Numerous instances have occurred, of the thieving propensities of the natives, and it required, at first, a considerable degree of vigilance to prevent them from being successful, but it is due to the chiefs to say, that since the establishment of Clarence, they have invariably taken an active part in putting a stop to it.  Whatever may have been their habits previously to the formation of the settlement, they seem to be little improved by their intercourse with the settlers.  Their principal chief has received the formidable appellation of cut-throat from Captain Owen, a name, by which he will be known as long as he lives.  This fellow is a most determined savage, and seems to have lost none of his natural propensities by communicating with the settlers.  He has received innumerable presents from the English, of clothes, and a variety of things, which are all thrown away upon him, and he goes about as usual, wearing his little hat, with feathers stuck in it, and the long grass about his waist, disdaining such useless coverings as he imagines them.  This is not to be wondered at, for accustomed as he has been all his life time, to the unrestrained freedom of his whole person, it would be rather a matter of surprise to see him make use of them, particularly in the climate of Fernando Po, where one almost wishes to follow the example of the natives, excepting in the use of their clay and palm oil.  No doubt Cut-throat thinks this quite a sufficient covering.

The natives pay frequent visits to the colony, and, however they may deal out justice amongst themselves, are by no means backward in seeing it administered among the free negroes and Kroomen of Clarence.  It frequently happens, that in the scarcity of live stock, some of the former, unable to restrain their desire for more substantial food, and tired of their Indian corn, venture to help themselves to what the natives will not bring them; parties of these people are accordingly formed, who find their way to the huts of the natives in the interior, and steal their yams, goats, and sheep, or whatever they meet with.  These depredations are sure to bring the unfortunate owners to the colony with complaints of their losses, which are laid before the governor.  The negroes are then mustered before them, and the native who has been plundered, is allowed, if he can do so, to point out the thief.  If he should be successful, which is frequently the case, he is allowed to witness the punishment, which the offender is sentenced to receive, and generally gets some recompense for his loss.  On the Sunday after the arrival of the Landers at Clarence, a party of four Kroomen set off into the interior, with the full determination of plunder, let the consequences be what it might.  They had not gone far before they met with a goat belonging to a native, which they immediately shot, and returned with it carefully concealed, that they might not be discovered.  Their precautions, however, were of little avail, for the owner of the animal