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When that gentleman first visited Tombo, he found the interior covered with a dense jungle, and the shores choked up with mangroves. There was only one solitary hut on the island near the beach, which was used as a resting place for boats trading up the river. At that time there was a slave factory in full occupation at Bance Island.

The toughest of these people were the Eboes; the most degraded were the Papels and Bissagos. The Congo negro was more intelligent than these; he understood something of agriculture and the keeping of cattle. He made Tombo wine and some kinds of native cloth. The women worked in the fields with their children slung to their backs.

No record nor notice of any such voyage undertaken by Amerigo Vespucci, at the command of Emanuel, is to be found in the archives of the Torre do Tombo, the general archives of Portugal, which have been repeatedly and diligently searched for the purpose.

To put the matter beyond dispute, however, the archives of the Torve do Tombo, that sepulchre of old Portuguese documents, were diligently searched, and a record was found of a contract between the crown and one Fernando de Ulmo, for the discovery of the Island of the Seven Cities, and of a commission secured to him as Adelantado of the country he might discover.

Those little streaks of paint you noticed upon the top-piece now reveal their purpose; as the tombo darts hither and thither, even the tints appear to be those of a real dragon-fly; and even the sound of the flitting toy imitates the dragon-fly's hum.

McCormack does not fell any timber in the island; he merely uses his location here as a depôt for the wood which is brought down the rivers Rokelle and Porto Logo from the upper countries. For this trade he contracts with the natives inhabiting the lands lying near the shores of the rivers, and the wood is floated down on rafts to Tombo, where ships come to take in their cargoes.

The annexed drawing presents the Shoushoua of the Negroes of Tombo, near Jinnee, who are pagans. Whenever the slaves see these marks they know the country of the other slaves who bear them. Formerly it could be ascertained whether a slave was born on the coast, or brought from the interior, by the presence or absence of the Shoushoua.

Tombo, 'the Dragon-Fly. Merely two bits of wood joined together in the form of a T. The lower part is a little round stick, about as thick as a match, but twice as long; the upper piece is flat, and streaked with paint. Unless you are accustomed to look for secrets, you would scarcely be able to notice that the flat piece is trimmed along two edges at a particular angle.

Auction at Sierra Leone Timber Establishments in the River Tombo, Bance and Tasso Islands Explosion of a Vessel at Sea Liberated Africans Black Ostlers Horses Imported Slave Vessel Colonial Steam Vessel Road and Street Repairs Continued Rains Suggestion for preserving the Health of European Seamen General Views of the Colony Population Parishes Supply of Provisions Description of Freetown Curious Letter from Black Labourers Original Settlers Present Inhabitants Trade with the Interior Strange Customs of Native Merchants Anecdote of Sailors Injurious Example of the Royal African Corps Vaccination of Natives Medical Opinion Departure from Sierra Leone

It has also had the happy effect of releasing them from vassalage, which formerly prevailed universally, and which was in some degree necessary as a protection against the arbitrary power of the different chiefs during the existence of the slave trade. A statement of the annual export of timber from Tombo, since the commencement in 1816, will shew with what rapid strides the trade has increased.