of taking in sail in a squall which had come suddenly on. Her reply was, "Massa big for noten;" meaning to say, her master was big for nothing, or, in other words, that Nature had made him large beyond the ordinary stature of man, without endowing him with courage, or self-command.

Mr. Brian Edwards relates, in his History of the West Indies, an anecdote of a boy, who had made a fatiguing journey in order to convey a letter to him, that required an immediate answer. The boy arrived in the middle of the night; and whilst Mr. Edwards was engaged writing a reply, he gathered himself into one corner of the room, and fell into a sound sleep. When Mr. Edwards had completed his letter, he called to the boy two or three times, who not answering, his own servant, who was near, came into the room, and shaking violently the fatigued and sleeping Quamina, asked him sharply, "You no hear Massa call you?" when the yawning boy answered,

peevishly, "Sleep no hab massa," or, sleep has no master. What could possibly be more expressive than the spontaneous answer of this tired and sleepy child of nature! and how few sailors are there, but who have felt the full force of the expression, and which is ably described by our immortal bard, Shakspeare:

Canst thou upon the high and giddy mast,
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude, imperious surge?

And, in the visitation of the winds,

Who take the ruffian billows by the top,

Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deafening clamours in the slippery shrouds,
That with the hurly, death itself awakes ;
Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude?
And, in the calmest and the stillest night,
With all appliances, and means to boot,
Deny it to a king?—

The form of the FANTEE government is republican. A number of old men called Pinins, at the head of whom is Amooni

cummy, are arbiters in common disputes which occur between the natives of Annamaboo, or between them and Europeans; but disputes of a more serious nature, such as may affect the liberties, or properties of men of wealth and consequence, are generally referred to the lawyers of the Brafoo country, who, like their brethren of the long robe in civilized Europe, generally contrive to strip both plaintiff and defendant of their property; and he, whose purse holds out the longest, saves perhaps his liberty, while his less wealthy antagonist and family are often doomed to slavery and exile. To be rich, and ostentatious in the display of it, is, in Fantee, as certain ruin to the individual practising it, as in the territory of the Grand Seignor: cunning men, therefore, as they become wealthy, affect great moderation and humility; strengthen themselves by family alliances, and use every stratagem to keep out of palavers, and elude the vigilance of the Pinins,

westward of Annamaboo, and which is called his croom, or village, he has a residence, and where, it is said, he indulges himself in the contemplation of his wealth, unobserved, and occasionally distributes to his sons some portion of it; for Tacky Mensa, who is his nephew and heir-at-law, would deprive them, at their father's death, of that, which, in England, would be their lawful inheritance.

Tom Coffee, both in colour and features, is a complete African. To a portly person is added much amenity of countenance; and in his disposition there is something of a hearty generosity: but Tom, unfortunately, was known to be rich, for he k no pains to conceal it, but rather courted observation, by a vain and ostentatious display of his wealth. He acquired his property chiefly by trading with Europeans, and was a great favourite both with them and the native traders of remote countries, whose cause he generally espoused in any

disputes that occurred between them and his townsmen; for it was through their instrumentality he had become rich, and this was the way in which he showed his gratitude. His house was more splendidly furnished than those of any of his neighbours, having many articles of European luxury in it; and the number of his domestic slaves and retainers was princely. Himself and wives dressed in very costly apparel; and he often wore about his person many pounds weight of pure rock gold: this was the fatal talisman. "If," said the Pinins, "Coffee can afford to wear so much gold, his strong box must be full." He was too rich a prize to escape their fangs, and too incautious a man not to be entrapped into a palaver, which soon plunged him into the bottomless pit, or Court of Chancery in the Brafoo country. The Chancery, unfortunately for Tom, was at this time without a suit, and the lawyers without a brief; he, therefore, was soon stripped of his wealth; and the