same word,) yet, neither God, soul, nor spirit occurs: there is, however, ghost, saman. The natives of all these countries on the western coast of Africa, are, in fact, idolaters of the lowest description, their worship being literally an adoration of the Principle of Evil under the most appropriate symbols. At Dixcove in Ahanta, on the Gold Coast, they worship the crocodile. Any person,' says Mr. Hutton, going a shore here, may see one of these animals at the expense of a fowl and a bottle of liquor, which is given to the feetish man (Tando Cudjoe), who obliged me with a sight of it in the following manner. This fetish man, or priest, took a white fowl, (which colour, it appears, the fowl must be, as the natives have most faith in it,) and on arriving at the pond near the fort, it was placed near the ground, Tando. Cudjoe making a little noise with his mouth, when the crocodile instantly made its appearance on the opposite side of the pond, and, plunging through the water, came very near the spot where we were standing; but as the fowl made its escape into the bush, or forest, the crocodile, instead of following it, pursued me and my companion, Captain Leavens, so closely for a short distance, that had not a small dog been behind me, which it laid hold of and was thus satisfied, the animal would, in another minute, most probably have taken a fancy to one of my legs. The path being narrow, and Captain Leavens before me, I could neither run so fast as I wished, nor turn to the right hand or to the left, on account of the thick underwood which prevailed on both sides of the path.' pp. 41, 2. Our Author had nearly paid dear, in this instance, for raising the Devil.-At Accra, the hyena is the favourite object of worship; in the kingdom of Dahomey, the snake; and vultures all over the coast. The practice of sacrificing human victims on the death of a person of distinction, is equally prevalent, and is attended, in some parts, by circumstances of aggravated barbarity. At Ashantee hundreds, sometimes thousands, are sacrificed on the death of a person of distinction, or on the commencement of the yam season; at Dahomey, in like manner, at the beginning of the harvest, sixty-five human beings have been known to be butcher- ed! And these horrid customs are repeated annually, and sometimes oftener. Similar barbarous customs also prevail at other parts of the coast. In Appollonia, (if we may believe Bosman,) the tenth child is always buried alive; in the Benin country, if twins are born, not only the mother but the children also are destroyed; and, if the father should happen to be a priest, he must destroy his own children. In the same country, "A vestal female is frequently impaled as a sacrifice to improve the navigation of the river and extend the trade. The ceremony is performed with the most barbarous brutality, by pressing the body on a sharp stake, the extremities being fastened to two adjoining posts; in this state the victim is left to expire. The bustards, which are very numerous here, sometimes attack the body before life is *extinct." pp. 86, 7. 6 The extension of our geographical knowledge, and the opening of fresh markets for our commerce, are objects which render it highly important to pursue the exploration of Africa, more especially if it can be accomplished by inland navigation. But all that has as yet been ascertained respecting the population, has tended to repel rather than to excite curiosity, displacing the romantic speculations of fancy by facts of the most mouruful, and humiliating kind. There are, however, higher objects, and more efficient motives, to prompt to further exertions, than those which actuate either the man of science or the commercial adventurer. When we turn from the petty disputes, and idle negotiations, the mismanagement and the rapacity, the small advantages of any kind, and the total inefficiency in some respects, of these Colonial settlements, to what our Missionaries have already effected for Western Africa in a few years, and with means so inadequate, we cannot but be struck with the contrast. Missionaries alone,' says Mr. Hutton, will never succeed in civilizing Africa.' It is well that people are beginning to admit, that Missionaries may be of some use. If Missionaries alone will not do it, it is pretty clear by this time, that only Missionaries will do it; and to them we may look with the greatest confidence for the solution of the grand geographical problems which yet remain to be solved with regard to the unknown Interior of the African Continent. The reproach which long attached to the colonists of Sierra Leone, of having done nothing to enlarge our intercourse with the Interior, has been removed by the recent successful mission of Mr. O'Beirne, Assistant Staff Surgeon, to Almamy, the Mahomedan king of Foutah Jallon, at Teembo, with which place a regular intercourse may now be considered as established: while an application to the Sierra Leone Government from a Heathen prince still further distant,-Dhaa, king of "Bambarra, promises to lead to still more important consequences. "The king of Bambarra, who is said to be the most powerful monarch of the Interior, resides at Sego, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, on the Niger; and it is by this route, through Teembo and the amicable territory of Almamy, that a line of intercourse with the Interior will in all probability be opened and maintained with the greatest facility and advantage.* The fatal results of a long series of adventures, abundantly shew, that neither by force nor by fraud can the work be suc Vide Missionary Register, Jan. 1822, for some highly interesting particulars relating to this subject. cessfully prosecuted. The Missionary has pursued not only the more honourable, but the safer policy; and well would it have been for the interests of Christianity, bad the defuded Moor and still more benighted Pagan first become acquainted with the Christian name through such a medium, instead of learning to associate it withr the foulest injustice and oppression. It is a melancholy reflection that returns upon us whenever Africa is named, that that most accursed traffic, the Slave Trade, not only remains unextinguished, but is even far from being on the decline. It is stated by Sir George Collier in his Report to the Lords of the Admiralty, that in the last twelve months,' not "less than sixty thousand Africans have been forced from their country, principally under the colours of France,' who is en'grossing nearly the whole of the Slave Trade.' On this atrocious fact we forbear to comment. It is sufficiently well known, how Franee came by this dreadful power of frustrating the hopes of the friends of humanity, when they were looking for the total annihilation of the proscribed traffic. Those who opposed the Abolition in the Senate, were not likely to be very zealous in giving effect to it in the Congress. There is a dark account and a heavy responsibility resting somewhere. ་་་ Art. VII. A Key to the Latin Language: embracing the double Object of speedily qualifying Students to make Latin into English, and English into Latin; and peculiarly useful to young Gentlemen who have neglected or forgotten their juvenile Instractions. By John Atkinson. [of the City Road, London.] 8vo. pp. 107. Price 4s. 1821. THE chief portion of this book, and that which is the most valuable in it, does not materially differ from what constitutes, the essential parts of other Latin Grammars. As for the passages which the Author would claim as peculiarly his own, we are sorry to be unable to concur in the self-gratulations which he has liberally scattered through his preface. He does not appear to have studied very successfully the art of method, and we cannot compliment him on his skill in elucidation. The distribution of clauses, and the punctuation, are frequently careless; by which inattention the Author's meaning is, in those instances, exhibited to a disadvantage. The deviations from the common order of Latin Grammars, and which are adopted professedly for the sake of greater simplicity and ease, seem to us rather to produce the effect of obscurity. Such, for example, is the introducing of the First Concord, and other rules of Syntax depending upon it, immediately after the Declensions of Substantives and Adjectives. Some topics are treated largely and usefully; while others, not less important and equally standing in need of illustration, are 'dismissed with a very disproportionate brevity. Finding in the preface, among the many extraordinary 'advantages' which are solicitously detailed, that the ablative (improperly called absolute) is made intelligible to the dullest capacity,'-we turned to the part where this signal enucleation is presented, and this only did we find; which, lest our readers should be sceptical, we assure them that we copy exactly, as to Italics, punctuation, and every other particular. The ablative is sometimes used, when a participle or preposition is understood, as, me duce, I being leader; i. e. sub me duce, under me a leader. Me existente duce; ens, entis, the old participle is obsolete, we use cum with a subjunctive, cum essem dux, when I was a leader. Page 83. The Author is, however, more happy in most other parts of his work; and we conceive that the whole might be used by a Latin pupil, with considerable benefit, as a kind of commentary upon his accidence. Art. VIII. 1. Hymns adapted to Family and Village Worship. By Mrs. Washbourn, of Hammersmith. 24mo. pp. 170. Price Ss. London. 1822. 2. The Cottage Minstrel; or Hymns for the Assistance of Cottagers in their domestic Worship. By James Edmeston, Author of "Sacred Lyrics." 24mo, pp. 36. Price 6d. London. 1821. THE titles of these little works will sufficiently explain their excellent design and unpretending character. They are not intended to add to the innumerable collections and selections of hymns for public worship with which the press already teems, and to which we are disposed to consider almost any addition as a positive evil, but have for their specific object to promote what is so highly desirable, the cultivation of Psalmody in families, and to interest more particularly the feelings of villagers. For this latter purpose, it has been the endeavour of the Authors, to express the sentiments of devotion in the plainest language and the most simple style. The first of these publications comprises no fewer than a hundred and fifty-four hymns, the greater part of them founded on some text of scripture; others are on 'seasons and rural subjects,' and the rest are on general topics. We shall select two or three as specimens, without pledging ourselves that they are by any means the best in the volume. Affliction. 1. My Saviour, was this language thine, 2. Thy holy soul dismay'd, oppress'd, 3. O then impress this sacred law, This sweet submission on my heart! And grace in time of need impart. 4. Fain would I welcome all thy will, And own thy dealings wise and good; But O what sinful doubts I feel, 5. Shine on my soul with beams of love, May I with true submission say, "Lord, not my will, but thine be done."' "Consolation to Parents under the Loss of Infants. The infant spirit is at rest. 2. Glad to forsake the feeble clay, And their divine enjoyments see, |