Englishmen, and the Kroomen are a
hard-working body of men.

[18] Fenao Gomez, a Portuguese, was the first person who rented a
monopoly of the trade of the Coast of Guinea, on consideration of
his paying 300 milreas per annum for five years; and he was to
discover 100 leagues of coast per annum, beginning at Sierra Leone.
He finished his discoveries at Cape St. Catherines.

CHAP. V.

Cape St. Ann--Dangerous Shoals--Old Sailors--Liberia--Origin and History
of the Colony--Failure at Sherbro Island--Experiment at Liberia--
Difficulties Encountered by the Settlers--Differences with the Natives--
Final Adjustment--Improving State of the Colony--Laws and Morals--
Remarks on Colonization

_Friday, October 5th_.--There was a moderate breeze from the westward,
and fine weather. At eight o'clock, finding, by our calculation, that we
had rounded the shoals of Cape St. Ann, we altered our course more
towards the land, intending to run along the Gold Coast, within sight of
the shore. These shoals are the most dangerous part of the west coast of
Africa; and there is good reason to believe that many vessels have been
wrecked on them, particularly in former times. There is but little doubt
that H.M. (late) ship Redwing was lost here, for there has been no trace
of her since the day she sailed from Sierra Leone, (the afternoon of
which was very squally) excepting a small mast that was picked up on the
coast, to the northward, with her name on it; and as she was bound from
Sierra Leone to Accra, she had occasion to go round these shoals, which
commence about 30 miles from Cape Sierra Leone. But there is an
additional cause for apprehending that such was her fate, for I was
informed by an officer, that he heard Captain Clavering say, that he did
not believe in the existence of these shoals; it is not improbable,
therefore, that, with an idea of shortening his passage, he might have
attempted to have gone nearer to them than prudence would justify, and
thus tempted the danger which he held to be apocryphal. They might also
have neglected to sound sufficiently often, an error which I have
frequently witnessed, and which arises from a mistaken wish to save
trouble and time--a poor excuse for risking the loss of lives and
property. I am sure this will not be the case with Captain Owen, for I
believe he knows the ground under water where his ship is in soundings,
as well as that which he sees above it; and among the jokes of the c