CHAP. III.

THE precautions that had been taken, and the liberal supplies that had been sent out from England, proved alike ineffectual to prevent a considerable mortality among the new colonists when the rainy period arrived they experienced from it the same distress which had been felt by the former settlers.

The rains began about the third week in May, preceded by tornados of dreadful violence. Many of the settlers' houses were not yet completed; the Company's storehouses were but imperfectly built; and their servants were ill accommodated. The soldiers also were liable, from various causes, to be much exposed; and the few European settlers who had lately arrived from England, were least of all prepared to meet the impending difficulties. The high degree of health which almost universally prevailed antecedently to the rains, by inspiring too great a confidence in the climate, had perhaps occasioned some remissness in making the requisite preparations. The building of a temporary town having necessarily engrossed the attention both of the Nova Scotians and of the Company's servants, no lots of land had yet been marked out, nor had any step worthy of being mentioned been taken with a view to commerce, although some goods for trade had been sent out by the very first ships. The necessary previous stores of fresh provisions were found to be wanting at the arrival of the rains; and the unsettled state of affairs tended to aggravate the distresses of the colony. The sickness which ensued was most severe. About eight hundred Blacks were supposed to be laid up at one time; and very few passed through the whole of this trying season without some indisposition. The disorder, which was the fever common to hot climates, while it affected the Blacks and Whites almost

indiscriminately, proved much the most fatal to the Europeans, and especially to those residing on shore, among whom the mortality was at one time so great as to excite reasonable apprehensions concerning the practicability of the whole undertaking.

In the height of the sickness, all the medical persons, with but one exception, were laid up; so that very few of the sick could be properly attended, and many perished for want of the timely aid which there were no means of affording. The storekeepers, inhabiting a damp storehouse, were some of the first victims: increasing difficulty and confusion in the delivery of the stores were the consequence. The doors of the storehouse were continually crowded; but neither food, nor physic and other necessaries for the sick (though these had been amply supplied by the Directors), could be properly distributed. A great depression of spirits at the same time generally prevailed, which produced a total helplessness in the case of one or two families from England, and proved one chief aggravation of the disorder.

Almost one half of the Europeans, living on shore, were carried off during this dreadful season, and nearly one-tenth of the Nova Scotians. The colony was just emerging from the confusion and distress into which it had been thrown, when a new event, of a perplexing kind, called for the attention of the Government. A ship arrived from the isle of Bulam, having on board a great number of passengers, many of them extremely sick, who desired to be received into the colony. The Directors of the Sierra Leone Company had previously declined accepting proposals, to go out as colonists, made to them in England by many of the same persons who afterward went to Bulam; for they had conceived the first success of their colony materially to depend on the exclusion of all Europeans who were not in the regular pay of the Company, and entirely subject to them. They were afraid that even a few men of an improper cast, in the situation of independent settlers, might materially prejudise the undertaking, by corrupting the morals of the colony, or exciting a spirit of discontent against the Government; and, if for either of these causes they should be excluded from the settlement, that they might then be driven to

seek a livelihood by improper means among the neighbouring Nativesperhaps eventually turning slave-traders.

On these considerations it was deemed expedient to investigate very strictly the circumstances of all those who went from England; no one being permitted to join the colony who left his debts undischarged at home. In the present instance, the character of the Bulam adventurers was unknown; and their offer was therefore declined: those only who were sick were received on shore, where they were furnished with a few necessaries, and, after a time, accommodated with a vessel to carry them back to England*.

A few days also after the rains had ceased, the settlement was again disturbed by a demand from the Natives for a palaver, which was accordingly held the next day. At this meeting, King Jammy renewed his former pretensions respecting the purchase of the land; but was over-ruled by Naimbanna. He then disclosed his apprehensions, from the great progress of the settlers, that they meant to take possession of the whole neighbouring cape; and he proposed an exchange of a part of their possessions for other land lying more inward. He was fully answered by the Governor; and the palaver closed, as before, without laying any restraint on the settlers.

The rains had ceased about the 9th of October, and a second tornado season commenced, accompanied by incredible swarms of ants. The Nova Scotians, notwithstanding, resumed their labours, and towards the end of October two meeting-houses were finished, and a school for the children of the settlement.

As soon as the general sickness began to abate, the chief object of the Government's attention was the distribution of the promised lots of land; a work more arduous than had been expected. It was found to be in the highest degree inexpedient to give at once to each individual his lot of twenty acres; as so large an allotment would necessarily throw many of the settlers to an inconvenient distance from the town and river; besides that the very labour of cutting the

Report, 1794..

necessary paths, and of measuring so large a tract of country, would have been `too great to have been easily accomplished in a single

season.

The Nova Scotians were so sensible of these objections, and so unwilling to be removed to a distance from the town (as well as to pay a quit-rent for a greater portion of land than they could use), that they preferred accepting smaller lots of four acres in the first instance, the right being reserved to them of claiming the remainder as it should be wanted *.

Of these smaller lots they showed the utmost eagerness to obtain possession, and no time was lost in commencing the location of them †. Some spirited attempts were made even before the rains had entirely ceased, but were checked by repeated sickness; and so great was the labour of measuring out the ground, that although a large party of men was employed, and constant exertions were made, a considerable portion of the dry season was necessarily consumed before the survey of the lots could be completed. The distribution of them continued, at several periods, from November to March, and the whole of this first allotment was completed in time for the crop of 1793.

It was remarkable, however, that, having once got possession of their lots, very few of the settlers exerted themselves in cultivating them, till compelled by actual necessity; the greater number preferring to live in the town as long as they could earn a subsistence there by labouring at daily wages for the Company.

Yet, notwithstanding all obstacles, as the dry season advanced, the colony displayed many symptoms of improvement. A garden of experiment was established, under the care of an eminent botanist (Dr. Afzelius); and two plantations likewise were begun, on the Company's account, as an example of cultivation to others; one near

This farther claim was never made by any of the settlers, although the right was strictly preserved to them by the Company, and afterwards fully recognized by the Crown.

+ The Company was not less interested than the settlers in the speedy accomplishment of his object, each colonist either continuing to draw from the public stores a gratuitous allowance of provisions until his lot was given to him, or being employed in working for hire under the Company, when perhaps there was little occasion for his services.

Freetown which was soon relinquished, and the other on the opposite side of the river; both worked by free labourers.

In the mean time, several useful regulations had been made at home for the future government of the colony, and two gentlemen of considerable experience had been sent to Sierra Leone as Members of Council-the one accustomed to a new colony, and the other to tropical climates. Journals of all transactions, and minutes of council, began to be regularly kept, copies of which were sent to England from time to time: periodical reports were made by each principal servant of the Company of the state and progress of his own particular department; regular indents were sent home of all the European articles required for trade or colonial consumption; a more correct mode of correspondence was settled; and the original instructions of the Court were at length fully answered *.

Lieutenant Clarkson had quitted Sierra Leone at the end of 1792, after a residence in the colony of nearly ten months, when Mr. Dawes succeeded him as Governor.

* Report, 1794.