TRANSACTIONS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. AFRICAN INSTITUTION. pro THH honourable to our national character, the Measures have been taken to cultivate the knowledge of such of the languages spoke in Africa, as shall best facihtate intercourse with the natives. Very laudable pains have been also emploved to transmit to Afiica such seeds and plants, suited to the climate, as will be likely to open a more extended and useful commerce between that country and this; and premiums have been offered, and in a few instances given, for the importation, under certain conditions, of African products. There seems to be a good prospect of raising in Africa an excellent species of cotton, which is beginning to be cultivated on a large scale. dicted as an inevitable consequence of the abolition of the slave trade, had occurred in the neighbourhood. Only one trial for witchcraft had taken place for a long time; whereas, formerly such trials used to be very frequent; and although in that one case the accused had been found guilty, she had not been put to death, but, after some time, had been set at liberty. "There is no fear," observes the salt, which is in great demand. Their He thus concludes one of his letters: "This has certainly been one of the quietest and most uninteresting years I have known in Africa. I have neither trials for witchcraft, nor wars, nor kidnappings, to speak of in my journal. Perhaps we have the abolition to thank for it." Communications of a promising nature have also been made from Gorce and the Gold Coast. The expenses this year were .considerable, viz. 18501. 8s. 4d; and the property of the Society at the conclusion of it, 28237. 138. 11d. being an increase within the year of only 3417, 14s. id. The Appendix to the Third Report contains much useful information with regard to Africa; the inhabitants, the face of the country, the natural productions, and the present trade. Letters from the Governor of Sierra Leone, dated in May, 180, state, that the colony was on the most friendly In "Extracts from Letters from terms with the surrounding natives, Mr. H. Meredith," dated Cape Coast and that its influence among them Castle, on the Gold Coast, there is a had of late happily increased. None pleasing description of the Dutch of those massacres, which were pre- settlement of Elming, in that part of Africa; but there is one passage in the correspondence, which we should have thought fitter to have been addressed to the Secretary of War than the Secretary of the African Institution. It is as follows: Here (Elmina) is an extensive garden; there is also a most beneficent institution kept up, namely, an Orphan School, for the benefit of children whose parents have died in the service. Elmina, and the places near it, are kept in a high state of improvement; and it would be a great acquisition towards the civilization of Africa, as with it Fort Anthony, at Axim; Orange Fort, at Succondee: and Fort Sebastian, at Chamah (a place of great importance) would fall." The Fourth Report is principally Occupied with a description of the Slave Trade as it exists at present, and with an account of the steps the directors have taken to prevent or check it. It is lamentable to find, that in the year ending March 28, 1810, the nefarious traffic was carried on to a great extent. The different communications received by the directors from Africa, concur in stating, that in the month of October last, the coast was crowded with slave-ships, The persons most deeply engaged in the trade, appear to have been citizens of the United States of America, who shelter themselves from the penal consequences of their criminal conduct, the traffic having been pronounced illegal by the American as well as British legislature) by means of a nominal sale, both of ship and cargo, at some Spanish or Swedish port the Havannah, for example, or the island of Bartholomew. But it has been discovered, that in defiance of all the penalties imposed by Acts of Parliament, vessels, under foreign flags, have been fitted out in the ports of Liverpool and London, for the purpose of carrying slaves from the coast of Africa to the Spanish and Portuguese settlements in America, and that several adventures of this description have actually been completed. One ship, the Commercio de Rio, was seized, at the instigation of the directors, in the river, which appeared by its papers to be destined to take 700 or 800 slaves from Africa to Cuba. The ship and cargo have been condemned with a loss to the owners of upwards of 11,000l. This seizure has "discovered to the directors facts, which tend to implicate persons of some consideration in Society, in the guilt of these and similar prac tices." It is stated by the directors, that the capture of Senegal, which was effected July, 1809, by Captain Columbine, of the navy, and Major Maxwell, the Commandant of Goree, has considerably abridged the facilities enjoyed by the contraband slave traders, on that part of the slave coast. It has also furnished an important inlet, both for commerce and civilization; the river Senegal being navigable for several hundred miles, and some of its branches approaching within a short distance of the Niger. It appearing, by experiment, that the mulberry tree will grow and eve flourish in Africa, a number of silkworms eggs have been sent to Sierra Leone, Gorec, and Senegal, (whither the mulberry plant had been sent be fore) with directions respecting the rearing and managing of them. A further supply of useful seeds has also been transmitted to Africa, and likewise the model of a mill for cleaning rice from its husk. Seeds and plants have been obtained from India for the same destination. The directors have drawn the attention of their correspondents in Africa to a discovery, said to have been lately made in the West Indies, of the practicability of producing excellent ropes from the fibres of the plantane tree. In the Third Report there was an account of a species of Hemp, maru factured from the leaves of a particular kind of palm, which abounds in Sierra Leone and its neighbourhood. the d rectors now add, that having procured a quantity of the article froin Africa, they lately subjected a small quantity of cord, manufactured from this substance, to experiments calculated to ascertain its strength, as compared with the same length and weightel common hempen cord. The resul has been very satisfactory. The African cord appeared stronger by about one-fourth. The Sciety have very judiciously obtained from government a modiaca tion of the duties on imports from Africa, which were so heavy as to discourage the trade, and in some instances to prohibit it. No direct attempt has yet been made to explore the continent of Africa, principally, say the directors, because no proper means have offered themselves to their notice. It has, however, been communicated to them, that it is the intention of the African Association to send, at an early opportunity, one or more persons from this country, charged with the important object of farther discovery. The directors have signified their readiness to concur in any eligible measure of this description. The following communication has been made to the Society by Lieut. Col. Maxwell the Commandant of Senegal, respecting the celebrated traveller, Mungo Park, in a letter dated the 20th of January last: "I avail myself of an opportunity, by way of Guernsey, to communicate to you the intelligence of the arrival, in this colony, of the black man named Isaacs, who was the guide that conducted Mr. Mungo Park to Sansanding, and whose schoolmaster, who resides there, furnished Mr. Park with a guide to take him to Kassina. This person appears convinced, that Mr. Mungo Park is not dead; which God grant!) He says, if it was the case, he certainly should have heard of it; not having heard of him, he supposed that he had returned to England. "Isaacs has promised to make every exertion to fulfil the object of his mission, and to use his utmost ability to gain correct information of the fate of the celebrated traveller." Some further circumstances have been made known by the public prints since the Report was published, which lead to the hope that Mr. Park may yet return and instruct us by the detail of his discoveries. It appears that there were nine, instead of six, of the emancipated negroes; and that after their liberation, eight of them entered into his Ma jesty's service, and the ninth, being more infirm, was taken by a friend of Mr. Roscoe's on board one of his own vessels. It is but justice to state, that Mr. Roscoe was most ably assisted by Mr. Stanistreet and Mr. Avison, two very respectable solicitors, of Liverpool, who gratuitously pleaded the We add, with cause of humanity. pleasure, that the corporation of Liverpool have adopted a municipal regulation, by which it will be hereafter impossible that slaves should be retained through any collusion. The property of the Institution, on the 1st of January, amounted to 34947. 13s. 3d.; having been recently augmented by a princely donation of five hundred guineas, from some unknown individual of the Society of Friends, called Quakers. In the Appendix to this Report, there is a very able and interesting account of that district of the Gold Coast, called the Agoona Country, in which Winnebah is situated, communicated by Mr. MeIt thus redith, before mentioned. "To ascertain the certainty of the fate of our intrepid countryman, I have engaged Isaacs to go in search of him, and have furnished him with a present for Mansong, the King of Bambarra, and also with means to de- concludes:-"There is no tropical fray his travelling expenses; and have culture which might not be raised in promised him a thousand dollars if he this country in great abundance; nds Mr. Park. He has instructions while its population stands in need of to proceed without delay to Sego: to our manufactures and is accustomed present to Mansong the present he to their use. And when it is consihas for him; and to beg of him to aid dered what the hand of industry has him in his researches. If he cannot done in the West Indies-in the pesprocure any certain intelligence of tilential swamps of Guiana, for inhim at Sego, he is to continue his stance-what may not be fairly exjourney to Sansanding, to find out the pected from the rich hills and extenguide who conducted Mr. Park to sive plains of this country, blessed as Kassina. If there he cannot gain it is with a luxuriant soil, and a comsatisfactory information, he is to en- paratively healthy climate?" deavour to proceed to Tombuctoo and Kassina. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. On the advantages to be derived from Heath in the Feeding of Stock. -- Communicated by James Hall, Esq. N the course of my experiments on while in bloom, into a vat, or mashtub, and pouring boiling water on it, there is produced an infusion, not only rich and pleasant, but capable of being made the basis of various va luable liquids. Those therefore who and a variety of other articles generally reckoned of little use, I have found that if heath be cut while young and in bloom, and the finer parts in fused in a tea-pot, it produces a liquid, not only grateful to the taste and well flavoured, but extremely wholesome, and in many points of view, preferable to the tea that comes from China.Being anxious to know how far fine heath might be useful to cattle, I bribed a poor man to confine his cow. When first tied up the cow refused to eat any of the heath, except the very finest part: nor did she seem to relish a rich infusion of it that was set before her. When she became a little hungry, however, she first drank the infusion, and then began to eat the heath. She lived nearly two weeks on this food solely, and I have no doubt but that she could have lived much longer had it been necessary, She gave less milk it is true, while she lived solely on heath, but then what the milk lost in quantity was amply made up in the quality of what she gave. I made a similar experiment with a couple of sheep and an old horse, and found the effect nearly the same; only the sheep drank but little of the infusion. to burn a sufficient quantity of the old, in order to have as much young a they think proper. The smoother and more even the surface of the place they burn the better: if any of the stumps of the old heath remain after burning, they should, some way or other, be removed. The ashes of the old heath become an excellent manure, and generally cause a fine young crop to spring up. When two or three years old, this should be cut down with the scythe, and as much as possible dried in the shade. If quan tities of this be put into a vat, or mash tub, with boiling water, a very consi derable quantity of strong or small beer may be procured, as well as spi rits by distillation, which, on being put into casks, may be carried home and laid up for use. What of the fine young heath is not used in this way, may either be secured on the spot or carried home, to be given to cattle when fodder becomes either scarce of dear. With a sufficient stock of this article, the lean cattle on a farm may not only be supported in the event of a severe winter or spring, but also those in good condition prevented from becoming otherwise. Heath in tended for this purpose should, how. ever, be carefully stacked up, other wise it becomes less valuable. Thus satisfied that cattle may be supported for a time by young heath, if cut while in the bloom, I proceeded to ascertain how far this plant is capable of retaining its valuable qualities when dried and laid up. With a view to this, I cut some in the end of summer, when heath is generally at its best, and dried it in the shade. Having kept this nearly two years, I found it produced an infusion equally trong and well-flavoured as at first. Another parcel after being kept three years, supported a cow more than a week, and produced an infusion not interior to the former. The quality too of this cow's milk was uncommonly improved both in taste and flavour. On chopping, and putting quantities of fine young heath, cut down On the Advantages of cullicating the Maple Tree. By the same. The maple, which thrives well in hedge-rows, and almost all soils and exposures, may be propagated either by seeds or slips. Notwithstanding its rapid growth, the maple is gene rally near twenty years before it is at its best. However, often before it is half that age very cousiderable quantities of juice are extracted from it. This, after it is drawn from the tree and strained, should be boiled, which is the shortest and, perhaps, the best way of making sugar. The juice of the maple generally flows about four or five weeks: an or dinary tree produces about twenty rishment both for man and beast. On the Use of Soap-Makers' Waste - Introduction. The maple tree is not the least hurt by tapping. A yearly discharge of sap from the tree, instead of hurting it, is found to improve its growth, and make The Board of Agriculture being it yield the more. In America, when convinced, from the most accurate inthey are beginning a farm, or when formation, and the experience of they have not a sufficient stock of hay many of its members, that this valufor the winter, cattle often live on the able manure, if brought into more leaves and twigs of the maple. Owing general use, would be an object of to the rugged nature of the ground, very considerable importance to the the want of roads, and of water car- national agriculture, are desirous of riage, in many parts of the interior giving all the publicity possible to a and highlands of Scotland, wood is circumstance so well deserving the atoften of no value at all. In the coun- tention of farmers, gardeners, hop, ty of Banff, I have seen trees sold at a planters, nurserymen, and others emshilling each, that in the vicinity of ployed in the cultivation of the soil, water carriage, of a good road, or even more especially those in the neighof a small village, would have brought bourhood of the metropolis, and on ten times that sum; and I have known the borders of the navigations theretrees that in the vicinity of any tole- with connected; and with that view rably large town or village would have tesolved to circulate the followhave been worth four or five pounds ing observations, collected from the each, that scarcely brought as many best information which it has hitherto shillings. The difficulty of removing been in its power to obtain. It is obwood makes it not worth the felling, vious, from the chemical nature of Thousands of acres of wood in differ-soapers' waste, that it will be appli ent parts of Scotland might be burnt cable wherever calcareous matter is or otherwise destroyed, and maple wanted in lands, and that it will serve planted in its stead. Being yearly the purposes of liming. bled, or tapped, the maple would prodace a considerable degree of nou Sort of Ash. The great distinction to be found in |
