A slaver's log book

Conneau's point of view itself, as a slaver and a 20-year survivor of the African climate, is interesting. The book serves as a trove of details about people involved in the slave trade as well as about tribal cultures that were not. This is a very useful primary source. It may not be the historian's bible for 19th century Africa, but it is an eyewitness account from a Frenchman who was actually there. This allows the cautious and experienced reader to cull from it a teachable authenticity.