to you?  O mother! do not sell your only daughter.  I will take you in my arms when you are feeble and carry you under the shade of trees.  I will repay the kindness you showed me in my infant years.  When you are weary, I will fan you to sleep; and whilst you are sleeping, I will drive away flies from you.  I will attend on you when you are in pain; and when you die, I will shed rivers of sorrow over your grave.  O mother! dear mother! do not push me away from you; do not sell your only daughter to be the slave of a stranger!” Her tears were useless—­her remonstrances vain.  The unnatural parent, shaking the beads in the face of her only child, thrust her from her embraces; and the slave-dealer drove the agonized girl from the place of her nativity.’”

EMMA.  “Oh! how very shocking!  Poor girl! how dreadful to have such cruel, relentless parents.  Oh dear!  I hope the work of the missionaries will be blessed, and that God will soften the hard hearts of those savage and mercenary people.”

CHARLES.  “Between Liberia and Sierra Leone are Sherboro’ Bay and Yawry Bay.  Sierra Leone, or ‘Mountains of the Lioness,’ is so unhealthy that we should not live long if we went there.”

MRS. WILTON.  “You are right, Charles.  It was established as a colony in 1787, for the express purpose of laboring to civilize the Africans.  All the cargoes of the recaptured slavers are taken there, and every comfort and convenience afforded to the unfortunate negroes.  But it is so extremely unhealthy that Europeans can scarcely carry out their plans, and death mows them down in the midst of their usefulness.”

CHARLES.  “Then I may conclude that all members are desirous of proceeding.  Between Sierra Leone and Cape Verd the bays are immaterial; but from Cape Verd, sailing north, we pass four tolerable-sized indentations—­Tindal, Greyhound, Cintra, and Garnet Bays.  Then a brisk wind will speedily waft us to the point from whence we started, viz. the Straits of Gibraltar.”

MR. WILTON.  “We have nearly come to a conclusion then, and without any of the misfortunes incidental to travellers.  We have gone over the vast extent of waters which encompass our globe, and been for some months engaged in examining the wonders of the ocean, without meeting any of the monsters of the deep, such as krakens, sea-serpents, &c.; nevertheless, I am not so skeptical as to disbelieve all I have not the opportunity of viewing with my own bodily eyes.  I do think that the sea contains monsters such as Mrs. Howitt describes:—­

  ’Things all misshapen, slimy, cold,
    Writhing, and strong, and thin,’

which it would be dangerous to observe too near; and I shall feel we have gained an advantage by these little meetings if they lead you young folks to reflect on the probabilities of different travellers’ assertions, before you either receive or reject them.”

MRS. WILTON.  “We have sailed all round the coast of Africa, but would there be any danger in going to the lakes of Africa?”