great distress of mind, and presented a most wretched and woeful appearance.  Lander asked him the cause of his grief, and why he had covered himself with ashes in such a manner, when he gave the following relation of the cause of all his distress.  It appeared that he had possessed six wives, one of whom was gifted with a larger share of personal charms than the rest, the consequence of which was, that she received more attention from him and was loved more than any of the others.  This partiality naturally excited the jealousy of the other ladies, and mortified by his neglect of them, they were determined on revenge, and was resolved to get rid of their favoured rival by mixing poison with her food.  They had just succeeded in effecting their purpose, which had caused the poor fellow much distress, and he had not recovered the effects of his loss on the morning on which he came onboard the Portia.  His tale was simple and unvarnished, and while he was relating it to Lander, the tears were trickling down his face.  Lander never before saw a black man feel so much for the loss of a wife as he did.  This remarkable custom of mourning in sackcloth and ashes, appears to be peculiar to these people, and it was ascertained that they do not cease to cover their bodies with them as long as their sorrow lasts.  They do the same on the death of a relation, and it is the only instance of the kind that Lander met with in the part of the country through which he had travelled.

Great uproar and confusion prevailed the whole of this day throughout the town occasioned by an adventure of the doctor with the duke’s most favourite wife, which is likely to end tragically to the parties concerned.  This person, who is the doctor of the town, it appears was the bosom friend of the duke, in whom the latter had the greatest confidence, and allowed him to visit his wives professionally as often as he thought proper.  The gentleman’s visit had lately become so frequent as to excite suspicion and a look out was accordingly kept on all his movements.  The poor doctor was soon caught in the snare; the motive of his visit was found to be of an illegal nature, and the enraged duke has ordered both to be bound hand and foot and thrown into the river on the following day.

Lander found seven French vessels lying in the river, one Spanish, and two English.  One of the latter, named the Caledonia, a ship of five hundred tons burden, was the property of Sir John Tobin, of Liverpool, which, with the other, the brig Elizabeth were taking in a cargo of palm oil.

The river Calebar is very serpentine, and there is scarcely any other tree but the mangrove to be seen on its banks.  The right bank is intersected by numerous creeks, well known to the natives, who frequent them in their canoes; they communicate with all the rivers that fall into the Gulf of Guinea, between this river and that on which Benin is situated.  The natives go as far as Benin in their canoes, but