guests, of whatever rank, come to trade or to beg; and it is curious to
see how essentially their estimation of money differs from our own. Coin
is almost unknown in the traffic of the coast, and it is only those who
have been at Sierra Leone, or some of the colonial settlements, who are
aware of its value. One "cut money," or quarter of a dollar, is the
smallest coin of which most of the natives have any idea. This is
invariably the price of a fowl, when money is offered; but a head of
tobacco or a couple of fish-hooks would be preferred. Empty bottles find a
ready market. Yesterday, I "dashed" three or four great characters with a
bottle each; all choosing ale or porter bottles in preference to an
octagonal-sided one, used by "J. Wingrove and Co." of London, in putting
up their "Celebrated Raspberry Vinegar." The chiefs must have consulted
about it afterwards; for, this morning, no less than three kings and a
governor, begged, as a great favor, that I would give them that particular
bottle, and were sadly disappointed, on learning that it had been paid
away for a monkey-skin. No other bottle would console them.

After the traffic is over, the begging commences; and they prove
themselves artful as well as persevering mendicants. Sometimes they make
an appeal to your social affections; "Massa, I be your friend!" The rascal
has never seen you before, and would cut your throat for a pound of
tobacco. Another seeks to excite your compassion: "My heart cry for a
bottle of rum!" and no honest toper, who has felt what that cry is, can
refuse his sympathy, even if he withhold the liquor. A third applicant
addresses himself to your noble thirst for fame. "Suppose you dash me, I
take your name ashore, and make him live there!" And certainly a deathless
name, at the price of an empty bottle or a head of tobacco, is a bargain
that even a Yankee would not scorn.

7.--We passed Tahoo in the night, and are now running along a more