Mr. K. Macauley has also a small plantation of coffee, which prospers very well.  In fact, all the tropical fruits and plants must succeed here, if proper attention be paid to them.

Sunday, September 30th.—­The morning was fine, but the afternoon showery; rain, indeed, appears to be quite a matter of course, either in the morning or evening.  I had now been upwards of a month in Sierra Leone, and I found that it rained without fail in some part of the four-and-twenty hours, and sometimes throughout the whole day and night; yet, the rainy season had nearly exhausted itself when I arrived, and some short time before, it had rained for three weeks without intermission.  These alterations of the weather, however, had no effect whatever on me, for, rain or shine, I went about, at all hours, as much at my ease as if I had been in England; and instead of suffering any illness or annoyance from the fluctuations and uncertainty of the season, I really found my health improved.

The brig Atalanta came down the river this morning, and anchored off Freetown, having taken in a cargo of timber at Bance Island.  There was not a single vessel left up the river, which was remarked as an extraordinary circumstance, for since the year 1816, when the contract for African timber commenced, such an event had not taken place.

From the observations I made while I remained at Freetown, it occurred to me that a plan might be adopted, with good effect, for improving the management of the timber trade.  I should recommend that an old ship be moored in the river, a little above Freetown, and housed over for the purpose of receiving the crews of such vessels as go up the river to take in their cargoes.  The object of this arrangement would be to give the crews an opportunity of refitting, rigging, and repairing the sails of their own vessels, or of any others that might require assistance, while the Kroomen were employed loading the ships under the direction of the mates, or such other persons as might be appointed to that duty.[17] By this plan (with a proper check to prevent the sailors from going on shore too often, every reasonable indulgence being allowed them on board the hulk) many valuable lives might be saved, and those delays averted which now occur so often, from the difficulty of procuring hands for the homeward bound voyage, to supply the place of those who had been carried off by fever.

Tuesday, Oct. 2nd.—­On calling at the barracks this morning, to take leave of the officers of the Royal African Corps, from whom I had received some very kind attentions, I was sorry to learn that Lieutenant Green, who had always been one of the most cheerful of the party, had been taken ill with the fever that morning, and that, from the great depression of his spirits, serious doubts were entertained of his recovery.

Wednesday, 3rd.—­The ship Redmond arrived to-day from England, bringing letters from thence up to August 23rd.  His Majesty’s ship Eden, received on board to-day 60 black soldiers, of the Royal African Corps, to perform garrison duty at Fernando Po, under the command of Lieutenant Mends.