AFRICAN MEMORANDA

Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1970. Hardcover. Fine/No Jacket. Relative to an Attempt to Establish a British Settlement on the Island of Bulama, on the Western Coast of Africa, in the year 1792. With a Brief Notice of the Neighbouring Tribes, Soil, Productions, &c. and Some Observations on the Facility of Colonizing that Part of Africa, with a View to Cultivation; and the Introduction of Letters and Religion to Its Inhabitants: But More Particularly as the Means of Gradually Abolishing African Slavery. Facsimile reprint of the 1805 first edition. ISBN 0837135737. Beaver made a considerable name for himself as a Captain in the Royal Navy, serving with distinction in the Mediterranean and the East Indies during the Napoleonic Wars. Prior to that, however, "he associated himself with a scheme for colonising the island of Bulama on the coast of Africa, near Sierra Leone. The whole affair seems to have been conducted without forethought or knowledge. The would-be settlers were, for the most part, idle and dissipated.When they landed, anything like discipline was unobtainable.Beaver endeavoured, by unceasing toil, to keep a little order and to promote a little industry; but the men were quite unfitted for the work and manner of life, and the greater number of them died. The miserable remnants of the party evacuated the island and went to Sierra Leone, whence Beaver obtained a passage to England." Blue cloth binding, issued without a dust jacket. A fine copy.