as the punishment of the inexorable wretch who made my freedom their procurement!  And yet I ought to be thankful for the lot into which I was cast, because if I had not been made a captive, I should not have seen such a country as England; nor known the language; nor have the many useful and precious things that I possess; nor become acquainted with men so generous as I have met with, not only to redeem me from bondage, but to shew me great kindness, and send me back so much more capable of being useful.”  Indeed, he did not cease to praise highly the English in conversing with the Africans, and endeavored to reclaim those poor creatures from the prejudice they had that the slaves were eaten, or killed for some other purpose, because no one was known to have returned.

Having met with a Foulah, with whom he had been formerly acquainted, he engaged him to notify his family of his return; but four months elapsed before he received any intelligence from Bunda.  On the 14th of January, 1735, the messenger came back, bearing the sad tidings that his father had died; with the consolation, however, of learning, just before his death, of the ransom of his son, and of the favor which he had received in England.  One of the wives of Job had married again in his absence; and the second husband had fled on being informed of the arrival of the first.  During the last three years, the war had made such ravages in the country of Bunda, that no cattle remained there.

Job was deeply affected with the death of his father, the misfortunes of his country, and the situation of his family.  He protested, however, that he pardoned his wife, and the man who had espoused her.  “They had reason,” he said, “to suppose me lost to them forever, because I had gone to a country from which no Foulah had ever returned.”

When Moore, from whose narrative these particulars are extracted, left Africa, he was charged with letters from Job, who remained at Joar, to Oglethorpe, Bluet, the Duke of Montague, his principal benefactors, and to the Royal African Company.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Travels into the inland parts of Africa; containing a description of several nations for the space of 600 miles upon the river Gambia; with a particular account of JOB BEN SOLOMON, a Pholey, who was in England in 1733, and known by the name of “the African Prince.”  By FRANCIS MOORE.  London, 1738.]

“On Thursday, November 4th, 1737, Sir Hans Sloane communicated to the Royal Society a letter which a gentleman had received from Job, the African, whom MR. OGLETHORPE released from slavery, and the African Company sent home to his own country, in one of their ships, about twelve months ago.  In this letter he very gratefully acknowledges the favor he received in England; and, in answer to some things desired of him when here, says that he has been in the country where the tree producing the gum-Arabic grows, and can assist the English in that trade.