Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-05-04

hV oVoUpt "so Oooy3 PASHeN'So SitS PSo-
tiferous swamps of the Niger the spectres of
many brave and gallant victims to the fatality
of that gloomy river, upon whom the " Gate Of
the Cemetery had closed forever.
Obi was asked to suppress the slave trade.
g Yes, Yes, yes, said he, swapping his fingers
!" he would do that, but he must have great
quantity of arms and ammunition to do it with"
" We have but one God,'' said the white nego-
tiators. g Pooh p said Obi. swapping his fin
gers, II have two-my people always had two"
W hen questioned about the adventurous and
lamented Lander, whom he had detained in cap
tivity, Obi stoutly denied all knowledge of him,
though the uniform in which he was dressed
had been given him by that celebrated traveller.
After long interview, in which he acceded to
everything that was proposed, butin which stip-
ulations he was not the least in earnest, Obi be-
gan to get impatient. :" lie wante his palaver
settled" g He had had enough of this slave
palAver." "Tco much talk II 1he truth was,
Obi wanted to come at the prsents, the sole
objects of the negotiations. ~ sing received
these, he went ashore, amid igarssscs beating of
' tom-to -toms," which was kept up all night.
Rare fun this for King Obi but sad and dreary
must have been the forebodings of the white
man as sleepless they tossed in their restless
hs,while the sooty savage held high jubilee
ashore, and i" beat his tonn-toms all night long
for Joy"
In five weeks the expedition arrived at the
country of King Attah, another high and nigh
ty potentate. Fever had appeared aboard of all
ships, but the broad farce of treaty-making still
went on. Land was purchased of King Attah
for a model farm, and Mr.. Carr, educated man
of color from Jamaica, landed with some white
men and Africans to cultivate it. But the effec-
tive service Of the expedition was to be brought
to a speedy termination. Creeping over the
officers and crew came the effect Of the unsalu-
brious climate-creeping creeping over them,
the hidden and unknown causes Of sickness re-
duced them man after man. The Angel of Death
famed the hot breeze with his wings, and cast
its deadly vapors into the pallid faces of the
fever-stricken crew, On the Soudan only six
persons could get about. Another day passed
and there were sixty sick, thirteen dead. All
the sick were now collected on board the Soudan
and she was put about and steered for the ocean.
Oh it was sorrowtul loave-taking between
the invalids and the rest of their gallant ship
mates Two or three days after the Soudan had
gone down the river with all the inyalids, the
Wilberforce had 80 men sick and only IS re-
mained capable of duty. She returned to the
sea, leaving tho Albert to make her way up the
dark river alone. King Obi was now found to
be driving o brisk trade in slaves. Canoes were
seen going down the river in the heart Of his
dominions with newly-captured slaves chained
in the bottom of them. The steamers Of course
were unable to enforce tae4treaty, At length
TIE Albert was compelled to give up all attempts
to proceed further. With only two white men
able to get about, her head was turned to sea.
Drs. McWilliam and Stanger were alone able to
60 on deck. They attended on the sick and
nayigated the steamer down the river. The for
mer took charge of the vessel land the latter work
ed the engines. The scene which surrounded
these gallant men was horrible. The officer and
crew were raying and dying all laround them and
leaping overheard into the jaws of tho "damned
crocodiles," in fits of maniacal phrensy At
the model farm, they found all the white men
sick, and took them on board.
After remaining some time at Fernando Po,
the Wilberforce was compelled to ascend the
river again, to visit the model farm, in obedience
to orders from home. She was under the com
mand of the gallant Lieut.. Webband named by
a volunteer crew. Everything was in utter
confusion at the farm. Mr.. Carr had been mur-
dered by King Boy. Obi, the excellent Obi,
was strongly suspected of completely in the
crime. The men of color, who had been brought
TO establish the model farm and civilize Africa,
were found to have fallen in with the custom of
the natives as regarded slavery. They had their
whips, and they applied them to the backs of
their laborers but their only desire was to leave
the country. The Wiberforce took them aboard,
and Obi threw off the mask, and derided the
white men and the treaties. He plotted to take
the Wilberforce, and massacre the crew.
The only knowledge added to our previous
stock by the expedition was, that all such schemes
are visionary, impracticable, and worse than
useless. Nothing was arrived at to lead to any
conclusion as to the cause of sickness. The
most delicate tests were applied to the air and
water, but they failed to detect the presence of
those deleteriouss gasses which it was confidently
anticip ted they Contained The fever developed
itself in fifteen days after entering the river.
The medical treatment, to which it yielded, was
strong doses of calomel, followed by quinine.
One thing was observed, which is particularly
noteworthy, the same fact has been found to ex-
ist in other deadly climates-in the case of total
abstinence patients, the fever was hopelessly,
surely fatal.
! Such is the brief history of the last Niger ex-
pedition, and no better success is to be looked
for Another company of brave men may be
sent to perish on that lonely river, victims to
the vanity and fanaticism of mistaken philan-
thropy; but among cool-headed men, who have
the greatest knowledge of Africa possessed by
any English traders tothe coast, no hope of any
good result exists.-Columbus { Ohio) Sentinel.
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THE ISLINGToN MARTYRS.
On May-day in the year 1858, when Queen
Mary occupied the throne of England, and bishop
Bonner presided over the Diocese of London,