of all Central Africa, "and morning and evening its streets are so crowded with cattle, camels, sheep, and poultry, as scarcely to leave room for the bustling population." 7. Some portions of the Niger valley are as yet unexplored, but English trading stations have been established as far inland as the junction of the Binue, where palm-oil, ivory, and shea* butter are the chief sources of trade or barter for European goods. The states of the Niger basin are, as far as known, thickly populated, and contain large towns of thirty or forty thousand inhabitants, where a busy trade is carried on, and in many of which coarse cotton goods are manufactured. Bambarra and Mássina are the best known states of the upper Niger. The country on both sides of the river for about 600 miles from the highest English factory consists of a number of loosely confederated states called Gando, the chief towns of which are Gando and Egga. East of Gando is the densely-populated state of Sokato, of which the chief towns are Sokato, Kana, and Yakoba. The latter has a population of upwards of 100,000. Kana has very extensive manufactures of blue cotton cloth, of which it sends out 1,500 camel loads every year. Salt from the Sahara is the chief import to Central Soudan and the countries of the Niger basin. 8. Of the Mandingo tribes inhabiting the district of the Kong mountains, and northwards to the states of the Niger Valley, very little is known. * The shea, or "tree" butter, is made from the oil of the olive-like seeds of a tree. The seeds are dried and then boiled to extract the fat, or butter. This is whiter and more solid than butter made from cows' milk, and will keep good for a year without salting. 1. Sailing southwards from the river Draa in Morocco, we pass the sea-coast of the semi or altogether independent Sahara. There is little here to attract attention. The tribes living near the coast are few, and not attractive to those who value their lives or liberties, and the amount of trade to be done is too limited to induce the running of many risks. The rollers from the Atlantic break with a dull roar on the long sandy beach, backed by a few palms and a series of dismal dunes, which seem incapable of yielding anything else, until at last we arrive at the abodes of civilised men who find it profitable to swelter in the unhealthy regions lying behind the white wall of foam which guards the shore for hundreds of miles. 2. Senegambia, extending south and west of the Senegal, is the extreme west of Soudan-the country of the Negroes. Inland its limits are vaguely defined, and even the exact spot where the territories of the three civilised owners of trading stations-France, Portugal, and Britain-begin and end are only roughly known. A little more or less makes but little difference in this swampy jungle. The French have the greatest share of the coast country. Their colonial capital is St. Louis, on the Senegal river, but the chief trade is carried on at Dakar, on Cape Verd. The Portuguese also claim a large extent of coast, but the area actually occupied by them is very small. The islands of Bulama and Gallinhas, and the station of Bissao on the river Geba, are the most important. The first British settlement is on the Gambia, between the French and Portuguese factories. Several trading stations have been established up the river, but the chief is Bathurst, on the island of St. Mary, at the mouth of the river. Three days' run by steamer from Bathurst, and at the extreme south of Senegambia, lies Sierra Leone, formerly used as a refuge for slaves captured by British vessels along this coast, but is now simply a trading station. The climate all along the coast of Senegambia is extremely unhealthy for Euro peans, and the settlements are established solely for the purpose of trade. Palm-oil, india-rubber, gum, ground nuts, and ginger, are the principal articles brought to the stations by the negro tribes of the interior for the purpose of barter. 3. South-eastward from Sierra Leone, and stretching 400 miles down the Grain Coast,* and inland to the edge of the Central African plateau, is the Negro republic of Liberia. Founded in 1822 by American philanthropists, who wished to offer to the freed negroes a home and an opportunity for self-government as well as self-improvement, it was proclaimed in 1847 a free and independent republic with sovereign rights. But the experiment has not been a success. It was hoped that the freed blacks would exercise a civilising influence on their native brethren. But the contrary has been the case; the American negroes seem only to have relapsed into barbarism. "The schools are in a most deplorable condition; morality is at a low ebb; and the people, generally oppressed with heavy taxes, are lazy and indolent." Of the many plants which cover this country with luxuriant vegetation, the most valuable is the oil-palm.† The population is about 700,000. The capital town is Monrovia 4. From Liberia the coast runs eastward, and is named the Ivory, Gold, and Slave Coasts. The Ivory Coast yields ivory no longer, and the small forts formerly held by the French have been abandoned. The Gold Coast forms a British settlement. The factories here, as well as in Senegambia, were first established for the prosecution of the slave trade, now they act as a check on the same traffic, and induce the natives to resort to more legitimate commerce. The appearance of the country is singularly monotonous. A long line of white breakers guards the beach at most places, and behind the strip of white sand lies in most places a dense tropical forest, stretching back for a distance varying from fifty to three hundred miles, until the central plateau begins to rise. This is, indeed, the general characteristic feature of most parts of the African shores, and the feature which renders the coast so unhealthy, and the interior, therefore, *So called from the grains of pepper, which form a chief article of trade in this region. Most of the common soap manufactured in this country is made from the oil expressed from the plum-like fruit of this tree. so dangerous to penetrate. Through this damp forest border a number of rivers creep to the sea, the principal of which is the Volta. This coast receives its name from the fact that in olden time the chief supply of "gold-dust" was brought from this region. To this day gold is washed out of the alluvial soil by the negroes, and forms an important article of trade. 5. Numerous tribes of both "black" and "red" * negroes dot this coast. They obtain their living by hunting and gold-washing, but most of them may be said "to live, move, and have their being in palmoil." The climate is about as unhealthy for Europeans as a climate could possibly be. Cattle and horses cannot live on account of the Tsetse fly, the poisonous bite of which is fatal to them. Cape Coast Castle, Elmina, and Accra-the capital are the chief trading stations. The population numbers about half a million. Between the Gold and Slave Coasts there is a strip of the King of Dahomey's country, with the traders' town of Whydah on the coast. The name, "Slave Coast," sufficiently expresses its ancient reputation, and one which, formerly, it fully deserved. At present it is, like the rest of the coast, devoted to palm-oil. Lagos, at the mouth of the river of the same name, is the principal settlement, and a town of considerable commercial importance. 6. The Negro kingdom of Ashantee lies inland from the Gold Coast territory. The latter is occupied by tribes of Fantees who acknowledge British authority, and these are continually at feud with the Ashantees. In 1874 Ashantee was invaded by a British army, and Coomassie, the capital of the kingdom, was captured and burnt. The greater portion of Ashantee may be described as a continuous forest, "composed of tall and massive trees, with creepers extending like cordage from one to another, and so matting the foliage overhead that a green roof is formed, almost impenetrable to the rays of the sun. There is not much undergrowth, for *The Fulah tribes. |