being very desirous that he should be brought up according to the custom of the country and the court of so great a prince. I also engaged, on my part, that I should not fail to remind him of his promise, the first time I came to the coast of Guinea, that on my return to France I might be able to make the greatest present that could be made to the king, in presenting him with the son of Prince Thomas. "And assure him," said Prince Thomas, “that I am his friend, and that, if he has occasion for my services, I shall myself repair to France, with all the lances and musketry belonging to the king my father; which was as much as to say, "with the whole force of the kingdom." The king then taking up the discourse, assured me that he would go thither in person if there was need for it; and the whole negro men and women gave a loud shout, which was followed by a general discharge of fire-arms, and a flourish of drums and trumpets, and a kind of sham fight. The meaning of all this I could not comprehend, and it excited some alarm, until I saw the king drink the French king's health, with the same ceremonies as at first; his example was imitated by his son, and all the strangers ordered to do the like. He then ordered two cakes of wax to be brought, which he desired me to accept as a token of his friendship, and retired to his house.

'We visited several villages in

the vicinity, and most of the people, who had never beheld white men, crowded from all quarters to see us, bringing more fruit, and also the flesh of elephants and buffaloes, than we could eat; it was a mark of the greatest consideration to supply us with elephants' flesh, as it is used by themselves at their feasts. Unable to comprehend what occasioned the difference of colour between our faces and their own, they frequently tried whether the white would rub off; and their anxiety in making this experiment was so great as sometimes to hurt us by it. When Prince Thomas observed their proceedings, he commanded that his attendants should suffer none of the rest to rub and scrape us with their fingers in that manner, and told those who came to see us that all strangers were as white as we were; and if negroes went into another country, that their colour would there seem as strange as ours did in Guinea. He was entertained by seeing the people running after us, as if we had been some strange animals, and I know not whether his distress to behold us thus incommoded with their importunities, or his amusement at their folly, predominated.

At last, after three days' travelling and diversion, the prince carried me back to take leave of his father. The king caressed me greatly, and made me promise to visit him on my first return to Guinea. We then embarked in canoes, and next

day arrived at Prince Thomas's village, where I experienced the same treatment from him as before. Here he resumed the subject of his son's baptism; and as these people professed Christianity, he sent to Cape Lopez for a Portuguese priest, who came in two days. The prince named him Louis le Grand, as he had before declared his intention of doing. A negro woman, one of his relations, stood godmother, and I stood godfather. This woman was called Antonia, and I was told that she had been so named at her baptism by the wife of a Portuguese captain. The ceremony was performed with all the magnificence possible, and such as negroes alone could display.

"Two or three days afterwards, information came of the arrival of an English ship at Cape Lopez; and I requested the prince's permission to go on board, that I might return to my own country; but he was unwilling that I should commit myself to the hands of my enemies, and desired me patiently to await the arrival of some Portuguese vessels, in which I should sail. Meantime he went to Cape Lopez, there to exchange elephants' teeth, bees - wax, and negroes, for iron, arms, and brandy, which occupied him ten or twelve days. On his return, he told me that a Portuguese ship had anchored at the Cape, and that his canoe should carry me on board, as he had recommended me to the captain,

and said that I should want nothing necessary for my voyage to Europe. I therefore collected all my men except two, who five or six days before had gone up the country, and I knew not where to find them. Having taken leave of the prince, we embarked in his canoes, and sailed for Cape Lopez. On arriving there, I found the Portuguese captain, an old friend, with whom I had become acquainted in the island of St. Thomas. Three days after I went on board we reached that island, the governor of which showed me and my men much civility, during a month that we were obliged to remain in the port. An English ship that had been out on the Gold Coast then came in ; and on becoming acquainted with the captain, he made such offers as I could not refuse. He requested me to go on board of his ship, assuring me that I should find very good Jewish physicians in Barbadoes, who would cure my ailments. Thus I embarked with all my men in the vessel, notwithstanding the governor of the island stated many reasons for being suspicious of the Englishman, who was, nevertheless, as honest a man as any of his country. He was so civil as to give me his own cabin, and entertained me with everything agreeable and amusing he could devise, to solace my spirits for afflictions that I had from time to time endured.

'Ten days after our departure from St. Thomas, we unfortu

nately lost our rudder in a storm, and were obliged to fit a spare topmast instead of it, which proved very detrimental to a voyage continuing no less than three months. Provisions began to be scarce before our arrival at Barbadoes, so that the allowance was reduced to threefourths, and they were within three days of being quite exhausted. On reaching the island, the English captain waited on Colonel Russel, the governor, and related my engagement with the man-of-war at Angola, and the consequences attending it; whereupon he was much blamed for carrying me to Barbadoes. When he returned on board, he told me that the governor had prohibited him from allowing me to go on shore, under pain of death. The latter part, however, I did not at first learn from him, and he contented himself with only desiring me not to go ashore, lest it might excite the governor's suspicions. With this I promised punctual compliance, having little desire to see a place which I had known so long ago, and being unwilling to bring the captain into any trouble. Next day, several Jews who had been expelled from Martinique, having heard of my arrival, came on board, and finding me very much indisposed, sent some physicians of their tribe to me, who said that I could not be cured without being carried ashore. They offered to solicit the governor's permission for me to live in the

town, and I drew up a petition to him for the same purpose, promising not to stir out of my apartment until embarking again for Martinique. The Jewish physicians were themselves obliged to be security for me, and I was then conducted to the house of Mr. Jacob Lewis, where I was well attended to all the time of my residence.

"Three days after my arrival, Colonel Russel sent a major to see me. He very civilly offered me his protection, and whatever could be conducive to the restoration of my health. Both the major and a captain of the garrison came to visit me from time to time, though, I apprehended, less with the design of learning the state of my health, than to ascertain when I should be in a condition to leave the island.

Colonel Russel himself also visited me ten or twelve days after my arrival, to know whether I was as ill as had been reported; and seven or eight days subsequent to that, he came again, and caused me to be conveyed from the Jew's house to that of an English merchant, where, he said, I should find better accommodation. But I thought his design was that I might be more narrowly watched, and prevented from conversing with so many people. He came to see me the day following, when I returned him thanks for the civilities he had shown me; and that he might have no occasion to suspect my men, I prayed

him to shut them up in the citadel, that they might not run about the island, and also to prevent them from making their escape. He answered that he would attend to it, but I must understand they were prisoners of war as well as myself. I said I was aware of it, and thought myself fortunate in having fallen into his hands, adding, however, that the English captain who had brought me to Barbadoes, engaged that neither I nor any of my men should be detained; that it was from reliance on his faith so given, and the tenders of service he made, I had embarked. Then I requested the governor to grant me and my men our liberty, promising that I should ever be mindful of the favour, either by restoring such prisoners as I might take, or by paying him such a ransom as he required. "No," replied the governor, "I will neither have your ransom nor your prisoners; you are too brave a man for me not to compassionate your numerous misfortunes; and I desire that you will accept of these forty pistoles to supply your present necessities." He then presented me with a purse, which he had doubtless brought on purpose; and on leaving me, said he was about to give orders to collect my men together. After being somewhat recovered, I intimated to the governor, by the officer who daily came to visit me, that I was desirous of embarking in the first vessel bound for Martinique. In three

days a barque arrived, which the Count de Blenac, governor of the French islands, had sent here respecting an exchange of prisoners. Colonel Russel gave me intimation of it, saying I might prepare to depart. I was thereupon permitted to go to his house, and thank him in person for all the civilities he had shown me. He told me that he regretted the laws of warfare restrained him from allowing me greater liberty than he had done, and prayed me to use the English kindly who might fall into my hands. I embarked in the French vessel, but I could find no more than two of the crew whom the governor had formerly sent to me, and they declared that they knew nothing of what was become of the rest.

'Arriving at Martinique, I related my adventures to M. de Blenac, who insisted on my living with him during the whole period of my residence there ; and he frequently made me give him an account of my engagement with the English manof-war. At last, finding an opportunity of procuring a passage for me to France, he sent for the captain of a vessel bound thither, and recommended me to him. He would likewise have written letters to France in my favour, but he was taken so very ill, that he could not write, and died on the 10th of June. I regretted his death. very much, for many reasons. He was a man who delighted