(Fahr.) and 90deg., with a barometer as high as the heat
allows; and where, being at home and unwatched, they could
subject a lingering slave-trade to a regular British putting-
down. But, when matters came to the point in 1870-71, the
proposed bargain excited a storm of sentimental wrath which was
as queer as unexpected. The French object to part with the
Gaboon, as the Germans appear inclined to settle upon the Ogobe
River. In England, cotton, civilization, and even Christianity
were thrust forward by half-a-dozen merchants, and by a few venal
colonial prints. The question assumed the angriest aspect; and,
lastly, the Prussian-French war underwrote the negotiations with
a finis pro temp. I hope to see them renewed; and I hope still
more ardently to see the day when we shall either put our so-
called "colonies" on the West Coast of Africa to their only
proper use, convict stations, or when, if we are determined upon
consuming our own crime at home, we shall make up our minds to
restore them to the negro and the hyaena, their "old
inhabitants."
At the time of my visit, the Gaboon River had four English
traders; viz.
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