The folding “Plan of Sierra Leone” was meant to accompany the text as a footnote on A2 indicates.
Excellent copy of what is likely to be the first history of the colony at Sierra Leone founded by the Sierra Leone Company.
The work is very wide in scope - it not only outlines the history of the colony (including “some circumstances antecedent even to the formation of the present colony” [footnote on p. 3]) and its finances, but also offers “a more particular description of the present situation of the settlement, arranging their information under the four following heads; health, trade, cultivation, and civilization” (3).
The work is also filled with abundance of information about the slave trade gleaned from the experiences of the colony. The directors write that “those general enormities of the Slave Trade, which have been brought to light through the establishment of the present colony” (99) clearly illustrate the degree of its pernicious influence. There is also an interesting discussion of the causes of slavery on pp. 110-116 as observed in the colony.
There is also a chapter entitled “Health” that discusses the illnesses and mortality of the colonists (pp. 36-40), as well a description, in the appedix on pp. 163-175, based on reports from the botanist of the colony of the animals, vegetables, spices and medicinal plants found in the area.
The work is important because it contains much more information than just the report delivered by the directors of the Sierra Leone Company of 27 March, 1794. As the footnote on p. 3 states: “considerable additions have been made to the Report read to the General Court, chiefly in consequence of information obtained from the Governor of Sierra Leone, who arrived in England soon after the General Court was held” (3).
