Louis Desrouleaux.

Captain Sudbury, of the English navy, lately received a consignment of gold dust, valued at £13,000, (over $60,000,) from the slave coast of Africa, as a present from one of the native princes, whom he had freed from slavery among a whole cargo of slaves which he had captured.

'There is an interesting anecdote of Louis Desrouleaux, which I will here repeat. Desrouleaux was once a slave. His master, who was possessed of great riches, had been engaged in the slave trade. He became poor and returned from France to St. Domingo, where his slave, Desrouleaux, had become free, and had himself acquired a fortune. Pinsum, the master, was scarcely recognized now, by those who professed for him great friendship when he was rich. Desrouleaux heard of his old master's misfortunes, hastened to find him, supplied him with honorable lodging and board, and then proposed to him that he would be most happy living in France where his feelings would not be mortified by the sight of ungrateful men. On Pinsum replying, 'I cannot find subsistence in France,' Desrouleaux asked, if an annual income of fifteen thousand francs would suffice?The Frenchman wept with joy-the negro signed the contract, and the pension was regularly paid.*

'Before we close this conversation, I must just refer to

*The travels of Barrow, Le Vaillant, and Park, abound with anecdotes honorable to the moral character of the Africans, and proving that they betray no deficiency in the amiable qualities of the heart. One of these gives us an interesting portrait of the chief of a tribe: His countenance was strongly marked with the habit of reflection. Vigorous in his mental, and amiable in the personal qualities, Gaika was at once the friend and ruler of a happy people, who universally pronounced his name with transport, and blessed his ahode as the seat of felicity.' Many highly polished European kings would appear to little advantage by the side of this savage. We see no reason to doubt that the negroes, taken altogether, are not inferior to any variety of the human race in natural goodness of heart. It is consonant to our experience of mankind in general, that the latter quality should be deadened, or completely extinguished in the slave-ship or the plantation."-Kees' Encyclo.

It is doubtful whether any other people would exhibit, in the same circumstances, greater native goodness of heart than the negro..

The Solima camp.

one specimen of the interior of Africa, their splendor, arts, industry, genius, regard for bravery, &c. which has been furnished by Lieut. Laing, of the Br. Navy, who, under instructions from the Governor of Sierra Leone, went on a mission far in the interior. It relates to his visit to the Chief of the Solimas, King Yaradee.

After visiting different chiefs by whom he was well received, Lieut. Laing came to a place called Koukundi, a village of farms belonging to the people of Melicouri. Here he remained during the night, and early in the morning entered the town itself, which was walled round, with port holes for musketry, and was impregnable. The country in the neighborhood was abundantly productive, and in a high state of cultivation; corn, barley, rice, cassada, and cotton growing in great profusion. Lt. L. says he passed several hundred acres of such cultivation. The next day he proceeded to the camp, about eight miles distant north, and which was about three hours south of Fouricaria. Immediately on his approach, the drums and other warlike instruments were in motion, and soon about 12,000 people were assembled in a large square, in the centre of the savannah on which an immense army was encamped, and Lt. L. communicated the object of his visit, which was to explain the footing on which the Colony of Sierra Leone wished to stand with the neighboring nations. King Yaradee, who is one of the most warlike of the African monarchs, he found surrounded by his brave chiefs, under an ample tent, seated upon the skin of a lion. The king kindly invited Lt. L. to take a seat by his side. The following song impromptu, in their own language, was then sung by a minstrel :

"A stranger has come to Yaradee's camp

Whose bosom is soft and is fair;

He sits by the valiant Yaradee's side,
And none but the valiant sit there.

Solima Song.

Like the furious lion Yaradee comes

And hurls the terrors of war;

His enemies see him, and, panic-struck, flee
To the woods and the deserts afar.

By the side of this hero, so valiant and brave,
Sits the stranger whose skin is so fair;
He lives on the sea, where he wanders at will,
And he knows neither sorrow nor care.

Then look at the stranger before he departs;
Brave Yaradee, touch his soft hair;

The last note of my harp swells to Yaradee's praise,
While I gaze on the stranger so fair."

'The Solimas are great singers. The great deeds of the Solima chiefs, as well as the history of their wars, are handed down to posterity by means of Jelle or singing-men, in songs composed much after the manner of Ossian.'

'Those lines are very sweet,' said H., and the scene must have been very imposing.'

The Africans are sweet singers,' said C.; but I acknowledge the time has been when I thought them capable of sound only-not of sentiment.'

Scripture testimony to African learning.

CONVERSATION VI..

"From Guinea's coast pursue the lessening sail,
And catch the sounds that sadden every gale.
Tell, if though canst, the sum of sorrows there;
Mark the fix'd gaze, the wild and phrenzied glare,
The racks of thought, and freezings of despair!
But pause not there-beyond the western wave,
Go see the captive bartered as a slave!
Crush'd till his high, heroic spirit bleeds,

And from his nerveless frame indignantly recedes."-Rogers.

'I HAVE been thinking, Pa,' said Caroline, that it is a fact somewhat remarkable, that perhaps the first intimation which we find in ancient history of great learning among any people, is that which in Mosaic history points us to Africa. Moses, you know, it is said, was skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians !'

You have, indeed, referred to a striking and decisive evidence of the greatness of African attainments at a very early period. We have conclusive and irresistible proof of their quondam greatness also in their works of art, many of which, such as pyramids, obelisks, and mausolea, still stand, as if in mockery of the very credulity of a man, a memorial of their spirit and skill. True, many will say, however, that the ancient Egyptians were a very "different race of beings from those tribes which have supplied the world with slaves;" but admit that they were in some respects different, the reference to them is sufficient to invalidate the sweeping declarations of many in regard to Africans. There are, however, proofs of former greatness and of present susceptibility of great improvement, and of high advances in genius and learning, among other portions of the African race. And

African manuscripts-Christian tribes-Large cities.

Mr. Thompson, late Governor of Sierra Leone, in a letter to a distinguished gentleman of Massachusetts, published some time since, says, that he brought from Africa manuscripts sufficient to convince him that the interior of that great continent is even now in a vastly higher state of civilization and improvement than the residents on the coast have any idea of.'

'Has it not been said that tribes have been discovered in the interior of Africa who are Christians? If I recollect, missionaries of the London Church Missionary Society for Egypt and Abyssinia, found, a few years since, a tribe never before visited by Europeans, who appeared to have much in their faith that is scriptural, and whose general practice is commendable.

Fragmentary Churches, doubtless exist in some parts of the East that are surrounded by, or covered with great moral darkness; and I know not but as the churches in Syria, of which the Rev. Dr. Buchanan gives so interesting an account, are thought to possess claims to apostolic origin, so the people of Abyssinia to whom you refer, may be regarded as Christians.

'You have spoken, Sir, of some large cities visited by Lt. Laing, or other travellers: do you suppose that such settlements are common in the interior ?'

· All who have travelled at all in central Africa, have found there very populous and highly cultivated countries, in which were large cities, of 30,000 some, and 50,000 some, or more inhabitants. To these marts resort all the people in the neighborhood, as in our own country to our large cities and towns, and caravans as well as single merchants from the most remote regions.'

'I suppose, Pa, that the people in Africa have no idea that their color is regarded by other nations as a blemish, and