It so happened, that by means of George
Harrison, one of our commitee, I fell in unexpectedly with these gentlemen.
I had not long been with them before I perceived the great treasure I had
found. They gave me many beautiful specimens of African produce. They
showed me their journals, which they had regularly kept from day to day. In
these I had the pleasure of seeing a number of circumstances minuted down,
all relating to the Slave-trade, and even drawings on the same subject. I
obtained a more accurate and satisfactory knowledge of the manners and
customs of the Africans from these, than from all the persons put together
whom I had yet seen. I was anxious, therefore, to take them before the
commitee of council, to which they were pleased to consent; and as Dr.
Spaarman was to leave London in a few days, I procured him an introduction
first. His evidence went to show, that the natives of Africa lived in a
fruitful and luxuriant country, which supplied all their wants, and that
they would be a happy people if it were not for the existence of the
Slave-trade.
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