Sierra Leone in West Africa is the subject of this 1803 work by English physician Thomas Winterbottom (1766-1859). In the 1790s he spent four years there working for the Sierra Leone Company, established by abolitionists to resettle ex-slaves, and combatting diseases such as malaria and scurvy. He displays none of the pejorative views of Africa or its inhabitants that some of his contemporaries expressed, but has a very positive opinion of the country. Winterbottom describes the women as beautiful and graceful, and he dismisses racial differentiations based on skin colour as being absurd. In Volume 1 he draws a many-faceted picture of the climate, history and traditions of Sierra Leone. Volume 2 focuses on African medicine and common diseases found in Sierra Leone.

Table of Contents

Volume 1: Preface; 1. Division of the African coast; 2. Division of the year; 3. Agriculture; 4. Diet; 5. Situation of African towns; 6. Ordinary employments; 7. Amusements; 8. Government; 9. Situation of women; 10. Wars; 11. Trade; 12. Persons of the natives; 13. General characters of the Africans as given by different authors; 14. Religion; 15. Union of medicine with magic; Appendix; Index. Volume 2: 1. Introduction; 2. General diseases; 3. Venereal disease; 4. Elephantiasis; 5. Dracunculus or Guinea Worm; 6. Enlargement of the scrotum; 7. Diseases of the eyes; 8. Yaws; 9. Herpes; 10. Bites of snakes; 11. Burns and scalds; 12. The diseases of women; 13. The diseases and management of children; Appendices; Index; Errata.