CHAPTER II.

We are now arrived at the period when England, aroused by the
commercial advantages, which Portugal was deriving from her African
possessions, determined, in defiance of the pope of Rome and "the
Lords of Guinea," to participate in the treasures, and to form her
own settlements on the African coast, although it must be admitted,
that one of the motives by which the English merchants were actuated,
was not founded on humanity or patriotism. The glorious and splendid
results, which had arisen from the discovery of the East and West
Indies, caused the ocean to be generally viewed as the grand theatre
where wealth and glory were to be gained. The cultivation of the West
India Islands by the labour of Europeans, was found to be a task
almost impracticable, and the attention was thence drawn to discover
a source, from which manual labour could be obtained, adapted to the
climate, and this resource was soon found in the black population of
Africa. It is not to be doubted, that many of our African settlements
were formed for the purpose of procuring a supply of slaves, for the
West India possessions, at the same time, the attention of others was
excited by a far more innocent and brilliant prospect. It was in the
beginning of the seventeenth century, that an unbounded spirit of
enterprise appears to have been excited amongst the British
merchants, by vague reports of an Africa _El Dorado_. The most
flattering reports had reached Europe, of the magnitude of the gold
trade carried on at Timbuctoo, and along the course of the Niger;
despatches were even received from Morocco, representing its
treasures, as surpassing those of Mexico and Peru, and in 1618, a