the meantime fitted himself, also, with a vessel suited to his increasing means. In 1806, the brig Traveller, of 109 tons, and the ship Alpha, of 268 tons, were built at Westport, and of these he was the principal owner. He commanded the Alpha himself, and the others also were engaged in the extensive business which he carried on at Westport.

The scheme of forming colonies of free blacks, from America and other quarters, on the coast of their native Africa, excited the deepest interest in Paul Cuffee, whose heart had always grieved for the degraded state of his race. Anxious to contribute to the success of this great purpose, he resolved to visit in person the African coast, and satisfy himself respecting the state of the country, and other points. This he accomplished in 1811, in the brig Traveller, with which he reached Sierra Leone after a two months' passage. While he was there, the British African Institution, hearing of his benevolent designs, applied for and obtained a licence, which induced Paul to come to Britain with a cargo of African produce. He left his nephew, however, behind him at Sierra Leone, to prosecute his disinterested views, and brought away a native youth, in order to educate him, and render him fit to educate others, on being restored to the place of his birth.

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On arriving at Liverpool with his brig, navigated by eight men of colour and a boy, Paul Cuffee soon gained the esteem of all with whom he held intercourse. visited London twice, the second visit being made at the request of the members of the African Institution, who were desirous of consulting with him as to the best means of carrying their benevolent views respecting Africa into effect. This excellent and enterprising man shortly after returned to America, to pass the remainder of his days in the bosom of his family, and to do good to all around him, with the ample means which his industry had acquired. Whether he is yet alive, it is not in our power to say; his family, at least, we know, are still engaged in the commercial pursuits in which he led the way.

The following description is appended to a notice of him which appeared in the Liverpool Mercury at the time of his visit to Britain, and to which we have been indebted for the materials of the present article:- A sound understanding, united with indomitable energy and perseverance, are the prominent features of Paul Cuffee's character. Born under peculiar disadvantages, deprived of the benefits of early education, and his meridian spent in toil and vicissitudes, he has struggled under disadvantages which have seldom occurred in the carcer of any individual. Yet under the pressure of these difficulties, he seems to have fostered dispositions of mind which qualify him for any station of life to which he may be introduced. His person is tall, well formed, and athletic; his deportment conciliating, yet dignified and serious; his prudence, strengthened by parental care and example, no doubt guarded him in his youth, when exposed to the dissolute company which unavoidably attends a seafaring life; whilst religion, influencing his mind by its secret guidance in silent reflection, has, in advancing manhood, added to the brightness of his character, and instituted or confirmed his disposition to practical good. Latterly, he made application, and was received into membership with the respectable Society of Friends.'

STORY OF THE SLOOP PEGGY.

On the 27th of August 1765, the sloop Peggy sailed from New York, bound for Fayal, one of the Azore islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The crew consisted of David Harrison, commander, a mate, and five seamen; and the cargo was composed of lumber, pipe-staves, bees-wax, fish, and a negro slave. The vessel arrived in safety at the place of its destination; and on the 24th of the following October departed, on its return for New York, with a

cargo of wine, brandy, and some other commodities; also the negro, who remained unsold. For four or five days after their departure from Fayal, the master and crew of the Peggy experienced fine weather and pleasant gales, and they expected to make a more than usually quick passage homeward; but all hope of this kind soon proved to be fallacious. A dreadful storm began to blow; the greater part of the sails were carried away by the hurricane, and in this dismantled condition the vessel could make very little headway. To aggravate the calamity, the vessel shewed symptoms of having sprung a leak, and the water in the hold had to be removed by pumping.

For an entire month, until the 1st of December, the crew of the Peggy did their best to keep the vessel on its course ; but at the end of that time they had made little progress; and now a new and still more dreadful calamity presented itself. The time already spent on the voyage had consumed the stock of provisions on board, excepting bread and water, of which a small quantity only was left. The cargo of wine and brandy also remained, but these could be of little benefit, from the want of substantial food on board. In this distressing state of affairs, they came to a daily allowance of a quarter of a pound of bread, with a quart of water and a pint of wine, for each man. Every day from the 1st of December, their condition grew worse. The ship was now become very leaky, the waves were swelled into huge rough billows by the storm, and the thunder rolled almost incessantly over their heads, in those loud peals which are common to hurricanes within the tropics. In this frightful conjuncture, either of sinking with the wreck or floating on it till they perished of hunger, they fell in with two vessels, but, to their unspeakable distress, the weather was so bad that there could be no communication between the ships; they, therefore, with sensations probably more bitter than death itself, saw the vessels that would willingly have relieved them gradually disappear on the distant and tempestuous horizon,

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It was now thought necessary that the allowance of bread and water to each man, however scanty, should be further contracted. All consented to a regulation of which all saw the necessity, and the allowance was lessened by degrees till every morsel of food was exhausted, and only about two gallons of dirty water remained in the bottom of a cask. Both from respect for the captain, and from his being in a state of severe illness, the dregs of the water were abandoned to him in his cabin, where he lay in a species of rheumatic fever. The remainder of the persons on board, seven in numbér including the negro, had now no other means of sustenance than the wine and brandy in the hold. These they consequently seized upon, and in their desperation drank of both till the frenzy of hunger was increased by drunkenness, and exclamations of distress were blended with impious howls and imprecations. In the midst of these horrors, this complication of want and excess, of distraction and despair, they espied another sail. Every eye was instantly turned towards it, and immovably fixed upon it; every one broke out into ecstasies of joy and devotion. Devotion among such people, and in such circumstances, naturally deviated into superstition; some of the company observed that it was Christmas-day, and seemed to think that the season had an influence on their approaching deliverance, and was appropriated to their temporal as well as spiritual salvation. A proper signal of distress was hung out, and about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, they had the unspeakable satisfaction of being near enough to the ship to communicate their situation. The captain of the strange ship promised them such relief as was in his power, which he said extended only to some bread, being himself contracted in every other article. This bread, however, he delayed with the most unpromising insensibility to bestow, upon pretence that he was making an observation which it was necessary to finish; the poor famished wretches, therefore, waited an hour in the most anxious suspense, yet in perfect confidence of supply; and Captain Harrison being quite exhausted with

hunger, fatigue, and infirmity, finding his eyes fail him, and having a severe rheumatism in his knees, went down to rest himself in the cabin. He expected every moment to hear that the promised biscuit was coming on board; but he had not waited a quarter of an hour before his people came running down with looks of unutterable despair, and told him, in accents scarcely intelligible, that the vessel was making away as fast as she could, without affording them even the little relief she had promised. At this terrible intelligence, the captain crawled upon deck, and found it was true. The wretch who commanded the vessel, had even crowded more sail than he had spread before, and in less than five hours was out of sight.

As long as the poor creatures whom he had deserted to distraction and famine could retain the least trace of him, they hung about the shrouds, and ran from one part of the ship to the other, with frantic gestures and ghastly looks, to collect more visible signs of distress; they pierced the air with their cries while they could yet be heard, and implored assistance with still louder lamentations, as the distance between them increased; but the vessel, under the direction of inexorable inhumanity, pursued its course, and no further notice was taken of their distress.

The crew, once more deserted, and cut off from their last hope, were still prompted, by an instinctive love of life, to preserve it as long as its preservation was possible. The only living creature on board the vessel besides themselves, were two pigeons and a cat. The pigeons were killed immediately, and divided among them for their Christmas-dinner. The next day they killed their cat; and as there were nine to partake of the repast, they divided her into nine parts, of which they disposed by lot.

It would naturally be supposed by those who have suffered only such distress as is common to man, that anxiety, terror, anguish, and indignation, all the passions that upon such a desertion could have contended in the