Monday, 10.—­Weather still variable.  Got under weigh at daylight, but it soon fell calm, and we made use of our sweeps.  At noon, abreast of James’s Island; and at three, we anchored off Old Calabar, or Duke’s Town.

We found the brig Kent, Captain Cumings, still here; also, the ship Agnes, Captain Charles, from Liverpool, for palm-oil; and a Spanish schooner, from the Havannah, waiting for slaves.  Captain Smith and I accompanied Captain Cumings on shore to pay a visit to Duke Ephraim, with whom Capt.  Cumings was a great favourite, which proved a fortunate circumstance for us.  The schooner having last visited the place as a man of war, she was received with suspicion, and it was extremely difficult to convince the Duke and his people, that there was not a ruse de guerre intended by her reappearance as a mere trader.

Tuesday, 11.—­A fine but very hot day.  Paid a visit to the Duke after breakfast, and in the afternoon went three miles down the river to visit the Lady Combermere on her way up the river.  In the evening we paid another visit to the Duke, at which period, every day, he holds a sort of levee for supercargoes, and Captains of vessels, to talk over “news.”  Upon these occasions he discovers an acute knowledge of his own interest.  Remained on shore, and passed the night in the Duke’s English house, where his visitors always sleep, but none of his family, except a few domestics in charge of it.  This evening a tornado came on with heavy rain.

Wednesday, 12.—­A schooner, that had secreted herself further up the river; dropped down and anchored off the town last night, after it became dark, intending to take in her cargo of slaves during the night.  She completed her object before daylight, when she got under weigh, and sailed down the river, without shewing any colours.

This day was the Calabar Sunday, but it was not kept as the usual holiday, in consequence of the recent death of the Duke’s favourite brother.  The funeral ceremony is horrible, but I feel bound to describe it for the sake of shewing the extraordinary superstition and bigotry that still exists among a people, who have not only been visited, but regularly traded with, by European nations, for nearly two centuries.  I shall introduce this individual case by premising that human sacrifices are lavishly made, not only in honour of the blood royal, but in a more or less degree upon the death of great (or I should more properly say rich) men; for riches constitute greatness here, even in a higher ratio than they do in more civilized countries; the riches of these parts consisting in the possession of slaves.

At the funeral obsequies of the Duke’s brother, six human victims were destined to the sacrifice; namely, three men and three women, who, however, were, with a strange mixture of mercy and cruelty, rendered insensible to the terrors of their fate by previous intoxication.  Five of these poor creatures were hung, and placed in the grave of the Prince, while the sixth, a young and favourite wife, was reserved for a destiny still more horrible; being thrown alive into the grave, which was immediately closed over the whole.