Alexandria Gazette

A GREAT SLAVE TRADER.-The commander of the French brig-of-war Zebre has sent a report to the Minister of Marine, giving some curious facts respecting the slave trade on the coast of Africa. It appears that a person named M. Souza is the great chief of the trade at Wydah, where he lives, surrounded with oriental magnificence. He has in his vast seraglio a harem of four hundred women; his dinners are described as being equal to the feasts of Belshazzar, and served in the most luxurious manner; no male person is ever allowed to go beyond his grand dining hall. He is exclusively served by women, six of whom serve him with food, of which he never partakes till they have first tasted of every dish. He trades in slaves to a great extent, and has done so for many years. He is now quite old, and, it is said, he is generous and high minded in everything but his dealings in slaves. When advised by the French commander to abandon his wicked traffic in human flesh, and do penance for his sins as a slave dealer, by civilizing his adopted land, he answered that a British commander had already advised him to abandon the slave trade for that of palm oil. but that he despised that trade. as it would not afford him a sufficient profit to enable him to keep up his present profuse style of living. He added that he wishes to civilize the country. but that the means proposed by philanthropists were either injudicious or incomplete and that he was too old to undertake such an arduous task.