to constitute their prin- | cipal food, is grown in great quantities, and of a finer flavour than any I ever tasted elsewhere. I was surprised to find that the plantain, which in all other tropical countries forms a principal article of human subsistence, was perfectly unknown in this island, that is to say, was no where offered for sale, nor was a tree seen. We were also disappointed in a supply of fruit of any kind; no trees were visible near the sea, nor did the inhabitants bring any to barter. Sheep, goats, and fowls were in great abundance, and were given in exchange for iron of any sort, or cutlery. A piece of iron hoop, five or six inches long, was the price of two or three fowls; and a common knife, of the value of three pence, taken for a sheep or goat, or a dozen fowls. The only domestic animals I saw were dogs, something of the breed between a terrier and fox, which are kept in great numbers for the purpose of hunting the wild goats. wooding party, entwined round the trunk of a tree, laying its eggs, six feet long and 5 inches in circumference. Of birds, I saw only the crane, common sea-gull, hawks, parrots, a large black bird something resembling a crow, and a species of grey thrush. However, this description must be considered as being very limited, as scarcely any one was enabled to get beyond the beach, from the thickness of the wood, and the disinclination of the natives to shew us their paths, under, as I suppose, an apprehension that we might find out the way to their towns, of which they appeared very jealous, or much afraid. In giving a description of the inhabitants, I must observe, that they appear a decidedly different race of people, in every particular, from those inhabiting the neighbouring continent and islands. In their stature, they are, generally speaking, of the middle size, some taller, but none diminutive; their limbs are well formed, appear muscular, and are very active. Deformity was no where seen among them, nor any of those loathsome disgusting diseases, to which black people are subject on all other parts of the coast, viz. elephantiasis, hydrocele, scrofula, guinea-worm, &c. Their countenances are peculiar; they have not the flat nose and thick lip of the African, but their features approach nearer to the European form. The face is flat, and the general contour that of a square, with the angles rounded off; the eye is quick and piercing, and, upon the whole, their countenances bespeak good humour and kindness. Clothing of any sort is in perfect disuse among them; and as a substitute for the fig-leaf, a sort of fringe, made of rush, is worn, about nine inches deep, or a leaf gathered from the nearest tree; this screen is only worn by those of more mature years; before marriage, both sexes are in a state of nudity. same manner. with five or six of them; they are about the size of one's finger, and seven or eight feet long; they carry also a stout stick for close quarters, and, without these weapons, never latto told me the spear was only used to kill goats, but that I doubt, as many shewed me a case of thick dried hide, made to fit the body, which they put on, and then placed the point of the spear against it, evidently pointing out its use. Their astonishment and alarm at hearing a musket fired, proved their total ignorance of the use of firearms. A short distance up the river, in the They have a peculiar habit of rubbing themselves all over with a sort of red clay and palm oil, and of pow-move from home. The French mudering their faces with a species of pulverized yellow ochre, which gives them a very singular appearance. One woman I saw with her hands and face washed in blood, and stripes of it on various parts of her body: on inquiry, I found it was the blood of a goat she had killed. Their woolly hair behind is platted or twisted, and covered with red clay, and has a perfect resemblance to a string of candles hanging from their heads: this is an invariable cus-east angle of the bay, I fired and killed tom of both sexes,-I never saw any a bird, and on my return to the waterbut children without it. Men of con- ing party, where some hundreds of the sequence suspend great quantities of natives were collected, the officer told thongs from their heads, about 18inches me, that on hearing the report of the long, and covered with clay in the musket, they all fell to the ground. I gave them the bird to examine, at the sight of which they were quite overjoyed; I suppose it released their minds from some alarm for the safety of a friend. One of the shot had struck the bird in the head, and the blood was fresh issuing from the wound. This appeared to strike them with horror. Afterwards many would not approach us with a musket in our hands; and if in our intercourse with them they became disorderly, or attempted any theft or chicanery, the lifting of a musket would cause some hundreds of them to run away. In short, I believe their repugnance to our visiting their towns arose more from fear than jealousy, as the women were constantly on the beach with the watering and wooding parties, bartering their produce. I adopted every means of acquiring their confidence, by using their own manner of courtesy, throwing myself among some hundreds of them alone, allowing them to examine the surface of the skin of my hands, legs, and bosom, which they did with great curiosity, and seemed to express astonishment and wonder; this alone proves the very little intercourse they have had with Europeans. The personal ornaments, as I have before observed, consist of vertebræ of snakes, strung, and used as necklaces and bracelets, and twisted round the loins; also the skulls and jawbones of wild animals, and a neat sort of plat, made of small black and white shells. The women wear a kind of mat from the knee to the calf of the leg, which appeared to me to be a defence for the knee, in some work performed in a kneeling posture, but the French mulatto told me it was to increase the size of the calf. The men all wear straw hats; those of the chiefs are covered with a monkey skin; they also wear a pair of ram's horns on the forehead, which is braided round with a snake's vertebræ. The person who was pointed out to me as king, or principal man of the island, wore a cockade of red feathers in front of his hat. Their government, though nominally monarchical, like all those at the head of societies in their early ages of civilization, borders more upon an aristocratic form. Every town seems to possess its own chief. Whether his authority descends to him by right of inheritance, or he assumes it from superior abilities and courage, I know not, but rather suspect his title is founded on the latter. Their only weapons of defence are small sticks, barbed and pointed at one end; these are never let out of the hand, but used as a thrust; each person is provided By the above means, I gained an ascendency over them, greater than any other person, and at last succeeded, after some difficulty, in gaining admission to two of their nearest towns. On my approach, all the children, and the greater part of the women, disappeared, and went into the bush; |