The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-11-10 00:00:00

SIERRA LEONE

Extract from a work on the Colony of Sierra Leone,
Western Africa, ready for the press, by William
Whitaker Shreeve, a 6 years resident, late acting first
writer to her Britannic Majesty's Commissioners under
the Slave Trade Suppression Treaties, Secretary's
and Crown Office, and Merchants' Service at Sierra
Leone.

RELIGIONS, &c.

TEE ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT is the most
honoured and honourably conducted department in the
colony, being pliced under the gu;dince of persons able
and willing to fulfil the serious confidence reposed in
them.

The Chaplain, with a salary of £5OO a-year, presides at
St. George's Church, Freetown, and the assistant mis-
s;onaries are scattered through the various villages.
They have a large institution at Fourab Bay, a mile from
town, for the education of African youths, and another in
the town, as well as numerous schools in other directions.
The management of the whole is admirable, and cannot
fail to impart a moral and literary training that most fully
repay the trouble and expense so wilingly bestowed.

VIE SECTARIAN DENOMINATIONS have not that va-
riety which mark secession in England and other coun-
tries, being confined to Baptists, Huntingdonians, Cal-
vanists, and Wesleyans. The latter are rather a numer-
ous body, and were it not for the worldly and speculative
character of a leading member, its operations would be
much more wieful and respected. The preacher of " The
Word should be divested of all such secular engross-
merits, that lead to the suspicion, nay, certainty, that
their preaching and practice are at variance. The Shy-
lock, who seeks gain by all possible devices, even to de-
manding his " pound of flesh," is more suited for the
Exchange than the pulpit, however skilled he may be in
" the painted flourishes of the tongue." If he who pos-
sesses two coats, and will not part with one to his naked
brother, be unworthy of his Master, of whom is he the
disciple ? What must he be who would deprive his
neighbour of his only garment, for the sake of adding to
an already oveAurthened store, forgetful, though he
preach of fire, that Africa is not the holiest place in cre-
ation.

Religion with some is a trade, with others, trade is a
religion, but to unite the two principles is the consumma-
tion of pharisai2A hypocrisy.
The Mahomedan religion is very prevalent in Africa,
and of the natives. those professing it constitute the most
respectable and intellectual class, but the greater mass
are Pagans, who, from the nature of an idolatrous wor-
ship, are incomparably more superstitious.
It is astonishing how any human being with sufficient
rationality to distinguish between night and day, or their
own species and a tiger or a tree, can indulge in the ri-
diculous beliefs that beset the various tribes, for thriugh
Paganism on the broad principle is the general religion,
yet there are offshoots from the parent stem, which are
matured with a devotion worthy of a better cause.

As Sierra Leone is the principal colony on the West
African coast, it has the greatest influx of native visitors
from the interior. which. together with the liberated Ne-
groes from the slavers, introduce a greater variety of reli-
gion than probably is to be found congregated in any
other place, not that a manifestation is at all times exhi-
bited, nay, thus superstitions are frequently concealed,
particularly by those who pretended to have been con-
verted, which, however, are discoverable by intimacy and
conversation. Nor are those gross superstitions confined
to the poorer classes, indeed some of the more intelligent
and independent, in other matters, are the most ignorant
and grovelling, when their superstitious prejudices ace
referred to.

KoLtott is a spirit supposed to reside in the neighbour-
hood of Yangroo, in Western Wiles, lives in the woods,
sad is ueldom .4eilblei-e-moept upon Omer dcratim -arisingr ior
a chief, or when persons are interred without the usual
ceremony of dancing, feasting, and particularly drinking.
He is represented by an open bamboo basket, about three
feet long, made to fit a man's shoulders. It is covered
with a net, and decorated with porcupine quills on the
nose. its appearance is frightful, and excites the inhabi-
tants with childish terror.

Frequently some man more knowing than the rest, who
is short of cash, or wishes a good entertainment, pretend-
ing to have a call," assumes the Kolloh, and goes about
with it on his head, to see if the ceremonies are observed,
and very soon contrives to form an African " Almacks,"
where he presides as master of the ceremonies, ringing a
bell, concealed within the Kolloh, and brandishing his rod
of office. It is unnecessary to say that these self-ordained
priests are the most hardened and plundering vagabonds
in the country.

The word :fetishe or fetish, often heard amongst the
Negroes—from the Portuguese "fitico," or craft, means
a charm, or mode of conducting worship, and is often ap-
plied for the representatives of their d'vinities.
The fetishes or Widah are the serpent, tall trees, and
the sea. The first is the most powerful, and the other
two are subordinate.

The serpent has a large round head, riercing eyes, short
pointed tongue, solemn movement, except when it darts
upon its prey, and is then very rapid, its tail short and
sharp, and skin smoothly variegated with elegant colours,
it is exceedingly tame and familiar. Priests and priest-
esses are appointed to its service, and valuable offerings
are made to it, which the priesthood most religiously ap-
propriate to themselves. It is invoked in all great diffi-
culties, and as the Whidahans, like wiser people, imagine
that many of their little difficulties are great, the serpent,
or rather the serpents are enriched.
The inhabitants of Benin believe in an invisible Deity,
who created heaven and earth; but because he can only
do go: d, they think it useless to propitiate him. Their
Devil, or malignant spirit, receives all the honours, which
are offered in the sacrifice of men and animals to satiate
his thirst for blood. But they have many other objects
of less rational note, such as elephants' teeth, claws,
bon-s. dead men's heads, to which they make daily offer-
ings of boiled yams mixed in palm oil. On great occa•
sions they present a cock, giving the divinity the blood,
and reserving the flesh for themselves. Persons of rank
give annual feasts to their gods, when great numbers of
cattle are offered to the idols; and the priests make each
to offer his own sacrifice, in orckr that they may enjoy
the sacerdotal profit without trouble, something on the
principle of a plurality of livings.
In Guinea some tribes assemble around a sacred tree,
near which they have a table decorated with boughs in
the form of crowns, and covered with their best fare, at

which they eat and drink in honour of their fetishes.
anied

acing and singing, accorr.

by dru

s and brass instruments ; the priest in the centre
ar, on which he offers sacrifices, whilst the wor-

shippers congr

ate around

im to

3eSS his

incantations. At the conclusion he twists a wisp of
straw. and dipping it into a pot of some particular " hell
broth" in which there is a serpent, he sprinkles the chil-

dren, uttering some mummery, and then performing the

:ereroony on the attar, empti

the not, when his

ose the sacrifice with ye

words of applause
They wash themselves every morning as an act of de-
votion, and draw white lines across their faces in honour
of the fetish. Their oracles are accomplished by a black
dog, who sits at the sacred tree, and very cleverly re-
sponds to questions that would puzzle the priest himself.
No doubt this sacred tree is hollow, but not empty!
THE DAJIOMANS are a particularly idolatrous caste.
They worship the moon, certain animals, trees, stocks,
and stones. A particular serpent, called Daboa, is in
high divine estimation. It is kept in a basket, and se-
hinnpra beim!, persuaded that
The priestesses

fives on the camelion's dish, the air
supported by the governmer

and every year there is
nt Cch;oh the ehieig

assist, not more assiduously in the rites than the de-
berg. This serpent is particularly honoured by la-
as ladies wish to be who love their lords."

s who are

The tiger is also propitiated occasions
dren, which shabby fare is compensated for, upon impor-
tant festivities, by the senior part of the family being
placed at his tender mercy. Many other observances of
a still more abhorrent character might be added. which
fully entitle the Dahomans to the boast of their nation—
a Temple dedicated to the Devil. They, however, have a
mystified notion of a Supreme Being, but pay him no
worship but through the fetish, being convinced that he
is too good to harm them.
Though the Ashantces are considered the most intelli-
gent nation of Western Africa, they are gross idolaters,
and most profligate in human sacrifices, at their festivals
and funerals. They have a tradition which has become
orthodox, by descent from ages.
in It is, that at the begin-
ning of the world God created Africa three black men
and three white, with the same number of women, and
placed before them a large and attractive box, and an in-
significant-hooking sealed paper. The black men bad the
first choice, and took the box, supposing from its appear-
ance that it contained every desirable thing ; but when
opened, they found only gold, iron, and other metals, of
which they did not know the use. The white men opened
the paper, which told them every thing. So the black
men were left in the bush, whilst the white men (from
the knowledge which they had received from the paper)

y by a

ble lodgings, which authority he seemed inclined to dis-
ute ; but having measured his man, and finding me six
feet three, be declined the contest, and departed with a
few extemporaneous denunciations and borrowed anathe-
mas from his favourite Koran ; and if still alive, may at
this moment be consulting his new tail and skin, or offer-
ing up sadakabs for revenge.
In the midst 3f his religious fervour, however, Pa
and unintelligible 1 Samba forgot to return the Wellingtons.

BLACKWOOD ON MR. DICKENS' DOMBEY
AND SON.

You said that you should like to know my opinion of
Mr. Dickens' new story, and I read it with interest, and
some care. 'Tis exactly what I expected ; containing
clear evidence of original genius, disfigured by many most
serious, and now plainly incurable, blemishes. The first
thing striking me, on perusing this new performance, is,
thatits author writes, as it were, from amidst a thick
theatrical mist. Cursed be the hour—should say a sin-
cere admirer of Mr. Dickens' genius—that he ever set
foot within a theatre, or became intimate with theatrical
people. You fancy that every scene, incident, and cha-
racter, is conceived with a view to its idling—from the
stage. This suggestion seems to me to afford a key to
most of the prominent faults and deficiencies of Mr.
Dickens as an imaginative writer ;
the lamentable absence
of that simplicity and sobriety which invest the writings,
for instance, of Goldsmith with immortal freshness and
With what truthful tenderness does such a writer depict
nature !—how different is his treatment from the spas-
modic, straining, extravagant, vulgarizing efforts of the
play-wright ! The one is delicate and exquisite limning ;
the other, gross daubing :—the one faithfully represents;
the other monstrously caricatures. This is the case with
Mr. Dickens; and it is intolerably provoking that it
should be so ; for he has the penetrating eye and accurate
pencil, which—properly disciplined and tramed—
might
have produced pictures worthy to stand
beside those of
the greatest masters. As it is, you might imagine his
sketches to be the result of the combined simultaneous
efforts of two artists—one the delicate limner, the other
the vulgar dauber and scene-painter above spoken of.
He has invention and skill enough to produce an inte-
resting character ; and place him in a situation favourable
for developing his eccentricities, his failings, his excellen-
cies—in a word, his peculiarities. Well; be prepares his
reader's mind—sets before you an interesting, !L moving,
a mirth-stirring occasion, when—bah is ruined ;
the spasmodic straining after effect becomes instantly and
painfully visible; and the personage before you is made
to talk to the level of a theatrical audience, especially pit

and gallery—and in unison with "ginger-beer, apples,
oranges, and soda-water" associations and recollections.
Let me give two striking instances, occurring at the
very opening of "Dombey and Son." The first is the
colloquy at pp. 3, 4 ; the other at p. 9. The former pre-
sents you Dr. Parker Peps, a fashionable accoucheur, and
the humble admiring family medical man—the occasion
being a momentary absence of both from the chamber of
a lady dying in child-bed, Mrs. Dombey; and can any
one of correct taste and feeling bear in mind that occa-
sion, and fail of being revolted by the drivel put into the
mouth of the consulting accoucheur ?—who, when telling
Mr. Dombey of the mortal peril in which his wife over-
head is lying—apologises to him for speaking of her as
"Her Grace the Duchess!" "Lady Cankaby," "The
Countess of Dombey:" his obsequious companion ac-
counting for such lapses on the score of his "nest End
practice." is this nature ? Is it actual life ? Any thing
approaching to either? If not, what is it meant for?
Why, to tickle a Christmas audience at one of the minor
playhouses ! The other (these are only two out of many)
is the character of Mr. Chick, an old fool, who has a habit
of whistling and humming droll tunes on the most solemn
occasions, interrupting and interlarding conversation with
"Richt tol loor-ral." "A cobbler there mos," "Rumpti-
iddity bow, wow, wow ;" is it not certain that Mr.
Dickens here had his eye on Tilbury or Bedford enacting
the part? And for no other purpose whatever is this
precious character introduced than to hit off this very pe-
culiarity ! From the same theatrical habit of mind, it
happens that Mr. Dickens cannot carry on his stories in
an even, straightforward course, but presents us with a
series of "scenes !"—utterly marring the effect and an-
nihilating the truthfulness and reality of the whole ; e. g.
the jarring interruption of this story at a touching and
interesting moment—at the moment of the two doctors
and Mr. Dombey's return to poor Mrs. Dombey's death-
bed, when the reader feels that they are almost instantly
to witness her death, by the introduction of two tiresome
twaddler', reproductions of old; stock characters of the
author, Mr. Chick and Miss Tox, whose descriptions and
utterly irrelevant conversation detain us for nearly three
pages. At length these motley "stagers"—if I may be
allowed the word—are grouped round the poor lady's
death-bed ; and let me here say, that in my opinion the
character and situation of poor NI rs. Dombey are both ex-
quisitely conceived, and appeal to the deepest sympathies
of the heart; but, alas ! the perverse, provoking, incor-
rigible writer will not let us enjoy "the luxury of grief;"
but while we are bending over her death-bed, our atten-
tion is called off to a remarkably interesting and appro-
priate circumstance—two watches of two of the doctors
"seem in the silence to be sunning a race !" * *
"they seem to be racing faster! !" * * "The

race,- in the ensuing pause, was fierce and furious. The
watches seemed to jostle, and to trip each other up ! ! !"
and a moment or two afterwards the lady expires, under
very moving circumstances, touched with perfect delicacy
and truthfulness. Would the intrusion of a sow into a
lovely flower-garden be more shocking or disgusting to
the beholder ? Again, in the first page, we are presented
to Mr. Dombey, gszing with unutterable feelings at his
newly-born son, "forty-eight minutes of age ;" and Mr.
Dickens tastefully suggests the corn, arison of the little
creature, which is "somewhat crushed and spotty in his
general effect ! !" whose mother is at that moment in
dying agonies in that very room, to "a muffin, which it
was essential to toast brown while it was very new! !"
And a few lines forward, the posture of the innocent un-
conscious little being suggests the brutal idea of a prize-
fighter—his "little fists, curled up and clenched, seemed,
in his feeble way, to be SQUARING AT EXISTENCE for
having come upon him so unexpectedly! !!" Was ever
any thing more monstrous ? To find a gentleman of Mr.
Dickens' great genius, and experience in literary compo-
sition, sinning in this way is provoking beyond all mea-
sure. The above abominations to be perpetrated by him
who; at page seventeen can present us with so exquisite a
touch as the following :—He is describing the blank ap-
pearance of the dismantled house, immediately after the
funeral of the poor, neglected, and heart-broken lady.
" The dead and buried lady was awful, in a picture frame
of ghastly bandages. Every gust of wind that rose,
brought eddying round the corner, from the neighbouring
mews, some fragments of the straw that had been strewn
before the house when she was ill ; mildewed remains of
which were still cleaving to the neighbourhood. and these
being always drawn by some invisible attraction to the
threshold of the dirty house to let opposite, addressed a
dismal eloquence to Mr. Dombey's window." The
thirty-two pages of this first number contain very many
provocatives to unfavourable criticism. They bristle all
over with mannerisms—abound with grotesque, unseemly,
extravagant comparisons and personation, ( one of Mr.
Dickens' besetting sins)—many of the scenes contain
truth and humour, smothered and lost by prolixity, inci-
dent and character diluted by a tedious and excessive mi-
nuteness of description ; and it is to be feared that several
of the characters will bear a painfully strong resemblance
to some of their predecessors in Mr. Dickens' other sto-
ries. Mr. Dickens may feel angry at my plainness ; and,
in return, I must express my fears that he is not aware of
the extent of injury which has been inflicted upon him by
clique-homage—the flattery of fluent, incompetent ad-
mirers—the misconstrued silence of critics of experienced
taste and refinement. Does Mr. Dickens really consider
the light in which his writings, containing such faults as
those above adverted to, must be viewed by the upper and
thinking classes of society—persons of cultivated taste,
of refinement, of piercing critical capacity, who disdain to
enter the little, babbling, vulgar, narrow-minded circles
miscalled " literary ?"