to advantage in a distant market, or from the European traders on
the coast--payment to be made in a given time. In both cases the
situation of the adventurer is exactly the same. If he succeeds, he
may secure an independency: if he is unsuccessful, his person and
services are at the disposal of another; for in Africa, not only the
effects of the insolvent, but even the insolvent himself, is sold to
satisfy the lawful demands of his creditors. {9}

The fourth cause above enumerated is, THE COMMISSION OF CRIMES ON
WHICH THE LAWS OF THE COUNTRY AFFIX SLAVERY AS A PUNISHMENT. In
Africa the only offences of this class are murder, adultery, and
witchcraft, and I am happy to say that they did not appear to me to
be common. In cases of murder, I was informed that the nearest
relation of the deceased had it in his power, after conviction,
either to kill the offender with his own hand or sell him into
slavery. When adultery occurs, it is generally left to the option
of the person injured either to sell the culprit or accept such a
ransom for him as he may think equivalent to the injury he has
sustained. By witchcraft is meant pretended magic, by which the
lives or healths of persons are affected; in other words, it is the
administering of poison. No trial for this offence, however, came
under my observation while I was in Africa, and I therefore suppose
that the crime and its punishment occur but very seldom.

When a freeman has become a slave by any one of the causes before
mentioned, he generally continues so for life, and his children (if
they are born of an enslaved mother) are brought up in the same
state of servitude. There are, however, a few instances of slaves
obtaining their freedom, and sometimes even with the consent of
their masters, as by performing some singular piece of service, or