. ^:* M"^'*^: k^"'"^' ■>;.^ ■^/^ I THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 910 R24nE LISRAi?Y ^FTME UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS, WuMEN AND CllU.DKE.V 01" rORTO-GRAKDE. THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS THE UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY By ELISEE RECLUS EDITED By A. H. KEANE, B.A. TICE-PRESroE>JT, AXTHROP. INSTITUTE: COR. MEMB. ITALIAN AND WASHINGTON" ANTHROP. SOC. PROFESSOR OF HINDUSTANI, UNIVERSITY COL., LONDON; AUTHOR OF "ASIA," ETC. VOL. XII. WEST AFRICA ILLUSTRATED BY XUMEROUS ENGRAVIXGS AND MAPS i.oxnox J. S. VIRTUE ^- CO., LiMiTEn, 29^, CITY ROAD LONDON : IRlNTEn RY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD. CONTEXTS. CnAP. p/.r.B I. The Cextrai. isi) Soma AixiSTic 1 The Fabled Atlantis, p. 1. Relief of the Atlantic, p 2. The .izorian Waters, p. 4 Atmospheric Currents of the Azorian Basin, p. 10. Marine Cun-ents, p. 12. Fauna, the Sargasso Sea, p. 14. The Guinea Waters, p. 15. Atmospheric Currents, Rainfall, Salinity, p. 19. Temperature, Fauna, p. 21. n. The West Atbicajj Islands 23 The Azores, p. 2.3. Climate, p. 2.5- Flora, p. 26. Fauna, Inhabitants, p. 29. Topo- graphj-, p. 33. Madeira, p. 43. Climate, p. 47. Flora, p, 48. Fauna, Inhabitants, p, 51. The Canary Archipe'ago, p. 54. Oimate, p. 58. Flora. Faima, Inhabitants, p. 69 — 61, Topography, 63. Administration, p. 81. The Cape Verd Archipelago, p. 82. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 84 — 85. Inhabitants, p. 83. Topography, p, 88. Administra- tion, p. 94. III. The Sothb-West Apbicax Isla>1)S 96 Gonzalo Alvarez, p. 97. Tristam da Cunha, p. 97. Saint Helena, p. 100. Ascension, p. 105. Annobon, p. 108. Sam-Thome, p. 111. Principe, p. 112. Femando-Po, p. 113. rV. XORTH SEN-EGAiCBIA. : SE>-XGAt. 119 General Stirvey, p. 119. Progress of Discovery, p. 120. The Futa-Jallon Highlands, p. 123. The Senegambian Seaboard, p. 124. Political and Social Relations, p. 125. Senegal Basin, p. 128. The Senegal Delta, p. 132. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p 134 — 137. In^iabitants, p. 133. Trade, Agriculture, Mineral Resources, p. 1.51 — 153. Topography, p. 157. Administration, p. 167, V. South SEXEG.tMBiA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171 Gambia, p. 171. Flora, Fauna, Inhabitants, p. 173 — 174. Topography, p. 176. Admin- istration, p. 178. Casamanza Basin, p. 178. Portuguese Possessions, p. 182. The Rio Grande and Bissagos Archipelago, p. 184, The South Senegambian Rivers, p, 190. The Los Island, p. 192, Sierra-Leone, p 197, Climate, p, 200, Inhabitants, p. 203. Topography, Administration, p, 210—211. VI. TJPPKK GcEfEA 212 Liberia, p. 212. Climate, Flora. Fauna, p. 215-218 Inhabitants, p. 218. Topography, Administration, p. 223-227. Ivory Coast, p. 229. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 2i"l. Inhabitants, p. 233. The Gold Coast and Volta Ba-in, p. 235. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 239—240. Inhabitants, p. 240. Topography, p. 247. Agriculture, Industries, Trade, p 255. The Slave Coast, p. 256. Inhabitants, p. 260. Togo, p. 265. Popo, p. 266. Dahomey, p. 267. Porto-Xovo, p. 269. Badagry and Lagos, p. 270. Toruba, p. 272. A.'-V (_ A. P^ CONTEXTS. VII. The Nioeb Basin 275 General Survey, p. 275 Progress of Discovery, p. 270. The Upper and Middle Niger, p. 2S1. The Benue, p 284. The- Niger Delta, p. 287. The Upper Niger States, p. 288. Inhabitants, p. 291. Topography, p. 292. The Middle Niger States, p. 299. Topography, Timbuktu, p. 302 Haussa Land, p. 306. Inhabitants, p. 309. Topo- graphy, p. 313. Administration, p. 323. The Benue and Lower Niger States, p. 324. Topography, p. 332. Bonny and Calabar, p. 338. Vni. The Ta.u) Baslv 342 General Survey, p. 342. Lake Tsad, p. 344. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 349. Wadai, p. 352. Topography and Administration, p. 353. Kanem, p 354. Bornu, p. 358. Inhabitants, p. 358. Topography, p. 3lil. Administration, p. 364. Baglurmi, p. 365. Administration and Topography, p. 367. IX. The Camehoons 369 General Survey, p. 369. Eivers, p. 373. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 374. Inhabitants, p. 375. Topography, p. 380. X. The Gaboon and Oooway Basins 384 Spanish, French, and Portuguese Possessions, p. 384. Physical Features, Rivers, p. 386. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 391—392. Inhabitants, p. 394. Topography, p. 402. XI. The Conoo Basin 411 General Siiney, p. 411. The Tchambesi and Lake Bangw-eolo, p. 416. Lake Moero, p. 419. Kamolondo Basin, p. 419. Lake Tangan\-ika anl the Upper Congo, p. 420. Climate, Flora, Fauna, p. 436 — 437. Inhabitants, p. 439. The Congo Free State, p. 443. Lua-Pula and Lua-Laba Basins, p. 444. Kissinga, and the Muata Kazembe's King- dom, p. 446. The Msiri's Kingdom, Garangaja, p. 448. The Rua Kingdom, p. 449. Tanganyika and Muta N'zige States, p. 451. The Middle Congo, p. 460. The Welle Basin. Monbuttu, and Niam-Niam Territories, p. 465. The French Congo, p. 474. The Kassai Basin, p. 481. The Kwango Basin, p. 492. The Lower Congo, p. 495. Statistical Tables 503 I-^•CEX 5U,-, LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. MAPS FEINTED IN COLOrES. PAGE 1. The Canary Islands 56 2. The Lower Senegal 128 3. The Lower Niger 320 TAOS 4. Cameroons Mountains and Bight of Biafra 368 5. The Gaboon 384 6. The Lower Contjo ..... 496 PLATES. Women and Children of Porto-Grande Fiontiapieee Lake of the Sete Citades . . To/ace page 36 Madeira : View taken on the North Coast . 44 Funchal, East View ..... 52 General View of Porto-Grande, St. Vincent Island 90 Tristam da Cunha : View taken on the North Coast 98 Toncouleur Types : the Interpreter Alpha- Sega and his Sisters 150 Jamestown, St. Helena 104 Goree : Landing-Stage and Fort . . . 160 Kayes Railway Station . . . .162 Felup Types ., 180 Bujago Types and Termites' Nest . . . 188 Kroomen ....... 216 The King of A R'nni ...... 232 The Bar at the Mouth of the Volta . . . 240 Cape Coast : Seaward View .... 248 Porto Novo : Group of Natives . 268 Young Bambaras 292 Fillani or Fulah Types . To face page 298 Nupe Woman 336 Barge on the Old Calabar River . .340 Group of Kanem-bu Warriors .... 356 The Logon-Bimi : General View . . . 364 Palace of the Sultan of Massena . . . 366 The Fetish Stones of Samba, on the Ogoway . 388 Mpongwe House near Libre^Tlle . . . 394 Fan Women and Child, banks of the Ogoway 398 American Mission on the Ogoway between Njole and Lambarene .... 404 The Traveller Giraud amid the Reeds of Lake Bangweolo ...... 418 The Tellala FaUs, Lower Congo . . .430 View taken at Ijiji 456 Stanley Falls : Fishing at the Seventh Cata- ract 462 Akka Man and Woman 468 Group of Ka-Lundas ..... 484 Stanley Pool: View taken from Brazzaville . 498 General A'iew of Boma . . . ■ • 500 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIOXS. LIST OF ILLUSTEATIOXS. no. 1. Cape Sam LoiBEXfO, Eastern Head LA>'US OF MaIIEULA 2. Depths of tlie Azorian Atlantic 3. Fall of the Temperature in Deep AVater 4 . Temperature of the Deep Waters ou eithe side of the Strait of Gibraltar •1. Atlantic Winds and Currents <•. Depths of the South African Atlantic 7. Mean Annual Direction of the Winds ii the South African Atlantic 8. Summer Winds in the South African Atlantic 9. Currents of the South Atlantic and Lines of Icebergs .... 10. Volcanic /\jus of the Azores 11. ISLA>T) OF S.Ot-MlGlEL — ViEW TAKEN IX A GaedEX neak Poxt.v-Deloada Ii. WoitEX OF FaYAL ANT) SaN-MiOUEL 13. San-Miguel ..... 14. Val das Furnas .... 15. Sete Cidades ..... 16. Ponta-Delgada ..... 17. Central Islands of the Archipelago . 18. Cor\-o 19. Archipelago of Madeira . 20. Eastern Peninsula of Madeii'a . '2 1 . Madeira — View taken fkom Mount Sisi JOEOE 22. Dracona of Icod, in Texeriffe 23. Funchal and Socorridos Valley . 24. TeydePeak 2.3. GEN-ER.AL View of Santa-Chiz. Tene RIFFE ..... 26. Recent Lavas of Lanzarote 27. Cirque of Tejeda .... 28. North-East Slope of Gran Canaria . 29. Las Palnias and Port of La Luz 30. Peak of Tethe, Teneriffe — View t.\ken from the Canadas of the Ghanches 31. Northern extremity of Teneriffe 32. Gomera ....... 33. Palraa '. 34. Hierro ....... 35. Cape Verd Islands 36. Santo-Antam and Sam-Vicente 37. Part of tlie Volcanic Plateaux iu Santo- Antam 38. Praia 39. Tristam da Cunha 40. St. Helena 41. Ascen.siion . . 42. Sam-Thome ...... 43. Cascade of Blu-Bl0, on the Agoa Grande, near the Capital of Sam- Thome 44. Femando-Po ...... 4.5. Bay of Santa-ls;ibel 46. View on the Bakhoy. Ford of Mokaia Faea . 3 6 9 10 13 16 18 19 20 24 28 31 34 35 36 38 39 42 •15 4G 49 50 53 58 65 67 70 71 74 76 80 83 89 90 93 98 102 107 109 110 115 lie 122 FIG- P VCE 47. Geological Map of Senegamhia . 126 48. Confluence of the Bafino and Bakhuy 129 49. The Felu Falls 130 50. Floods of the Senegal 132 51. Bars of the Senegal fi-om 1825 to 1884 . 133 52. Baobab on the Kotubadinta Rivek. South- West of Bamaku . . .136 53. Tkaeza Tyte 139 54. Xatiu'al Divisions of Senegambia . . 110 55. Chief Nations and Tribes of Seuegambia . Ill 56. WoLOF Girl, Sixteen Tears of Age . 144 57. Serer Touth, Twenty-One Years Old. 145 58. Distribution of the Fulahs in West Africa . 146 59. Fui.AH Type 148 60. Mineral Regions of Bambuk . . . 152 61. Trade Routes and Projected Railways iu Senegal 1.54 62. The Bafoulabe Railway . . . .156 63. Saint-Louis in 1700 1.57 64. Saint-Louis in 1880 l.",8 65. Gulf and Island of Arguin . . . l.)9 66. Rufisque ....... liil 67. Bafulabe IG3 68. Rock of Kita . . . . . . 1 Ii4 69. VrLL.\GE of Bufulabe .... 165 70. Timbo and the Sources of the Baling . 166 71. Medena — General View .... 168 72. Political Divisions of French Senegambia . 169 73. Sources of the Dimma and Comba . .172 74. B.ithurst and Entrance of the Gambia . 176 75. Tribes of the Casanianza .... 180 76. Valley op the Tomine .... 183 77. Bissagos Ai-chipelago .... 185 78. Lanhscape in Gtrcit: : View taken near BOLAMA 187 79. Tribes of the Casamanza . . . .189 80 The Los Islands 192 81. Rivers of the Smth 195 82. Inhabitants of the Rivers of the South . 196 83. Peninsula of Sierra-Leone . . . 199 84. Freetown 20I 85. Territory of the Western Mandingans in Sierra-Leone 204 86. Inhabitants of Sierra-Leone . . . 205 87. Freetown 908 SS. S.1WPIT Bay, near Freetown . . . 209 89. Ten-itorities annexed to the Colony of Monroria . . . . . .213 90. MONTIOTIA AND ClPE MeNSURADO . .214 91. Cliief Routes of E.^plorers in Liberia . 216 92. Territoi-y of the Kroomen .... 219 93. Inhabitants of Liberia .... 221 94. Robertsport and Fisherman's Lake . . 223 95. Mom-oria and the Lower St. Paul River . 224 96. Grand Bassa and Mouth of the St. John ....... 225 97. Cape Palmas ...... 226 98. Cape Palmas ■>■>% 99. Ditch of Little Bas.vam .... 229 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIOXS. FTO. lOi). 101. 10-2. 103. 104. 10.). 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 11-2. 113. lU. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134 135. 136. 1.37. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 145. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150 A^shii ...... WOMES OF Gr.\XU BaS^-aM Aosi Type Routes of Chief E.tplorers North and East of Cape Coast . The Lower Volta .... Route from Accra to Coomassi Gold Coast Possessions and Surrounding Disti-icts ..... Inhabitants of the Gold Coast and Sur rounding- Distri<'ts Ge>t:kal View of Elmixa From Accra to the Sanatorium of Aboiu"i Abetifi Hountains .... Mouths of the Volta Shore-line East of Lagos Lagos — Eiikopean Quaeters . Inhabitants of the Slave Coast A MoHAitMEDAN ToRUBA TrADEK . Inlan'd Scexeet, Sl.we Coast Togo Disti-ict Dahomey and Ajuda Coast Lagos Rock of Abeokvta Hypotheses of the Old Geographers on the Course of the Xiger . Chief Routes of Explorers in the Niger Basin West of the Benue . The TEiiBi-KtrxDtj Hili. A^•D Sofkce of THE NiGEK .... Upper Niger Valley Backwaters South of Timbuktu The Burum Defiles .... The Bussa Rapids .... Confluence of the Niger and Benue . Co-NFLtJENCE OF THE KwAKA (NiGEu) AXD Bexie Mouths of the Nun and Brass . Ancient Empire of the Toucouleui's . Inhabitants of tht? Upper Niger Inteeioe OF A Bambaea House The Dio Watershed between the Niger and Senegal ..... Cascade near Bamaktj . Bamakii . . .... Segu Sansandig ..... The Hombori Mountains Timbuktu ..... El-Haj Abd-el-K;TIC. 3 continuously connected as they now are by the deep depression of the Atlantic. A continent occupied the waste of waters on whose bed the Transatlantic siibmarine 4 NVEST AFRICA. cables have been clei)ositt(l. In (he same way the existence of an identical organic life in the stratified ilioccne rocks of Xcbraska and Europe shows that, notwith- standing their present distinct faunas and floras, these two regions at one time formed continuous land. How often during the physical history of the globe has the relief of the continents thus been modified, mere passing forms which arise and vanish like the clouds in the heavens ! Yet who shall relate all the vicissitudes of laud and water in the valley of the tropical Atlantic even since Jurassic times ? The Azores, JIadeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verd archipelago, may themselves possibly be surviving fragments of the continental mass that once filled this oceanic region. They are at all events disposed like a border range skirting a semicircular shore, describing a regular arc, in the same direction as the Central Andes of Peru and Bolivia, and the volcanic system of North America, from jilouut St. Elias to the Californian Shasta. These Atlantic groups consist almost entirely of igneous rocks and volcanic cones, like those Americim border ranges. Ileuce, if the conjecture be tnic that craters occur along the lines of fracture from the marine shores, all these archipelagoes would indicate the outlines of the ancient coast of a geological Atlantis. They also greatly resemble each other in their general constitution, forming altogether a distinct group amongst the physical regions of the globe. These Atlantic archipelagoes are not j^hysical dependencies of the African continent, as might be supposed from a cnrsorv^ view of the maps. Doubtless most of them lie relatively close to the mainland ; but the intervening oceanic depths, hitherto supposed to be inconsiderable, are, on the coutrarj', now foimd greatly to exceed 3,000 feet, while a complete separation is established by the contrasts in the respective faunas and floras. In many respects these archipelagoes form an inter- mediate domain between three worlds. In climate and products the Azores, Madeira, and even the Canaries, belong rather to Europe than to the neighbom-ing African mainland. Through their first known inhabitants the Canaries formed part of the Berber world, that is, of North Africa ; lastly, many of their vegetable species have been brought by the Gulf Stream from the American continent. Historically, also, these groups formed natural zones of transition, serving as links in the discovery of the New World. Even still. Saint Yincent, a member of the Cape Yerd group, is the chief shipping station between Europe and Brazil, while the more densely peopled islands in the Azores and Canaries are so many gardens of acclimatisation lor the plants introduced across the Atlantic from the siirrouuding continents. The Azokiax "NYateiis. The oceanic tract above which rises the Azores archii3elago, should be more specially named the Atlantic, for these are the waters which, stretching due west from the Atlas and Pillars of Hercules, were frequented by the seafarers of antiquity. But this expression, Atlantic, that is, " Sea of the Atlas," has gradually been extended to the whole depression separating the Old and New Worlds, from the Frozen Ocean to tlie Antarctic lands. K no clear natural division can be THE AZOELiX WATERS. 5 drawn between the continental masses owing to the gradual transition of relief, geology, and cUmate, still less can any well-defined lines of demarcation be traced across the ocoauic basin. Following the motion of the sun along the ecliptic, the system of aerial and marine currents is subject to incessant modifications. The seasons are alternately displaced from north to south, and from south to north, while the ever-restless floods, setting now in one, now in another direction, inter- mingle the climatic zones in their ceaseless changes. It must suffice to indicate in a general way as the dividing zone the relatively narrow section of the Atlantic comprised between the submarine plateau of "Western Europe and the Bank of Xewfoundland. This is the " telegraphic " bed, the first part of the ocean that has been systematically explored for the piu'pose of laying the cables between Europe and ^^erica. The bed of this region, which has a mean depth of over 2,000 fathoms, presents the greatest regularity, the most gradual slopes and uniform depths for vast tracts in the whole marine basin. The section which stretches south of the telegraphic plateau, and which mav be called the Azorian Atlantic, from the archipelago lying nearest to the centre, is sufficiently well defined southwards by the narrower zone comprised between Africa and South America. A line drawn from the Bissagos Archipelago through the islets of Saint Paul and Femam de Xoronha to Cape Saint Eoque, has a length of less than 1,750 miles, and in this dividing zone the waters are somewhat shallower than in the sections lying to the north and south. In its general outline the Azorian Atlantic forms a flattened crescent with its convex side facing westwards, and bounded by the Fnited States, the Antilles, the Guiana and Brazilian coasts. The inner concave line is indicated bv the African seaboard from the Strait of Gibraltar to Cape Palmas. The bed of this section of the Atlantic is much more irregular than that of the Xorth Atlantic to the south of Greenland and Iceland. The oceanic depths between Africa and the Antilles are not only interrupted by several insular groups and the plateaux supporting them, as well as by the sm-rounding banks, but in this region there also occur numerous submarine mountains, which, like the upheaved archipelagoes themselves, are very probably due to lava formations. These submarine masses are met chiefly to the west of the Azores, where a sudden subsidence of 3,000 feet would reveal the presence of numerous islands, some disposed in scattered groups between the telegraphic bed and the Azores, others stretching from this archipelago for some fifteen degrees of longitude westwards in the direction of the Bank of Xewf oundland. Most of the banks, however, indicated on the old charts — those, for instance, of Sainte-ilarie and Kutusov — south of the Azores, have not been met during more recent soundings. Earthquakes, waterspouts, schools of cetaceans, or floating masses of pumice, have often led to the assumed existence of reefs in places where the plummet descends to depths of 14,000 to 16,000 feet without touching the bottom. Sudden changes of colom-, from green to blue, from blue to black, usually correspond in the Azorian Atlantic to varving depths. Such at least is the inference drawn from these coincidences bv the members of the Tulkinan 6 WEST AFRICA. expedition ill u purt of the Azorian Atlantic presenting great inequaUties of deptt, and where four soundings revealed 500, 95, 150, and 830 fathoms in rapid succession. J,'everthelcss, the same naturalists observed that tlie ^vatcr was of a sea-green colour between the Canaries and Cape Verd group, where, instead of meeting with comparatively shallow water, they determined a mean depth of uo pi,r. 2. — Deittus of the AzomAH Atlantic. Scale 1 : 40,000,000. ^'jp;! VltJ [sJos s *West or Gree^w'C^> to 3,300 Feet. Depths. 3,300 to 1G,600 feet. 10,500 Feet and upwards. □ to 3,300 Feet. . 600 Mfles. Heights. 3,300 Feet and upwards. less than 1,500 fathoms. In fact, this phenomenon of shifting colours in sea- wutor has been explained by physicists in the most diverse ways. While Toyubee asserts tliat a green tint prevails when the surface is cool and the atmosphere moist, the observations of the Gazelle would seem to show that the contrast between blue and greenish hues is due to the different degrees of salt held in solution, blue water being the most dense. RELIEF, GEOLOGY, AXD TEMTEEATUBE OF THE AZOBL\.N BASIN. 7 The systematic exploration of the Azorian Atlantic is still far from complete, some of the recorded soundings occurring only at intervals of several hundred miles. The only section of the ocean whose reKef has been acciuately determined is the plateau on ivhich have been laid the telegraphic cables between West Europe and the United States. Further south, the reports of vessels speciallv equipped for scientific expeditions are disconnected, and separated from each other by extensive unexplored spaces. The Challenger, the Magenta, and long before them, the Venus, traversed the waters between the Azores and the coast of Brazil in an oblique direction ; the Gazelle, the Saratoga, and the Dolphin visited the eastern section between Madeira and the Cape Verd Islands ; the Talisman and the Gettijsburg confined their operations mainly to the vicinitv of the archipelao-oes ; while the soundings of the Silcertoicn were made only for the pm-pose of laving the cable between the Cape Verd group and the Portuguese possessions on the neighbouring mainland. OfE the American seaboard soundings have also been recorded by the Bhihe and several other vessels between Newfoundland and the Bermudas, and thence to Florida and the Bahamas. But fi'om these isolated records it is impossible to prepare a complete oceanic chart, most of the bathymetric curves having still to be filled in on more or less plausible conjectures. Hence the great discrepancies in the published charts, which are, nevertheless, all based on the materials supplied by the same soundings. Fresh researches wiU be needed to gradually remove the unknown elements, and at some points new observations have already been begun, for the purpose of verifying or correcting former records. Thus the section between the Cape Terd and Bissagos groups has been twice explored, the more careful soundings, made with improved appliances, revealing greater depths than those previously registered. In the same way the Talisman has corrected several of the figures supplied by the Challenger. Before the introduction of the new registering plummet, there was alwavs a dano-er of the line rmming out indefinitely without indicating the bottom ; hence the exa^- gerated depths reported, amongst others, by Denham and Parker in the BraziKan waters. At the same time the more sensitive modern apparatus is liable to the opposite danger of under-estimating the real dejjth, by recording the shocks pro- duced, not by contact with the bed of the sea, but by casual friction, the lurching of the vessel, a passing fish, and the like. Relief, Geology, axd Temper-^ture of the Azorian Basix. The mean depth, calculated by Frummel for the whole depression of the Atlantic, would appear to be about 2,000 fathoms, which is probably somewhat less than that of the Azorian basin. If the Azores with their western submarine con- tinuation constitute a transverse ridge in mid- Atlantic, the prolonged axis of these partly upheaved partly still flooded elevated lands will indicate one of the deepest abysses hitherto discovered in the Atlantic. This abyss lies to the south of the New- foundland bank, where a sudden subsidence of considerably over 3,000 fathoms would still leave a vast marine basin filled with water. Another great cavity occurs in the 8 ^VEST AFRICA. almost immediiitc vicinity of the AVcst India Islands, where, about 90 miles north of St. Thomas, the Challenger reported nearly 4,000 fathoms, supposed to be the greatest depth till the Blahe recorded 4,:300 fathoms some sixty miles farther west. In the Cape Verde waters also, and even between that archipelago and the African mainland, extensive tracts occur with 2,700 fathoms and upwards. Altogether the Azorian Atlantic presents the form of a double valley, one skirt- ing the African the other the American seaboard, with a long dividing ridge, which runs to the .south-west of the Azores in the direction of Guiana. This " Dolphin's Back," as it is called by English geograi)hers, would appear to be prolonged in the southern Atlantic by the so-called " Junction Back," in the direction of a third ridge which takes the name of the Challcnrjcr. But the recorded soundings arc not yet sufliciently numerous to determine this point, although the connecting ridge is already indicated on most batliymctric charts of the ocean. Except near the islands, where coral beds occur, the matter brought up from the bottom during the sounding operations consists mainly of mud presenting little diversity of character. In the shallower sections it contains the remains of globi- gcrincs and other auimalculaD; but in the abysses of over 2,000 fathoms the frag- ments of shells are so minutely ground and altered by the enormous pressure, that it becomes imiwssible to detect the mingled remains of organisms in this impalpable substance, whose composition is similar to that of chalk. At still lower dej^ths the characteristic deposit is a sort of red clay. The naturalists of the Talisman have noticed three perfectly distinct colours : a reddish yellow on the ^lorocco coast, a green in the ncighboui'hood of Senegal, and a white mud round about the Azores. Thus are being formed strata analogous to those of the upheaved rocks belonging to the successive geological epochs of the earth's crust. Host of these muddy de- posits on the bed of the Azorian Atlantic contain volcanic elements, especially pumice, which must have come from the centres of explosion in the archipelagos, as they are met in larger quantity round about the islands containing active craters. Besides these products of eruptive origin, the Talisman has fished up from depths of 2,000 or 3,000 fathoms specimens of other rocks, such as granite, gneiss, schists, sandstones and limestones. The cavities of these rocks were for the most part filled with a bluish mud composed chiefij' of globigcrines. In these tropical seas, as in the northern oceanic waters, the temperature falls with great uniformity. On the surface the water, exposed to the incessantly tlumging influence of the seasons and atmospheric currents, imdergoes corresponding changes of temperature, being alternately cooled by the north-eastern trade-winds and warmed by the land breezes. In the Azorian Atlantic the mean annual tem- perature oscillates within a range of 33° F., although at times rising to 38° or even 42 ', and falling to 27° and under. But the action of external climatic influences diminishes rapidly under the surface, and at a depth of 400 feet the water ceases to be affected by the alternating hot and cold atmospheric changes. "Within this thin surface layer the temperature falls with the greatest rapidity, so that 200 miles to the south of the Cape Verd Islands the thermometer indicating 77° F. at the surface falls to 53' at a depth of 300 feet. Lower down the fall is extremely TEMPERATURE OF THE AZORIAN BASIX. gradual, a difference of scarcely more than the fraction of a degree being observed in a layer several hxmdred fathoms thick. The result of two hundred and twelve soundings taken b}' the Talisman shows for depths of 500 fathoms a temperature of rather less than 50^ F., or 27° degrees less than that of the surface waters ; at 1,000 fathoms it oscillates round 39° F., at 2,000 fathoms it falls to 37°, at the bottom approaching 32°, which, however, for salt water is not the freezing point. In the region lying between the Azores and the Cape Yerd grouji, the tempera- ture on the bed of the ocean remains at 34" F. In the Bay of Biscay it is some- what lower, and lower still towards the west, near the Antilles and Bermudas, and especially under the equator, where the lowest in the Atlantic basin (32°5 F.) has been recorded. Thus hj a remarkable contrast the waters of the Azorian are found to be warmer than those of the equatorial Atlantic. In both regions the mean difference in cor- Fig. 3. — Fall or the TEjfrEKATCTiE ix Deep 'W'aiek. 53° 50° 32^ L •1 ^ -1 ■ \ ' \ ^^ \ \ : \ ■ \ \ \ K . > \ K. ■ ** i """'"""'^T'n^ S.o'M 0,600 ;i.;iw F.-Ul of the temperature ivest of the Azores. ■ ., „ „ north of the equator near St. Paul's Island . 13,200 feet. responding liquid volumes of 1,660 fathoms is about 3° 5' in favour of the northern section as far as 40" N. lat. This phenomenon, which seems opposed to the physical laws of the globe, must be attributed to the influence of the oceanic currents. While the region lying between the Antilles, the Canaries, and Cape Verd group is comparatively tranquil, and subject to the broiling heat of the sun, the equatorial waters are to a great extent constantly renewed on the surface by cui-rents from the Xorth Atlantic, which skirt the African seaboard along its whole length from north to south. At lower depths cold waters set steadily from the Antarctic regions along the bed of the West Atlantic to the north-east of the Antilles. According to the observations of the ChaUcngcr and Gazelle, these deep Antarctic currents meet in the zone to the south-west of the Azores, between 36° — 37° jST. lat. The thermic equator of the oceanic bed, as indicated by warmer layers than those to the north and south, is thus deflected far beyond the geometric equator of the globe. It crosses the Azorian Atlantic obliquely, 1,200 miles to the north of the equator, so that on VOL. XII. c ■ 10 WEST AFEICA. water as well as on diy land the zone of equilibrium bctnxen the nortlicrn and southern elimates falls within the northern hcmisiiherc. But whatever be the local differences of temperature, the gradual normal fall from the surface towards the bottom down to 2" or 8'^ above zero, or even lower, is constant for every part of the oceanic basin. The case is different for the nearlj^ landlocked basin of the Mediterranean, which from the neighbouring ocean receives only surface waters at a temperature always above 53° or 54'^ F. M. Fare's well- known theorj- regarding the density of the terrestrial crust is largelj' based on the fact that the lower oceanic waters are nearly always icy cold. Being exposed for long- geological ages to this cooling influence, the rocky bed itself has become cooler down to a certain depth. It has thus become contracted, with a corresponding in- crease of thickness and densit\-, so that, bidk for bulk, the submarine are heavier Fig. 4. — Tempeiutuee op the Deep Waters ox either side of the Strait of Giuealtae. F. flfLABTlO Feet ME DITEBRANEAiy F. aw miles. tlian the continental masses, the latter consequently exercising a less relative influence on the vibrations of the pendulum. Atmospheric Currents of -jue Azokiax Basin. As regards its aerial currents, the Azorian Atlantic partakes of hvo different zones, in the north coming within the European zone of westerly winds, in the south within that of the trade winds, that is, the oceanic zone properly so called. The African waters are further distinguished by a special atmospheric system, the neighbourhood of the mainland reversing the normal disposition in the develop- ment of the local daily breezes and the periodical monsoons. The Azores lie nearly on the limit between the trade-winds and the opposing currents, which descending from the upper regions, take a normal south-westerly or westerly direction. The winds which set towards the coasts of Iberia, France, and the British Isles have their origin in this central part of the oceanic basin. M. Brault's exhaustive studies on the direction and intensity of the North Atlantic winds show that in summer, Flores, one of the western Azores, forms the focus of a regular aerial rotation. The waters around this island are the onlv Atlantic region where the northern blow as ATMOSPHEEIC CUEEENTS OF THE AZOEIAN BASIN. 11 freqiientl}' as tlic soiitliern gales, and where tlie western are balanced by the eastern currents. East of this point the prevailing breezes are northerly, westwards southerly, northwards mainly westerly, southwards easterly. Hence round this central region revolves the great atmospheric ocean of the Azorian Atlantic, a fact which will add greatly to the importance of the submarine cable about to connect tlie Azores with all the European meteorological stations. The chief station will be established at the point of intersection of the great aerial currents, whence more or less trustworthy weather forecasts can be announced some days in advance for the west of Europe. The normal movement of the winds in the Azoriau Atlantic has been well known since the early navigators began to frequent these waters. All were struck bv the regidarity of the currents blowing off the coasts of Madeira and the Canaries, to which the}' gave names betraying their knowledge of the law regulating the circidation of the winds in this region. For the Portuguese these currents setting regvdarly from the north-east to the south-west are the "geraes" or "general;" for the French the "alizes," that is, "uniform" or "regidar;" while for the Eng- lish they are at first the " tread winds," that is the "steady," or " constant," after- wards by an unconscious but easily understood play of words, changed to the " trade winds." But notwithstanding their general regularity, these sea breezes are subject to certain changes of velocity from season to season, as well as to deflections to right and left of the normal direction. The main features of this atmospheric system may be studied in Maury's pilot-charts, in those of Brault and Toynbee, which give the results of many hundred thousand observations, and which continue the laboiu's of previous meteorologists in this field. During the simimer of the northern hemisphere the whole space stretching from the Azores southwards to the fourteenth degree N. lat. is swept by the trade winds, which in winter are deflected much farther south. Thus, while the Azorian waters are temporarily brought within the influence of the variable western breezes, the Central Atlantic as far as 3^ or 4° S. lat. is exposed to the action of the trade winds. Seafarers have also to study the zones of calm or less intense aerial ciu-rents, one of which lies about the equator, the other to the south of the Azores, both forming elliptical spaces round which are developed the curves of equal force first described by Braidt, and by him named "isanemonic curves." Lastly there remains to be considered the thickness of the aerial curves constituting the trade winds, above which set the counter-winds which, after rising vertically into the zone of equatorial calms turn northward in the direction of the pole, graduall_y falling towards the surface of the earth. At the Peak of Teyde, in the Canaries, the inter- vening zone between the trade and counter-winds rises in summer and descends in winter on the upper slopes of the mountain, and Piazzi Smyth has been able se^•eral times to measure the exact thickness of the lower current blowing in the direction from north-east to south-west. But the Teyde Peak is a mere islet in this atmo- spheric ocean, and there still remain to be studied in the same systematic way the heights of Madeira and the Cape Yerd Islands, as well as the general movement of all the counter-winds. c 2 12 WEST Al-EICA. MaUIXE ClRUKXTS 01- THK AzOlUAN BasIN. The more salient features of the marine, like those of the aerial currents, in the Azorian Atlantic are already known ; but many obscure and doubtful points still remain to bo cleared up. It is all the more difficult to follow the coiu-se of the circulatin"- waters, that certain currents move too slowly to be directly measured. They can be detected only by means of the thermometer, when their temperatiu-e differs from that of the circimiarabient liquid. lu this way has been determined the existence of a deep stream flowing from the Antarctic seas to the equatorial waters and even to the neighbom-hood of the Azores ; by means of the thermometer the presence of corresponding cool currents from the Aixtic Ocean has been revealed in the same region. But as a rule the waters occupying nearly the whole of the Central Atlantic basin have a very perceptible velocity, in some places reaching one or two miles per hour. Altogether the section of the Atlantic comprised between the telegraph plateau and the equator, between the west coast of Africa and the Antilles, is filled by a vast vortex incessantly rotating, and constantly influenced by the same forces. The current, deflected from the iScucgambian coast, bends across the ocean in the direction of the "West Indies. Here it ramifies into two branches, one penetrating into the Caribbean Sea, the other skirting the east side of the Bahamas, beyond which it joins the American Gidf Stream, flowing thence east and north-east. The current returning from America towards the Old "World traverses the Azorian Atlantic, and in the neighbom-hood of the Portuguese and Maroccan coasts bends southwards, thus completing the vast circuit. These oceanic streams flow nearly parallel with thos? of the atmosphere above them, from which they differ only in their more sluggish motion, and in the deflec- tions imposed upon them by the sudden obstacles of insular and continental barriers. The surface waters being directly exposed to the action of the wind, necessarily move in the same direction, lashed into crested billows under high gales, gently rippled beneath the soft zephyrs. The casual winds produce only a passing effect, their action never reaching far below the surface. Biit regular currents, such as the trade winds, acting from century to centmy throughout countless ages, bave gradually penetrated to great depths, thus largely contributing to determine their general movement. Till recently physicists supposed that the chief cause of the equatorial current flowing westwards in the contrary dii-cction to the globe itself, was the terrestial rotation, a movement necessarily outstripping that of the encircling oceanic waters. The transverse currents would then be explained in the same way by the greater velocity of planetary rotation acquired by the waters under the equa- torial latitudes. According to Miihry, tbe centrifugal force of the globe, being greater on the equator than elsewhere, is the primary cause of the general oceanic movement. But in any case the varying degrees of salinity and heat between the liquid layers must also tend to produce these .currents, although the effects produced by them cannot be determined with the most delicate observations con- tinued for manv vears bv skilled observers. MAEESTE CUEEEXT3 OF THE AZOEIAN B^VSm. 13 The mean velocity of the chief currents in the Azorian Atlantic can scarcely be estimated at much more than two-thirds of a mile per hour, or one-fortieth of that of the grinds above them. In the eastern section of the maiu eastern current the movement varies fi-om 1-5 to 18 miles in the twenty-four hours. In the central parts of the basin, and especially in the Sargasso Sea, the speed slackens, but again increases near the coast and in the straits between the archipelagoes. Although weak, the movement of the "trade waters," aided bj- the corresponding wdnds, is Fig. 5. — Atlantic Win-ds a^t) Cueeests. Scale 1 : 4,000,000. West of Greenwich 1.100 Tards. none the less of great aid to vessels bound for the Xew "World, and but for these favourable conditions Columbus would certainly never have reached Guanahani. Thanks also to these currents, saiHng vessels have often reached America when their crews were endeavouring to gaiu the islands or penetrate into the South Atlantic waters. J^^othing is more probable than that in remote times ships were thus turned from their course, and that Phoenicians, for instance, or other invo- luntary immigrants from the Old "World, founded colonies iu America. At the J 4 WEST AFRICA. same time these conjectures regarding early epochs are confirmed by no direct evidence, whereas in modem times many instances have been recorded of ships driven westwards by the trade winds and corresponding marine currents. Thus it was that, in the year 1-300, Alvarez Cabral discovered Brazil when bound for the East Indies, v'iera y Ciavijo relates that a vessel sailing from the village of Lanzarote, in the Canaries, stranded on the coast of Venezuela. In 17:J1 another ship with a cargo of wine setting sail from Tencrifle for another island in the Canaries, was driven westwards by a storm, at last reaching Port of Spain, in Trinidad. Being provisioned only for five or six days, the crew had been reduced to live exclusively on wine after the supplies were exhausted. On another occasion a magistrate belonging to Terceira, while endeavouring to reach this island from the neighbouring San-Jorge, was driven all the way to Brazil, whence he returned by the Lisbon route. F.w.NA OF THE AzoRi-vx B.vsix.— The Sargasso Sea. The ChuUengcr, the Talisman, the Magenta, and other vessels recently engaged in exploring the Atlantic, have not only brought back valuable information regarding the temperature, currents, and other features of the marine depths, but the naturalists accompanying them have paid special attention to the organisms inhabiting these waters. The Azoriau Atlantic having a higher temperature than the equatorial seas, is extremely rich in animal life. Certain tracts especially in the vicinity of the Canaries seem to be alive with myriads of creatures of every form and colour, some opaque and almost invisible, other transparent and bright with the most varied tints. Cetaceans, sharks preceded by their " pilots " (the pilot-fish or Naucrates dttclor), and hundreds of other species, animate these waters. Flvin"--fish are often seen darting from the crest of one wave to another, where they fall a proy to their enemies. The nautilus moves along like a tiny ship studded with white sails ; while below this upper fauna, which migrates northwards in summer, southwards in winter, natnralists are now studying a second fauna which has a far wider range, thanks to the greater uniformity of temperature at lower dejjths. As remarked nearly a century ago by Humboldt, the sea is above all a centre of animal life, few plants growing except on the rocky cliffs of the islands and encircling continents. Thus even these have their roots embedded on the terra firma. Kevertheless the Azorian Atlantic has also its deep-sea flora, the so-called sargasso (sargassiun), formerly supposed to be a survival of the vanished Atlantis, a boundless plain of seaweed floating above the engidfed continent. With their branching stems, their lateral membranes resembling indented foliage, their floats almost like berries, these alga?, or " grapes of the tropics" [Fitciis natans, Sargassum haccifcrtim), might easily be taken for plants organised like those of the dry land. Nevertheless thev are mere weeds like those of the surroundins: shores, in which no trace of reproductive organs has ever been detected. Nor are they so much flotsam, as was once supposed, torn by the waves from the "West Indian and THE GUIXEA WATEES. ir, American coasts, and sent drifting in the evei-lasting vortex of the tropical -waters. It was first shown by Meyeu in 1830, and afterwards fully confirmed by Leps, that the berrj'-beariug sargasso is a true oceanic plant, produced in the seas where it is found covering thousands of square miles. A fissure near the middle of the mature plant marks the point where the parent stem has thrown off a younger branch, ■\\hich will in due course multiply itself in the same way. Thus arc developed, not vast '• praderias,'' or meadows, as hj-perbolically described by the early navigators, but strings of tufted weeds following in islands and archipelagoes some yards long, at times some acres iu extent, constantly changing their outlines under the action of the waves. They are easily sepai-ated by the prows of passing vessels, for they form only a surface layer, nowhere superimposed in thick masses. They disappear altogether to the east of the Azores, abounding mostly in the regions west and south-west of this archipelago, where they stretch across a space of over fifteen degrees of latitude and longitude, covering altogether an area of about 1, '200,000 square miles. Farther west near the Antilles there occurs another less extensive Sargasso Sea, consisting of more open herbacious islets, with long broken lines of floating algae penetrating between the West Indian Islands into the Caribbean Sea. Like those of dry land, these islands have also their proper faima, all the sargasso berries being thickly incrusted with white polyzoa. The fishes lurkiag in their shade or amid their tufted foliage have become assimilated in colour to the protecting environment ; hence they are not easily detected even by the naturalist among these alga?, whose prevailing olive-green hue is mingled with white and vellow tints. The Anfennarius marmoratus, one of these fishes, which was at first taken for a shapeless spray of fucus, from two to four inches long, seems better adapted for walking than for swimming. By a strange coincidence its fins, already suggesting the extremities of quadrupeds, terminate in real toes, the front fins also taking the form of arms, with elbow, fore-arm, and fingered hands. By means of adhesive threads this cuiious creatm-e builds itseK nests in the seaweed. The sargasso fauna comprises altogether sixty species, including fish, crustaceans, and molluscs. The inhabitants of the Azores might establish profitable fisheries in these fields of floating wrack, where they would also find inexhaustible supplies of manure to increase the fertility- of their gardens. This growth might also vicld large quantities of iodine, bromine, and other ■\"aluable chemical substances. The GrixEA W.\ters. The waters which bathe the west coast of South Africa may be regarded as a distinct basin, at least in the form of its bed, its system of currents, and the insular groups rising above its surface. Thanks to the numerous soundings that have been taken in the neighbourhood of the mainland and islands, and less frequently in the high southern latitudes towards the ^Lntarctic regions, the relief of the marine bed may now be figured on our charts, if not T\-ith absolute precision, with sufficient accuracy to reproduce its most salient features. The submerged ridge 16 WEST AFBICA. runuino- obliquely from north-east to south-west across the section between Liberia and Brazil, abruptly changes its direction under the latitude of Cape Palmas, some five desrecs from the coast. Here the hig-hcr '^rounds, still however flooded to Fig. G. — Depths of the Socth Afeican AxLAi-nc. Scale 1 : 60,000,000. -^-^K^ Depthg. to 1,100 Fathoms. 1,100 to 1,650 Fathoms. CJ to S.S0O 1,650 to 2,200 Pathoms. Heights. 2,200 to 2,570 Fathoms. 2,750 Fathoms and upwards. .'!,.')00 to G.GOO Feet 0,600 to 13,200 Feet. 13,200 Feet and upwards. 1,500 Miles. depths of l,4UfJ and 1,700 fathoms, trend due north and south between the oceanic depression near the African coast and the still more profound ab^•sses on the American side. This partiu- line, above which rise the peak of Ascension and the THE GUINEA STEEAM. 17 two insular groups of Tristam du Cunha and Gouoalo ^Uvarez, forms tlie median limit bct^vccn tlie two sections of the South Atlantic. A straight line drawn alouo- the meridian from Sierra Leone to Tristam da Cunha indicates exactly the " srcat divide " between the Guinea and Brazilian basins. The somewhat quadi-ilateral section comprised between this divide and the African seaboard, and stretching north and south from Cape Palmas to the Cape of Good Hope, is by no means of uniform depth. It may in fact be subdivided into two secondary basins with cavities of over 2,800 fathoms, one extending west and east parallel with the Gold and Slave Coasts, the other of nearly oval form, ^ith its greatest depression to the south-east of St. Helena. The greatest depth hitherto revealed in this section of the African waters is 3,250 fathoms ; and the whole basin, presenting a general depth of over 2,200 fathoms off the south-west coast of Africa, has an area of about 2,800,000 square miles— that is, over twice that of the Mediterranean Sea. South of a line running from the mouth of the Orange River to Tristam da Cunha there stretches a second basin also of 2,200 fathoms, limited southwards by the submarine heights on which stands the island of Bouvet, and which slope gently towards the coasts of the Antarctic lands. CrKREXTs OF THE GriXE.\ Basix. In this vast cauldron of the African seas the waters are in continual motion, the mean result of all the shifting and ever opposing currents being a general movement running parallel with the coast from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Lopez, then trending westwards in the direction of the New '^^''orld, and returning by the south aud east to complete this vast circuit. Thus this southern vortex corresponds with that of the North Atlantic, of which the Gulf Stream forms the ■western branch. But its general movement is reversed, while also presenting more uniform outlines, thanks to the greater regularity of its basin. Its mean diameter may be estimated at 2,400 miles, with a varying velocity which, however, is never very great except under the influence of high winds. During her voyage from the Cape Verd Islands by Ascension to the mouth of the Congo, the GazcUo found a part of the equatorial current south of the equator moving west- wards with a velocity of 1^ mile per hour, whereas most other observations had recorded a speed of little over half a mile, and in some cases not more than 500 feet. In many parts of these oceanic regions there is in fact no perceptible motion at all, the whole mass accomplishing its vast circuit by a slow movement of translation, while here and there the obstruction of the coastline or the local winds produce secondary currents running in the opposite direction to the main drift. The Guinea Stream. The most powerful of these backwaters is that which skirts the continental seaboard between Cape Palmas and the Bight of Biafra, and which sets from west to east with a mean velocity of a little over two-thirds of a mile an hour. But off Cape Palmas it attains an occasional speed of 3| miles, or nearly 90 miles a day. This "Guinea Stream," as sailors call it, intervenes between the two sections 18 WEST AFKKA. of the cqiuitoi-ial cuiTent, which flow lioiu ihc < Ud towards the Now "World, so that a vessel sailing either east or west parallel with the equator may take advantage either of the main or the counter current to accelerate its siieed. The Guinea Stream shifts with the seasons, in September occupying more than half the breadth of the Atlantic to the south of the Cape Ycrd Islands. The cause of this movement from west to east in the same direction as that of the globe itself, is a question that cannot be discussed apart or independently of the still unsolved general problem of the circulation of the oceanic waters. The part played in these movements by the rotation of the globe, by the winds, the varying temperature from the surface downwards, the varying degrees of salinity Fig ".—Mean ^V-nnxal Dieectiok or the Winds in the Sorrn Afeioaij Atlahiic. Scale 1 ; 80.000.000. 0° 50" ,^^^m^ ^iiii^ r 1 « ^B 0° 30' -^ ^ -^ 4 \ \ --i \ T V V M ^ -^ A \ \ \ \ i 1 J'^ 1 1 ^te \ -X A \ \ \ \ M, / N. - — \ \ \ \ \ N ^ i f -^ -> -> ^ \ \ \. \ \ 1 r ■" ^ ■^ ^ -^ ^ X \ \ \ ii f / A ^ ^ ^ -^ > > N \ \ M. ^ ^ ¥ f^ ^ f t K % 1^ ^ Is ^ \ 1 50° 0°Mer;dianc 1 breenwich Calms. 1,200 Miles. The length of the nrrows indicates the frequencj- of the winds in each marine space of 5 degrees. The number of calms is at least one in ten days in each marine space where the stroke occupies half the lower side of a rectangle. in the intermingling waters, cannot yet be determined. Certainly none of the different theories sufEce to explain all the phenomena observed by the few meteorologists who have themselves visited these oceanic regions. In general the Guinea Stream is regarded as a lateral backwater, a " compensating current " produced by the reflux of the equatorial waters. It cannot iu any case be attributed to the direct action of the winds, for it flows iu the opposite direction to the trade winds and monsoons prevailing in these waters. Even off the Niger delta and the Cameioons, whore the Guinea Stream trends south-eastwards and then southwards till it merges in the equatorial current, the movement is still opposite to the normal direction of the winds. To this phenomenon of the Guinea Stream running counter to the winds and laterally pressed upon by another marine THE GUIXKA STREAM. 19 current flowing in the opposite direction, is perhaps to be attributed the tremendous surf, forming the so-called "bar," which renders the approach to the Guinea coast so difficult and at times so dangerous between Cape Palmas and the Cameroons. A little '• Sargasso Sea" like that near the Antilles occurs also off the mouth of the Congo in the secondary vortex produced by the collision between the Guinea Stream and the other current flowing from the south along the coast of Benguela and Angola. Atmospu eric Currents — Raixfall — Salix ity. The anemometric charts of Brault and other observers show that in the South African Atlantic the mean annual direction of the winds is marked by great Fig. S. — SumtEE Wlntjs tx the South Afeicax Atlantic. Scale 1 : 80,000,050. Ciims, . l,2(»imes. The length of the arrow indicates the frequency of the summer grinds in each marine space of 5 degrees. The number of calms is at least one in five days in each marine space where the stroke occupies all the lower side of a rectangle. regularity-. Storms properly so called are extremely rare, and the "'general" winds — that is to say, the south-east trade winds — blow -with such uniformity that, especially at the time of the solstices, seafarers in these waters are able to calculate with great probability the length of their passage. But this regularity prevails onlv on the high sea, as near the coast the aerial currents are deflected inland. Above the EugHsh, German, and Portuguese possessions in South Africa, as well as about the coastlands on the Lower Congo and Ogoway, the winds blow from the south-west or else directly from the west, whereas on the coasts to the west of the Cameroons they come from the south. These are the vapour-charged atmospheric cui-rents which bring the rains to the coastlands, and which deluge the Cameroons 20 ■WEST AFEICA. uplands throuj^hout tbo whole year. The other elevated lands on this seaboard also receive u large share of the rainfall, which is nowhere heavier in anj^ part of the Atlantic than in this oceanic region exposed to the influence of the north-eaat and south-east trade winds between the projecting coasts of West Africa and South America. Here the still air arrests the rain-clouds brought by both trade winds, the vapours are condensed and precipitated in tremendous downpours on the subjacent waters. In many jjlaces this rain water, owing to its less specific Fig. — CUEICENTS OF niE SoUTH AtL.INTIC .\N1) LiXES OF IcEBEEOS. Scale I : 87,000,000. 1,200 Miles. gravity, spreads over the .surface in sufficiently tliiclc layers to enable passing vessels to replenish their supply of fresh water. Although incessantly intermingled by the aerial and marine currents, the waters of (he iVtlantic ba.sin differ none the less in their degree of salinity not only on the surface, but also in the deeper strata. The most saline is that encircling St. Helena, the specific gravity of which is 1-0285. Owing to the heavy rains in the region of calms tlie proportion is less in the Guinea Stream, the difference being as much as two or even three thousandths in the north-east part of the TEMPERATURE— FAUNA. 21 Guinea waters, with which is mingled the discharge of the Niger and Congo, the two African ri\ers which have the greatest volume. In the South Atlantic regions also the water is less salt than in the neighbourhood of St. ITclena, in consequence of the melting of the icebergs and floating ice brought by the oceanic currents from the Antarctic lands. These frozen masses penetrate farthest north in the months of June, July and August, that is, in the Austral winter season, when these fantastic glittering forms — domes, towers, obelisks — continually changing their outlines with the displacement of the centre of gravity, arc met in the Cape waters, and even as far as 35° S. latitude. Farther south the ocean is strewn with myriads of floating fragments, which to vessels rounding the African continent present the appearance of an endless panorama of gorgeous palaces, temples, colonnades all aglow in the fiery rays of the setting sun. Temperatire — Fauna. "While diminishing the salinity, these icy crystals also considerably lower the temperature of the liquid masses flowing from the equatorial regions. Between the Cameroons and the Cape there is noticed on the surface a gradual decrease of heat, corresponding to that which also takes place in the atmospheric strata. The isothermal lines follow with considerable regidarity from 82'^ F. on the Slave Coast to 59° towards the southern extremity of the continent. Eut in the deeper layers the vertical decrease down to the bed of the ocean presents some remark- able contrasts, due to the inflow from the broad Antarctic seas to the gradually narrowing Atlantic basin. Of these contrasts the most striking is the relatively low temperatiire of the equatorial waters. Taking the mean of the liquid mass lying under the equator between Africa and America, the average for the tepid surface and cool deep waters is found to be about 41° F., that is to say, con- siderably less than a degree higher than that of the tracts stretching to 33° S. latitude. On the other htmd these same equatorial waters are fully four degrees colder than those of the north temperate zone under 33° N. latitude. This surprising contrast, attesting the great preponderance of the Antarctic over the Arctic current, occurs regidarly in each of the isothermal zones between the two sections of the Atlantic lying north and south of the equator. At equal depths the greatest differences of temperatiu-e are recorded. Thus, under 33° N. latitude, a sounding-line 500 fathoms long records a mean of about 50° F., while at the same distance to the south of the equator the average is found to be only 39° F., showing a difference of eleven degrees between the two corresponding latitudes. The temperature falls slightly in the neighbourhood of the coast, owing to the steady influx of deep sea currents. In some places a difference of three degrees has been observed between the in-shore and outer waters within a distance of a few miles. The abrupt changes of temperature in the South Atlantic serve to limit the range of animal life, and to modify its outlines with the seasons. The deep-sea species living at great depths in a uniform cold medium, can, of com'se, extend 22 WEST AFRICA. their domain from the Arctic to the Antarctic Ocean, bat it is very different with the cetaceans and other animals confined more to the surface waters. Thus the southern whales, tiU recently very numerous in the tracts stretching west and south-west of the Cape of Good Hope as far as the small Tristam da Cunha Archi- pelago, never reach the latitude of St. Helena. According to Maury's expression, they arc arrested by the tepid tropical waters as by a " wall of flames." The Lusitanian and ilcditerranean species in the same way diminish gradually south- wards, as do also those of the West Indies. Ne^•ertheless, a large number of the latter are still met in the neighbourhood of Ascension, in the very centre of the South Atlantic. About the river mouths again animal life is much more abundant than in the open sea. As we approach the Congo estuary the number of fishes inhabit- ing the surface waters steadily increases, causing a corresponding increase of the pho.sphorescence visible at night, notwithstanding the diminution of salinity caiised bj- the gi'eat volume of fresh water discharged by the Congo. CHAPTER II. "\^"EST AFRIC-iN ISLAISTDS, The Azores. HE Azores, or '• Hawk " Islands, are the most oceanic of all the Athintic archipelagoes. Eising from abysses some 2\ miles deep, San-Miguel, their easternmost point. Lies 830 miles due west of the Portuguese Cape Eoca, and 930 miles from Cape Cantin, the most advanced headland on the ilarocco coast. The archipelago is still farther removed from the New World, Corvo, the north-westernmost islet, being over 1,000 miles distant from Cape Eace in jf^ewfoundland, the nearest American headland, 2,400 miles from St. Thomas, at the north-east angle of the Antilles, and 1,800 from the Bermudas, which, although lying in deep water, may still be regarded as belonging geographically to America. Disposed in thi-ee groups of unequal size, the Azores are scattered over nearlv three degrees of latitude and more than six of longitude ; but of this vast marine area, about 80,000 square miles in extent, the space occupied by dry land is extremely small, all the islands together having an area of scarcely more than 1,000 square miles. The population, however, is relatively greater than that of the mother country, Portugal, exceeding two hundred to the square mile, although there is much waste and uninhabitable land on the upper slopes and about the volcanic cones. Siuce the middle of the fourteenth century, that is to sav, eighty years before they were first visited by the Portuguese, the Azores were ali-eady known to the Mediterranean seafarers naviMting the dreaded waters of the " Mare Teuebrosum," or " Gloomy Sea." A Florentine dociunent, dated 1351, already presents a correct outline of the whole group, except that they are tiirned in the direction from north to south instead of from south-west to north-east. Two of the islands have even preserved, in slightly modified form, their Italian names ; the farthest removed from Europe, after having been called the Insula de Corvis Mariiiis, has become the Ilhn. do Corvo, or "Raven Island; " while San-Zorze, whose very name shows that it was a Genoese discovery, has taken the Spanish appellation of San-Jorge. The Azores were first sighted in 1431 by the Portuguese ^^hile occupied with the 24 ^YEST AFRICA. gystomatic exploration of the Atlantic, which constitutes their title to renown durinj^ the ape of the great nautical expeditions. On this occasion they saw nothing l)iit the reefs of Formigas between San-Miguel and Santa-Maria ; but Goncalo \'elho f'abral, returning to these waters next year, discovered Sauta-Maria itself, which Don Henri presented to hini as a iief. Twelve years afterwards he landed on San-3Iiguel, the chief island in the archipelago, which he also received in vassalage under the Portuguese crown. The eastern group of Cabrera, or Las Cabras, had already formed part of geographical nomenclature, but another twenty years passed before the last of the nine members of the group was finaUy sur- veyed. Although scattered, over a vast space, the islands have many features in common. All are hilly and dominated by volcanic craters whence lava streams have been discharged, and all terminate seawards in rugged masses of black scoria pjw 10.— Volcanic Axis of the Azoees. Depths, to 3,300 Feet, 3 300 Feet and upwards. * Submarine Volcanoes. presenting a forbidding aspect. "With the exception of Santa-Maria, at the south- eastern extremity, which contains some limestone beds dating from the Miocene period, all are composed exclusively of ashes, scoria?, and lavas. Geographically tlicy form three perfectly distinct groups, of which the easternmost is the largest, although comprising only the two islands of San-Miguel and Santa-Maria, with the reefs of Formigas, which may be regarded as the crests of a submerged rocky islet. The central group consists of five members— Terceira, which has at times ffivcn its name to the whole archipelago ; Graciosa, San-Jorge, Pico, and Faval. The CLtMATE OF THE AZOEES. 25 western group, least in extent, population and historical importance, comprises only the two remote islets of Flores and Corvo, which are alone disposed in the direction from north to south, all the others forming volcanic chaias running north-west and south-east. A comprehensive study of the whole archipelago shows that it constitutes thi'ee such parallel chains equidistant from each other, the first formed by Graciosa, Terceira, and San-Miguel, the second, or central, by Corvo, San-Jorge, and the Formigas, the third, or southernmost, by Flores, Fayal, Pico, and Santa-iTaria. The regular parallelism is perhaps to be attributed to successive eruptions occtu-ring on fractures or crevasses in submerged ridges aligned in the direction from north-west to south-east. The lavas of the Azores are much more recent than those of iladeira and the Canaries, none appearing to be older than the Miocene period, that is, the epoch whence date the limestone formations of Santa-Maria. At present the volcanic activity, if not extinct, is at least very quiescent at I'he two extremities, that is, on the one hand in Santa-Maria and the eastern part of San-Miguel, on the other in the Flores and Corvo gi-oup. But the fires still rage under the central islands, especially under the volcano of Pico, and still more fiercely in the western part of San-Miguel. Here have occurred all the most terrible catastrophes, eniptions, and earthquakes during the fom- centuiies that constitute the historic period of the Azores. Indications of upheaval are visible in Terceira, where the beach, although composed entii-ely of volcanic rocks, is, at certain points, strewn with boulders of crystalline and sedimentary origin, such as granites, quartz, schists, sandstones, and limestones. These foreign fragments have evidently been deposited on the strand, but are now scattered to a distance of over half a mile inland in sufiicient abundance to be used by the peasantry, with detached blocks of lava, in the con- struction of their enclosm-es. On Santa-Maria are also found some fragments of gneiss, the origin of which it is difficult to determine. The great depth of the surrounding waters excludes the idea that they might have been torn from some stu-viving reefs of the submerged Atlantis. !N^or are these blocks rounded like the shingle long exposed to the action of the waves, but have for the most part pre- served the sharp outKnes and freshness of their breakage. Hartung supposes that they may have been brought during the glacial period from America, where, under the same latitude, the glaciers deposited their moraines, while detached boulders were carried with the drift ice to the Azores. Climate. All these islands enjoy an equable and healthy climate, which would seem almost perfect but for the violence of the Atlantic gales. Notwithstanding the sudden shifting of the winds, the changes of temperature are very slight, the seasons following each other without any marked transitions. Autumn especially delights the ^-isitor, although the leafy groves lack those varied tints which at that period are characteiistic of the European, and still more of the Is^orth VOL. XII. D 20 VfESI AFBICA. Amoiican secneiy. The annual range of temperature from season to season scarcely exceeds 14° F., although at Ilorta M. de Bcttencourt recorded a differ- ence of over 45^ (42' to 87°) between the hottest and the coldest day in the ■n-hole year. The chief climatic changes are due to the direction of the winds, the Azores lyiu"' as nearly as possible in the intermediate /one betn-een the trade and counter winds. "When the southern breezes prevail it is warm and moist, becom- ing cool and dry when the wind shifts to the north. Hence a notable contrast between the two slopes of the islands, one being exposed to the balmy zephjTs and rains of the south, the other to the northern atmospheric currents. Thus iu the Azores the climatic conditions are determined less by latitude than by the aspect of the land. In general the Azorian climate presents a mean between those of Lisbon and Mala "a on the one hand, and that of Madeira on the other. Between the latter Lsland and Fayal the yearly temperature differs only by about two degrees, but in the Azores the range from winter to summer is relatively considerable. Ljdng 350 mUes nearer to the pole, they have a colder winter but also a hotter summer than Madeira, although the heat is never so great as on the mainland of Portugal lyino- under the same latitude. ^Utogether the Azorian climate is more extreme than that of Madeira, and much less agreeable for strangers. Snow is rarely seen in the lower valleys, but haQ often falls during the winter storms, and at times the hills remain for a few hours wrapped in white. It also freezes on the higher o-rouuds, and in San-Miguel people are said to have perished of cold on the plateaux, rising 3,000 feet above sea-level. At the same time strangers are much more sensitive to the cold, in consequence of the high gales and moist atmosphere. The rainfall due to the great oceanic winds is very abundant, being at least twice as heavj' as in Madeira. At Ilorta M. de Bettencourt recorded a hundred and ninety-six rainy days and eight of hail, with a total rainfall of 62 inches. It rains in all seasons, but especially in winter when the west winds prevail, and notwithstanding their steep incline, many of the mountain slopes are clothed with mosses and turf, resembling the peat bogs of Ireland. The rainfall, however, diminishes from west to east, Santa-Maria, the easternmost, being also the driest island of the group. To protect themselves from the moisture and from sunstroke, always to be feared in damp climates, the peasantry in all the islands wear a sort of cloth hood, covering head and shoulders, and somewhat resembling the " sou'- westers " worn by sailors. Flora. Compared ^ith that of Madeira and the Canaries, the indigenoxis flora is verj- poor. In the whole archipelago Watson discovered only three himdred and ninety-six flowering and seventy-five flowerless plants, mostly belonging to European species. One-eighth of the plants are common also either to the other Atlantic groups, or to Africa and America, leaving not more than fifty species jjeculiar to the Azores, amongst them a cherry, which has become very rare, and which would have pi'obably disappeared had it not been introduced into the FLORA OF THE AZOBES. 27 gardens. The decided predominance of the European flora is appealed to by those geographers who claim the Azores as a natm-al dependency of Europe. Hence the term " Western Islands " applied to them by English mariners, as to European lands lying farther west than all others. Even the indigenous species nearly all resemble European types, so that the question arises -whether they are to be regarded as independent species, or merely simple varieties gradually trans- formed by isolation. 'Nov is it any longer always possible to say with certainty whether those common also to Europe have been introduced intentionallj- or uncon- sciously, or whether they form part of the native flora assimilated by analogous surroundings. The original flora includes not more than five trees, and five or perhaps six shrubs, all inferior in size to the allied plants in Madeira and the Canaries. The palm family, so characteristic of the tropical regions, was absent at the time of the discovery, the prevailing vegetable forms being grasses, reeds, sedge, ferns, all suitable to a moist climate. At the arrival of the Europeans the hillsides were clothed with timber. Fayal, that is the " Beech Grove," owed its name to the forests of Mijrica faya, which the mariners mistook for beech-trees. Graciosa and Flores were also indebted to their beautiful flora for these appellations, and even so recently as the present century Flores still possessed magnificent groves of the J'ew, all of which have since been cut down. In many parts may also still be seen huge tranks almost concealed beneath the mosses and other lower growths, while others have been partly covered by the lavas. The most remarkable of the woody plants on the elevated lands are the faya, or "laurel of the Canaries," and a species of jimiper ( Jiniipcriis o.rycedrus) spoken of by the natives as a cedar. It is the only conifer in the archipelago, where it is found usually associated with the arborescent heaths and myrsinse of African origin. The heights, being now destitute of fine timber, mostly present a sombre and monotonous aspect, while the ravines and lower valleys still reveal a varied and picturesque vegetation. For although large trees have nearlj- everywhere dis- appeared from the open tracts, all parts of the archipelago where the scoria had not acquired a metallic hardness are clothed with verdure. Thanks to their uniform and moist climate, the Azores are well adapted for experiments in acclimatisation. A large number of species from the tropical and temperate regions of Australia, the Old and New Worlds, have already been introduced, and thrive admirably in this "natural conservatory." Hence the taste for pleasure- grounds developed among the wealthy natives. In a few brief years they see their poplars, eucalyptuses, casuarinas springing up to a height of 40 or even 60 feet, although still seldom rivalling in size their congeners in Europe, the Canaries, and elsewhere. In the gardens of Fayal and San-Miguel the native shrubberies have been replaced by thickets in which the oak, beech, and lime of Europe inter- mingle their foliage with the taxodium (cypress) of Louisiana, the Virginian tulip- tree, the Brazilian araucaria, the cedars of Lebanon and the Himalayas, the camphor of Japan, the Australian acacia, and the palms of both hemispheres. The fruit-trees and cultivated plants from the Portuguese orchards and arable lands, D 2 23 WEST AFKICA. the bannnas and r>,»rf. of Ethiopia are invading the coastlands, while the European weeds are di-iviug to the uplands or extermiuating the old indigenous vegetation. INHABITAlSrTS OF THE AZOEES. 29 Efforts have also been made to re-plant the waste spaces and higher slopes of the mountains. In this way the whole of San-Miguel has become a garden of acclimatisation, in which a thousand arborescent species have been natiu-alised, and in some cases multiplied prodigiously. Amongst the most valuable forest-trees thus introduced are the marine iii-, the Japanese cryptomeria, the eucalyptus, acacia, cypress, and oak. Faixa. The indigenous iaxina is much poorer than the flora of the Azores. On the first arrival of the Europeans it comprised no vertebrates except birds, although some writers speak of a bat found also in North Em-ope. But this animal was perhaps introduced from Flanders by the Belgian settlers in the sixteenth century. From Europe also came the rabbit, the ferret, the weasel, the black rat that nests in trees, the grey rat, and mouse. Of birds there are about thirty species, some remaining throughout the year, some migrating, but nearly all conmion to Europe, or at least the Atlantic. The green canary was formerly very common, but has been proscribed as a great destroyer of corn. The bird whence the archipelago takes its name of the Azores, or "Hawk " Islands, appears not to be a hawk at all, but a species of buzzard. There are no reptiles, except two species of lizard found in Graciosa, where they are recent arrivals, perhaps from Madeira. The frog, also a stranger, has multiplied rapidly, while the toad, brought from the United States, has failed to become acclimatised. The African locusts have occasionally alighted in swarms and devoured the crops. There are fresh- water eels, but no river molluscs, although as many as sixtj--nine species of laud molluscs have been found, nearly half of which occur nowhere else. They represent, with six varieties of coleoptera, nearlj- all the primitive Azorian fauna. Even marine shells are extremelj' rare, and in some places one may walk for miles along the beach without meetrag with a single specimen. The deep-sea faun? is represented chiefly by the cetaceans, porpoise, doliDhin, spermaceti and Pliijsetcr macrocephalus, the last named formerly very nimierous, and of which about a hundred and fifty are still annually captured by the American whalers. IXHABITANTS. "When first ^-isited by the Italian and Portuguese navigators, the Azores were found to be imiuhabited. The pioneers of the colony founded in 1-144 by Gon^alo Yelho Cabral on San-Miguel were some " Moors," sent forward, so to say, to test the climate and resources of the country for the Portuguese who were to follow them. Afterwards the large owners of feudal estates introduced with the white peasantry a certain number of black slaves, by whom a slight strain of dark blood was transmitted to the other settlers. The Jews expelled from Portugal at the beginning of the sixteenth century were also condemned to slavery and distributed over various districts in San-Miguel. Some thousand Flemish colonists introduced into the central group by Jobst van Iluerter gave the name of " Flemish Islands" so WEST Al^inCA. to the whole archipelago, while Fayal was more specially named " New Flaudcrs." lu 1G22 there still sm-vived some Belgian families with the chaiacteiistic features of their race ; but they had ceased to speak Flemish, and had even changehc~te "^v V/.st.fG 25'i4,- to 165 Feet. Depths. 165 to 330 Teet. 330 Feet and upwards. _ 2|imes. dan Fitnias, or " Valley of the Fiirnaces." It is traversed by the Eibeira Quente, or " Burning Eiver," which reaches the sea through a narrow valley used for raising early fi-uits and vegetables. For the space of about the fourth of a mile, in all directions the ground is pierced by innumerable openings, throwing up jets of water and vapoui". Some of these apertures have scarcely the diameter of a 86 WEST AFEICA. needle, and take the name of oUios, or " eyes ; " but the most copious spring i.s the caUlcira, or "cauldron," which ejects with a rumbling noi«e a liquid stream to a height of over three feet above the level of the basin. From the encircling rocks, worn and bleached by the acids, there escape some boiling rivulets, and even in the bed of the main stream hot springs are revealed by the bubbles and vapours Fijc. 15. — Sete Cm.iDES. Scale 1 : 162,000. Depths. ^ to 165 Feet. 165 to 330 Feet. 330 Feet and upwards. — 3 MUes. rising above the surface. The temperature of the waters, some of which are utilised for hot baths, varies considerably, ranging from 70° F. to 208° F., which is nearly that of boiling water. The " furnaces," which differ also in their mineral properties, have undergone no change for the last three hundred years, beyond the gradual deposit of thick silicious layers in which plants are petrified. Large trees have thus become rapidly fossilised. ilBRAK^ OF THE iJNIVERSITy of ILLINOIS. TOPOGEAPHl" OP THE AZOEES. 37 Thermal springs and vapoui- jets are numerous in other parts of the island, where they arc disposed in a line rimning from north-west to soiith-east, that is, ia the same direction as the axis of the archipelago itself. San-Miguel also abounds most in lakes, formerly craters which vomited burning scoria?, and arc now filled with ruin water. One of these occupies an oval depression immediately to the west of the Yal das Furnas, while a neighboiu'iug basin, 3 miles round, with a depth of over 100 feet, was completeh' filled with ashes during the eruption of 1563, and is now known as the Lagoa Sccca, or "Dry Lake." Six miles farther on is the lagoon Do Conjro, filling a deep crater, with steep walls rising 100 feet above the water. Beyond it is the alpine Lagoa do Forjo, or " Fiery Lake," which has replaced a burning crater opened in 1563. On this occasion the Volcao, or " Yolcano," a lofty mountain so called in a pre-eminent sense, disappeared altogether, being transformed to a mass of ashes and pumice, which were strewn over the island and for hundreds of miles over the surrounding ocean. Some of the volcanic dust was even said to have been wafted by the wind as far as Portugal. The western extremity of San-Miguel is almost entirely occupied by a circular crater, with a surprisingly regular outer rim 9 miles in circimiference, and cut up at intervals by the action of the rains. The vast amphitheatre is dominated by several volcanoes, cidminating south-eastwards in the Pico da Cruz, 2,830 feet high. The sheet of water flooding the great crater lies at an altitude of little over 1,000 feet above the sea, and according to tradition this chasm was opened in 14-14, the very year when the first settlers were lauded on the island by Cabral. This statement, however, has not been confirmed by a geological study of the crater, which has also received from the popular fancy the name of the Cahldm das Sefe Cidades, or " Cauldron of the Seven Cities." Here were doubtless supposed to have been submerged the " Seven Cities " of .i^tHia, founded by the seven legendarj' bishops said to have fled fi'om Portugal at the time of the Moorish invasion. The lake, which has an extreme depth of over 350 feet, is disposed in two distinct basins, the Lagoa Grande in the north, separated by a scarcely emerged tongue of land from the soiithern Lagoa Azul, or "Azure Lake." Each of the two volcanoes h'ing a little farther south has also flooded craters. Within the historic period some submarine volcanoes have risen close to the coast in the vicinity of the Sete Cidades. The regular crater facing the port of Villafranca, on the south side of the island, is of unknown date. The first eruption witnessed in the oj)en sea occurred in 1638, when a column of ashes was thrown up to the south-west of Cape Ferraria, a blackish cone at the same time slowlj' rising above the water ; but in a few months the new island was swept away by the winter storms. In 1811, however, another appeared to the south-west of the same spot. This was the famous Sabriiia, so named from the British frigate which witnessed the eruption, dui-iug which jets of scoria; and ashes rose at intervals to a height of over 680 feet above the cliffs of the neighbouring coast. A cloud of vapom-s revolved round about this colmun of debris lilce a vast wheel, and on the fourth day the fii'st dark outline of Sabrina rose to the sui-face. In three 38 WEST AFRICA. hoiu-s it was alrcadv 20 feet high, with a roimd crater 1,500 feet in circum- ference. Sixteen days after the beginning of the eruption the cone acquired its greatest dimensions-250 feet high and li mile round; but consisting entirely of loose ashes and scoriic, it could not long resist the action of the waves, and gradually disappeared to a depth of about 100 feet below thq surface. The earliest Portuguese settlement on the south coast of San-Miguel takes the simple name of Povoacam. ViUafranca, which succeeded it as the capital, lies also on the south side, where the roadstead is sheltered from the west winds by the volcanic islet and the flooded isthmus connecting it with the shore. Although Fig. 16.— Poxta-Deloada. Scale 1 : 30,000. Wes-t of Greenw'ch B5-4r Depths. 0tol6 Feet. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 to 80 Feet. SO Feet and upwards. . 1,100 Yiirds. destroyed by an eruption in 1522, when all its five thousand inhabitants perished, Yillafranca has again become a populous place, carrying on a direct trade with England. But the capital has been removed farther west to Ponta-Dchjada, which ranks for population as the fourth city in Portuguese territory. The formerly exposed anchorage is already partly protected by a pier 2,850 feet long, which was begun in 1860, and which, when completed, will shelter from all winds a harbour large enough to accommodate a hundred vessels, ilore than half of the foreign trade of the Azores is carried on through this port, which is connected by good roads with the northern slope of the island. Hero are situated Riheira-Grande, TOPOGEAPHY OF THE AZORES. 39 second to^^■Il in San-Miguel, and Capellas, the most frequented summer retreat of the wealthy islanders. The waters separating San-Miguel from Tereeira were the scene of violent submarine disturbances in 17-20, when a temporary volcano rose for a short tune above the surface. In 1867 the convulsions were renewed near the village of Serreta at the western extremity of Tereeira, when another heap of scorise was foi-med, without, however, reaching the level of the sea. On this occasion the ground was in a constant state of agitation for months together, as many as fifty shocks occm-riug more than once in a single day, some strong enough to overthrow the houses. The eruption which gave birth to the sub-marine volcano lasted seven Fio-. 17.— Cexteal IJrA^■DS of the Aechipelaqo. Scale 1 : 1,820,000. DepUis- otoeeo Feet. 660 to 1,630 Feet. 1,650 to 3,300 Feet. i,30O Feet and upwards. , 30 JEles. days, dm-ing which the surrounding waters were coloured yeUow, green, and red bv the ferruginous salts in solution. ' Like San-Miguel, the oval island of Tereeira, or "the Third," consists of two sections, the central and eastern, with its Caldeiram, or « Kettle," and the western with its Cakleira, or "Boiler," of Santa-Barbara, belonging to different geo ogical epochs. The Kettle is a cirque some 6 miles in circumference, encircled by volcanic cones and entirely overgrown with a thicket of brushwood. From its rim a view is commanded of aU the central islands in the archipelago, and he faint outlines of San-Miguel, away to the south-east, may even be discerned m fine weather. The last eruption in the interior of Terceu-a occui-red m b 61 the red lava streams then ejected being stiU nearly destitute of vegetation. A httle gas 40 WEST AJTEICA. and vapour at a temperature of 194" F. still escapes from the crater, M-hile round about the solfataras are deposited crystals of sulphui-, whence this central part of the island takes the name of Fimias d'Eiixofre, or " Sulphur Fui-naces." Off the south coast of Terceira lie the Cahras rocks, representing an old sub- marine cone, now separated by the waves into two distinct islets. Attached to the same coast is the Morro do Brazil, another submarine volcano lying west of the port of Angra. A fort erected on its slope defends Angra, chief town of Terceira, formerly official capital of the Azores, and still residence of the military commander. Although smaller than Ponta-Delgada, the " City of Churches," as it is called from the number of its sacred edifices, it presents a more monumental appearance. In the local records it bears the pompous title of "Angra do Ileroismo," in memory of the successful resistance it opposed to the troops of Don Miguel in 1829. Graciosa, the "Delightful," no longer deserves this name, since its former vesture of arborescent vegetation has been replaced bj' more economic growths. Besides agricultm-e, some industries are carried on in its two towns of Santa- Cruz and Praia, both situated on the north coast. Since the arrival of the Portuguese there have been no eruptions, and seldom any severe earthquakes in this island. The only present indications of volcanic activity are a thermal and mineral spring flowing seawards, and some carbonic acid and other vapours emitted from a " cauldron " in the eastern district. San-Jorge, central point of the middle gi'oup and of the whole archipelago, differs from the other islands in its long narrow form, disposed exactly in the direction of the general Azorian axis, and traversed for some 30 miles by a ridge destitute of deep "cauldrons," and even of craters, properly so called. Although quiescent in its eastern section, which was the first to be occupied by Jobst van Huerter's Flemish colonists, San-Jorge is still frequently disturbed at the other end. Here is VcUas, the capital, sheltered by a headland from the west winds. Submarine volcanoes are said to have made their appearance near the western extremity in 1691, 1720, and 17G7; in the latter year as many as eighteen ephemeral islets, all soon swept away by the waves. Formerlj- San- Jorge produced the best wine in the archipelago, but is at present chiefly occupied with stock- breeding. South of San-Jorge the archipelago culminates in the lofty summit of Pico, or the " Peak," in a pre-eminent sense, which towers to a height of 7,800 feet, and which, although developing at its base a circuit of 70 miles, has never been known by auj- more definite name. On both sides of the island the slopes rise gradually towards the apex, but more rapidly on the west side, which, seen from below, present the appearance of almost vertical walls. During clear weather the summit is seen from a distance to terminate in a crater encircled by more recent cones, foi-med by successive eruptions. But this simimit is even more rarely visible than that of Teneriffe, the mountaiu being wrapped in clouds and fogs for months together, while the snow, sheltered by the vapoui's from the solar rays, remains even during midsummer in the upper crevasses. TOPOGEAPHY OF THE AZORES. 41 Since the time of the Portuguese occupation violent eruptions have occurred, but none in the terminal crater itself, which emits nothing but a light column of vapour, mingled with carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. The eruption of 1572 appears to have been specially distinguished by the intensity of its fires, lighting up the whole archipelago, changing night into day, and illuminatiug the waters of San-Miguel at a distance of 150 miles. Like Terceira and Graciosa, Pico consists mainlv of lavas which were ejected in a perfectly fluid state, and con- sequently spread in serpentine windings over the slopes. Ground nearh' the whole island, as round Etna in Sicily, the waters filter through the ashes and porous lavas, under which they develop subterranean streams, reappearing on the coast, where they are alternately exposed and covered by the tidal ebb and flow. Hence, notwithstanding the abundant rainfall, the inhabitants are obliged to husband their supplies in artificial reservoirs. Although of much larger extent, Pico has a population very little superior to that of the neighbouring Fayal. Formerly the large landowners of this island accumidated great wealth from their extensive vineyards, especiall\' in Pico, which in 1852 j-ielded over 2,860,01)0 gallons of a vintage resembling Madeira ; but in 1853 the crop was reduced by the ravages of oidium to one-fifth, and a few years later the vines had only the value of so much fuel. Since then a few vine- yards have been restored, and attention has been paid to the cultivation of other fi-uits and to grazing on the \ipland pastures. But the produce of Pico, and consequently the trade of Fayal, have been much reduced, so that the impoverished inhabitants have largely contributed to swell the tide of emigration. Lacjcns, capital of Pico, is a wa-etched village near the south coast, on the banks of a lagoon which it is proposed to convert into a harbour. Geographically, Faijal may be regarded as a dependency of Pico, from which it is separated by a channel less than 300 feet in depth. The spiirious beeches, whence Fayal, or the "Eeech Grove," takes its name, have almost disappeared, being now found only in a "cauldron" in the centre of the island 1,310 feet deep and nearly 4 miles roiind, and flooded with a small lake. Of all the Azores, Fayal is the best cultivated, and yields the finest fi-uits, such as oranges, apricots, and bananas. The industrious natives manufacture some woven fabrics, and the women prepare a thousand fancy objects for strangers, amongst which beautiful lace made with agave fibre. Morta, capital of Fayal, occupies a pleasant position over agaiast Pico at the entrance of the fertile Yale of Flanders, so named from its first settlers, amongst whom was Martin Beham, the famous Xiirnberg cosmographer. Ko other district in the archipelago sm-passes that of Horta for the variety of the indigenous and exotic flora and the beauty of its shady groves, in which are intermingled the European, American, and Australian species. Owing to the abundance of its vegetable and other produce, Horta has become the chief port of call of the American whalers frequenting these waters. Its roadstead also is the best sheltered in the whole archipelago, being protected from the dangerous west winds by the sui-roundins heights, from those of the east and north- east by Pico and VOL. XII. E 42 WEST AFEICA. San-Jorge, and from the soiitli by the Quemado and Aguia, or Guia, rocks. A breakwater in coui'se of construction, running from Quemado to the south of the anchorage, 'will enclose a safe harbour of about 30 acres in extent. Flores and Corco, separated from the other Azores by a space of about 150 Fig. IS.— CoKTO. Scale 1 : 75,000. Depths. to 3oa Feet. 330 Feet and upwards. . 3,."fO Yards. miles, and from each othea- by a strait 11 miles wide and over 830 fathoms deep, form a little group apart, communicating seldom with the eastern groups, except for administrative purposes with Horta, capital of the province of the Azores. ABCHIPELAGO OF ArAr>FTT>.A 43 ^Sererihdess, the natires are dariiig majiners, trading directlj- witk Portugal and Siazil, and aftea sr^tpljing feeah. liands to the American whalers. Th.e cattle of CoTTo, descsided hma the Algarrian breed, are probably the smallest in the wodd, the largest scarcely exceeding 36 inches, but always well-proportioned. The two islands hare a typical Azorian climate, mild, moist, and breezy, with a heayier rainfall than ekewhere, more sadden gales, m.ore rerdant perennial Tegetation. Although disafforested, Flores stiLL remains the island of " Flowers," with a great Tariety of Tegetable species and wondeEfuILy fertile slopes and dells. All the dopes of the hflls in. both islands are scored by deep valleys radiating regnla^r £ram the centre to the periphery. This formation is due to the great age of tie laras, which daraig the conrse of eoontless centuries hare been cut up into broad Talleys, &Eineify densdy coTered with forest growths, now occupied i^ rich cnltivated tracts. ISo eniptions, or even any Tiolent earthquakes, have been recorded either in Flores or Cosro thronghoitt the historic period. The craters have ceased to emit any raponrs, and are now partfy flooded with lakelets, portly clothed with brush- wood and heiljage. The great caoldron occupying about balf of Corro, is the most legnlaT in the whole archipelago, forming an oval cirqne over -i miles round, and intersected by nnm^oos gorges, some converging towards the inner lake. Cithers direrging seawards. Admesistbattos. The Azores, attached administratively to Portngal as an integral part of the kingdam, ccanprise three districts subdivided into twenty-two eoneelhos and a hundred and twenty-five communes. Each district is administered by an elective GoLmial coimcil, and by a special civO. government depending direcdy on the metrofKklis. The Azores send eight deputies to the Portuguese chambers, four named by Ponta-Delgada, two by each of the other districts. A tabulated list of the islands, with their districts, chief towns, and popula- tions, wiU be found in the Appendix. Archipelago of Madetra. The gioiq> of Atlantic islands and islets lying 500 miles to the south-east of Santa-Maria in the Azores, occupies a very insignificant space amid the surround- ing waters. But althongb Madeira, the chief island, with all its little dependen- cies, has a total area of le^ than 4»30 square miles, so densely is it peopled that it contains a population idatrrely four times greater than that of the mother-country, PortugaL Less European in its climate than the Azores, Madeira lies, nevertheless, much nearer to the mainland, the distance from. Funchal to Sagres not exceeding -5-50 miles, or two davs of steam, navigation. The African coast is still nearer, Cape Cantin, in Marocco, lying 420 miles due east ; while Palma and Teneriffe, in the Canary gioiq>, are distant less than 270 miles to the south. Madeira is entirely 44 WEST ATBICA. encircled by deep waters, in which the soonding-liae plunges 2/200 fathoms without touching the bed of the sea. But in the direction of Euiope there occur several bants and plateaux, such as that of Gettysburg, about 150 miles fi-om the nearest Portuguese headland, flooded only by 200 feet of water. This bank of brio-ht pink coral forms the crest of an extensive submerged land, which ramifies on the one hand towards Madeira, on the other towards the Azores through the Josephine bank lying under 85 fathoms of water. In the early records of doubtful geographical discovery Madeiia flits like a shadow before the piizzled gaze of the observer. Is it to be identified with the Jeziret-el-Ghanam, discovered by the Arab navigators before the time of Edrisi, that is, before the twelfth century ; and is Porto-Santo the Jeziret-el-Tiur, or " Isle of Birds " of these explorers ? On the map of the brothers Pizzigani, dated 1367, and several other more recent Italian charts, the Madeira group is indicated as the archipelago of Saint Brendan's Fortunate Islands. But so early as 1351 Madeira is already mentioned in a Medicean document by the name it still bears, the " Isle of "Wood " (in Italian legname, the equivalent of the Portuguese madeira, " wood " ), the other islets of the group being also indicated by their present appellations. Nevertheless, Madeira was again forgotten by the western seafarers, or at least the vague memory of its existence faded away into a popular legend. " It seems," says one author, " that such a delightful island could only have been discovered by love ; " and thus arose, embellished by a Portuguese writer, the story of the two English lovers who fled from Bristol in the reign of Edward III., and were driven by a storm to the coast of Madeira. But however this be, the definite registration of the archipelago in the records of geographical discovery dates only from the year 1-118 or 1419. Accord- ing to Barros, the cavaliers Goncalvez Zarco and Tristam Taz Teixeyra, '• still unaccustomed to sail on the high seas," were driven by the tempest far from the African shore, which they were coasting in the direction of Bojador, and landed at Porto-Santo, the "Sacred Port," or haven of refuge. On their return to Portugal they received from Don Henri a commission to colonise the new island, and they proceeded forthwith to explore a dark spot visible from Porto-Santo on the south-western horizon. Madeira was at last discovered. Contemporary evidence leaves no room to doubt that the Portuguese navigators reallv rediscovered Do . the archipelago. At the same time it cannot be pretended that the islands were previously imknown to Prince Henry, for the very names given them bv the Portuguese were identified with those already assigned to them on the Italian, maps. Madeira, chief member of the group, so far exceeds all the others in extent, population, and resources, that in ordinary language no account is taken of these minor satellites, and Madeira is spoken of as if it were a solitary island in the waste of waters. Disposed in the direction from east to west, it has an extreme length of over -35 miles, and a width of 14 miles at its widest part, between the northern and southern headlands of San-Jorge and Santa-Cruz, with a superficial area of about 280 square miles. Madeira is entirely occupied by igneous rocks ARCHIPELAGO OF MADEIRA. 45 ejected during successive marine cniptions, and round tlie periphery furrowed by deep valleys, wliicli bear witness to the great antiquity of the lavas. The basalts and trachytes resting on a conglomerate of volcanic debris, called rinoso from its colour, and traversed in every direction by dykes of injected matter, have been eroded by the rains and torrents to a depth of many hundred feet below the original surface. No distinct craters are any longer visible ; the escarp- ments have lost their sharp scorifc ; all riigosities and rocky points have been rounded or covered with vegetable humus. Hence, despite the chasms and their steep walls, the whole svirface has assumed a soft and charming aspect, even where Fig. 19. — Akchipelago of Madeiea. Scale 1 : 1,500,000. West of Greenwich Depths. to 330 Feet. 800 to 3,300 Feet. 3,300 Feet and upwards. • 30 MUes. the rocks have not been clothed with the verdure of brushwood or forest growths. There are no indications of any surviving volcanic life, and earthquakes are of rare occurrence. The island is traversed from end to end by a high saddle-back, broadening here and there into plateaux, and again contracting to a narrow ridge. Lateral spurs branching from the main range, and separated from each other by profound gorges, terminate on the coast in abrupt headlands, columnar basalt cliffs, and many-coloured tufas, whose brown, red, and yellow tints produce a very viA'id effect. Cape Giram, one of these headlands, about the middle of the south coast, 46 WEST AFRICA. falls little short of 2,500 feet above the sea. But the general axis Has much nearer the north side, where the slope is consequently far more abrupt. Here also the general aspect of nature is wilder, the headlands more rugged, the coast- line more sharply outlined, without, however, anwhere developing natural havens. The whole island presents no safe refuge where shipping may safely anchor at all times. According to Oswald Hccr, IMadcira emerged probably during the Quaternary epoch, to which age seem to belong the beds of fossil plants discovered on the Fi". 20. — Easteex Peninsula of IIadeiea. Scale 1 : 133,000 Depths. Oto 165 Feet. 165 to 330 Feet. 330 to 660 Feet. 6C0 Feet and upwards. 3 Miles. north side, and the prodigious masses of land shells forming steep ramparts about Cape Sam-Louren^-o at the eastern extremity of the island. Marine fossils foimd 1,270 feet above sea-level date from the Tertiary period, and some facts are men- tioned by "Walker which show that the sea has receded in the Funchal district, and which seem to point at a recent upheaval of the land. According to Zieglcr, Madeira, regarded as a horizontal mass, has a mean altitude of 2,700 feet. But in its western section the central chain, here A-ery irregidar, rises to a height of over 4,000 feet. It then expands into an extensive tableland about 10 miles round, with precipitous escarpments. This is the Paul CLIMATE OF :MADEIEA. 47 da Sen-a, or " Mountain llorass," whose depressions, here and there filled with peat, have somewhat the aspect of the English moors. East of this district the main range is dominated by the Pic Euivo, or Eed Peak, 5,870 feet, culminating point of the whole island, which overlooks the Carral das Freiras, a vast cirque enclosed on three sides by steep walls over 1,600 feet high. Here, perhaps, was the old central crater, now enlarged and partly effaced by the erosion of running waters. A dismantled lava wall connects the Eiuvo heights to a very irregular plateau dominating on the north the Bay of Funchal. Beyond this plateau, which still exceeds 3,000 feet, the central range falls rapidly, and the island tapers to the eastern peninsula, which, with its terminal islets, presents the best anchorage for shipping. The little haven of Machico, at the neck of this penin- sula, is the spot where the legend places the grave of the two English lovers, said to have been the first that landed on the island, driven to its shores by a tempest. The rugged easternmost headland of Sam-Louren^o is continued seawards by the islet of Fora and by a submarine bank, which is extended eastwards and south- wards in depths of from 280 to 500 feet. Still farther to the south-east this bank rises to the surface, forming some reefs and the chain of the three Desertas, or "Desert " islets, which long deserved their name, but which are now inhabited by a few hundred fishermen and shepherds. In the valleys of the largest (Grande Deserta) some com is also cultivated. Porto-Santo, lying 90 miles to the north-east of iladeira, and separated from it by an abyss 1,200 fathoms deep, differs also in its relief. It is far less hilly, consisting of two volcanic masses with an intervening sandy plain, where are situated the chief centres of population. Climate. Lying between 32° and 33" X. latitude — that is, about one-third of the distance between the equator and the Arctic pole — ITadeira is renowned for its mild and delightful climate. TThen we speak of any pleasant spot or happy island, Madeira at once recurs to the memory. Although meteorological observations have been taken almost exclusively in the specially favoured district of Funchal, situated on the south coast and well sheltered from the north, the whole archipelago may be said to enjoy a remarkably equable climate. The mean temperature of Fimchal is naturally somewhat higher than that of Ponta-Delgada and Fayal in the Azores, which lie five degrees farther north, but the annual extremes are considerably less, the heat being greater in winter and less sultry in summer. Between February, the coldest, and August, the hottest month, the difference is less than 12° F., the mean for winter being 60^ F., for summer 69° F., and for the whole year 64° F. This remarkable uniformity is due not only to the marine situation of Madeira, but also to the annual equilibrium of the winds. During the hot season, that is, from February to September, the cool north-east trade winds prevail, these beiag succeeded in winter by the soft western breezes. At the same time the deviations 48 "U'Ei'T AFRICA. from the normtil directions arc very frequent in tLcsc waters, wLicli lie in the intermediate zone between the tropical and tcmiiorato seas. Tlius the north-west currents arc often deflected eastwards by the neighbourhood of the Sahara, and transformed to north and north-east winds. At times also the lesfe, as the scirocco is here called, blows from the desert towards Madeira, but it is usually very weak and .seldom lasts long. The system of general currents is daily modified by the regular movement of the fcrral, or land-breeze, blowing from the uplands sea- wards, and of the imhafc, or sea-breeze, blowing landwards. The change of direc- tion often takes place before noon, so that the greatest heat prevails in the early part of the day. The chief moisture-bearing currents arc the trade winds more or less deflected and transformed to north and north-west breezes. The wettest month is December, August the driest ; but no season is quite rainless, and the rainfall varies remark- ably from year to year. On an average scarcely a hundred wet days are recorded at Funohal, which is about half that of the Azores, the quantity of rainfall being nearly in the same proportion in the two archipelagoes. According to Heineken, that of Funchal is about 30 inches yearly, so that the inhabitants of Madeira are obliged to husband their resources, utilising the water from the melting snows to irrigate the plains, and diverting the copious streams by means of leradoa, or aqueducts running in galleries through the hills and encircling the escarpments aboA-e the valleys. These springs are partly fed by the dense fogs which con- stantly settle morning and evening on the summits of the interior. Fl.OUA. Although less extensive than the Azores, the JMadeira group possesses a far more varied flora, which is due no doubt to its greater proximity to the two continents of Europe and Africa, and to its milder climate favouring the development both of tropical plants and species peculiar to the temperate zone. Madeira is like a large botanical garden, in which the two floras are intermingled. To the seven hundred species supposed to have been indigenous at the arrival of the Portuguese, there have since been added thousands introduced by man either unintentionally, or designedly for agricultural, industrial, or ornamental purposes. " The ^aolet," saj-s Bowditch, " grows beneath the shade of the bananas ; the strawberry ripens at the foot of the mimosas; palms and conifers flourish side by side; the guava and pear- trees are met with in the same enclosui-es." Thanks to a few indigenous plants, and especially to the exotics introduced since the colonisation, the present vegetation of Siadeira in many respects recalls that of the tropical lands in Africa and the New World, without however losing its general European aspect. Of the 700 species, of which 527 are very probably endemic, 357 belong to Europe, while not more than 30 can be referred to the tropical flora of both hemispheres. As regards the indigenous species either peculiar to Madeira or common to some of the other Atlantic archipelagoes, Madeira shows the greatest resemblance to the Canary group. Hence Webb, Ball, and other naturalists have FLORA OF MADEIRA. 49 given the collective designation of Macaronesia to all these islands, in memory of Fig. 21. — Ar^nETRA — View takex fkom lIorxT Siit-JoEGE. the old Greek '-Isles oi the Blest." Since the Tertiary epoch this flora has 50 WEST AFRICA. uudergonc Ijut sliglit changes, as sho\^Ti by Oswald Ileer's researches on the fossil plants of Mount Sam-Jorge in the north of Madeira. At that time the tree- fern, the myrtle, and allied species were as characteristic of the island as at present. An extremely remarkable botanical phenomenon is the curious contrast presented by the larger island to Porto-Santo and the Desertas, where are found African, Asiatic, and American varieties not occurring in Madeira proper. Here great changes have taken place, thousands of new plants having been introduced, while some of the indigenous species have probably disappeared. The clearing of the forests began with the very first arrivals, and Goncales Zarco, to Fig 22. — DeACOSA of IcOD, in TE^•EKIFFE. whom the Fuuchal district had been assigned as a fief, fired the woods coTering the site of the future capital. The conflagration spread far and wide, threatening- even to devour those by whom it had been kindled. Aloys de Codnmosto tells us that in order to escape from the flames the settlers had to take refuge in their boats or to east themselves into the sea, where they remained without food for two daya and nights, immersed to the shoulders in water. For years the fire continued to creep from hill to hill, and the new plants that sprang up no longer resembled those of the primeval forests. Porto-Santo also, formerlj' covered with large timber, and especially with the draconas used for building boats, -was even more wasted than INHABITANTS OF MADEIEA. 51 Madeira, and brushwood has become so rare that cow-dung has now to be used for f ueL The dracona, a t}"pical Macaronesian tree, has disappeared from Porto-Santo since 1828, and has also become very rare in ^Madeira, where it mostly dies without fructifying. In all the lowh-ing grounds cultivated plants have replaced the old vegetation, fields and orchards ascending as high as 2,500 feet, which is the limit for the cultivated species of the temperate zone. But the laurel and ferns reach as far as 5,350 feet, where is met the Oreodaphne fwtens, which emits such a foetid odour that the woodman is unable to fell it all at once. Fauna. The original fauna of the archipelago is very poor in species, being limited to a lizard, a bat, a bird, a bee, a grasshopper, a cricket, a few shells and insects, and a spider which weaves no web, but captures flies by fascinating them, as the snake does the frog. Of the 176 land-shells 38 are European; but each island has its special varieties, the Desertas 10, Porto-Santo 44, and Madeira as many as 61. An the quadrupeds have been introduced by the colonists, even the destructive rabbit and rats. The marine faima is also mainly European, fewer species of the equatodal Atlantic having been discovered than naturalists had expected from the latitude. According to Lowe, the fishes are essentially Lusitanian, occiip\-ing an intermediate position between tho.se of the British Isles and the Mediterranean. Inhabitants. Like that of the Azores, the popiilation of Madeira is of very mixed origin. Perestrello, leader of the first settlors, was an Italian ; Jews and Moors have taken refuge in the island; Xegroes have been imported as slaves; the English, masters of ^ladeu-a during the wars of the Empire, left behind them numerous fa mi lies ; and since the development of ocean steam navigation many strangers have settled here. But all these heterogeneous elements became successively absorbed in the dominating Portuguese race, and nearlj- all the inhabitants have black eyes, coarse dark hair, and a swarthy complexion, far too general not to be attributed in many cases to a Xegro strain. Eeally beaiitiful featui-es are seldom met, except in the rural districts, but many have a pleasant expression, due to their healthy appear- ance, graceful carriage, and well-proportioned figures. Like their Portuguese ancestry, the people are as a rule very courteous, of a mild, amiable, and cheerful temperament, and law-abiding. The popidation increases rapidly, having risen from 16,000 in the beginning of the sixteenth century and 64.000 in 17G8, to 100,000 in 1825 and over 135,000 at present. It has thus been more than doubled in a centuiy, while the number of births exceeds the mortality by from 1,500 to 2,000. Yet scarcity at times causes a falling off, as between the yeats 1839-1847, when the potato disease, followed by much distress, reduced the population by over 10,000. The malady of the vine was still more disastrous, and the visitation of cholera in 1856 caused a total loss of about 10,000, victims partly of the epidemic, partly of want and exhaustion. Several ailments prevail which one would scarcely expect to find in such a highly 62 WEST AFRICA. favoured climate. Siu-li are rickets, scrofula, consumption, and even leprosy, as in the mother country. The women emigrate far less than the men, so that they are always in excess by several thousands. During the quarter of a century between 1835 and 18-j9, over 50,000 altogether emigrated, either to the British West Indies, or to Dcmerara and Erazil, and settlements have also been formed in the Cape and the Sandwich Islands. The land system is the same as that which prevails in the Azores. Although landed property has been free since 1863, the descendants of the old feudatories still own the soil and the water used in irrigation. The tenant, however, claims all the produce and aU structures erected by himself, so that he cannot be dispossessed without receiving compensation for the standing crops and improve- ments. He has, in fact, become co-proprietor, and may even sell his hcmfcitoria, or "interest," without the consent of the morgado (ground landlord). In theory the rent claimed by the latter represents half the crop, but it is usually less, and in some cases not even one-fourth. The first great staple of agriculture was the sugar-cane, imported from Sicily, and in the sixteenth century so prosperous that the hundred mills at that time employed yielded over 00,000 cwts. But this industry having been ruined by the competition of Brazil, capitalists took to wine-growing, the plant, introduced from Candia in the fifteenth century, having succeeded beyond all hope. The better vintages accpurcd, imder the names of "malvoisie" and "drj- Madeira," a high repute, and at the time of its greatest prosperity, about 1820, the total yield amounted to 2,650,000 gallons, valued at £500,000. But in 1852 oidium, after wasting the vineyards of the Cape Terd and Canary groups, attacked those of iladeira. The ruin was sudden and terrible, and when growers began to recover themselves in the course of ten or twelve years, phylloxera invaded the districts M-hich yielded the choicest vintages. Nevertheless, the struggle continues, and Jladeira still exports wine blended either with the ordinary white vintage of Portu- gal, or with cider, or even with the juice of the sugar-cane. The vine grows best in the Funchal district and at the entrance of the southern gorges. It is rare on the northern slope, where its tendrils twine round the branches of the chestnut. Early vegetables, exquisite bananas, and other sub-tropical fi'uits, are raised for the Lisbon market. AVere trade relieved from its fiscal biirdens, this industry might be vastly developed, and ^Madeira might become the southern garden of "Western Europe. Lisbon also largely imports the products of the local handicrafts, such as lace, embroidery, artificial flowers, straw hats, matting, carved and inlaid wood, and a thousand other objects needing taste and a deft hand. In the villages these articles are produced chiefly by the women and the infirm. Another less praiseworthy but no less profitable pursuit is the systematic plunder of invalids and other strangers who come to recruit their strength in this delightful island. But many of these die in the place where they sought renewed life, and Madeira has even been called " one of London's cemeteries." The fault, however, as remarked by M. Thicrcelin, is not with the land where people come to die, but with that where they have lived. The number of visitors varies from year to year o H M OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. INHABITANTS OF MADEIRA. 63 with the whim of fashion and the vicissitudes of trade. But the strangers who jjass the winter in Fnnchal may on an average be estimated at five hundred, mostly English, who spend about £100,000 in the country. Lying on the track of the Atlantic steamers plying along the West African seaboard, Madeira also bcno- Fig. 23. — FUNCKAL AND SoCOREIDOS VaLLET. Scale I : 130,000. 52 i^=^'^^*«^^- t^ '^-i? ^''^^^^^^^^ ^i^ €^- e^rV ■West of oreenwich to 165 Feet. 165 to 330 Feet. Depths. 330 to 660 Feet. 660 Feet' and upwards. , 3 Miles. fits by the constant arrival of numerous passengers, who land for a few hours or days on this fortunate island. Of late years Madeira has also become a health resort for European civilians, officials, and soldiers residing on the west coast of Africa, Senegambia, Sierra-Leone, or Liberia. They come to breathe the cool sea-breezes in the same island where men from the north bask in the warm mid-day sun. 64 WEST AFRICA. Topography. The presence of all the?o wealthy strangers could not fail to transform the town where they take up their abode. Thanks to them, Fttnchal, capital and only town in the island, has assumed a neat and elegant appearance, with pleasant walks and charming viUas dotted over the slopes and crests of the surrounding hills. Lying on a roadstead open to the south, and deep enough for large vessels, and slightly protected by a fortified islet from the south-west, Funchal will soon possess a thoroughly sheltered harbour enclosed by a breakwater connecting the island with the mainland. It has the further attraction of surprisingly fertUe gardens, and the picturesque valley of the Socorridos with its magnificent amphitheatre of cultivated slopes commanded by a semicircle of hills, whence the streams flow in goro-es converging on the town. The entrepot for all the produce of the island, Funchal is also the seat of three large colleges — the Ij'ceum, the seminary, and the medical school preparatory for the University of Coimbra. These schools are pretty weU attended, but in the rest of the archipelago great ignorance prevails, more than half of the population being entirely illiterate. Next to Portuguese, the most widespread language is English, mother-tongue of most of the visitors and passing seafaring population. Porto-Santo, ruined by the "colonial contracts," which secured half of all the produce to the landed proprietors, has only 1750 inhabitants altogether. Neverthe- less its capital, Balcira, takes the title of city. Like the Azores, Madeira forms administratively an integral part of the kingdom of Portugal, constituting a separate province under the name of Funchal, its capital, since the arrival of the first settlers. Although geographically belonging to the Canaries, the little Selcagcns group are usually considered as a dependence of Madeira, from which they are distant about 180 miles. Of these uninhabited and worthless islets a Funchal family claims the ownership. They comprise the Great Piton, 5 miles in circumference, and the Little Piton connected with it by a chain of rocks and reefs, frequented by myriads of aquatic birds. The Canary Archipelago. Lying much nearer the continent than the other Atlantic groups, the Canaries, which are within 04 miles of the nearest Maroccan headland, have been known since the commencement of the historic period. They are the Fortunate Islands of the Greek poets, the abode of departed heroes, who here enjoyed everlasting life under a delightful climate, never checkered by storms or biting frosts. But in those days no geographer could indicate the precise locality of those blissful islands, which in the imagination of the ancients were confused with all the Atlantic lands lying in the "ocean stream" beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Strabo tells us that the Phoenicians knew them well, but kept the secret of their discoveries to themselves. Even in the Periplous of Hanno, the Carthaginian, THE CAKAEY AECHIPELAGO. 55 mention is made onl^- of tke in-shoi-e islands, which can scarcely be identified with the Canaries, unless Teneriffe be the " Land of Perfumes," whence flowed seawards fiery streams, and which were commanded by a loity mountain, known to mariners as the " Chariot of the Gods." Nevertheless the name of Jimonia, applied by Ptolemy to one of the islands, would suffice to show that here was a Carthaginian settlement, for their great goddess was Tanith, identified by the Greeks and Romans with their Juno. The oldest extant documents which attempt to fix the exact locality of the Fortunate Islands, date from the time of imperial Rome, and the first mention of the word Caiiaria occurs in Pliny, who on the authority of a certain Statius Sebosus, assigns it to one of the islands, whence it has been extended to the whole group. According to Faidherbe, this name is derived from the Berber Canar, or Ganar, formerly attributed to the neighbouring African seaboard; and the AVolofs even still apply the term Ganar to the region stretching north of the Senegal river. Ptolemy also calls one of the western headlands of Africa Canaria, while Pliny speaks of some " Canarian " tribes among the populations dwelling about the Atlas ilountains. Amongst the islands mentioned by the ancient writers, two only can be now identified by their name — Canaria, the Great Canary of modern times, and Nivaria, or the " Snowy," which certainly refers to the Peak of Teyde. The latter being described as the island farthest removed from the Gates of Hercides, it woiild seem to follow that the three western islands of Gomera, Palma, and Hierro, were unknown to the ancients, so that the others named by them would have to be sought in the group comprising Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and the neighbouring islets. Several of these being mere reefs were left unnamed, just as at present we speak summarily only of the seven larger islands, although, including the Selvagens, the whole archipelago comprises as many as sixteen distinct lands. Although it is impossible to identify Edrisi's seventeen islands of the " Gloomy Ocean," the Arabs are generally believed not only to have been, acquainted with the Khalidat, or "Eternal" islands, but also to have lived, jointly with the Berbers, in the eastern part of the archipelago. In the thirteenth century Ibn-Said describes in detail the voyage of the navigator, Ibn-Fathima, to the south of Cape Bojador, and his shipwreck on the Arguin Bank. Xevertheless De Macedo has endeavoured to show that the Arabs were ignorant of the existence of the Canaries, and that their geographers merely repeated with modifications the texts of the ancients referring to this archipelago. "VMiile the Portuguese sailors were still cautiously feeling their way along the African seaboard, the Canaries, which lie south of Cape I^un, had long been visited by those of other nations. Before the exjjeditions of GH Eannes, the Portuguese had not ventured to double Cape IS'un, and did not get be3'ond Cape Bojador till 1436, whereas the Genoese were already acquainted with the Canaries at the end of the thirteenth centurv, and had even occupied Lanzarote, one of the group. Petrarch, born in 1304, tells us that " a full generation before his time " 56 WEST AFRICA. a Genoese fleet had reached the archipelago ; and Lanzarote was the name of the Genoese conqueror (Lanzaroto ilarocello) whose family was one of the most powerful in the republic, from the beginning of the twelfth to the end of the sixteenth century. This family was itself of Xorman origin, and when the Normans, under Bethencourt, occupied Lanzarote in 140'2, they there found " an old castle formerly built by Lancelot Maloesel, as is said." During the fourteenth century the Canaries were frequently visited by Europeans, eitlier as pirates or here shipwrecked, and a chart dating from 1351 presents an exact outline of the archipelago, with the names still current, Teneriffe alone excepted, which was called "Hell Island," on accoimt of its burning mountain. The European kings had already begun to contend for these oceanic lands, and in 134-1 Pope Clement YI. presented them to one of his favourites, Luis de la Cerda, whom he named " Prince of Fortune ; " but the new sovereign lacked the means needed to enable him to take possession of his kingdom. All the expeditions to these waters, even those of the Italians Angiolino di Tagghia and Nicolosi di Eecco for Alfonso lY. of Portugal, were still made for plunder, and not for conquest. As says the local chronicle : " Lancelot was once very thickly peopled, but the Spaniards and other sea-robbers have oftentimes taken and carried them away into bondage." No actual conquest was attempted tUi 1402, when the Norman Jean de Bethencourt landed on Lanzarote with fifty men. He was well received by the people ; but internal discord, the want of provisions, and a bootless excursion to Fuerteventura, would have caused a total failure had Bethencourt not offered the suzerainty to the King of CastiUe in return for men and supplies. Thanks to this help he was enabled to occupy Fuerteventura in 1404, and Ferro (Hierro) in 1405 ; but his expeditions to the other islands were defeated, and Gomera alone was added to the European possessions by his successor. The valiant resistance of the natives was not finally overcome until the King of Spain had formally decreed the annexation of the archipelago as an integral part of his states, and had undertaken the conquest b}- regular military armaments. Thus were reduced Palma and Great Canary in 1493, and Tene- riffe in 1497, when the menccys, or Icinglets, hounded down like wild beasts, were captured, baptised, and led in triiunjih to the King of Castillo for the amusement of the court. The conquest had occupied altogether nearly a cen- tury. But other lands were still supposed to exist farther west, and in 1519 the King of I'ortugal yielded to Spain the undiscovered island, which, however, a first expedition in 152G failed to find. The belief in its existence still lingered on even after fui-ther efforts were made to discover it by the Spaniards in 1-370, 1(J04, and 1721, and by the Portuguese from the Azores. At last it was concluded that this phantom island was only a mirage of Palma, which it resembled in outline, produced on the western horizon by the refraction of the moist air brought by the weat winds ; in any case the seas had already been explored in every direction, so that further researches became useless. Yet the legend still survives, and the few adherents of the Sebastianist sect, who await the return of the Portu- -■'-VLKSiTy of ILLINOIS THE CANAn f'Jf Tmo S"3eba3tlan GOMERA West of Grvemnch. M so Falhtrmn 50 lo 260. ^SO ISLANDS ^"^ ; aocatrta ¥. o'""!^;^-' P!'/i>fJjgS^1> C3,;il« y A„|4(^ ■; Puerto de Cabras "' <,JL4y CAVAJtM " /'fA/ssjiaJomiu P* J^ttntiio Puerto Pa-eJ 28" 27 ffix/a '<5 / SCO tc /ooo lOOOx^arxte GEOLOGY OP THE CANAEIES. 57 gucse prince from the fatal battlefield of Alkazar-el-Kebir, cherish the hope that the undiscovered land will at the same time rise above the surface of the ■waters. Geology of the Caxauies. The Canaries are not disposed in any regular order, although roughly forming the arc of a circle, whoso convex side faces southwards. But Gomera and Hierro lie beyond this curve, and the archipelago consists rather of two distinct groups — Lanzarote, Fuerteventui-a, and neighbouring islets in the east ; the five other large islands in the west. The first group runs parallel with the continental seaboard ; the second, on the contrary, is disposed at right angles with the mainland. The two eastern islands stand on a common submarine plateau, whereas all the others lie in deep water, where in some places a thousand-fathom sounding line fails to touch the bottom. Lanzarote and Fuerteventura again are but slightly elevated compared with the western group, presenting in fact a steppe formation like that of the opposite continent. All, however, arc alike of volcanic origin, their contoiu- being nearlj^ everj'whore broken by headlands formed by eruptive rocks, while the primitive or scdimentar_y formations occupy a very small space amid the lava beds covering most of the surface. Their very aspect attests the antiquity of most of the trachytes, basalts, or obsidians in the western group, where the slopes of the hills are generally furrowed bj' deep gorges excavated in the course of ages by the running waters. Hence it is difiicult to recognise the primitive form of the lava streams formerly ejected fi-om the volcanoes, while in many places the craters themselves have disappeared. Gran Canaria (Great Canary), central member of the whole archipelago, where no eruption has occurred during the historic period, has been most weathered by atmospheric influences, by which the rocks have here been sculptured anew. Vast cirques have thus been opened for the rains of the interior, and the debris carried awaj' seawards, the amount of denudation representing a considerable part of the original insular mass. The absence of vapoiir jets and of thermal springs also bears witness to the antiquity of the volcanoes in the Canaries, compared with those of the Azores, which still abound in gases and boiling waters. No doubt there have been extensive discharges of lava and violent earthquakes even since the rediscovery of the archipelago ; but these phenomena have been confined to the three islands of Lanzarote, Palma, and Tcneriffe. Nor do the local records speak of ephemeral islands analogous to those heaps of scorias which have so often appeared and disappeared in the Azorian waters. The only instance occurred during the series of eruptions which lasted for six years in the western district of Lanzarote, when flames mingled with vajjour flashed up close in-shore, and cones of scoria?, rising above the surface, gradually expanded until thej- became attached as headlands to the coast. On the same occasion the marine inlet of Janubio was converted into a lake by the enormoiis quantity of scorite thrown up by the craters. VOL. XII. F 58 "WEST AFEICA. Climate of the Caxaries. Lying farthei* south than Madeira and nearer to the African continent, the Canaries have a warmer and somewhat less equable climate than that group. The annual extremes of temperature arc greater not only in the eastern islands, which arc naturally influenced by the neighbouring Sahara, but also in the western group, of which Teneriffe is the centre. Here the glass falls at Santa Craz to 6-1° F. in winter, rising to 77° in summer, with a mean of 70° F., and a difference of 14° between the hottest and coldest months. There is no winter in the European Fig. 24.— Tetbe Peat Scale 1 : 500,000. Depths. 0to660 Feet. eco Feet and upwards. 12 Miles. sense of the word, the heat being greater at this season than the average of southern Italy. Nevertheless, the coldest day has a temperatui-e of 46° F., while summer is at times too hot for Europeans, especially in the eastern group, where the Saharian blasts prevail much more frequently than in Madeira. With them come dust-charged clouds, blighting the vegetation, causing the ground to crack, men and animals to pine, and at times bringing swarms of locusts, which in 15SS ■v^cro carried as far as Teneriffe. FLOEA OF THE CANAEIES. 59 The C;maries have a relatively sUghter rainfall than Madeira, and esjDecially than the Azores, months at times passing without a single refreshing shower. On an average there are reckoned three hundred rainless days, the regular rains usually beginning at the end of Xovember and lasting two months. They thus mainly coiucide with the west winds, although moisture is also precipitated at other times, and especially in spring, when opposing currents of varying temperatui-e meet in this region. In winter the clash gives rise to tornadoes, local cyclones destructive to shipping and to the crops. But the great cyclones of the TVest Indies never sweep the Canarian waters. During the dry or summer season, from Api-il to October, tbe aerial currents set steadily from north-east to south-west, and the " brisa," or trade wind, is so constant that all navigation of sailing craft in the opposite direction is entii'ely interrupted. Owing to the friction of opposing atmospheric currents, the moisture is greater on the plateaux and slopes of the mountains. Thus on the Peak of Teyde a layer of clouds intermediate between the trade winds and the counter currents rises and falls according to the elevation of the zone of contact, usually descending in summer down to from 3,600 to 6,500 feet and in winter to between 1,650 and 2,300 feet above sea-level. In Teneriife three aerial strata — the coimter wind, trade wind, and marine breeze — may be observed all superimposed one above the other. In proof of this normal disposition, Humboldt refers to two windmills, which worked nearly always simxdtaneously, one revolving towards the north-west, the other towards the south. Thus the inhabitants of TenerifEe and of the other mountainous islands are able to remove at pleasure from one climate to another, selecting the degree of heat and moisture best suited to their constitutions. Thanks to this advantage, the number of invaKds coming to the Canaries in search of renewed health is yearly on the increase, and these islands will probably in the near future be resorted to more generally even than Madeira. Flora of the C.^XAKres. With a drier climate than Madeira, and especially the Azores, the Canaries present a less verdant appearance than the northern archipelagoes, and in many places are even quite destitute of vegetation. In Lanzarote and Fuerteventura neither forests nor plantations of the same species are any longer ■\-isible, and the land here assumes the aspect of the steppe. But patches of woodland still survive in the western group, and especially in Palma, at once the best-timbered and the best-watered of all. But although theii- vegetation is less exuberant, the Canaries are distinguished from the other archipelagoes by a relatively larger mrniber of different species, Webb and Berthelot's lists comprising as many as a thousand, or more than double the number found in the Azores. At the same time it is impossible to determine which are strictly indigenous, for even before the arrival of the Europeans the Berber natives had already modified the flora bv additions fi-om the neiffhbourin* continent. Far greater changes were made by the Spaniards, partly by clearing F 2 ' 00 ■WEST AFEICA. tlie forests, partly by tillage and the introduction of new forms directly from Europe. In all the arable tracts the' land has felt the iniluence of the plough to an altitude of 8,2o0 feet. There can be no doubt that several local species have thus disappeared, while, on the other hand, thousands of exotics have found their way into the archipelago. The two most characteristic and graceful local forms are the orange-blossomed campanula and the gold-tinted Ccterach aureiim, and to the Canaries Europe is also indebted for the lovely cineracea) and one of the finest varieties of the chrysanthemum. Notwithstanding their vicinity to Africa, these islands, like Madeira and the Azores, belong to the European vegetable domain. Two-thirds of their plants arc European species, and most of the native forms so closely resemble European types that they may have formed part of the continental flora at some previous geological epoch. But in the eastern group, and iu the low-tying districts of the other islands up to altitudes of from 1,300 to 2,600 feet, a flora of Libyan aspect cor- responds to an African temperature. Here flourish the fleshy plants, euphorbias of cactus form, and such exotics as palms, nopals, and bananas. In the Veneguera Yalley, Gran Canaria, taha'ihas or eujDhorbias, large as fig-trees, form extensive forests. Lower down prevails the thorny and poisonous Euphorbia canarifinsis ; hio-her up the Eiiphorhia hakam'ifern, with a harmless milky sap. The Bracwnus draco, so named from its curious form and blood-red sap, is also characteristic of the African zone. The gigantic specimen of this plant which formerly flourished at Orotava, in Teneriffe, and which, after serving as a temple for the pagan Guanchcs, was dedicated as a chapel by the Spaniards, no longer exists, having been blown down in a gale. The European zone, characterised chiefly by laurels and by acclimatised trees, such as the oak and chestnut, occupies the middle slopes of the western islands. Above the laurels, which flourish especially in Gomera, follow the zones of the cistus and pine, the latter rejiresented chiefly in Palma, where is also found the Canarian cedar {Juniperus cedrm). The native pine is one of the most remarkable of conifers, presenting characteristics intermediate between those of Europe and the New World. Elsewhere it occurs onlj^ in the fossil state, in the Upper Miocene formations of the Spanish pi'ovince of Murcia. At an altitude of 6,600 feet on the Peak of Teyde occur several peculiar plants, amongst which dominates the Sparto- cyiisiis nuhigenus, which has preserved its Arabic name of rtem under the Spanish form of retama, and which occurs in no other countrj'. With it are intimately associated at least four animal species also found nowhere else — a snail, a butterfly, a bird {FringiUa Tcydcana), and a phalene. Fauna. Thanks to the introduction of domestic species and parasites, the Canarian fauna has acquired a Euroj)ean aspect, while in its lower organisms still presenting an original character. Bourguignat has shown that its molluscs constitute a distinct family, remotely allied to that of JSIauritania, although far more Mediterranean INHAEITAiiTS OF TIIE CANAEIES. Gl than African. As in tlie Azores and Sladeira, snakes are absent ; but large indigenous lizards, centipedes, and scorpions abound. Of tlie birds, several differ from tbose of Europe, amongst them the red partridge, highly esteemed by epicures, and the canary, "vrhich has become so common in Europe. Its new surroundings, capti^"ity, food, climate, and crossings have gradually modified both its song and its plumage, originally green, now yellow. It is imcertain whether the mammals foimd in the islands by the Europeans are indigenous or were introduced by the Berbers ; but in any case they constitute distinct varieties. Although Plinj^ speaks of a large canine breed, no dogs were found by the Europeans, while those since introduced have acquired special characteristics. In Lanzarote they resemble the Xewf oimdland, and those occurring elsewhere look like a cross between the greyhound and sheepdog. The domestic goats, numbering about sixty thousand, also differ from those of TTest Europe, being larger, more agile and nimble, with a mild expression like that of the gazelle, and horns gracefully curved backwards. They yield an extraordinarj'' quantity of milk, which acquires an exquisite flavour from the aromatic plants on which they browse. A wild variet)' is also found in the islet of ilontana Clara, near Lanzarote, and in the southern part of Fuerteventma. There is also a vigorous breed of camels in the eastern islands between Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, introduced probably by the Berbers. The marine fauna is on the whole more allied to that of Europe than of Africa, most of the species being Iberian, Mediterranean, and British. There are even several American fishes, which do not occur on the coast of the neighbouring continent. The waters encircling the Canaries are amongst the best stocked in the Atlantic, and are fi-equented at all seasons by hundreds of fishing smacks without materially diminishing their teeming animal life. The fish in most request is a species of cod, rivalling in quality that of Newfoundland. With more efficient means these fisheries might be more productive ; but the fish are badh" cmed and little exported, being mostly required for the local consumption. IXHABITANT.S OF THE CaX.\RIES. The Canaries have been inhabited from the remotest times. The types of the successive Stone Ages are perfectly represented in the archipelago, where are found a thousand objects, such as hatchets, clubs, earthenware, textiles, analogous to those occurriag in the prehistoric mounds of Em-ope and America. But no trace has been met of the flint arrow-head, the lack of which is explained hy the native archajologist, Chil y Jfaranjo, by the absence of rapacious animals in the islands. "When studjing the multitude of objects already collected, the observer is struck by the progress made from generation to generation in the arts and industries by the indigenous race. But the masterpieces of theii* skiU. were specially reserved for the nobles. In the same grotto are found fine garments, perfectly worked utensHs embellished with ornamental designs and hierogh'phics, side by side with coarse fabrics and earthenware. Thus has been revealed the ancient aristocratic constitution of Canarian society. C2 WEST AFRICA. The islanders were unacquainted with the raetallurgic art, and whatever Azurara may say to the contrary, no iron implements, gold or sQver ornaments, have been found amongst them. Nevertheless, the solid construction of the burial-jjlaces in Teneriiie, the skilful disposition of the stones in the buildings of Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote, the convenient arrangement of the rooms in their dwellings, their paintings in ochre, all attest the high degree of civilisation reached by them in the jire-historic period. The chaplains associated with Bethencourt's expedition have left on record that in Fuerteventura they saw " the strongest castles that could be found anywhere." The idols, figures, and ornaments designed on the vases bear a great resemblance to the types presented on the Egyptian monuments. Inscriptions in characters like those of the Libyan alphabet have even been found at the very extremity of the archipelago, in the Belmaco grotto, Palma, on a wall on the east side of Hierro, and in Gran Canaria. Proof is at least thus afforded that relations existed between the Berber peoples of the mainland and the islanders, although on the arrival of Bethencourt the latter no longer possessed boats, having in this respect apparently deteriorated. These inscriptions also add • great probability to the hypothesis that the natives were of Arabo-Berber origin, all the more that the words of various dialects collected by Webb and Berthelot, to the number of about a thousand, and the proper names joreserved by historians, are evidently Berber, also presenting some analogies with Arabic. Benehoare, the old name of Pahna, seems obviously identical with that of the powerful T3eni- Hawara tribe, while the Bimbashos of Hierro recall the Beu-Bashirs. Teneriffe also supplies many proper names beginning with the article al or with the substantive hen of the Semitic language. Most ethnologists are of accord in regarding the extinct Canarians as " one of the noblest branches of the Berber race," although some writers have looked on them as Kelts, Basques, or even Yandals, on this ground claiming the archipelago as a future province of the Germanic empire. The study of the skidlsand bones undertaken by modern anthropologists, while demonstrating the diversity of races in the archipelago, stUl confirms the first hypothesis regarding the eastern origin of a large number of the inhabitants. In Fuerteventura, Hierro, Palma, and other places, the cranial type is essentially Syro-Arab, the identity being almost absolute between these Canarians, the Algerian Arabs, and the fellahin of Egj-pt. All the former inhabitants are usually spoken of under the collective name of Guanches, a term which, under the forms of Vincheni and Guanchinet, seems to have properly belonged to the Teneriife islanders alone. Like hundreds of other racial names, it is said to have meant " men," " people," the little Guanche race constituting in their own eyes all mankind. According to contemporary evidence, these Berbers, some fair, some brown, but aU with long head and limbs, were distinguished from the Arabs by a less robust body, less elongated features, less retreating brow, a broader and shorter nosej and thicker lips. They had large black eyes, thick eyebrows, fine hair, smooth or undidating, the whole expression INHABITANTS OF THE CANARIES. 63 being frank and pleasant, corresponding to an unsuspicious, cheerful, and mild disposition. Endowed with marvellous agility, they boimded like deer from rock to rock, and such was their strength that with two or three blows of the fist they would break a shield to pieces. They went naked, or clad with a light garment of grass or a few goatskins, smearing the body with fat or the juice of certain herbs to render it insensible to changes of temperature. Men and women also painted themselves in green, red, or yellow, expressing by such colours their particular affections. Marriage usages differed greatly from island to island, monogamy prevailing in Teneriffe, while polj'andria is said to have been practised in Lanzarote. But the women were everywhere respected, an insult offered to any of them by an armed man being a capital offence. The natives were also very religious, vener- ating the genii of the mountains, springs, and clouds, addressing invocations to them, unaccompanied, however, by bloody sacrifices. In times of drought they drove their flocks to the consecrated grounds, where the lambs were separated from the ewes, in order to propitiate the Groat Spirit with their plaintive bleatiugs. During the religious feasts a general truce suspended all civil strife and even private quarrels ; all became friends for the time being. Priests and priestesses were highly venerated; and in Gran Canaria a/a'icaii, possibly the Arab faJci/i, or fakir, presided at the great solemnities, liis power acting as a check on that of the gtumnrteme, or political chief. In some islands the authority of these chiefs was absolute, while elsewhere small feudatories were united in confederacies. In Teneriffe all the land belonged io i\\Q me nccyx, OT "kings," who leased it out to their subjects. The haughty nobles claimed descent from an ancestor created before that of the poor, who had been commanded to serve him and his race for ever. They looked on manual labour as degrading, and they Avere especially forbidden to shed the blood of animals, although they might boast of slaughtering men on the battlefield, and burning or quartering their Spanish captives. Nevertheless, thej^ did not con- stitute an exclusive caste, as any plebeian might become ennobled through favour or in virtue of some great deed. The power of the chiefs was also limited by a supreme council, which discussed the affairs of state, judged and sentenced criminals. In Gran Canaria suicide was held in honour, and on taking possession of his domain a lord always found some wretch willing to honour the occasion by dashing himself to pieces over a precipice. In return the nobleman was held greatly to honour and reward with ample gifts the victim's parents. In Palma the aged were at their own request left to die alone. After saluting their friends and relatives, and littering the words Vaca guare, " I wish to die," they were borne on a couch of skins to the sepulchral grotto, and a bowl of milk placed by their side. Then all retired, never to return. The method of interment varied with the different islands. In Teneriffe numerous embalmed mummies in a perfect state of preservation have been exhumed from the sepulchral caves and vaulted chambers covered with vegetable humus. These mummies, which belonged to the wealthy classes, were carefully wrapped in skins sewn together with G4 ^YEST ATEICA. surprising neatness by means of bone needles. The processes o£ embalmment seem to have greatly resembled those of the ancient Egj'ptians. Since the sixteenth century the natives have ceased to exist as a compact nation. For over a hundred and fifty years they had bravely repelled the attacks of corsairs and invaders, although their only weapons were stones, clubs, and darts hardened in the fire or tipped with a sharp horn. They woidd have remained unconquered but for the policy of employing those already reduced against the still independent islanders. Although they spared their prisoners, and often restored them to liberty, no mercy was shown them beyond the alternative of captivity or death. In the middle of the fifteenth century Gran Canaria and Teueriffe were still independent, with, a joint population of 25,000. The conquest of these islands lasted thirty years, during which most of the men were killed or brought to Spain and sold as slaves in Cadiz or Seville. Others committed suicide rather than survive the loss of their freedom, while a large nimiber were swept away bj^ the modorra, an epidemic like those which ha^e recently carried off so many tribes in America and Oceania. The survivors were baptized, forgot their language and customs, and gradually merged in the Spanish population. The last descendant of Bencomo, last King of Teneriffe, took orders and died in 1828 at the Spanish court. Nevertheless, Guauche blood stiLl survives in the half-castes sprung from alliances between the first Spanish settlers and the native women. Their distinctive features may still be recognised in many islands, where atavism and the environ- ment keep alive the old element amid the Spanish Canarians. Like their Berber ancestors, the present populations are of a cheerfid, trusting disposition, slow to anger, without bitterness or resentment, and very gentle, notwithstanding their passion for cock-fighting. In some villages many of the old customs are still preserved, as well as a number of Guanche family names, and terms indicating plants, insects, or implements. The dances also and shouts of joy are the same as among the old Guanches, and like them the present inhabitants throw corn in the face of the newly married to wish them luck. The European elements are variously distributed throughout the archipelago. The Norman and Gascon followers of Bethencourt and Gadiffer were soon lost in the flood of the Spanish population, in which Andalusian blood seems to pre- dominate. After the conquest Moors were introduced into Gran Canaria, while Irish immigrants escaping from religious persecution foimded numerous families in Teneriffe. Some of the villages in Palma were also repeopled by industrious families from Flanders, which, however, soon merged in the Spanish popidation, even translating their Teutonic names into CastiUian. Thus the Groenberghe (" Greeuhill ") became Montcverdc, and notwithstanding their diverse origin, all the inhabitants of the archipelago have long been zealous Spanish patriots. AU attacks made on their fortified towns were always successfully repelled. French Huguenots, Barbary corsairs, English buccaneers, and even a Dutch fleet of seventy ships, vainly attempted to take either Teneriffe or Gran Canaria, and in 1797 Nelson himself failed to reduce Santa-Cruz, losing a ship and an arm on the occasion. TXFATiTTANTR OF THE CANAEIES. 65 The only local industries are agriculture and fishing. Formerly the islanders a o 5 So sent to Europe " the best sugar known," after which viniculture acquired great eo WEST AFRICA. importance until the ^^ueJ•al■ds of the Canaries, like those of Madeira, were ruined by oidium. Planters then turned their attention to cochineal, which was first introduced in 1825, but was little developed till 1852, when guano began to be used to stimulate the growth of the nopal cactus, on wkich the insect feeds. In a few }-cars the production far exceeded that of the whole woi'ld, and extensive forests were cleared in Gran Canaria and Teneriffe to extend this industry, which still forms the largest staple of export, although now mostly replaced by aniline and alizarine dj^es. In 18G2 several attempts were made to introduce tobacco, which succeeded beyond all expectation, especially in Palma and parts of Gran Canaria. At present the Canary cigars are held in almost as great esteem as those of Havana itself. Of alimentary jjlants, next to cereals, onions and potatoes are the most important, and are largely grown for the Cuba and Puerto-Rico markets. Oranges, although of fine flavour, are no longer exported. The agricultural produce is insufficient for the constantly increasing population, which has consequentlj' begun to emigrate in large numbers. As comparatively few women take part in the movement, the census of 1877 showed an excess of 20,000 females over males in a total population of 280,000. Most of the young men go to Havana, whence, after making their fortunes, a few return under the name of " Indies," meaning in the eyes of the natives that they possess " all the wealth of lud." When Louisiana belonged to Spain (1765 to 1800) many Canarians settled in that region, where some of their communities still maintain an independent existence. TOPOGEAPHY — LaNZAKOTE. Akgransa, the first island in the extreme north-east, scarcely deserves this appellation, being little more than a rocky and arid mass of lavas dominated by a " caldron " or crater 860 feet high. A lighthouse on the east side illumines the waters of this first Canarian rock, which is occupied by a solitary family engaged in collecting orchilla and capturing birds. Farther south rises the cone-shaped Montana Clara (280 feet), followed by Graciom, which is separated only by a rio, or " river," that is, a narrow channel, from Lanzarote. It was formerly wooded ; but the timber having been cut down by the o\vner, most of the island has been covered with sand from the Sahara. The sands have also invaded Lanzarote itself, which now consists maiulv of sand, ashes, and scorise. The slopes are destitute of trees, sjirings ai'e rare, and the islanders have in many places to depend on the braclcish water of their wells and cisterns. The hills of Lanzarote develop a regular chain only in the north, terminating westwards in the volcanic cones of Corona, Helechos, and Famara, the last being the highest summit in the island. East of Corona occui- a number of elliptical and circular pits, varjdng in depth from 30 to over 60 feet, and leading to galleries formed, like those of the Azores, by the rapid flow of lavas in a highly fluid state. In some places several of these galleries are disposed in storeys one above the other, T^NZAEOTE. 67 and one of them is uearlj' three-quarters of a mile long. Nowhere else, except in the Sandwich Islands, has such a vast system of volcanic caverns heen discovered. Tliey often served as refuges for the inhabitants and their flocks during the incur- sions of the Barbary corsairs. The centre of Lanzarote is traversed by a low ridge skirted on the one side by shifting sands, on the other by lava- streams with volcanic cones everywhere strewn about in disorder. From the llontana Blauca, highest point (1,400 feet) of this central district, there stretches a chain of lava hills and craters rimuing north-east and south-west, west of which the plains are covered with coal-black ashes. Amid these hills, bearing the expressive names of Pkuja Quemada (" Burnt Strand ") and Monte del Faego (" Fire Mountain "), were opened the crevasses whence flowed the lava-streams of 1730 and following years, " at first rapidly as water, then slow as Fig. 26. — Eecekt Lavas of Lanzaeote. Scale 1 : 360,000. 13° 50 West 6f Green I3°50' Depths to 660 Feet. G60 Feet and upwards. _»= C Miles. honey." During these formidable eruptions thirty volcanic cones rose above the lava-fields, which spread over nearly one-third of the island, and which in 1824 again emitted flames and streams of pestilent mud. San Micjiiel de Teguise, or simply Te(juke, former caj^ital of Lanzarote, still bears the name conferred on it by Betheucourt in honour of his native wife. Lying in a waterless district in the centre of the island, it has been replaced by the new capital, Arrecife, which lies in the middle of the east coast, between two completely .sheltered havens. The northern port, Puerto de News, is especially well protected by a chain of reefs and islets, and the English traders here settled monopolise the traffic with Mogador in Marocco, and with the other islands of the archipelago. The castle of Rubicon, erected by the conqueror of Lanzarote, no longer exists, but it has given its name to the eastern extremity of the island. C3 WEST AFEICA. FrEBTETESTTRA. FkertneKhira, the ErbaKia of the old inhahitants, is separated from Lanzarote by the Bocaina Channel, only 6 or 7 miles wide, bat CTCiywhere at least 650 feet de^ Toirards the soothem entrance lies the isle of Lobos, consisting of a large crater partly destroyed and encircled by lava-streams and sandhills. like Lanza- rot^ Faerteventura presents an arid and dreary aspect, and is destitute of trees exc^t scHue stunted tama rislra in a few sheltered glens, and scnne dusters of date- palms, cocoa-nnt, fig, and almond trees round about the Tillages. But the island is better iratered lSian its neighbour, having some running streams, which however become braddsh befiore reaching the coast. The roc^ ^also are less porous than those of Lanzarote, so tiiat the rainwater does not disappear so rapidly in the soiL But de^te these advantage and its noted fertility, Frbania has perhaps less inhalntants than at the time of the omquesL Although over 60 miles long from north-east to south-west and exceeded in extent only by TeueriSe, it has a smaller populatifm than the large towns of the ardbqielago, being at the last census scarcely more than twelve to the square mile. This is mainly due to the monopoly of the land by a few hands, over half the idand belonging to a single family. The soathezn peninsula of Jamdm, fDrming almost a e^arate island 70 square miles in extenl^ is hell by a dng^ fauna-, who in 18S3 had attracted crily sixty- seven inhahitanis to his estate. In the north little is seen eseept ^ . L^ps of scoria; but the land gradually rises southwards, farming a Terr _ urral ridge nmning north- east and soulh-wesl^ and con^sting of crys: . .•^- , syenites, diorites, diabases, with here and thoe layers of argiDaGeous f . - - _ i limestones. Bight and left of the ridge^ craters have appeared, while lavas fill all the depressions. The ridge terminates southwards in the Gardon Hills _ i: with the rugged Jandia poiinsula by a chain of basalts and limeston . v ..50 feet high, but abruptly ridng to 2,650 feet on the wi^ coast. Foi—vi.. :'■_& peninsula was cut off from the rest of the island by a cydopean. wall, all traces of which have not yet dis- Like Tegnise in Lanzaroti^ Settmairia in Fuerteventiira has lost the rank of capital givem to it by its founder, the conqueror of the island. The present capital is Puierto de Cahras, the chief centre of population, on the side fa ri ng the Abican mainTand But the lar^^t towns, such as Camlhs del Attgel, ^mpuyenta, AtttignOj and THtiuje, are grouped in the fertile plains of the central districts, bounded by the steep dilk and lava-fields of die " Mai pals." GbAX Ci2fAiaA- Grm Cauaria, whicH giv^ its name to the whole archipelago of which it occiqaes the geographical centre, di&rs in its general relief altogether from the easton idands. Instead of presenting long ridges, isolated masses, or distinct TTtlfanops dotted over the plains, it constitatBS a single mountain mass with flattened GEAN CANAEIA. C9 cone rising above tbe surrounding waters. The epithet " Great " would seem to have been applied to it by Bethencourt, not on account of its size, ranking only third in this respect, but in honour of the valour of its inhabitants. Its nearly round contour bristles with headlands, especially on the north-west side, formed by the projecting spurs of the central mountain. If the form of the coast is due, as seems probable, to the erosion of running waters, the currents must evidently have trended directly east and west. Such a hypothesis would be fully in accord with the existence of a former Atlantis, by which the waters of the Gulf Stream would have been deflected southwards. But however this be. Gran Canaria presents a summary of all the other islands, at least in the variety of its geological phenomena, and the beauty of its scenery. It has its " caldrons," like Palma, its wild barrancas, or gorges, and waterfalls like Gomera, its lava-streams and sandhills like Lanzarote, its pine forests like Ilierro and Tenerifie, besides extensive cultivated tracts, aqueducts kept in good repair, some rising industries, and a relatively well- developed trade. It is also compara- tively more densely peopled than the rest of the archipelago, although nearly half of its rugged surface cannot be reclaimed for tillage. The central peak of Pozo de la Niove (" Snow Pit ") rises tea height of nearly G,700 feet almost in the geographical centre of the island. But this peak is a cone of very small size resting on a dome-shaped jDcdestal, M'hich formerly occupied all the centre of the island, and above which rise some other craggy heights, such as the "rocks " of Saucillo, of Cumbre, Bentai'ga, and Nublo, the last-named forming a monolithic block 380 feet high. Close to the south-east base of the central cone is seen the profound Tirajana gorge, which has been eroded to a depth of over 4,000 feet, and which sends its overflow seawards through the narrow fissure of Los Gallegos. The west side of this abyss presents two wide openings towards the south and south-west of the island, where the Caldron or Cirque of Tejeda forms a regular amphitheatre enclosed by an unbroken rocky wall 2 1 miles in circumference. From the edge of the precipice a complete view is commanded of the vast ellipse with its numerous converging streams, lines of wooded crests, and scattered villages. On the sur- rounding plateaux a few clusters of pines still survive, mere renmants of the forests which formerly clothed all the higher grounds in the island. Besides these large cirques produced by erosion, there are others formed by volcanic action. Such are, east of the Cumbre, the Caldera de los Marteles, with a stream rushing down over a series of waterfalls, and the Caldera de Bandama, a perfectly round and regvdar crater near some Tertiary conglomerates in the north-east of the island. This caldron, which has a depth of 770 feet, has been compared by Leopold von Buch to the Lago d'Albano in the Latin hills. Near it is the Cima de Ginamar, another igneous opening, which has only been half fiUed in. There still remains a "bottomless" funnel, in which long echoes are awakened by stones thro'mi from side to side. The most recent lavas in Gran Canaria appear to be those of Isleta, a small group of insular volcanoes connected with the north-east angle of the large island 70 WEST AFEICA. by the sandy isthmus of Guanartemc. The sands of this narrow causeway, now planted with tamarisks, consist chiefly of the remains of sheUs and foraminiferse graduaUy consolidated into a granular limestone with marine concretions added on both sides. These recent limestones, flecked in black by volcaidc sands, are employed for making exceUent filtering stones, used in aU the houses of Canaria. At the time of the conquest the isthmus of Guanarteme was stiU nearly flush T\ith the water, and completely inundated by high tides. Some columnar and other basalts to the north-west of Isleta recaU the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland. Las Palmas, capital of the island and largest city in the archipelago, lies near this sandy limestone isthmus, at the opening of the deep Guiniguada gorge, and Fig. 27.— CinauE OF Teoteda Scale 1 : 330,000. l5°50' West ofr Green Aich I5°40' to 660 Feet. eeo Feet and Upwards. . 6 Miles. on the surrounding terraces of conglomerate, where a few shady palm-groTes jiistify its name. The upper town is occupied by the officials, the lower by the trading class, commanded on the west by the Castillo del Rey, the chief strong- hold in the island. Las Palmas presents somewhat the appearance of an Arab town, with its low flat-roofed white houses looking like an irregular flight of steps. The niimerous caverns in the neighbouring rocks are still inhabited, as in the time of the Berbers. Good water is brought by an aqueduct from the hills, and carriage roads lead to the surrounding outskirts. The port lies nearly two miles to the north, where the coastline curves round the isthmus of Guanarteme to Isleta. La Luz, as it is called, doubtless from its lighthouse, was greatly exposed to the east winds untU the construetion of the breakwater, which runs from Isleta in nine GRAN CANABIA. 71 fathoms of water for 4,750 feet southwards. Over forty ocean steamers now ^dsit the port every month, and the freedom^ from custom-house charges enjoyed by Gran Canaria will doubtless soon attract many vessels which at present stop at Saint Yincent and Madeira. Las Palmas is also an industrial and scientific centre, with archseological and natural history collections, and a fine cathedral in the Spanish Renaissance stjde. As a health resort it offers many advantages to Fig. 28. — Kokth-East Slope op Gean Caxaeia. Scale 1 : 300,000. West of Gi-eenw.ch 15" I5°e0' to 660 Feet. Depths. 600 to 6,600 Feet. 6,600 Feet an upwards. , C Miles. invalids, who can here enjoy the benefit of the mineral and acidiilated waters abounding in the neighbourhood. Xext to Las Palmas, Telde is the most important place in the island. It lies on the east coast, in the midst of gardens, orchards, and orange-groves jnelding excellent fruits. The slopes west of the capital are occupied by Ariicas, Firgas, and Tei-or, and on the little port of Las Sardinas in the north-west lies the ancient 72 TVEST APEICA. Kjg. 29. -Las Pauias axu Pobt of L.v Lrz. Scale 1 : 07,000. town of Gaidar, former residence of the native kings. On the vrest side the largest place is Ahlea dc San Nieolas, and on the south coast nothing is seen except .=;ome traces of the old Berber town of Arguhuyuiv, vhere Webb and Berthclot found the remains of four hundred houses. iS'umerous villages are scattered over the cirques and on the slopes of La Cumbre. The most elevated of these is Arfenara, ■which stands at an altitude of over •4,000 feet in the caldron of Tejeda, all its houses being excavated in the brownish tufa of the mountain. Xearly all the inhabitants are char, coal-burners, who have com- pleteh' cleared many of the former wooded slopes Teneriffe. Tcneriffe (Tenerife, Toner- fiz, or the "White Mountain," as explained bj- some etjTuolo- gists), is the largest island in the archipelago. Here is also the loftiest volcano, the far- famed Peak of Teyde, which has at times been seen to vomit from above the clouds fiery lava- streams do^^•n its steep flanks seawards. Few other oceanic beacons can compare with this majestic cone standing out in white and light blue tints against the deeper aziire ground of the firmament. But although visible at times from distances of 120 and even 180 miles, it is too often wrappedin avapour Depths. Oto32 Feet. 32 to 80 Feet. S9 Feet and upwards. 2,200 Yards. mantle, concealing it altogether from the eager gaze of mariners. . The island itself, unlike Gran Canaria, consists of three distinct sections differing in their general asjiect and geological age. The north-east section mainly comprises the old igneous uplands of Anaga, cut up, eroded in every direction, and at their base carved out by the action of the waves into deep indentations. The western section also consists of an isolated mountain mass, the TENEEITFE. 73 Sierra de Teno, dating from a primitive geological period, and consequently similarly eroded at its base by the sea. Between these two sections towers the lofty cone of the comparatively recent volcano, larger than both the other systems combined, and connected with them by lava-streams and intervening volcanoes. The juxtaposition of three independent groups belonging to successive ages has imparted to Teneriffe a general aspect very different from that of the other islands belonging to the same geological epoch. Instead of developing a circidar contour like Gran Canaria, Gomera, and so many other islands of like origin, Teneriffe has the outliues of an irregular triangle, the apex of which belongs to recent and the other two angles to older formations. It is thus an Atlantic Trinacria, like the Mediterranean Sicily, the land of ^tna. Most of the island consists of ashes and scoriaj with steep rocky escarpments. But it also presents some romantic valleys, all on the north slope, exposed to the trade winds, as well as some cirques whose rich vegetation presents a striking contrast to the gloomy walls of encircling lavas. Thanks to these productive oases of verdure, Teneriffe is able to support a relatively dense poj)ulation, although its chief resources, wine and cochineal, now yield but slight returns. The hills, which begin in the north-east corner, near Cape Anaga, do not constitute a continuous chain, although their rocky peaks, one of which rises to a height of 3,420 feet, follow in siiccession from east to west as far as the plateau of Laguna. At the Anaga headland now stands a first-class lighthouse, and the plateau is crossed at a height of 1,870 feet by the main highway of the island between Santa Cruz and Orotava. The uplands of the Laguna terrace are inter- rupted by a sudden gap, beyond which the land again rises, developing a regular chain commanded by the heights of Guimar, and again interrujDted by a profound depression. Beyond this depression stands a volcano which rose in 1705, dis- charging a stream of lava eastwards nearly to the coast. It is the first cone of the encircling wall, which develops a semicircle east and south of the Peak of Teyde, and which presents on a far larger scale the same aspect as the wall of La Somma round Vesuvius. It is the largest known formation of this class on the surface of the globe, having a total length of 33 miles and a height of over 6,700 feet, above which several of its peaks, such as Azulejos and Guajarra, rise to 9,000 feet and upwards. The concave side of the chain facing the peak of Teyde com- mands a plateau of lava and scoriae Ij'ing some 1,000 feet lower down, while on the outer side all the narrow and deep crevasses of the crest, hence known as the Circo de las Canadas, are disposed in deep barrancas descending in diverging lines to the coast. The western extremity of this sj^stem merges in a " mal pais," or chaos of lavas strewn with volcanoes, one of which, the Chahorra, attains an elevation of 8,270 feet. Farther west the cones are so numerous that the inter- vening lava-streams ramify in all directions like avast labyrinth. The outer edge of the mass rising above the Teno heights ends in the Montana Bermeja, or " Red Mountain," whence was ejected a stream of lava in the year 1706. Thus recent lavas mark both extremities of the enclosure which encircles the base of the dominating volcano, the Echeyde of the old inhabitants, now known as the Peak VOL. XU. G 74 "WEST AFEICA. of Teyde. East of the ccutral couc is tlie peak of Alta Yista (10,900 feet), where ilSlmjSfSvw . ■ iHiliii iKiiiPi I liiiiiisaiiui "vIJI" t', :sSi I'l I, k^: V I , ."■ ^1: •'/ ^^ I: If 1 ' PI ^^'' - '•/1>' eft/--, Ah i*-Hi, .J-, ^ ?& . / L i \ in 1856 Piazzi Smyth established his observatory far above the clouds that veiled TENEEIFFE. 75 land and sea, but in full sight of tlie fiery stars which darted their golden rays against the black vault of night. Although far from being the loftiest peak on the globe, as was long supposed, the Peak of Tcyde is none the less one of the grandest summits visible from the ocean. Amongst volcanoes it is unique for its height and isolation in the centre of the primitive crater above which it has risen, "a mountain built upon a mountain." It dominates by 5,680 feet the ruined cirque encircling it, and from its siunmits all other peaks in Teneriffe seem depressed. It is easy to understand the veneration with which it was regarded by the Guanches, whose most solemn oath was that taken in its name. "When the explorer reaches the plateau whence the supreme cone rises 1,650 feet higher than Vesuvius, he perceives that what from below looked like forests was really formed by streaks of pumice, Hues of red scorifE, bands of black lavas, indicating a long series of eruptions continued through successive geological ages. To the south stands the vast Pico Yiejo crater, 10,500 feet high, still filled with semi-fluid scoria?, like a huge caldron about to overflow. Although the great erujotions of Teyde are very rare, occurring not more than once in a centuiy, symptoms of smouldering fires are constantly percei^tible. The walls of the highest crater are covered with a snow-white efilorescenco, whence are emitted jets of steam at a temperature of about 186° F. mixed with sulphurous gases and carbonic acid, but in such slight quantities that dense vapours are seldom seen to rise above the summit. Nevertheless, the temperature is sufficiently high to support animal life even at this great elevation, and on arriving at the summit the explorer is surprised to find the crater swarming with insects, such as flies and bees, and even swallows and a species of finch peculiar to the peak. But the gases are seldom sufficiently abundant to melt the snows which whiten the cone in winter. A grotto known as the Cueva del Yelo ( " Ice Cave " ) is every j-ear filled with snow and ice, yielding a constant supply to the inhabitants of Orotava. TOPOGKAPHY. Santa-Cruz, capital of Teneriffe, the Anaza of the Guanches, rivals Las Palmas in trade and population. It lies on the north-east coast, where its little harbour is sheltered from the south winds by a breakwater which advances a few yards every year. On the plateau west of Santa-Cruz stands Larjuna, the " Lake " town, M'hich, however, has lost its lake since the rainfall has diminished through the reckless destruction of the surrounding foi'ests. Laguna itself is in a state of decay; but the neighbouring villages of Aiiaga, and especially Tacjanana, occupy- ing the most fertile and best-cultivated district in the island, enjoy a large measure of prosperity. "West of Lagima the main highway of the island, running in the direction of Orotava, is flanked by several flourishing towns surrounded by orchards and gardens. Such are Tacoronte, which possesses a museum of Guanche mummies, with arms and implements ; Saitzal, where some lava quarries are worked, similar G 2 76 WEST AFEICA. to those of Volvic in Auvergne ; Matanza, whose name recalls the " slaughter " of eight hundred Spaniards v\-ith their native auxiliaries ; Victoria, where in 1495 the adelantado Lugo avenged his defeat of the previous year ; Santa- Ursula, almost within sight of Orotaca. This place, representing the ancient Aratapala, capital of the Amphictyonic council of all the kingships in the island, occupies the centre of a verdant cirque 3 milee from its port on the seacoast. During the flourishing period of the wine industry, when the famous vintages of malvoisie and "canary" were produced, this " puerio " was a very busy place, although possessing only an exposed roadstead. The sheltered harbour of Garachico, lying farther west on the same north coast, was nearly destroyed by an eruption from the Montana Bermeja Fig. 31.— NoETHEEN EXTEEMITy OF TeXEBHTE. Scale 1 : 500,000. West of. Paris V/est oT GreenwlcVi I6°i0' to 060 Fest. Beptlis. 660 to 3.300 3,300 Feet and Feet. upwai-ds. 12 imes. in 1706. An unexplored cavern in the neighbourhood is said by the natives to communicate with the terminal crater of the volcano by a gallery nearly 9 miles long. On the east slope of the island the town of Guimar occupies a position analogous to that of Orotava on the opposite side. In the neighbourhood are the Cuevas de los Ecj-es, or " Eoyal Caves," the most extensive sepulchral grottoes of the former inhabitants. GOMERA. Gomera, which has preserved its Berber name, is separated from Teneriffe by GOMEEA. 77 a strait 17 miles wide. Like Gran Canaria, which it resembles in miniature, it consists of a single volcanic cone, with a central peak and a nearly regular circiilar periphery indented by cirques. It is composed mostly of old lavas, whose craters have generally been obliterated, and in which the running waters have excavated deep barrancas and cirques, whence the streams escape through narrow precipitous gorges. The island has been eroded, especially on the west side ; and while the cliffs facing Teneriffe have an average height of from 300 to 400 feet, those over against Hierro rise to 2,000. Its forests are comparatively more exten- Fig. 32. — GosiEEA. ^cale 1 : 330,000. |7°20 IZ'iO- West o-f Gr- LtepLijd. to 660 Feet. 660 Feet and upwards. 6 HUes. sive, and it is also better watered than Canaria. But although it might thus support a relatively larger population, it is less densely peopled, owing to the feudal system of tenure, which has been here maintained more oppressively than elsewhere in the archipelago. The Alto de Garajonai, culminating point of Gomera, stands on the southern edge of the central plateau, falling rapidly southwards to the coast, but on the other sides everywhere presenting gently inclined wooded slopes. Towards the west it terminates in a huge block, which seems shaped by the hand of man ; hence is caUed by the natives the Fortaleza, or "FortaHce." Korth of the 78 WEST AFEICA, Garajonai stands a perfectly regular crater, on llio level bed of wliicli the local militia musters for drilling purposes. Of all the Canary islands, Gomcra abounds most in cascades, tbanks to Its abundant waters and steep precipices. K'ear Chqmdc, the highest village in the island (4,000 feet), a rivulet fulls 6y0 feet into the Argaga gorge, whUe the Fig. 33. — Paljia. Scale 1 : 500,000. West oT Greenwich \7°w Depths. 0to660 Feet. 660 Feet and upwards. — _ 9 Hiles. Agula cascade on the north side is visible from Tencriffe, a distance of 22 miles, whence it looks like a silver streak on an emerald ground. The forests, in some places destroyed by the charcoal-burners, consist mostly of laurels, often growing to a height of 80 or even 100 feet, and forming shady avenues, like the beeches and chestnuts of western Europe. PALMA. 79 San-Sclasiian, the capital, lies near the eastern angle of Gomera on a perfectly sheltered creek, surrounded by gardens and date-palms, yielding a fruit of exquisite flavour. The cirque of VaUc-Ucrmoso, on the north coast, contains over ten thousand of these trees, the fibre of which is used for weaving mats, and the fruit for making palm- wine and honey. Palma. Pahna, no less noted than Teneriffe for its romantic scenery, consists like it of different geological formations. The northern section, nearly round in shape, forms an isolated dome, in which occurs the most remarkable caldron-like forma- tion in the world. The triangular so\ithern extremity, of more recent origin, is constituted by a distinct chain of volcanoes, running in the direction of the meridian, and connected with the northern mass through the narrow ridge of the Cumbre, or " Summit." Certain well-watered districts arc extremely fertile, while the timber and fisheries are also highly productive. Ilence Palma is one of the most densely peopled islands in the archipelago. The highest summits, the Muchachos, Cruz, and Cedro j^eaks, rise above a semicircidar ridge in the north, where the convex slope of the hdls, scored by deep gorges, falls precipitously down to the sea. But on its inland side the amphitheatre of mountains suddenly develops a prodigious chasm about 9 miles round. This is the Caldcra, or " Caldron," in a pre-eminent sense, whose steep walls fall abruptljr to a depth of 4,000 feet down to the gently sloping grassy plains. Seen from below, these stupendous clifi!s strike the spectator with amaze- ment, the effect being much heightened by the contrast between the vast amphi- theatre of diverse coloured rocks and the charming scenery at their feet In the centre of this marvellous natural temple the natives formerly worshipped their gods, assembling on solemn occasions round about the " Idafe," a rock in the form of an obelisk, and offering it praj'crs and sacrifices. In their thoughts this rock doubtless tjqpified the stability of their race, if not of the island and the whole world. The ridge of La Cumbre, connecting the northern and southern mountain systems, is traversed at an altitude of over 4,670 feet b}^ a fine carriage-road, ■which affords a means of communication between the populations of both slopes. The southern slope is dominated by the central peak of Yergoyo, which exceeds 6,700 feet. Numerous streams of black marble descend from the main ridge, both sides of which are stre'^Ti with cones and craters. Notwithstanding the wasteful habits of the people, pine forests still clothe a large part of the range, from the southern extremity of which flows the Charco Verde, a copious mineral stream frequented by invalids. Santa-Cruz de la Palma, capital of the island, and centre of its trade and industries, lies on a little bay on the east coast. On the same slope are the villages of Mazo and Los Sauces, near the latter of which is the grotto which has become famous for its Berber hieroglyphics and inscriptions. 80 WEST AFEICA. HiERRO. Hierro (Ferro, or " Iron"), smallest and least peopled, is also the most oceanic land of the archipelago. To the natives it was known by the name of Eaevo, which has been variously interpreted, but which had not probably the same meaning as its Spanish substitute. Hierro is rarely visited, and has little to offer strangers. But notwithstanding their great poverty, the natives are said to be the most hospitable and kindly of all the Canary islanders. The land is here more subdivided than elsewhere, although a single feudal lord is the nominal owner of the whole island. Hierro is of triangular shape, with its apex turned towards Teneriffe, and its Fig. 34. — HiEEEO. Scale 1 : 330.000. Depths. to 660 Feet. 660 Feet and upwards. ^— G Miles. base facing the Atlantic. But the elevated part of the island presents a somewhat fantastic appearance. In the north-west it is disposed in semicircular form by a steep cliff, the section of a perfectly regular crater. On one side this basaltic cUfE terminates in a sharp point jjrolonged seawards by the Salmore reefs, on the other by the rounded headland of Dehesa, where spars, fruits, and other flotsam from America are often washed up by the western currents. Towards the centre the cliff rises to a height of 4,680 feet above the sea. ADMINISTEATION OF THE CANAEIES. 81 The eastern plateau, still partly covered with forests, presents a somewhat analogous crescent formation, but with a much smaller diameter. K'ear it is the site of Los Lefreros, where were found inscriptions and raised stones resembling the menhirs of Brittany. Numerous craters and thermal springs are scattered over various parts of the island. One of the central craters is said to have emitted vapours during the first half of the present century ; but Fritsch explored the ground in vain for some ti'aces of this phenomenon. The famous laurel has also disappeared, which grew to the north-west of Valverde, and which was credited by the popular fancy with the faculty of sucking up and condensing the marine vapours, thus supplying enough water for the wants of eight thousand persons and a hundred thousand head of cattle. Valverde, capital of the island, lies near the northern extremity, at an altitude of 2,180 feet above the sea. It communicates by zigzag paths with its port, the Puerto de Hierro, formed by a small creek on the east coast. In the neighbouring grottoes have been found numerous mummies of the ancient Bimbashas, or Ben-Bashirs. Hierro has become famous as the point through which runs the line long accepted by some nations as their first meridian. Knowing no land beyond the Canaries, the Greeks naturally regarded them as the end of the world, and necessarily calculated the meridians from this extreme region of the known world. But after the discovery of western lands lying farther west, some geographers fi:xed their zero of longitude iu the Azores, Mercator selecting Corvo, at that time crossed bv the magnetic meridian. Nevertheless the Greek tradition long sur%"ived, and most cartographers di'ew their initial Hne through Teneriffe. But in consequence of a decision taken in 1634 on the advice of the most distinguished mathematicians, France ofilcially adopted Hierro, which was supposed to lie exactly 20 degrees west of Paris. Fouille in 1724 and others subsequently endeavoured to fix its position more accurately, but their determinations were not of accord. Now, however, it is known that Hierro does not lie 20 degrees west of Paris, and consequently that the meridian bearing its name does not touch the island, running in fact 12 miles farther east. Hierro is now no longer taken as the first meridian by any country. Administration of the Can-^kies. The Canaries constitute a province of Spain, sending six deputies to the Cortes, and represented by two or three notables in the Senate. Santa-Cruz de TeneriEEe is the residence of the civil governor and of the Captain-General of the archipelago, while Las Palmas is the seat of the High Courts. Trade is exempt from all customs dues beyond an impost of one-thousandth on imports and a slight tax on wines and tobacco. Each island contributes a small contingent to the army. The archipelago is divided into ninety-three ayuntamientos, or communes, of •which twenty take the title of cities or towns. The reader is referred to the Appen- dix for a table of the population of the islands and the chief urban communes. 82 WEST AFRICA. The Cape Yerd Archipelago. These Atlantic islands bear a name for wliich it would be well to find a sub- stitute; for it is justified neither by the geographical position, the geological constitution, nor the history of the group. They are distant at their nearest point no less than 280 miles from the ^\irican headland after which they are named, while the intervening waters are no less than 2,250 fathoms deep. Hence they are true oceanic lands, and in no sense natural dependencies of the continent. "\\'hcu the south-eastern group of the archipelago was first reached b}' explorers the cape had already long been known. Since that time — that is, over four himdrcd years ago — the first appellation has been maintained, so that no change could now be tolerated by aU-powerful custom. Nor is there anything to justify the alternative expression Gorgades, or " Islands of the Gorgons," for the text of Pliny referring to these fabled lands could scarcely be apjilied to an archipelago at such a distance from the coast known to the ancients. The Spaniards for a time culled them the Santiago Islands, and the Dutch the Salt Islands, while on Juan de la Cosa's chart they figure as the Antonio group, from one of the first dis- coverers. This question of discovery has been much discussed. According to Major {Life of Prince Henry of Portugal) Diego Gomes was the first to reach the archi- pelago; but the passage relied on by this English author has been differently interpreted by other commentators. In his IVavigations the Venetian merchant Cadamosto claims for himself and the Genoese Usodimare the honour of having discovered the islands of Boa-Vista and neighbouring lands in the j'ear 1456, and desiiite some real or apparent contradictions in his statement, he is jDrobably entitled to this honour. Four years later the group was again visited by the Italian Antonio di Noli in the service of Portugal, who in a single day verified the existence of jMaio, Sam-Thiago (" Saint James ") and Fogo, which last he named Sam-Felippe. How or when the other members of the archipelago were first sighted and explored has not been clearly determined ; but no doubt the work of exploration was rapidly completed by those who had received grants of the parts already surveyed. Nevertheless forty years after Antonio di NoK's voyage, Sam-Thiago and Fogo had alone been occupied by small settlements. The others were peopled during the course of the sixteenth century by Portuguese colonists and Negroes imported from the neighbouring continent. But Salt Island remained unsettled till the iircsent century, and certain islets are still uninhabited. Compared to the extent of the archipelago the population is slight, a fact due to the scarcity of water. With a total area of 1,450 square miles there were probably not more than 105,000 inhabitants in 1886, or about seventy to the square mile. The archipelago is disposed in u'regular groups, forming a large cui've of some 300 miles, with its convex side turned towards the African mainland. This curve begins in the north-west with Santo-Antam, which is the second largest member of the archipelago. It is continued south-eastwai'ds by Sam- Vicente (Saint Vincent), C^VPE \T3ED ISLAISTDS. 83 Santa-Luzia, Illieo Branco, Illieo Eazo, Sam-Nicolau, wliosc liills or inountaius all run in a direct line, tlius constituting quite a sejDarate group, which from a distance looks like a single island indented with deep inlets. Farther east Salt and Bua- Yista, continued south-westwards by the Bank of Joam Lcitano, form a second group at the eastern verge of the semicircle. Lastly the southern section comprises IMaio, Sam-Thiago, Fogo, Brava, and a few islets. AU the northern islands, including Salt and Boa-Yista, take the collecti^-e name of Barlovento, or " Windward," the four- others that of the " Leeward" Islands. Fig. 35.— Cape Veud Islaijds. Scale 1 ; 3^040.000. Depths. to GGO Feet. 660 to 6,600 Feet. 6,600 to 13,200 Feet. 13,200 Feet and upwai'dg. . 60 Miles. The Cape Verd archipelago seems to helong to an older geological epoch than the almost exclusively volcanic Canaries and Azores. All the islands have no doubt their craters and eruptive rocks, while Santo-Antam and Fogo consist exclusively of scorlce and lavas. But in the others are also found crystalline rocks, granites, syenites, and "foyalte," so called from Mount Foya in Algarve. Fine metamorphic marbles and sedimentary rocks also occur, and Maio is especially remarkable for the relative extent of Its nou-igneous formations, a fact which certainly favours the theory of an Atlantic continent formerly occupying these waters. 84 WEST AFEICA. The archipelago also differs from the Canaries and Azores in the generally quiescent state of its volcanic forces. With the exception of Fogo, none of the craters have been in eruption since the discover}^, and earthquakes are also rare, no violent shocks having been recorded, except in Brava, at the south-west extremity of the semicircle. Iron abounds, especially in the southern group, where an extremely rich titanate of iron occurs on the coasts in the form of black sand, and in such quantities that, when heated by the solar rays, even the Negroes do not ventui-e to tread the ground. Countless cargoes of iron ore might here be shipped. Climate. As in the other Atlantic groups, the mean temperature, equalised by the sur- roundinff waters, is less elevated than on the Afritau continent under the same latitude. At the observatory of Praia, in Sara-Thiago, it was 75° F. in 1877, the two extremes in the same year showing a diiference of '30° : hottest day, Septem- ber 9th, 91° F., coldest, December 13th, 61° F. The neighboui-hood of the African coast and the influence of the east wind explains this wide range. The climatic conditions are almost exclusively determined by the atmospheric currents, on which depend the heat, moisture, and salubrity of the air. When the north-east trade winds prevail, that is, from October to May, the sky is clear except at sunrise, when the eastern horizon is always overcast. Then follows the wet season, from June to September, during which the land is watered bj' heavy showers, " as necessary to the inhabitants as are the waters of the beneficent Nile to the Egjqjtian fellahin." But the rains and accompanjdug storms are less regular than on the mainland under the same latitudes, and at times the moisture is insufficient to water the crops, and then the inhabitants are decimated by famine. Sometimes also the north-east trade wind is deflected to the continent, whence it blows over the islands like the blast of a hot furnace. It then takes the name of leste, that is, " east wind," which is the harmattan of the Arabs. From the desert this wind brings a large quantit}' of sand, which is deposited on the islands in the form of impalpable dust. These dust storms may occur at any time, except perhaps in the months of August and Septembei', that is, the season of calms, of variable winds and of heavy showers brought by the sea-breezes. The archipelago lies well within the zone of " dry rains," which extends between 9*^ and 16° N. latitude to a distance of 1,200 miles seawards from the African coast. Helmann's observations show that this phenomenon of yellow and red sandy clouds lasts at times several days, and prevails over a space of some 120,000 square miles. To supply such a prodigious quantity of powdered rock extensive mountain ranges must have been worn away during the course of ages, whence the present aspect of certain hamadas, or stony wastes, in the Sahara, which for vast spaces offer nothing but smooth polished rock swept clean by the east wind. Some of the dust clouds mingled with animalculae appear to blow with the counter atmospheric currents f I'ora South America, but there can ho no dowbt that the great mass of these sands comes from the African desert. CAPE VEED ISLANDS. 85 The general salubrity of the islands is in many places affected by the presence of swampy tracts and stagnant waters, producing dysentery and marsh fever, espe- cially on the coast of Sam-Thiago. The evil is largely due to the reckless destruction of the forests on the hillsides, which causes the rains to run off rapidlj- from the surface of the uplands and to lodge in the depressions on the lower grounds. The slopes might, however, be easily replanted, as shown by the results of several essays in this direction. Some of the upland valleys in the higher islands, rising 3,000 and even 6,000 feet and upwards above the sea, also present favourable sites for health resorts. Flora. The indigenous flora of the archipelago has not yet been studied with the same care as that of the other Atlantic groups. This is partly due to the greater distance from Europe, and partly to the somewhat inaccessible nature of many districts. Saint Vincent also, where nearly aU strangers land, happens of all the islands to be most destitute of vegetation, consisting, in fact, of little more thau bare rocks and scoriae. Although one of its hdls takes the name of Monte Yerde, it has little to show except a few tamarisks, and in 1880 the whole island contained only two trees, both exotics, an eiicalj-ptus and a barren date-palm. Salt, Boa- Vista, and Maio present the same arid aspect, but the mountainous lands, espe- cially Santo- Antam and Sam-Thiago, offer in many places verdant valleys, due entii'ely to the introduction of African plants. Not a single tree appears to be here indigenous, even the dracoena ha^'ing probably been imported from the Canaries, or from the neighbouring continent. At present Sam-Thiago possesses some baobabs and other Senegambian trees ; but, although lying under the same latitude as the "West Indies and Sudan, the archipelago nowhere presents the splendour- of the tropical flora. Excluding the cultivated plants of recent introduction, the known species number aboiit four hundi-ed, of which not more than one-sixth forms the original stock of the islands. The native tj-pes are essentially Atlantic, and aUied rather to those of the temperate zone, presenting in this respect a much more northern aspect than might be supposed possible from their tropical position. Canarian types are also somewhat numerous, especially in Santo Antam and the other members of the "Windward group. But most of the exotics come from Africa, whereas those of the Canaries are mainh' European. Nevertheless, some Mediterranean species also occur on the uplands, especially on the hiUy districts of Santo- Antam and Sam-Thiago. Fauna. The aboriginal fauna comprises but few distinct species. The monkey, seen only in Sam-Thiago and Brava, belongs to the Cercopithecus Sabceus family of the African continent. Nor do the wild boars of the Sam-Thiago thickets constitute a separate variety ; while aU the other mammals, whether domestic cattle or noxious 86 WEST APEICA. auimals, sucli as rabbits and rats, have been iutroduccd from Europe. The guinea- hen, -n-hich the natives do not eat, is extremely common, and the sea-mew whirls in clouds above the strand and reefs. Some of the islets are covered with thick deposits of guano, forming a valuable resource for the peasantry of the neighbour- ing islands. WoUaston asserts that snakes are found in some places, but this is denied by the natives, and Doeltcr failed to discovery any. nheo Branco, the " White Island," an islet in the north-west group between Santa Luzia and Sam-Nicolau, is distinguished from all the others by a peculiar fauna. Here are large lizards {Macroscincus cocfei) elsewhere unknown, which live on a vegetable diet, not on insects like their congeners elsewhere. The puffins here discovered by the members of the T(di>'a. Scale 1 : 185,000. 5-45 5' 40' . Westof Gi-eenwich to 160 Feet. Depths. 160 to 640 Feet. 640 Feet and upwards. 3 Miles. hills. Throughout the year the days when the sky is overcast are twice as numerous as the cloudless days, and the mean difference between the winter colds and summer heats scarcely exceeds 30*^ F., the glass generally ranging from 53° F. to 83° F. For a hundred and forty days the annual rainfall reaches 27 inches in Jamestown, where the atmosphere is relatively dry ; but at Longwood, in the hills, it exceeds 48 inches. Heavj' downpours occur chiefly in March and April, that is, at the beginning of the Austral winter; but thunderstorms are SAINT HELENA. 108 extremely rare, so that Hglitning-conductors are not even placed over powder- magazines. The hea\y ground-swells break uj)on the north-west coast chiefly during the fine and calm months of January and February, as if nature were hushed to contemplate this tremendous crash of the ocean billows. Flora. Thanks to its remoteness from all continental land, St. Helena had formerly a perfectly distiact flora. But several indigenous species, including the ebony, have disappeared, either uprooted by man, or destroyed by tlie goats and swine, or else choked by the intruding exotics. During the present century many have perished in this way, while others are found only in the gardens, from which they also threaten to disappear. Of seven hundred and forty-sis floweriug plants, now increased by thi-ee hundred fresh arrivals, Darwin reckoned only fifty-two native species, including a fine tree-fern and some heaths. But Melliss raised the number to seventy-seven, " representatives of an old world," which have now nearly all taken refuge on Diana Peak and the surrounding crests. The European oak, fix, and cj'press succeed well, and amongst the industrial and alimentary plants are seen immigrants both from the torrid and temperate zones. The cultivation of cinchona has been abandoned, but the coffee and tea plants, sugar-cane, cotton, iudigo, guava, banana, floui-ish in the same garden with the apple, pear, and \Tne, while the potato grows by the side of the yam and batata. Unfortunately the weeds of various countries have also invaded the island, and would have soon overrun the cultivated tracts but for the precautionary measures that had to be taken in the interest of the general good. Fatjna. The indigenous fauna also differed from those of the two nearest continents, even comprisiag a land-bird {Charadrius pecuarius) unknown ia all the other Atlantic islands. St. Helena is also one of the resting stations for the great sea- birds, such as the sea-eagle and the frigate, " which is all wing and which sleeps on the storm." The wild goats, very numerous during the early days of the colonisa- tion, have nearly been exterminated, so that the wild f aima is now reduced to the rat and rabbit, both very troublesome to the husbandman. The only reptiles are the centipede and scorpion, introduced probably through carelessness. Of niuety- six species of butterflies one half are indigenous, the others being common also to Africa and the Atlantic islands as far as the Azores. Eleven species of indigenous land molluscs still siirvive, all resembling without being identical with correspond- ing species in the Seychelles and Oceania, ilany others occm- on the uplands in a semi-fossil state, having perished only since the destruction of the forests. The horse, ox, sheep, goat, pheasant, guinea-fowl, poultry, and other birds were introduced by the first Portuguese and Dutch settlers, and to these the English have added numerous other varieties, iacluding the sparrows so destructive to cereals. Another pest is the termite, which was accidentally imported from Brazil 104 WEST AFEICA. about 1840, and wliicli, five j'ears afterwards, had half ruined Jamestown. It cost £60,000 to repair the damage done by these destructive insects. The surrounding waters abound in tunny and other fishes. Inhabitaxts. St. Helena was occupied soon after its discovery, and in 1513 some Portuguese soldiers, mutilated by Albuquerque for the crime of desertion, were left here with a few slaves, domestic animals, and supplies. After this the island was again completely abandoned till 1051, when the Portuguese were succeeded by the Dutch, and these again by the English, amongst whom were several families ruined by the great fire of London in 1GG6. Some Negroes and other African slaves were also introduced, and Chinese and Malay cooHes for the first time in 1810. Formed of so many different elements, the race is far from possessing the florid EngUsh complexion, but is nevertheless distinguished by a general grace and beauty of features. On Christmas Day, 1818, fifteen years before the abolition of slavery in the other British colonies, the future ofEspring of slaves were declared free, and in 1822 the six hundred and fourteen still rcmaiaing slaves were emancipated. The name of this Little Atlantic rock has become famous in the history of France and the world. Here Napoleon, prisoner of England, passed in exile the last six years of his life, and during this period of calm, after so many wars and political convulsions, all eyes were steadily fixed "on this reef beaten by the melancholy ocean," this hitherto unknown block of lava, where the great captain was dying a lingering death. In the history of science St. Helena also recalls great memories. Mount Halley, which rises towards the centre of the island to a height of 2,410 feet, is the peak on which in 1G7G the famous English astronomer of this name set up his observatory to prepare a catalogue of the southern constel- lations and observe the transit of Mercury across the sun. Another summit was chosen by Sabine in 1840 for a magnetic observatory. Lastlj', Darwin and some other naturalists have made studies of supreme importance in St. Helena on physical geography and the distribution of vegetable species. Trade, Resoi'rces, Decadence. But this famous island no longer possesses much economic value in the markets of the world. Formerly, when vojMges round the globe or the continents were rare events, St. Helena was an important station, where vessels called for supplies, and for a long time it served as an international post-office for seafarers in the Atlantic. The block of lava is still preserved under which wore placed the letters and packages of passing vessels. But the substitution of steamers for sailing vessels has brought about great changes, while the opening of the Suez Canal has diverted most of the traffic from the Austral seas. St. Helena has thus lost nearly all its importance as a port of call for orders or supplies. It no longer exports anything except the produce of the American whalers, and the inhabitants, accustomed largely to depend on the visits of strangers and the bounty of the a: a mi'ii ^ '■^ "v'/c^ LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLlNOlb. SAINT HELENA. 105 British Government, hare not had the energy to recover bj' tillage what thcj' had lost by the stoppage of trade. Most of the farmers, ruined by mortgages, were also compelled to surrender their holdings to the capitalists of the chief town. Monopoly was thus followed by its usual consecjuence, misery. •JaMESTOWX. LONGWOOD. It has been proposed to develop the cultivation of PJtormium fena.r, tobacco, and other industrial plants ; but these projects have had no result, and the population has considerably diminished by emigration, especially to the Cape. It thus fell from 6,860 in 1861 to 5,060 in 1881, notwithstanding the perfectly healthy climate and the great excess of births over deaths. The revenue, public service, education, everything, is in a state of decadence, and the island is now visited by few strangers. Jamestown, the only town in St. Helena, lies on the west or leeward side, where it could alone have been founded. The opposite coast is rendered almost inacces- sible by the fury of the breakers, caused by the influence of the trade winds. The town with its surrounding gardens occupies the entrance of a narrow mountain gorge, which after heavy rains sends down an impetuous stream, at times sweeping seawards cattle, trees, and debris of all sorts. "West of Jamestown the escarpments rise at a sharp angle, forming the so-called Ladder Hill (600 feet), which is crowned by military structures. This eminence takes its name from a flight of nearly seven hundred steps cut in a straight Kne up the face of the rock. Rupert's Hill, Ij'ing farther east, is surmounted b}^ a steep road, which penetrates into the interior, leading to the little house at Longwood where Napoleon lived and died. Near it is the " Yalley of the Tomb ; " but the bodj^, which had been here placed under a clump of willows, reposes since 1840 under the dome of the Invalides in Paris. The inhabitants of St. Helena have no representative institutions. The island, which till the j-ear 1834 belonged to the East India Company, is now a Crown colony, all otEcials being nominated by the central government in London. ASCEXSION. This island, also an English Crown colony, was discovered in the same j'ear as St. Helena and by the same navigator, Juan de Nova. It lies nearly on the median line of the Atlantic basin, resting on the submerged " Challenger ' ridge, by which the deep African waters are separated from the still deeper abysses of the western seas bathing the New "World. Ascension is distant about 1,320 miles from Pernambuco on the Brazilian coast, and a little farther from Angola imder the same latitude on the west coast of Africa, but not more than 930 miles from Cape Palmas, the nearest point on that continent. Like St. Helena, it falls within the zone of the south-east trade winds, and consequentl}- presents the same phenomenon of surf-beaten shores, rendering the south side almost inaccessible, and obliging VOL. XII. I 106 WEST AFEICA. vessels to seek shelter on the north or leeward coast. The rollers, which break on the beach even in calm weather, and especially from December to April, are perhaps even more formidable than at St. Helena. This magnificent spectacle lasts at times for days and weeks together. But mighty billows 30 feet and upwards in height are sometimes raised within a few minutes and as suddenly stilled. By Evans they are attributed to the fall of enormous icebergs, which break away incessantly from the rocky Antarctic lands, and plunge bodily into the deep. Ascension is of smaller size (30,000 acres) but more regular form than St. Helena, presenting the outlines of a spherical triangle, with its most precipitous side facing towards the trade winds. It culminates in the centre with a lofty cone 2,800 feet high, whence is afforded a comprehensive view of nearly all the now extinct craters, of which geologists have reckoned as many as forty-one. From the central cone Darwin noticed that the mounds of scoriae presented their more sloping side towards the south-east trade winds, while the largest quantities of igneous matter were ejected on the opposite side, where it falls in abrupt escarpments. Most of the craters are cut obliquely by the effect of the aerial current, although nearly all the inner cirques are of extremely regular form. One of them has even received the name of the Riding School. Yolcanic boulders are scattered round the craters, and in the mass of scoriae are embedded some blocks of different formation, such as syenite and granite. But apart from these isolated specimens, the red and calcined mass of Ascension presents nothing but igneous rocks, such as basalts, pumice, pozzolana, or argillaceous clays. Round about the shore-line, however, the masses of broken shells, of corals, and volcanic sands are consolidated into a sort of limestone conglomerate, which may be used as a building material. Certain varieties of this rock acquire the consistency and appearance of white marble, while others are disposed in transparent and almost crystalline layers, covering as with enamel the reefs washed by the tides. This natural cement becomes fixed so rapidly that young tiu'tles hatched in the sands get overtaken and embedded in the concrete mass. Climate. — Flora. When the air remains unrefreshed by the sea-breezes, the temperature becomes very oppressive, for Ascension lies under 7° 57 S. latitude, within 550 miles of the equator. In the roadstead the mean annual temperature is 84° F., which on the breezy uplands falls to 68° or even 60° F. Although an epidemic of yellow fever carried off a third of the garrison in 1823, the climate is considered exceptionally salubrious, despite the high temperature ; the island has even become a health- resort for Europeans residing on the African coast. The rainfall, much less copious than in St. Helena, is insufficient for the local requirements ; hence the smallest springs, including one discovered by Dampier when shipwrecked here in 1701, are husbanded with the greatest care. The few heavy showers almost entirely disappear in the scoriae covering most of the surface. Since 1860 successful attempts have been made to replant the uplands. The ASCENSION. 107 original Tegetation comprised only sixteen species of flowering plants, amongst ■which was one shrub, the Hedi/ofis Ascension is ; but the introduced species are now reckoned by the hundred. Mr. Bell, the botanist, has transformed the higher grounds to a vast garden of acclimatisation, and a space of about 400 acres is now covered with rising forests of acacias, araucarias, gum-trees, junipers, and eucalyptuses. These plantations have had a salutary effect on the climate, by intercepting the moisture, which even trickles from the foliage to the ground, where it is collected to water the animals, and even to supply the wants of man. Fig. 41. — AscEs-sios. Scale 1 : 200,000. Was- West 'o'F Gf-eenwlch 14° £0' Depths. to 630 Feet. 660 Feet and upwards. SMfles. Direct experiment has thus shown that, at least in these torrid climates, plantations do really to some slight extent increase the moisture by distilling the water of the clouds. FaXTNA. IyiLA.BITANTS. Like the flora, the fauna, with the exception of the large sea-birds and marine animals, is of exotic origin. From Europe have been introduced the goats and cats, both now running wild, the rats, dogs, pheasants, poultry, and, from Africa, I 2 108 "WEST AFRICA. the guinea-fowl. Snakes are unknown ; but turtles of gigantic size abound from December to May, when they leave the water to lay their eggs in the sand. Most of them weigh from four hundred and fifty to six hundred pounds, but have been found weighing as much as nine hundred pounds, but their flesh is less esteemed by epicures than that of the smaller "U^est Indian variety. The fisheries were formerly very productive, yielding as many as two thousand five hundred in exceptional years, but the average take does not now exceed three hundred. During the spawning season no guns are fired nor lights kindled on the beach, to avoid scaring these timid chelonians. Large numbers of young turtles, as soon as hatched, are devoured by the sea-birds wheeling incessantly overhead. The only inhabitants of Ascension are the soldiers, sailors, officials, and a few provision-dealers attached to the garrison. Politically the island is regarded as a man-of-war whose inhabitants are the crew. The governor is, like a naval captain, "master on board," allowing no person to land without the special permission of the Lords of the Admiralty. This military station was first established in 1815, in order to keep watch over Napoleon ; but even after his death in 1821 the station was maintained, thanks to its position as a sentinel in the centre of the Atlantic highroad, and midway between the two continents. At Georgetown, the only group of habitations, passing steamers renew their supplies of coal and provisions, but can obtain water only in case of extreme urgency. Islands ix the Gulf of Gfixea. These four islands, although equally of volcanic origin, differ from the other South Atlantic groups, at least by their position in relatively shallow water near the African coast. In the Gulf of Guinea the depths are everywhere imder 1,000 fathoms, falling on one side of Fernando-Po to less than 340 feet. Through the inclined plain on which they rest these islands form a natural dependence of Africa ; their craters are also disposed in a straight Hne which is continued on the mainland by the Kameroons volcano, so that the insular and continental masses obviously form a single system lying on the line of the same volcanic fault. Possibly St. Helena may belong to the same system, but it is so remote and separated by such deep waters from the continent, that it must be regarded as a world apart. The four islands running due south-west and north-east form also a distinct geographical group, whose members are disposed at regular intervals of about 120 m i les one from the other. Politically they are divided amongst two European powers, the two inner islands, Sam-Thome and Principe, belonging to Portugal, the two outer, Annobon and Femando-Po, forming Spanish possessions since 1778. Anxobon. Annobon, properly Anno Bom, that is, " Good Year," was so named in 1471 by its Portuguese discoverers, Escobar and Santarem, because they sighted it on ANNOBON. 109 January 1st of that year. It is the smallest of the group, with a superficial area of scarcely 7 square miles. This mass of fissured lavas rises in the central coue of Pico do Fogo to a height of 3,250 feet. Encircling the peak are some forest- clad lateral cones, and a small crater near the summit is flooded by a lake in whose Fig. 42. — Sa3i-Thome. Scale 1 : 650,000. hast oV breenwicVi Depthjs. 0to80 PO Feet and Feet. upwalds. blue waters is mirrored the foliage of the surrounding orange-groves. The dense and sombre woods of the interior are contrasted lower down by a girdle of more delicate verdure, consisting of palms and bananas. The verdant aspect of the island gives proof of a much more copious rainfall than in St. Helena, and ii Annobon is drier than the more northern members of 110 WEST AFRICA. Fig. 43. Cascade of Blu-Blu, on the Aqoa Geanbe, neae the Capital of SAM-THOitfe. the group, it is also far more salubrious. Yet it has never become a Em-opean SAM-THOME. Ill colony, aud all its tlu'ee thousand inhabitants are Negroes or people of colour, descended from ship^vrecked sailors or slaves introduced by the first Portuguese occupiers. They are devout Catholics, or, at least, observers of the outward forms of the Church. Sam-Antonio da Praia, the chief village of this little black rej)ublic, lies on the north side, where it supplies passing vessels with water, wood and fruit, especially exquisite oranges. Sam-Thome. Sam- Thome (Saint Thomas), like all the others, is of oval form, but much larger than Annobon, covering an area of 370 square miles. There appear to have been several centres of eruption, the profile showing not one dominating cone, but several lofty peaks, such as the central, Santa-Anna de Chaves, and Sam-Thome on the west side, which rises to a height of 7,000 feet, or a little more than its rival. The peak, whose wooded slopes have been scaled by several travellers, is flanked on the north and east by a semicircular ridge known as the Cordilheii-a de Sam-Thome, which is sujjposed to be the fragment of an old crater. Several islets rise above the neighbouring waters, of which the largest are Cabras ( " Goat " ) and Eolas ( "Doves" ), separated by the equator from the larger island. The temperature is somewhat moderated by the relatively cooler southern current, which, at times, encircles the whole island. To this cause is due the greater salubrity enjoyed by Sam-Thome compared with the other lands lying nearer the marshy regions of the continent. The months of June, July, and August, which are the most unhealthy on the mainland and in Fernando-Po, are the least trying for Eui'opeans in Sam-Thome, although still dangerous for the Negroes, who then suffer from chills and rheumatism. Europeans readily become p.cclimatised on the uplands, where the heats are less intense, and every plantation is a sanatorium. This is an important consideration in the neighbourhood of such imhealthy coastlands as those of Calabar, the Kameroons, and Gaboon, where the attempts of the whites to acclimatise themselves have hitherto had but partial success. At the same time the coast of Sam- Thome is also generally regarded as very dan- gerous to strangers. The island is situated in the intermediate zone between the oceanic and tropical African climates ; its rainfall is abundant, and every valley has consequently its ribeira, or mountain torrent, rushing in successive falls from rock to rock. The best known of these streams is the Agoa Grande, on the north- east slope, at the mouth of which stands the capital. At the Blu-Blu cascade its limpid waters descend in a body down to the gardens, refreshing with their spray the overhanging foliage of the bananas. Flora and Fauna. Sam-Thome lies not more than 150 miles from Cape Lopez, the nearest con- tinental headland. Hence the local vegetation, represented by about four hundred and thirty species, greatly resembles that of the mainland. Nevertheless, certain 112 WEST APEICA. features in its natxu'al history would seem to imply that the island was never at any time connected with Africa. Of its eighteen species of land molluscs one only occurs on the neighbouring coast ; a bat also {Cynonycteris stramineus) is peculiar to the island, as well as a monkey (Cercopit/icciis alUgtikiris), the only member of the family found in its forests. Of noxious animals the most troublesome are the cobra negra, a i^oisonous snake, dangerous to those engaged in clearing the woods, and the rat, very often destructive to the crops. Inhabitants. Since the end of the fifteenth century Sam- Thome was occupied by European colonists, who worked their plantations by means of slave labour. But in 1567 the French corsairs drove the Portuguese settlers to take refuge in the inland forests, while those in the north were harassed by some Angolan Negroes, who had been shipwrecked and obtained a footing on the south-west side. For over a century this guerilla warfare was continued, but the runaways were at last reduced in 1693. They, however, still occupy the west coast to the number of about thirteen hundred, faithfully preserving their national usages, keeping entirely aloof from the other islanders, and still speaking the Bunda language of their ancestors. During the first half of the present century Sam-Thome lost much of its economic importance through the emigration of large numbers to Brazil ; but since 1876, when the slaves were emancipated, the island has become one of the most flourishing colonial possessions of Portugal. During the first period of the colo- nisation attention was chiefly paid to the sugar-cane, which was introduced from Madeira, and which in some years pelded 2,000 tons. Numerous other tropical plants also thrive in the gardens, and the heights between 2,000 and 4,600 feet are now covered with cinchona plantations containing as many as a million trees. But the chief sources of wealth are coffee and cacao exported almost exclusively to Lisbon, where they are much more highly esteemed than those of the Antilles. Nearly aU the north side of the island is under cultivation, while the southern half is still mainly overgrown with primeval forest. The popidation is increasing rapidlj^ having risen from 8,000 in 1855 to 18,260 in 1878, of whom 1,200 are either whites or mestizos. But education is still in a very backward state, scarcely more than two hundred and sixty being able to read and write. Cidade, or the " city," capital of the island, is pleasantly situated on the semi- circular Anna de Chaves bay on the north-east coast, and at the mouth of the Agoa Grande. Here resides the governor and cormnander of the Portuguese garrison. In the neighbourhood are some salt-pans. Peincipe. The Ilha do Principe (Prince's Island), so named because thirty years after its discovery in 1471 it was assigned as an appanage to a royal prince, is six times FEEXAJSfDO-PO. 113 smaller than Sam- Thome, having an area of only 60 square miles. The surface, somewhat imiform in the north, rises rapidly southwards, attaining in the chief peak a height of 2,700 feet. The copious rains falling on this " garden of Africa " hare clothed the slopes with dense forests, and furrowed them with " as many streamlets as there are days in the year" (F. Travassos Valdez). The atmosphere, however, is less healthy than in the southern islands, and especially in Annobon, Principe lying altogether beyond the influence of the relatively cool equatorial current. Cultivated by slave labour from the first period of the Portuguese occupation, it soon developed extensive sugar plantations, but derived its chief importance from its depot of Negroes, whence the American slavers drew their suppKes. At present there is scarcely any traffic, except in the little coffee and cacao raised on the northern slope. The natives, almost exclusively blacks, who call themselves Portuguese and Catholics, have decreased from nearly five thousand in the middle of the century, to little over half that number. I>rearly all reside on the north-east coast, in the little port of Santo Anfonio, near a well-sheltered bay. Ferxando-Po. The island, which has preserved under the Spanish form of Fernando-Po the name of its Portuguese discoverer, Fernao do Poo, is at once the largest and finest of the volcanic chain intersecting the Gidf of Guinea. The surface, about 830 square miles in extent, is mostly mountainous, rising gradually from the periphery to the cloud-capped central cone (10,000 feet), which is known to the English as Clarence Peak, and to the Spaniards as the Pico Santa Isabel. The island presents the form of an elongated parallelogram disposed in the direction from north-east to south-west, and terminating on all four sides in steep cliffs and escarpments broken here and there only by a few gently sloping circular inlets. Seafarers navigating the strait, some 18 miles wide, flowing between Fernando- Po and the African mainland, contemplate in fine weather one of the grandest, spectacles on the surface of the globe. They pass through a superb gateway, formed on one side by the Kameroons with its wooded hills, rugged peaks, and snow-flecked cone, on the other by the island of Fernando-Po, with its lofty bluffs, its slopes clothed in verdure from base to summit, its perfectly regular volcano overtopping all. This noble approach to the inner Gulf of Guinea would be as famous as the Strait of Gibraltar or the Bosphorus, if like them it led to a busy inland sea or to a great capital, instead of to desert coastlauds fringed only with wretched hamlets. ■ Unlike the other Austral Atlantic lands, Fernando-Po is not an oceanic island, for its northern section rests on the pedestal which forms the circuit of the continent. The intervening strait has an extreme depth of only 290 feet, and on both sides the marine bed rises rapidly towards the strand. The submerged plateau extends for some distance to the east and west of the island ; then the soimding-line suddenly plunges into deep abysses, revealing depths of over 550 fathoms a Uttle to the south of Feruaudo-Po. The quadrangular mass is thus 114 WEST AFEICA. divided into two sections, one resting on the continental plateau, the other washed by deep oceanic waters. None of its cones are active, and no eruptions have hitherto been reported by the natives. On all sides the waters descend from the hiUs in little cascades and rivulets, irrigating every dcU and valley, and everywhere maintaining a fresh and exuberant vegetation ; every tree is clothed with a forest of tiny orchids, ferns, and begonias, and every branch is draped with festoons of hanging mosses. The thickets of matted plants are a greater obstacle even than the rugged slopes to the exploration of the island, which has, nevertheless, been traversed in every direction ; while the central, as well as the neighbouring cones, has been several times ascended since the feat was fii-st performed by Becroft. The exuberance of the arborescent vegetation is due to the abundant moisture brought by the south-west monsoons, which blow regidarly during the greater part of the rainy season, and which are frequently interrupted by the tornadoes, causing a considerable precipitation on the uplands. Mention is made by M. Pellon of a watersiDOut which burst over the land, discharging in a single hour a liquid mass six inches thick. There can be no doubt that on the higher grounds even heavier downpours occur, as may be concluded from the dense vapours and clouds constantly enveloping the loftier summits, and often even during the diy season the lower slopes. There are altogether about a himdred and sixty-seven rainy days, with a mean annual rainfall of from 100 to 120 inches, and an average temperature of 77" F. at the capital, Santa-Isabel, varying from 90* F. in February to 66? F. in September. Flora. Thanks to the great elevation of its mountains, rising from the torrid lowlands to the cold upper regions, Fernando-Po presents a highly diversified flora, corres- ponding below with that of the neighbouring mainland, higher up with that of the African highlands. The summit of the peak is clothed with a vegetation resembling that of the temperate zone, in which Mann has recognised seventeen species recurring on the lofty Abyssinian uplands 2,000 miles away. The same botanist asserts that the flora of the peak offers a certain affinity with that of the islands in the Indian Ocean, while differing altogether from that of the Cape and the Atlantic islands. All the cidtivated tropical plants flourish on the lowlands, and those of the temperate zone on the middle slopes, so that the island might become a garden of acclimatisation for all the terrestrial flora. The species most generally ciiltivated are the same as in Sam-Thome — cacao, coffee, sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco. The banana, maize, rice, tapioca, j^ams, supply abundance of food to the black popula- tion, and on the cleared uplands grow all European vegetables. The cinchona plantations have also yielded excellent results. Fauna. Most European domestic animals have been introduced ; cattle herd in the FEENANDO-PO. 115 glades, and to the produce of stock-breeding are added the abundant supplies yielded by the fisheries of the surrounding ■^vaters. But the primitive fauna is verv poor except ia birds, iasects, and worms, besides several species of venomous and harmless snakes. Tlie only wild quadruped is a species of antelope, -which has taken refuge on the uplands, and is now found only ia the yiciaity of the higher craters. Formerly three species of monkeys inhabited the woodlands, and Fig. 44. — ^Feenasiio-Po. Scale 1 : 630,000. £•=0' EcSt of Greenwich 8-55- Depths. to 660 Feet. 660 Feet and upwards. most naturalists still think that these quadrumana were indigenous. But although their remains are found in the island, the animals may have been introduced from the continent. Inhabitants. According to an ancient tradition, Fernando-Po was formerly inhabited by a 116 WEST APEIOA. different race of blacks from the present, and to them are attributed the stone axes that have been picked up in various districts. But however this be, the present population has certainly immigrated from the mainland, either at some time before the arrival of the Europeans, or soon after its discovery. It consists of scattered groups approximately estimated at nearly thirty thousand, who collectively call themselves Bubi (the " Boobies " of English writers), that is, " Men," and who give the name of Achimama (" All Lands," or " Universe "), to the island. They Fig. 4.5. — Bay of Santa- Isabel. Scale 1 ; 20.000. 8°A7- Last cf breenwich 8°-i8' 0to32 Feet. Hcjpths. 32 to 80 Feet. SOFeet.ind upwards. 550 Yai'ds. are probably descended from several tribes, for they speak at least five dialects of Bantu origin, like those of the neighbouring coastlands. They are a shy, timid race, greatly inferior in dignity and physical appearance to their continental kindred. They practise a coarse system of tattooing, cutting deep gashes on the face and body, which changes the naturally smooth skin to a rugged surface. They also smear themselves with red ochre mixed with pabn-oil, with the same cosmetic converting the hair to a solid mass, on which is worn a headdi-ess of plaited herbs. Both sexes wear a tight leather thong round the left arm, reducing FEENANDO-PO. 117 it to the compass of the wrist, and throiigh this thong the men pass their knives. Their currency is two species of shells, which they find on the coast, and which serve also to deck their persons and protect their dwellings against the evil spirits. All the Bubi tribes live in the interior, remote from the " citizens," whom they have good reason to mistrust. Formerly they were hiinted down and carried away into slavery ; hence had to take refuge in caves and dense thickets, guarded by a fierce breed of dogs, which growl and bite, but never bark. Jls'ow thev live in huts, into which they reluctantly admit Europeans. On the other hand, they were themselves at times dangerous neighbours, and are said to have twice poisoned the streams and springs in order to drive away the Portuguese, who appear to have been effectually got rid of in this way. The Spaniards also were on the point of withdi'awing in 1858, the natives having refused to supply them with provisions. Now, however, all are better friends ; the authority of the governor is recognised, and his staff of office sent to two hostile tribes suffices to restore order. The Eubis worship the great spii'it, Umo, an invisible being, who reveals himself in a dazzling Hght and in a rumbling voice coming up fi-om the depths of the ground. When a votary wishes to implore his mercy, or obtain a knowledge of the future, he penetrates through a narrow fissure into the cave, and advancing on all- fours lays his offering at the feet of the priest representing the divinity. Suddenly a bundle of rays flashes through an opening in the vault, enveloping the priest in a divine Hght. He is consulted and transmits the supplications to Umo, and the cavern presently reverberates with the thunder of the god himself, who seems to rise from the abyss to answer the prayers of the suppliant. There also resides on the east coast a " powerful king," who cannot be approached in person, but who remits the executive and judicial functions to the hula, a society which speaks and acts in his name. At the coronation he retires to a cave in order to hold commune with the demon through the mediation of snakes. The secondary " kings " of the neighbouring tribes are scarcely to be distinguished from ordinary subjects. Trade. — Topography. — Admixistratiox. The coast population, concentrated in Santa-Isabel on the north side, and in a few scattered hamlets, are mostly the descendants of black slaves set free either by the English cruisers or by their Spanish masters. The European traders have also introduced some Negroes from Lagos, Cape-Coast, Sierra-Leone, or Sam-Thome, who represent the most civilised section of the black population, and give the English language the preponderance over Spanish. But the Cuban exiles, recently numbering two hundred, have most contributed to the industrial and commercial development of the island. To them is due the honour of having introduced the cultivation of cacao, sugar, tobacco, and begun the manufacture of the famous Santa-Isabel cigars. But after serving their term of banishment most of these 118 WEST AFEIOA. exiles have returned to Cuba, and have not been replaced by any corresponding industrial class. Like that of Annobon, the trade of Fernando- Po is in the hands of the EngHsh and Portuguese dealers. But this trade is of slight importance, and has even recently diminished. The land is divided into large estates, and c\iltivated by Kroomen. But these temporary labourers, having often been maltreated, show great reluctance to return to the island, and at times the planters lack the hands required to harvest their crops. Santa-Isahel, the Clarence Toicn of the EngHsh, capital and only to-mi in the island, forms a group of little wooden houses, each sui-rounded by its verandah, and all embowered in verdure. The terrace on which the town is built develops a level plain at the foot of green hills and on the shore of a well- sheltered bay resembling a cirque or semicircular crater. The population nvmabered a little over eleven hundred in 1877, of whom only ninety-three were whites. The climate is one of the most dreaded in the equatorial lands, and in 1862 a fourth of the white population, at that time two hundred and fifty souls, was carried off by yellow fever. In one of the neighbouriag cemeteries lie the remains of the explorer, Richard Lander. Since 1859 Fernando-Po possesses a health resort, the first founded by the whites in the tropics. This is the village of Basileh, tying at an altitude of over 1,000 feet a little to the south of Santa-Isabel, and near a Bubi village. In the neighbourhood are the principal cinchona plantations of the island. Fernando-Po, yielded to the Spaniards by Portugal in 1778, was soon after abandoned by them on account of its insalubrity. But their place was gradually taken by the English, without, however, claiming possession of the island, and in 1827 Clarence Town became one of their chief stations for the suppression of the slave trade. But fearing England might permanently annex the island, Spain resumed possession in 1845. A small garrison occupies the forts, some Spanish missionaries are engaged in evangelising the blacks, and political offenders are often interned in the island. CHAPTER IV. XOETH SEXEGAiEBIA: SENEGAL. GrEITERAI, StIETET. ''OUTH of the Saiiarian region the natural frontiers of Sudan are indicated by no precise line, but rather by a narrow zone skirting the north bank of the Senegal and of the JoLiba (Niger) eastwards to and beyond Timbuktu. Here takes place the transition from the dry to the rainy climate, and to these contrasts correspond others in the aspect of the land, of its flora and fatina, origin, customs, and institutions of its inhabitants. Senegambia is thus well defined northwards by the yalley of the Senegal and the scarp of the plateaux which mark the geological frontier of the Sahara. The river valley, although penetrating not more than 600 nules inland, con- stitutes one of the characteristic features of the continent. Here begins the real Africa, separated by the desert from that Mediterranean Africa which forms an intermediate region between the northern and southern sections of the globe. The Senegal constitutes an ethnical parting-line between the Berbers and Arabs on its right, and the Nigritian population on its left bank. In a general way the river may be said to mark the starting-point of the transverse line which runs between the domains of the brown and black races. Here two distinct worlds con- front each other. But towards the east and south Senegambia has no precise limits ; in these directions the transitions take place imperceptibly, while the geographical features are marked by no striking contrasts. The water-parting between the affluents of the Senegal and Joliba is faint and uncertain, the traveller passing from on© fluvial basin to the other without detecting any change in the aspect of the land. On the other hand, the ranges and groups of uplands in south Senegambia continue to develop towards the south-east as far as Liberia and the Ivory Coast, parallel with the continental seaboard. Nevertheless a certain geographical unity is presented bj- the oval space comprised between the Atlantic, the Senegal, the Upper Joliba, the Bokelle, and the plateau separating the sources of the two last-mentioned streams. The whole land may here be said to be grouped round the central mass of the ]20 WEST AFEICA. Futa-Jallon highlands, whence the running waters flow in divergent beds towards the encircling main streams. The whole region, to which in its widest sense may- be given the name of Senegambia, including the Saharian slope of the Senegal, and even some dried-up basins sloping southward, has a total area approximately estimated at 280,000 square miles. Sufficient data are still lacking to give any trustworthy estimate of the population, so that the current calculations naturally present the greatest discrepancies. If any dependence could be placed on the missionary De Barros' computation of fourteen millions, we should have a pro- portion of fifty to the square mile, a minimum ratio for a fertile and well- watered land, where the birth-rate is high and where the popvdation rapidly increases in times of peace. Yet the data supplied by the European possessions, taken in con- nection with the reports of the most competent travellers, woidd seem to show that the actiial population is far less than had been conjectured from the density of the villages in some of the coast districts, falling in fact to considerably under three millions. Progress of Discovery. Over five centuries have passed since Europeans first had any direct or hearsay knowledge of Senegambia. Apart from the Periplus of Hanno, J. Ferrer's expedition of 1346, in search of the " river of gold," and the voyages of the Dieppe navigators, begun in 1364, it is certain that through their friendly relations with Timis the Venetians were already, in the fifteenth century, acquainted with the name of Timbuktu and other Sudanese towns. On the Catalonian map of 1375 are figured the inhabited lands which stretch south from the Sahara, and two names especially had become famous, Ginyia (Gineua, Ghenni, Ginea, Guinoye), the city rich in gold, identified by most geographers with Jenne, and the "river of gold," which is the Senegal. To reach " Guinea " and to discover the river of gold was the great ambition of navigators in those days. Bethencourt, conqueror of the eastern Canaries, had "the intention of opening the route to the river of gold" at " one hundred and fifty French leagues from the Cape of Bugader." But the systematic exploration of these mysterious lands was still delayed for another half century. In 1434 the Portuguese Gil Eannes at last penetrated beyond the formidable reefs of Cape Bojador, and in 1443 his countryman Muno Tristam doubled Cape Blanco, and coasted the mainland for twenty-five leagues thence southwards. He brought back a few wretched fishermen captured on the Arguin Islands, and the sight of these slaves sufficed to rekindle the zeal of the shrewd traders, who were beginning to reproach Prince Henry for the costly and useless expeditions along the Saharian coast. Quite a little fleet sailed from Lagos in 1444 for the Arguin Archipelago, and its opei-ations turned out greatly to the profit of the shippers. " It pleased God, rewarder of good deeds, to compensate the naA'igators for the many hardships undergone in His service, and to award them at last some triumph and glory for their sufferings, and compensation for their outlays, for they pos- sessed themselves of one himdred and sixty- five heads of men, women, and children." SENEGAMBIA. 121 (Azurarar's Chronicle). But next year the Portuguese slavers -srere less fortunate, for Gon9alo de Cintra having stranded on a sandbank, ^as suddenly set upon by the natives and massacred with all his followers. The year 1445 is one of the glorious dates in this century of great discoveries. The mariner Diniz Dias, Diniz Fernandez, as the name is variously written by contemporaries, leaving behind him the sandy or rocky Saharian coasts, sailed beyond the first clump of palms on the strand south of the desert, and after passing the mouth of the Senegal, doubled the extreme western headland of the continent. By this discovery of Cape Yerd was once for all exploded the Aris- totelian theory, so discouraging for previous navigators, that the solar rays must scorch the ground in the south of the world, and render impossible the germination of plants, the development of all animal or human life. Henceforth the analogy of the climatic conditions in the northern and southern hemispheres was an established truth. One of the twenty-six caravels which in 1445 sailed from Portugal for the African coasts discovered the mouth of the " Canag-a," that river of eold which was at the same time regarded as a branch of the Egj^jtian Xile. Next year, Ximo Tristam, who had been the first to double Cape Blanco, penetrated south of the island now bearing his name, to a little coast stream, where he was suddenly surrounded, perishing ■with nearly all his companions. This was most probably the river afterwards known as the Rio Xuno, or Xunez. Alvaro Fernandez pushed forward the same year to the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, which, however, was not passed for some fifteen years later. In three years all the Senegambian coast had been explored and most of the estuaries surveyed ; but the slave-hunting practices rendered all expeditions to the interior extremely dangerous. Neverthe- less regular commercial relations were at last established at certain points, factories and forts sprang up on favourable sites, and from the beginning of the fifteenth century the Portuguese, penetrating north of the Senegal into Adrar, began to trade with the people of ^adan, 4"20 miles east of their station at Arguin. From the seventeenth centui-y the Dutch, English, and French contended with the first conquerors for the possession of the Senegambian coast, and traders of these nationalities pushed into the interior of the continent. But geographical explora- tion, properly so called, first began with Andre Briie, director of the "French Company in Senegal," at the end of the seventeenth and commencement of the eighteenth century. He penetrated into the region of the Upper Senegal above the confluence of the Faleme, and sent several explorers into the riverain districts along the main stream. The monk Apollinaire visited the gold country in Bambuk, which was traversed in all directions by Compagnon. The map prepared by him and published in Labat's work contains some details which have not yet been verified by any modern explorers. In 1786 Piubault surveyed the thinly peopled tracts between the Gambia and the northern bend of the Senegal, and other trips were made into the basin of the Gambia. Then Mimgo Park, charged with a mission of discovery bj- the London African Association, mother of all contemporary geographical societies, made a VOL. XII. K 122 WEST AFRICA. first expedition in 1795 from the coast to the Niger, whence he returned to the Gambia with a trading caravan. In 1818 Mollieu first reached the central SEXEGAilBIA. 123 mass of the Futa-Jallon highlands, whence the waters flow east to the Niger, north to the Senegal, west and south to the Gambia, Rio-Grande, Scarcies, and Rokelle. Since this memorable jcumey the country has been repeatedly traversed, especially by French naturalists, military and nayal officers. While Braouezec and other sailors were studying the estuaries on the coast, French or native officials, such as Panet, Aliun-Sal, Bu-el-iloghdad, Yincent, Soleillet, were surveying the steppes north of the Senegal, and connecting with the Saharian oases, and even with Marocco, the network of itineraries in Senegambia. About the same time ifagc and Quintin were pushing eastwards to the Xiger basin and advancing in the direction of Timbuktu. The Gallieni expedition of 1880 formed a fresh point of departure for the extensive geographical studies which went hand in hand with the work of conquest between the Senegal and the Xiger. Throughout the whole region connecting Saint Louis on the coast with Bamaku on the Joliba, the preliminary explorations were followed by more accurate surveys for determining the reHef of the land, and certain sections of the Senegal are now figured on our maps with the same fulness of detail as the European countries. As in Algeria, Egypt, the Cape, and at all points of the seaboard where busy European communities have been developed, science is slowly but surely prosecuting its work of conquest. The FrTA-JAi.Lox Highlands. A certain geographical unity is given to Senegambia by the massive Futa-Jallon highlands, where rise the headstreams of the Senegal, Gambia, Casamanza, Geba, Rio-Grande, Xunez, Pongo, Scarcies, which diverge thence in various directions coastwards. These uplands thus constitute one of the salient fea^ares in the foi-mation of West Africa, and it is not perhaps surprising that their size and importance were exaggerated by the early explorers. Lambert, who visited them in 1860, assigned an elevation of 10,000 feet to the Sun-du-ifali (Sudumali), one of the loftiest summits near the centre of the range. He even supposed that the highest points, reported by the natives to be snow-clad during the wet season, might have an altitude of over 13,000 feet, nearly equal to that of the Abyssinian Simen on the opposite side of the continent. But Lambert had taken no accurate measurement, and ten years afterwards Hecquard took only five hoiu's to ascend Mount Maminia, some 30 miles west of the Labe plateau, which had also been described as exposed to " white rains," but on which he found no trace of snow. If the Futa-Jallon hills approached the altitudes spoken of by Lambert their crests woidd be visible from the lower Faleme and middle Gambia, whence at a distance of 90 miles they cannot be detected. Ifor do more recent travellers, such as Bayol, Xoirot, and Ansaldi mention any such heights, while the loftiest pass crossed by OHvier near the source of the Kakrima was found to be only 3,370 feet high. At the village of Bogama, near the central SudumaK peak, Bayol and Xoirot reached an altitude of 4,600 feet, above which rose other crests, which according to the extreme estimates of the Portuguese Simoes may possibly exceed 6,500 feet ; but in any case the mean elevation cannot be more than 4,000 feet. K 2 124 "WEST AFEIOA. This highland system, which begins on the Senegal in the Bondu district, does not appear to develop a regular chain tiU it approaches the great bend of the Gambia. It rubs mainly in the direction from north to south, with a slight eastern deflection, for a total length of about 180 miles. Eut beyond the sources of the Senegalese Bafing the chain is continued by other still unexplored mountains south-westwards to the hills, from 3,500 to 4,500 feet high, which command the sources of the Niger. In Senegambia the most abrupt slope faces eastwards in the direction of the Gambia and Faleme, and a large part of the system consists of baowals, or slightly rolling plateaux strewn with scattered boulders and broken by steep escarpments. Geologically, Futa- Jallon forms a nucleus of crystalline rocks encircled by more recent formations, and by most travellers described as consisting of granites, gneiss, and "primary sandstones." !?^orthwards and north-eastwards this crystalline and schistose mass is continued by other parallel ridges, such as the Tambaura of Bambuk, where almost inaccessible rocky walls rise abruptly about the surrounding verdant plains, and the heights of Xenieba, affecting the form of truncated cones. The secondary ridges are intersected by river valleys, whose sands and clays contain particles of gold washed from the primitive rocks. Through this auriferous alluvia the headstreams of the Senegal have excavated their convergent beds. Between the Bafing and the Bakhoy, the two main forks of the Senegal, the hills running parallel to the !Xiger consist of horizontally stratified sandstones, above which crop out granite, hornblende, quartz, and feldspar blocks of fantastic shape. Even north of the Senegal as far as the sands of the desert, the lines of hills and terraces consist of sandstones dating from the same epoch. In Kaarta the Saharian clLSs, whence flow the intermittent afiluents of the Senegal, have a mean height of from 1,000 to 1,070 feet, and the hills are here formed of bluish slaty schists overlain with deposits of laterite. Farthei west the heights are more regularly disposed in chains running mostlj' in the direction from north-east to south-west. The surface looks as if it had been furrowed by a gigantic plough, leaving between the trenches parallel ridges with their steep side facing east and sloping gently westwards. The western crest of Halip Anaghim, forming the north-west limit of the Senegal basin, rises to a height of 1,350 feet. West of the Senegambian gneiss and schists follows a deposit of ferruginous sandstones or laterites, an ochreous mass formed b}- the disintegration of the older rocks, and occupying all the Senegambian seaboard,, except where the streams and tides have deposited their alluvia. Towards the west these ochreous sandstones contain a continually increasing proportion of iron, and in many places the ground looks as if it were covered with ferruginous refuse like the neighboui'hood of a smelting furnace. -"o The Senegambian Seaboard. The Senegambian seaboard is disposed in three distinct geological sections, the first extending from Cape Blanco to Cape Verd, the second from Cape Yerd to Cape Roxo (" Red "), the third thence to the island of Sherbro. Taken as a whole SENEGAMBIA. 125 the cui've of about 500 miles developed between Capes Blanco and Yerd Constitutes a separate geological area, fringed north and south of the Senegal by lofty dunes, and describing a regular arc except in the north, where the coastline, eaten away by erosion, is now replaced by a sandbank, over which the surf rolls in long breakers. Farther south, also, the alluvia deposited by the Senegal has advanced bej'ond the normal shore-line, forming a convex segment about 120 miles long, with a mean breadth of some 12 miles. But landwards, behind the range of coast dunes, the same geological formations everj-where prevail. Both north and south of the Senegal, towards the Sahara as well as towards the Gambia, the ground consists of ferruginous laterite deposits. Even the two extreme capes, Blanco and Verd ("White" and " Green "), present small prominences which seem to date from the same geological epoch. The section of the seaboard between Capes Yerd and Roxo develops a curve of about 165 miles with its concave side facing eastwards. The original shore-line, as revealed by the tongues of sand and submerged bars at the river mouths, is extremely regular, although deeply indented by the fluvial estuaries, whose alluvia are widely spread over the older ferruginous sandstone deposits. On the other hand, the third section between Cape Roxo and Sherbro Island has lost all appear- ance of regularit}-, being carved by the waves into a thousand inlets of all sizes, or broken into islets and reefs, now strewn over the neighbouring waters. But in other resi^ects this southern section presents the same alluvial and laterite formations as the seaboard north of Cape Eoxo. The indented parts of the Senegambian coast lie in exactly the same latitude as the Futa-Jallon highlands, and between the two formations it is easy to detect a relation of cause and effect. The streams flomng from the uplands have excavated the valleys and to some extent contributed to the creation of the marine estuaries ; but glacial action may also have had its share in the general result. Doubtless the climate is now very different from that which must have prevailed when frozen streams were slowly descending down to the Senegambian plains ; but in this respect the African seaboard offers precisely the same conditions as those of Brazil and New Granada, where traces of glaciation have also been detected by Agassiz and other observers. The erratic granite boulders occiu'ring on the sandstone plains of Sierra Leone can scarcety be otherwise accounted for ; consequently to the action of glaciers should perhaps be largely attributed the destruction of the Senegambian seaboard, causing it to retire some 60 miles inland. Political and Social Relations. Occupying nearly twelve degrees of latitude, and rising to an extreme height of over 6,000 feet, Senegambia naturally presents a great variety of plants and animals, belonging, however, to two distinct domains, that of the neighbouring Saharian savannahs and that of the great Nigritian forests. Great contrasts are also presented by its inhabitants, who possess neither poKtical unity nor social 126 WEST AFEICA. coherence. Tliej' belong to diverse stocks, broken into uumerous states, kingdoms, centralised or federal republics, religious communities, nomad tribes, scattered family groups. The central Futa- Jallon highlands are occupied chiefly by Fulahs, Fig. 47. — Geological Map op vSeneoambia. Scale 1 : 13,000,000. Wesl of ureenwich 15 Granile iind Schists uud Gneiss. Slates. Seccndary FoimatioDS. Auriferous Sands. Siiline Deposits. Luterite. Sands and Dunes. Allu\ium Volcanic Rocks- — ^ ISO Miles. a swarthy race not to be confounded witli the Negroes proper. Round about them, on the sea-coast and on the upper affluents of the Senegal and Gambia, dwell POLITICAL AKD SOCIAL EELATIONS. 127 numerous Nigritian tribes, while more or less mixed Berber groups roam over the tracts to the north of the Senegal. Intercourse with the European traders has created new centres of attraction for these various peoples, thus modifying their social aggregates and alliances. The West European States, influenced by the interests of their respective subjects, have moreover forcibly occupied or secured by treaty and purchase the districts bordering on the central markets. Thus Portugal, the first to arrive as a conqueror, possesses the Bissagos archipelago and a part of the adjacent coast, a mere fragment of a domain, which once stretched away to the boundless regions of Sudan. England has established her trading stations at the mouth of the Gambia, and in several other places in that basin. But France has annexed a far more extensive territory, embracing all the coast from Cape Blanco to the river Salum, a stretch of 450 miles, and the fluvial zone extending for 150 miles between the Nunez and the Mallecory rivers. Between these two great coast regions the basin of the Casamanza forms an enclave also assigned to France, while in the interior the possessions of the same power stretch from Cape Terd in a straight line for over 600 miles eastwards beyond the sources of the Senegal right away to the Xiger. Lastly, in virtue of a treaty recently concluded with Portugal, the Futa-Jallon highlands have been, if not annexed at least declared a French protectorate. In the same way, by agreement with Great Britain, the Upper Joliba basin has been reserved as a field for the future expansion of French political influences. But these are mere outward political changes, and although many writers stiU regard the Xegroes as an immovable race incapable of progress or improvement, great revolutions have already taken place, profoundly modifying their social condition. The gradual spread of the conquering races from east to west has been continued, the ilendingoes encroaching on the coast populations, while the Fulahs have already reached the marine estuaries. The ilussidman propaganda accompanies and even precedes these ethnical displacements, and many indepen- dent black communities have already adopted Islam, which however in most cases acquires a mystic character more vague, less dogmatic and less rigid than amongst the Arabs. Usages and industries also become modified through the displacements, inter- mingHngs of races, fresh political combinations and religious conversions. And while these great changes are progressing in the interior, the foreign traders established on the seaboard act as a counterpoise to the westward movement of the ilandingoes and Fulahs, and constantly acquire greater influence through their expanding commercial relations. The object of their trafiic has also changed. They no longer purchase man himself, as they had done for nearly four hundred years, but rather the fruits of his industry ; and with the suppression of the slave trade the incessant intertribal wars caused by it are gradually coming to an end. Thus this great event is of vast importance in the renovation of Africa. But although whites and blacks no longer mutually consider each other as anthropo- phagists, the responsibility for the horrors committed remains uneffaced. If men 128 WEST AFEICA. are no longer directly purchased, the European dealers continue tlie work of moral degradation. While reproaching the Negro populations with cruelty they incite them to war; while complaining of their intemjacrate, depraved, or indolent "habits, they persist in suj)plying them with fiery alcoholic drinks. The real value of European influences is not to be estimated by flourishing trade returns. The natives in sharing their land with the stranger have a right to demand in return the substantial benefit of increased moral and intellectual well-being as well as mere material progress. Senegal Basin and Futa-Jallon. The regions either directly administered by Franco, or in which her military ascendancy is uncontested, may be roughly estimated at 200,000 square miles, or very nearly the area of France itself. The term Senegal, by which French Seue- gambia was until recently designated, has naturally been replaced by the more comprehensive expression, French Sudan. The former name, however, is still reserved for the territory skirting the navigable part of the river between Saint- Louis and Medina. At the same time to this great artery the whole region undoubtedly owes its geographical unity, just as from its name, combined with that of the Gambia (Senegal- Gambia), it takes its general designation of Sene- gambia. The Senegal is the first perennial stream which reaches the south coast of the Saharian wastes. Between its mouth and tha of the Um-er-Rbia the last per- manent Maroccan river, the distance in a bee- ne is no less than 1,320 miles, and 1,800 including the indentations along the coastline. Throughout its course and that of its numerous tributaries the Senegal indicates the northern limit of the zone of abimdant periodical rains. Its bed prolongs westwards the winding line of running waters formed eastwards by the Niger, the Tsad affluents, and the great tributaries of the Nile — the Bahr-el-Arab and Bahr-el-Azraq. It was possibly owing to a vague idea of this geographical fact that, down to the last century, mention was at all times made of a Nile with many mouths traversing the whole of Africa. According to the traveller Cadamosto the " Senega " is at once the Gihon, " river of the earthly paradise," the Niger, and the Nile. In the extent of its basin the Senegal ranks only as a secondary African river, being inferior not only to the Congo, Nile, Joliba, and Zambesi, but according to some approximate estimates, even to the Limpopo, Orange, and Juba. But great discrepancies prevail on this point ; and while Chavanne calculates the Senegal at 176,000 square miles. Von Klodeu reduces it to little over 103,000 square mUes. These discrepancies are due to the fact that the Saharian slope of the river has not yet been accurately surveyed, and that some include this region of intermittent wadies in the Senegal basin, while others bring it within the zone of inland drain- age. According to the former view the Senegal must have in any case an area of 145,000 square miles, or very nearly two-thirds of the whole of France. From the source of the Bafing to the bar at its mouth, the total length is as nearly as possible 1,000 miles, but as the bird flies not more than 170 miles. L!8RARY OF THE -MvlVERSITYofltUNOIS. THE LOWl Leyb, Gandon -Dialakhar Rao Poundioun Tcffi Khatlet O ^ V Klerina^Vien ». a '6 *•- "N|.;k. V V'Sakel • West of GrcenwLch L3 l..- ^ to 32 ff 32 to 64f 1 DIN" , .: 3.' SENEGAL. N ' '--^^-O (:^ o u I ^ ^ ^0. ^•. v '.<. j4 tP 160 fT leOiipirards. r E n '- o ■J. C° LIMITED. SENECJAL BASIX AXD FUTA-JALLON. 129 The farthest headstream, risiug within a few miles of the left bank of the Niger, takes the name of Baule, which, however, changes incessantly according to 130 WEST AFEICA. the countries it traverses and the poioulation residing on its banks. Below the hilly district where it has its source, it waters the little-known Bele-Dugu territory, beyond which it trends westwards, here forming the border-line between the French possessions and Kaarta. In this section of its course it receives but few and slight contributions from the northern or Saharian slope ; but from the south it is joined by some copious streams, such as the Bakhoy, which gives its name to the main stream below the junction, and which by its confluence with the Bafing forms the Senegal, properly so called. Bafulabe, or the " Two Rivers," is the local Malinke name of Fig. 49.— The Felu Fails. Scale 1 : GO.OOO. .,„••; ;■" '.',: ■^:-'-- " "v;.^'>;', Y:^\^>#/^&:?i^^ (^f .^ •^">;1 ,;c.>vIio.i,: 'CommorvtaraJ; ' ,^i i'A y^M,^'.. 1 »' 0-° ^fTa "'„° ires- ■West of breenwich 2,200 Yards. this confluence of the Bakhoy, or " White," with the Bafing, or " Black " river ; the designation Maio-Reio given to it by the Fulahs and Toucouleurs, has the same The Bafing rises at an elevation of 2,500 feet in the southern part of the Futa- Jallon highlands, south of the sources of the Faleme, Gambia, and Rio-Grande. After flowing some distance southwards it describes a great curve to the east, north-east, and north, thus forming a semi-eUipse with the lower course of the Senegal. Having a very steep incline between its source and the Bakhoy confluence, and receiving no I'aiuwater for nine months in the year, the Bafing would cease to TKE SENEGAL BASIN. 131 flow in the dry season, but for the natural barriers dividing its course into a series of basins with an ahnost imperceptible current between the periods of high water. During the rainy winter season the stream passes by so many rapids from ledge to ledge of these dams, which are again exposed in the rainless months. At the confluence of the Bakhoy and Bating, the Senegal is still -470 feet above sea-level, and its bed being confined between banks from 100 to 120 feet high, the stream rushes from rapid to rapid, at that of Guina falling in a single plunge from a height of over 50 feet with a mean breadth of 1,600 feet. The Felu Falls, the last of the series, are of the same height, but here the river is much more contracted. At the foot of the cataract it reaches a level of 220 feet above the sea, from which it is still distant some 600 miles. Hence, the mean incline is here very slight, so that during the season of high water large craft are able to ascend as far as the faUs. A little farther down the Senegal receives its chief northern affluent, the Kuniakari, or Tarakole, which has a total length of at least 120 miles. But the contributions of this feeble Saharian tributary are as nothing to those of the Faleme, which joins the main stream lower down after collecting the copious waters of the Futa-Jallon uplands. Eising near the Bafing and Gambia, the Faleme sends down a little water even in the dry season, while in winter it is no less than 1,000 feet broad and 26 feet deep at the confluence. It might be navigated for some hundred miles by small craft, but its upper basin, unhealthy and frequently wasted by wars, has been very Kttle explored, comprising the least known part of French Sudan. Below the Faleme junction the Senegal receives no more perennial tributaries, for it here flows north-west beyond the region of copious rains, and penetrates into the zone of transition between Sudan and the desert proper. Several of the inter- mittent Saharian wadies run out in saline marshes, which in a drier climate would be converted into salt-pans like those of Ijil and other parts of the desert. During the dry season the volume of the main stream gradually diminishes, developing long meanders and winding sluggishly rotmd numerotis islands, such as the long alluvial land of Bilbas, and the island at Morfil, or " Ivory," so called from the elephants which formerly frequented it. The river bed is intersected at intervals by several rocky ledges, none of which, however, is high enough to com- pletely arrest the stream. But at low water boats have great difficulty in forcing the passage, and the riverain populations are able to ford the current at many points. In the lower reaches small steamers can always ascend as far as Mafu above Podor, 210 miles from the sea ; but this is due to the tides, which convert the lower course of the Senegal into a marine estuary. The discharge dtiriag the dry season is estimated at not more than 1,760 cubic feet per second. The great rains, which begin in May on the Futa-JaUon highlands, change the whole character of the river. The water rises rapidly, and from June to October large steamers ascend to the foot of the Felu Falls. At Bakel the floods rise 50 feet and upwards, at Matam 30 to 3-4, at Podor 20, at Dagana little more than 14, the inundations thus diminishing as they approach the sea. But at this season the 132 WEST APEICA. force of the current steins the tidal stream, so that the water is quite fresh at Saint Louis, and even penetrates into the sea, where it may be distinguished by its yellowish colour amid the liquid blue of the surrounding ocean. At this season the discharge is certainly several thousand cubic yards ]Der second, for the stream not only fiUs the broad and deep fluvial bed, but also overflows both banks, flooding numerous lateral lagoons, or "false rivers," which mark the course of former channels. The inundations even attain an exceptional dcveloi^ment about every four years, when in its lower course the river assumes the aspect of a great inland sea from 12 to 15 miles wide. Towards its mouth the Senegal ramifies to the right and left into numerous channels or tortuous lagoons, here called " marigots," a tei'm also wrongly applied to the pei'maneut tributaries and to the brackish lacustrine basins on the coasts. During the floods these lagoons serve to relieve the o^'erflow, which in the dry season is here husbanded as if in artificial reservoirs. The two largest of these side Fiff. 50. — Floods of the Senegal. lagoons are disposed on the right and left near the point where the Senegal bends southwards to skirt the coast dunes. The Cayar or Khornak basin on the north or right bank is some 12 miles long, with three outlets to the main stream ; while the southern, variously known as the Guier, Panieful, or Merinaghen Lake, occupies with its affluent, the Bunun, a winding valley about 90 miles in length. Even in the dry season this navigable basin retains some water, which attracts wild animals from aU directions. The Senegal Delta. The delta, some GOO square miles in extent, forms a labyrinth of islands, islets, and marshy banks, separated by streams, channels, and stagnant waters, changing their form and depth with every inundation. The whole of this low-lying tract, half lacustrine during the period of floods, is sharply limited westwards by a THE SEXEGAL DELTA. 133 Fig. 51. — Baes op the Senegal FEOM 1S25 TO 1884. Seile 1 : 300,000. surprisingly regular line of sands, the so-called " Langue de Barbarie," which has a mean breadth of from 400 to 450 yards, and which is strewn with little dunes from 15 to 20 feet high. Being constantly exposed on one side to the furv of the surf, on the other to the pressure of the fluvial overflow, this sandy dyke yields now at one point now at another, again repairing the breach with the alluvial matter here arrested by the ojiposing fluvial and marine forces. The curve of the shore-line bears witness to the ceaseless encroachment on the sea which has been going on for ages. The sedimentary matter already deposited beyond the normal coastline, and rising above the surface, covers an area of at least 1,000 square miles, and the range of dunes which at one time developed a regular concave curve between Capes Mirik and Yerd now bulges out some 1"2 miles seawards. Oil the delta the waters are also much shallower than elsewhere along the coast, so that the 50-fathom line, running within 2 miles of Cape Yerd, is deflected to 18 or 20 miles off the mouth of the Senegal. During the present period the bar at the entrance of the river has constantly changed its form and position. For a stretch of 13 miles below Saint-Louis, the breach in the sandy dyke has continually shifted up and down, according to the abundance of the fluvial discharge, the force and direction of the fluvial and marine currents, and of the winds and surf. Usually the bar is slowly displaced southwards, owing to the gradual extension of the sandy dyke formed by the combined action of the parallel marine and fluvial currents, both trending in the same direction. But as it gains in length, this narrow tongue becomes more exposed to the pressure of the river, yielding sooner or later at some weak point. It happens at times that the sill breaks into eight or ten distinct channels ; but these openings are soon filled up by the action of the two conflicting currents, leaving only a single passage, through which the lighter fresh water spreads over the marine surface, while the heavier salt water penetrates up the river-bed. In 1825 the bar nearly faced Gandiole, 8 miles south of Saint- Louis ; in 1851 it had shifted stiU farther south, almost to the southern extremity to 32 Feet. Depths. 32 to 64 Feet. G4 Feet and upwards. 6 ililes. 134 WEST APEICA. of the dj'ke. But five years afterwards it had returned to Camel Point, close to Saint-Louis, in 18G4 retreating over 2,000 yards southwards, and in 1884 again retiring to a point south of Gandiole. The depth of the channel seldom exceeds 13 or 14, and seldom falls below 8 feet, being shallowest from November to February, and deepest in April and Ma}', at the end of the dry season. The depth is increased G or 7 feet by the tides ; but in rough weather the bar is almost inaccessible to shipping, which has at times to wait for weeks either off the roadstead or within the port of Saint-Louis. To obviate this and other inconveniences it has been proposed to create a permanent channel by means of a curved pier forming a continuation of the left bank of the river. North of the Senegal there are no perennial rivers in the territory politically assigned to France. Nor are there now any streams for a stretch of 180 miles south of the bar, until the Salum is reached. But according to a well-founded local tradition, the Senegal itself seems to have formerly continued its southern course parallel with the coast under the shelter of the Cayor dunes as far as the Bay of Dakar, below Cape Verd. According to Wendling's recent observations the Cayor formations appear to have been originally fluvial deposits, which became attached to the islet of Dakar, and were afterwards covered by marine sands. South of Cape Verd the shore-line curves round towards the south-east, thus describing an arc corresponding to that of the Cayor dunes. Here a few streamlets reach the coast ; but north of the Gambia the seaboard is broken only by the large island- studded estuary, which is slieltered from the sea by the long peninsula terminating at Point Sangomar, and which towards the north-east mingles its waters with those of the Saliim, a coast-stream navigable for some 60 miles. Climate of the Senegal Basin. The Senegal year is divided into two jDcriods of nearly equal length, the dry season, answering to the summer of the southern hemisj)here, from the end of November to the beginning of June, and the wet, which is also the hottest, for the rest of the year. During the former the trade winds prevail, occasionally interrupted near the sea by local breezes blowing from the north-west and west. Thanks to these atmospheric currents and to the cool marine current setting from the north, the temperature is relatively moderate along the seaboard, oscillating at Saint-Louis and at Goree round a mean of from 68° to 70° F. But in the interior this dry season is again divided into two periods corresponding somewhat to the winter and spring in Europe. The winter, if not cool, is at least almost temperate (77" F.) ; but in the spring, when the hot east Saharian winds pre- dominate, the glass stands normally at 90° F. The changes from season to season are usually ushered in by the " tornadoes,'' small local cyclones, generally lasting from fifteen minutes to an hour, and nearly always wheeling from the south-east and east round to the north and west, reversing the direction of the normal wind. They are violent gales which, when unaccompanied by rain, may even become dangerous. FLOEA OF SENEGAL. 136 During the four months from July to October inclusive, when the " hiver- nage " or rainy season is at its height, the prevailing winds are weak and variable, the mean temperature (80° F.) is very constant, and the air saturated with moisture. Eains and thunderstorms are frequent, the river overflows, the swampy tracts are flooded. Although the same conditions prevail everj'where, the rains begin somewhat earlier in the interior than on the coast, and the season lasts considerably longer at Goree than at Saint-Louis. The humidity is on the whole considerably less than in most other tropical regions, and Saint-Louis has on an average scarcely more than thirty rainy days with an annual rainfall of less than 20 inches. In the interior lying farther south, and at Goree, the proportion appears to be somewhat higher, and at Kita there was a rainfall of over 50 inches in 1882. Hail, almost unknown elsewhere in the tropics, is not rare in Kaarta, where "hard water," as it is called, is regarded as a valuable medicine. Flora. Lying on the frontier of the Saharian and Sudanese zones, French Senegambia resembles both these regions in its flora. The northern vegetation is allied to that of the neighbouring Saharian steppes, while the southern assumes a more tropical aspect, the varietj- of forms increasing in the direction of the equator. Although some species are peculiar to Senegambia, this region is far from presenting the same diversity as other tropical lands. During iive years of exploration, Leprieur and Perrottet collected onlj- sixteen hundred species, a very small number compared with the exuberance of the Indian, Australian, and South American floras. Some extensive tracts are occupied hj a few graminacesc to the exclusion of all other forms. These are fired by the herdsmen in the dry season, and the conflagrations caus3d by them prevent the development of large forest growths. As in the corresponding Nubian regions, where grassy savannahs also prevail, there are numerous gummiferous plants, such as the acacias, which cover whole districts north of the Senegal. Even in the south the most widespread tree is the goniahe, or Adansonia acacia, whose hard, close-grained wood yields an excellent material for ship-building. On the coast the characteristic plants are the arborescent malvacese, the gigantic baobab, and the bombax. In Senegal the baobab was first studied by Adanson, whence its botanical name of Adansonia fligitafa. But so early as the beginning of the sixteenth century Cadamosto already spoke with amazement of these stupendous growths, which yield the so- called '' monkey-bread," eaten also by man. Still larger and of more symmetrical form than the weird-like headless baobab is the bombax, whose enormous aerial roots form large recesses, in which travellers take refuge for the night and where "palavers" are sometimes held. Although usually regarded as the fetish tree in a pre-eminent sense, some of the natives convert the stem into canoes of 18 or 20 tons burden. The down of its fruit, too short and fragile for weaving jjurposes, supplies a substitute for touchwood. The cocoa-nut, now abundant in Lower Senegal, is of comparatively recent 13G WEST AFIIICA. importation, and the date-palm occurs chiefly in the neighbourhood of Bakel and *, ft ^ <^ s" about the Faleme confluence, which is its southern limit. The wild forest plants yield scarcely any edible berries or nuts beyond the small rod fruit of the sidom, FAUNA OF SENEGAL. 137 a thorny zizyphus, Mhlch flourishes on the Upper Senegal and Faleme. In Kaarta and other regions of the interior the vine grows spontaneously, even ^aeldino• a savoury grape, which, however, none but the children ever think of fatheiing. The attempts to introduce this vine into France have failed, and even in the country it has been found impossible to graft it. Besides the species already known in commerce, botanists mention hundreds of woody or grassy plants, whose seeds, roots, bark, sap, gum, foliage, or fruit might be turned to profitable account. One of the most remarkable is the larite {Bmsia Parhii) of the Bakhoy, Faleme, and neighbouring districts, which has acquired the name of the butter-tree, from the fatty substance of its fruit, the ce of the natives and shea of English writers. The guru, or Icola {StercuUa acuminata), whose root will render even foid water pleasant to the taste, forms extensive forests on the Upper Senegal and in Futa-Jallon. Faixa. Like the flora, the Senegalese fauna belongs to the two conterminous regions of the Sahara and Sudan. In the northern steppes and those of Futa, the Arabs hunt the ostrich, which is even domesticated in many villages. The giraffe and various species of antelopes are still met on the grassy plains dotted over with clumps of trees wliich stretch from the great bend of the Senegal southwards in the direction of the Salum and Gambia. The well-watered and fertile tracts remote from human habitations still afford a refuge to the elephants, who roamed in herds of forty or fifty over the savannahs in the eighteenth century, and who so recently as 1860 were occasionally seen in the neighbourhood of Lake Panieful, or even crossed the lake into the lower delta. Nor has the hippopotamus yet dis- appeared from the Upper Senegal, while the wild boar frequents all the thickets. The grey monkeys are the only quadrumana seen on the coastlands ; but multitudes of cynocephali inhabit the forests of the interior. These baboons constitute little i-epubhcs in the neighbourhood of the cultivated tracts, where they commit great depredations amongst the crops. Yet some of the tribes near Bakel claim to have made a treatj- of peace with the monkeys, in virtue of which their lands are exempt from pillage. "Win wood Read asserts that these animals combine to attack the panther, usually kiUing him after losing many of their members. Beasts of prey, scarcelj- ever seen in Futa-Jallon, are numerous and formidable throughout the Bambuk district. The Kon, here maneless, but as large as " the lord of the Atlas," haunts the steppes north and south of the river, and is frequently seen prowling about Dagana in the dry season. He is said never to attack women, and even to make way for them ; but in the Jolof country the people speak with dread of a black lion who does not hesitate to fall upon men. No European hunter has ever seen this animal, but mention is frequently made of other rapacious beasts, such as panthers, leopards, tiger-cats and wUd cats, Ivnxes, hysenas, and jackals. Birds are very numerous near the forests and marshy districts. The sui-manga, a living gem Uke the humming-bird of the New "World, all sparkling with gold and metalHc lustre, is seen at t:mes to flash amid the emerald foliage. The VOL. XII. t 138 \NTi;ST APEICA. passerine family is very numerously represented in Senegal, and several of its varieties, such as the cardinal, the widow-bird, and senagaH, have become familiar ornaments of the European aviaries. The local variety of the parrakeet, much dreaded by the growers of millet, is in great request amongst the bird-dealers of Saint-Louis. A more useful bird is the dohine, or black stork, which preys freely on all kinds of reptiles, lizards, venomous snakes, the green adder, and even small boas. In the rivers and lagoons are found the electric fish and two species of crocodile, " one that eats man, and the other eaten by man." Inhabitants of the Senegal Basin. In its ethnology as well as its flora and fauna, French Senegambia is a land of transition, where a sharp contrast is presented between the Arabised Berbers from the Mediterranean seaboard and the Nigritians from the heart of Africa. The Senegalese " Moors," although of northern origin and calling themselves former vassals of the Emperor of Marocco, have nothing but their name, language and religion in common with the Mauritanian Moors. So far from being civilised members of settled communities, most of them live in the nomad state, wandering with their herds from camping-ground to camping- ground, and pursuing men and animals on the open plains. Descended from the Zenaga Berbers, who gave their name to the Senegal river, they have largely intermingled both with the Arabs and with the subjected Negro popvdation. Hence amongst them is found the whole series of tyj^es, from the swarthy southern European with broad brow, regular nose, and thin lips, to the flat features, pouting lips, and crisp hair of the Negro. The lighter element is represented chiefly by the Hassans, or horsemen, and the Marabouts, or religious class. As nobles, conquerors, and Mussulmans of the old stock, both of these look upon themselves as superior to the lower castes, whom they speak of contemptuously as lahme, or food. The Hassans plunder their subjects by brute force ; the Marabouts swindle them by medical jugglery and magic arts. " Remember that the Marabout must always take and never give," said one of these men of God to Rene CailHe. " Gratitude is the virtue of vassals and captives, unworthy of superior beings," is another of their edifying axioms. The subjects, who are the true nobles, being descended from the first owners, constitute the bulk of the primitive Zenaga population, beneath whom are the captives, nearly all blacks obtained by conquest or purchase from every part of Sudan. The fair element is said to form about a twentieth, the blacks one-half, and the half-caste Berbers and Arabs the rest of the Senegalese Moors. The numerous geographical terms in the western districts north of the Lower Senegal attest the long persistence of the Berber dialects amongst the Zenagas. One of these dialects alone survives amongst a few groups of the Trarza people, amongst the Marabouts, and the Lamtuna branch of the great Dwaish confederation. Elaewhere the Beidan Arabic dialect has everywhere supplanted the Berber speech. But whatever be their origin, the Moors have a proud spirit and noble courage. They are inured to the hardships of long expeditions, and surprisingly frugal when not living at the expense of others. As in so many parts of Africa, the young INHABITANTS OF SENEGAL. 189 women are fattened for matrimony, and in several tribes their upper incisors are made to project forward so as to raise the upper and rest on the lower lip. Despite their tribal feuds and caste prejudices, the Mohammedan Moors have always combined against the hated Christian. The French have faded to reduce by di^-iding them, and although far less numerous than the black popidations of the Senegal basin, they have resisted the encroachments of the whites far more resolutely. In war they are pitiless, after the battle sparing only the women and children. The ^Negroes have many axioms breathing the spirit of hatred which A tent shelters nothing honest they cherish against their Berber oppressors. unless it be the horse p.^ ,, _t..... Ttpe. that carries it; " "If a Moor and a -^-iper cross thy path, kill the Moor," are sayings current among the Jolofs, and perhaps sufficiently accounted for by the Arab maxim that the Xegro " must be trampled under foot and im- poverished to make him submissive and respectful." Although split up into endless clans, sects, and sub-groups of all sorts, the Moors constitute two natural divisions only, the northern tribes, who never leave the steppes verging on the desert, and the Guebla, or southern tribes, who migrate to and fro between the fluvial trading-stations and the camping- grounds of the interior. But for political and commercial convenience the French have classed them in the three great groups of the Trarzas, Braknas, and Dwaish, to whom they assign a collective responsibility for the observance of the treaties. In virtue of these treaties they can no longer cross the Senegal except as guests and friends, the only Moorish tribe now settled on the left bank being the DakaHfas, to the west of Lake Panieful. The Negro "Wolofs still remember the time when the Ganar district north of the Lower Senegal was occupied by them. But they were compelled to withdraw L.2 110 WEST AFRICA. before the marauding Trarzas, and the whole territory to the gates of Saint-Louis gradually fell into the hands of the SEoors. Even down to recent times the marauding Trarzas, crossing the river at low water, raided over the plains stretching southwards to the Dimar and Cayor districts. But in 1858 they were finally driven back, and now occupy a tract of about 60 miles on the north side of the river. Higher up follow the Bracknas, and beyond them the Dwaish (Ida-u- Ai'sh), both holding a territory 120 miles in extent. Xorth of these three riverain groups are many other Arab and Berber tribes less known to the French, such as the Ulad-el-Haj, and further cast the Ulad- Embarek and. the Sidi-Mahmud, reckoned the most skilful of ostrich-hunters, Fig. 54. — Natueax Divisions of SENEGAiiniA. Scale 1 : 0,000,000. 16' 18° West of ureenwicH ISO Miles. Capturing the birds by means of leaden balls attached to thongs without injuring the plumage or shedding a drop of blood. Besides the Moors, both sides of the river are occupied by a few half-caste communities intermediate between the Berbers and Negroes, and generally known collectively as Porognes. This term, however, which corresponds somewhat to that of Haratin farther north, is in some places applied to the full-blood Negroes in captivity amongst the Moors. But great confusion prevails everywhere in the ethnical nomenclature, so that at times a certain vagueness attaches even to the names of the great Senegalese and Sudanese groups, such as the Fulahs, Wolofs, Sarakoles, and Mandingoes. Of all these nations the "Wolofs and Sarakoles appear to be, if not the true aborigines, at least the longest settled in the country. The "Wolofs. The "Wolofs, who arc typical Senegalese, occupy a very extensive domain, comprising nearly the whole of the space IjTng between the Senegal, the Faleme, THE WOLOFS. 141 and the Gambia. They arc the exclusive iuhabitauts of the "Walo, Cayor, Bad, and Jolof districts, the last mentioned, properly the name of a chief branch, being sometimes applied to the whole nation. Saint-Louis and Dakar, the two centres of French authority, both lie in Wolof territory, and in all the militarj^ stations throughout Sudan there is sure to be a Wolof colony preserving its national speech and usages. According to Tautain, the term Wolof would appear to mean "Speakers," as if all other peoples were speechless barbarians; Earth, however, proposes perhaps the less jDrobable sense of "Blacks," in opposition to the neighbouring Fidahs, or " Red" people. Certainly the AYolofs are " blacks of the blacks," their shiny skin having the colour of ebony, and their very lips being black, although of a lighter shade than the rest of the bod}'. They are distinguished from most Negroes of the seaboard Fig. 5o. — Chief Nations a>'ii Tkibes of Senegambia. Scale 1 : 0,000,000. ^SmJj'^^^A 4^-"^--^ j^/j""'" vVest oT breenwich = ISO Maes. by a slighter degree of prognathism, the incisors being very little inclined forward. Generally of tall stature, both sexes have an admirably proportioned bust, but lender lower extremities, undeveloped calves, flat feet, and great toe more detached than among Europeans. The "Wolof, distinct from all other forms of speech current in Africa, is a tj'pical agglutinating language. The roots, nearly all monosyllables ending in consonants, are determined by means of suffixes, and coalesce together while remaining invariable in their different nominal, adjectival, verbal, and adverbial meanings. By these suffixes the meaning of the words is endlessly modified, verbs, for instance, being diversely conj ugated in their several reciiDrocal, emphatic, augmentative, diminutive, accelerative, repetitive, cursativc, or habitual forms by a change of the final syllable. A few roots have been borrowed from the Fulah and Mandingan tongues, and some technical terms f lom the Arabic ; but as a 142 WEST AFRICA . •whole Wolof is a very pure and homogeneous form of speech. As the current language of commercial intercourse throughout Senegamhia, it has acquired a paramount importance, and numerous Wolof grammars, dictionaries, and voca- bularies have appeared in France and Africa since 1825. But no literature, properly so called, has j^et been developed. The "Wolofs preserve their national songs, legends, and proverbs by memory, and apart from those attending school they have no knowledge of any letters beyond the Arabic characters on their paper spells and amulets. Most Wolofs call themselves Mussulmans, although in the neighbourhood of the missionary stations some claim the title of Christians. The chief difference is that the former have trinkets enclosing scraps from the Koran, while the latter wear medals and scapularies. All feasts, Mohammedan and Christian alike, are celebrated with equal zeal, and many of the old pagan rites still attract the multi- tude. Thus at Goree the capture of a shark and its exhibition in the streets excites a perfect frenzy of delight, all work being stopped for hours together. Most Wolofs believe in a family genius, to whom they make offerings ; in many houses the tutelar deity is a lizard, for whom his bowl of milk is scrupulously set apart. The Marabouts, or " Serins " of the early travellers, also enjoy very great autho- rity ; all are acquainted with Arabic, and by them the schools are conducted. Polygamy is sanctioned by usage, and the wife is "chained" to her husband, as is the daughter to her father. She has no personal rights, and at her husband's death belongs to his brother. She must even simulate death, and remained crouched and motionless until the husband's sister comes to resuscitate her, as it were, by attiring her in mourning. Usage still allows the jiidgment of the dead. Before the burial the neighbours gather to praise or blame the departed, to sing his virtues or bemoan his vices. But on the brink of the graves, whether sprinkled or not with the blood of an ox or of any other victim, nothing but good-will and affection is shown to the dead. In some places the roof of the cabin is re- moved and placed on the tomb, the new home of the lost friend. For a year after the burial the touching custom also still prevails of sending to some indigent neighbour, or to a slave, the portion of food usually allotted to the deceased when alive. On returning from the grave to his home great care must be taken to make many turnings and to go astray, as it were, in order to deceive the evil spirit, who might else find his way to another house and carry off a fresh victim. The old kingdom of Cayor, largest of the Wolof states, has been respected by the French. The ruler is elected, but always from a family enjoying the royal prerogative, and the electors, themselves barred from intriguing for the honour, number four only. When appointed, the king receives a vase said to contain the seeds of all the plants growing in Cayor. He is thus constituted lord of the land, and henceforth on him depends the abimdance of the crops. Before the inter- ference of the French in the local arrangements, all the Wolof states recognised a supreme head, the Bur, or " Great Wolof," to whom the secondary kings sent a drum of homage. He was approached on all fours, with bare back and head covered with dust. THE SEEEBS. 143 The "Wolofs are thorouglily devoted to the French cause, and display the greatest courage and heroism -whenever called upon to perform any deed of prowess in the service of the whites. The Serers. The Serers, southern neighbours of the "Wolofs, belong to the same stock, and in many places form with them half-caste communities, sometimes even adopting their language and usages. Elsewhere they have intermingled with the Mandingoes, to which conqueriug race belong most of their reigning families. But the proper domain of the pure Serers is still sharply delineated by the waterparting of the Gambia and Salum, comprising all the basin of the latter river and thence to the Tanma Lagoon at the neck of the Cape Yerd peninsula. In this extensive terri- tory of nearly 5,000 square miles, the Serers are subdivided into numerous shifting groups reducible to two main divisions — the None Serers in the north-west, and the Sine Serers (the Barbarians of the early Portuguese writers) occupying all the rest of the country. The latter are by far the most numerous, and their language, which presents many close analogies with Wolof, has been the best studied. Of all the seaboard Xigritians the Serers are the tallest, men of 6 feet 6 inches being by no means rare. The chest is well developed in proportion to the stature, and their figures might be described as Herculean if the lower corresponded to the upper extremities. Somewhat less black than the "Wolofs, they present more K"egro features, with broader nostrils, more flattened face, and thicker lips. As amongst their neighbours, wives are purchased of the father, but do not belong to their husband until a form of make-believe abduction is gone through. Although the influence of Islam has been of late years increased by intercourse with the "Wolofs and the conquest of the Salum basin by a Fulah Marabout, the bulk of the people still practise pagan rites. The gods are worshipped at the foot of the trees, and at the new moon the spirits of air and night are conjured with mysterious incantations. The two supreme deities are Takhar, god of justice, and Tiurakh, god of wealth, the former appealed to against the injiu'ies of others, the oppression of the great, the magic arts of the weak, the latter implored for the success of all undertakings, even when iniquitous and disapproved of by the beneficent deitj- himself. The snake also held a high place in the national pan- theon, and was often known to appear in various disguises, even " assuming the uniform of an aged oSicer of the empire." Formerly he received ofEeriugs of living animals, especially cattle and poultry ; but zeal ha^ing waned since the spread of the new ideas, he has to be satisfied with the remains of the animals consumed at the public feasts, ilost of the natives believe in the transmigration of souls, which explains many features in their funeral observances. The Saeakoles, Kassoxkes, and Jalloxkes. The predominant Xegro element in the middle Senegal region, formerly known as the " Galam '" country, are commonly known by the name of Sarakole. They 14-1 WEST AFEICA. call themselves Soninke, which is said to have originally meant " white," bul which in the Gambia basin has become synonymous with impious and drunkard. By some they are regarded as totally distinct from their Bambara and ]\Iaudingau neighbours, A\-hilc others affiliate them to the Sonrhais of the middle Isiger, with a slight dash of Berber blood, which would account for their relatively fair com- plexion. But most ethnologists agree with Barth in grouping them with the great Maudingan family. Where intcrminglings have taken place, their language is more or less affected by Fulah, Bambara, and Mandiugan elements, and Tautaiu Fiff. 56.— WoLOF GiuL, Sixteen Yeabs of Age. «.' , 4^,'" finds that both in its roots and syntax it is fundamentally connected with Mandin- gan. According to their traditions, they formerly held extensive sway on the banks of the Niger ; but in any case they have certainly occupied the Senegal basia long before the arrival of the other Mandingoes and Bambaras. Scattered in small isolated groups throughout Senegambia, the Sarakoles are found in most compact masses along both banks of the Senegal between Bafulabe and Bakel. Considerably smaller than the Serers and Wolofs, they are still taller than the Fulahs, but of less graceful carriage. The coraj^lexion is a dark chestnut, THE SAEAKOLES. 146 inclining to red, and according to Tautain the true meaning of Serekhulle is " red men." The facial prognathism is very marked, and they are further distinguished bv a retreating brow, slightly prominent cheek-bones, short thick nose, receding chin, -svoolly but not curly hair. Most of the women dress their hair in the form of a helmet, elegantly interwoven ynih. glass trinkets and amber beads visible through a floating gauze veil. Their houses are also kept very clean and taste- Pig. 57.— Sebee Youth, Twemt-Oxe Years Old. fully grouped in. hamlets disposed, round a large central tree with a raised encir- cling platform, where the villagers assemble to discuss public affairs. Notwithstanding their mild and essentially peaceful disposition, the Sarakoles have by passive resistance contrived to keep together in a number of petty mon- archical or oligarchical states, some isolated, some grouped in. confederacies, but all now Mohammedan. Many trade in caravans from village to village, even visiting the coast, in order to see with their own eyes the wonderful things of which they have heard. Few harbour hostile feelings towards the whites, with whom they willingly associate, and under whom they readily accept service by land and water. Thus combining the qualities of settled and nomad populations, and naturally of a 146 WEST AFRICA. cheerful buoyant temperament, they seem destined to become on the upper what the TVolofs are on the lower Senegal, the French of the colony. Other somewhat distinct ethnical groups about the headwaters of the Senegal, apparently half-castes, and speaking dialects more or less related to Mandingan, are the Kassonktis, forming federal republics in the Medina district, in Xasso, Kamera, Guidimakha, and Nadiaga. Most of them have a relatively light complexion and pleasant features, with a stealthy, cat-like gait. They are quick but cunning, and of dissipated habits, given to dancing and merrjonaking, and keeping up an incessant tam-taming night and day in all their villages. The Kasso women lead the fashion in all matters connected with the toUet. The Jallonkes, between the Bating and Niger, formerly occupied the Futa- Jallon highlands, whence they take their name. Of all the Senegambian Negroes Fig. 68. — DlSTETBUTION OF THE FuiAHS IN WeST AfEICA. Scale 1 : 60,000,000. Centres of FxUiUi Popiil.ation. 1,200 Miles. they have come least under European influences, and have been described as barbarous and cruel, .still clothed in the skins of wild beasts. Towards the north they have come in contact with the Soninkes, elsewhere with the Maudiugans and Fulahs, who have dispossessed them of their primeval homes. The Fulahs. These Fulahs, a foreign race entirely distinct from the surrounding Negroes, have wedged themselves in between the blacks of the seaboard and those of the Niger. Here they are more numerous and present a more compact national body than in any other part of Sudan, throughout which region they are scattered in more or less powerful communities for a space of about 2,700 miles. They are met as far east as Darfur, while in the west they have penetrated to the Nunez, Pongo, and Mellicory coast streams. Their colonies stretch north and south for 600 miles THE FULAHS. 147 between the Senegal and Benue rivers. But however vast be this domain in which they have founded great em^iires, such as those of Haussa and Massina, their settlements are almost everywhere very scattered, and in many regions lost as it were in the surrounding sea of Negro populations. Even in the district of French Sudan specially known as Fula-dugu, or " Fulah Land," and by many regarded as the cradle of the race, only a few Fulah families are now met. Nevertheless throughout their widespread territory they everywhere maintain a certain national solidarity, recognising themselves as brethren, thanks to the common speech, traditions and usages. Those who have best preserved their racial purity have a somewhat red or bronzed complexion, with features differing little from the Berber type — oval face, ringlety or even smooth hair, straight nose, delicate and rather thin lips. Many, especially of the women, may be described as really beautiful in the European sense of the term, and the charm of this beauty is heightened by their mild, pleasant expression, graceful carriage, noble bearing, and the good taste displayed in their dress and ornamentation. The shape of the skull resembles that of the fellahin in the Nile delta, and many of the women dress their hair like that of the Egyptian statues. They regard themselves as absolutely distinct from the Negroes, and those met by European travellers in Central Sudan never fail to claim brother- hood or kinship with the white strangers. But the majority, being zealous Mohammedans, prefer a Himyaritic or Arab origin, and the Marabouts trace their genealogical tree back to a common ancestor. Fellah ben Himier, " Son of the Red," that is, of the Himyarite, thus explaining at once their descent and complexion. From the surrounding Negroes they are distinguished even more by their pastoral pursuits than by their physical features. Less nomad than the Moors, they none the less readily change their abodes, even abandoning their hamlets for the sake of their herds, without any thought of returning. By thus following their zebus they have spread over the whole of West Africa, everywhere displaying a marvellous attachment to and knowledge of the habits of these animals. Taken as a whole, the race is distinguished by great intelligence, lofty ideas, a poetic tone, and dignity of speech. The tales recited of an evening in the village gi'oups breathe such an elevated spirit as to be simply unintelligible to the neigh- bouring Negro peoples. Yet the Fulahs have shown their superiority even by taking a lesson from the agricultural blacks, and in some districts they have become completely settled, combining tillage with the national occupation of stock- breeding. They also become skilled craftsmen, and have learnt to extract the metal from the iron ores, smelting and forging it into implements of husbandry, utensils, knives, and weapons. The jewellers handle the precious metals with great taste ; the builders erect solid and commodious dwellings ; the tanners and workers in leather prepare excellent sheaths and many other articles in that material ; lastly, with the native cotton the weavers produce fabrics almost as fine as muslin. As warriors the Fulahs hold their own against all other African races. In 148 WEST AFEICA. time of war all able adults march to battle, and in their expeditious thej- give proof of great strategic skill. Besides the arms common to the Nigritian peoples, they have iron spears with leather-bound handles, often wrought with great skill. Although they have slaves, employed in the houses and as field-labourers, it redounds to their honour that they have never taken part iu the slave trade. Under rare circumstances criminals were sold instead of being put (o death, and a Figr. 59.— FuLAH Type. m ! \ m 'm V - few nomad Fulahs were captured on the confines of their territory ; but they were scarcely represented amongst the gangs transported to the New World. The recent migrations and invasions of the Fulahs are recorded in history ; but where were they settled in the early period of Islam ? Are they Negroes, who have acquired a fair complexion and regular features by crossings with the Arabs and Berbers ? Are they kinsmen of the Nubian Barabras, or of the ancient Egyptians, whom they resemble in so many respects ? Have they migrated from the southern slopes of Mauritania in companj' with those Garamantes who carved THE TOUCOTJLEUES. 149 the images of tlicir zebus on the face of the rocks in the wilderness ? Or is their origin to be sought beyond the continent, in Malaysia or amongst the gipsies who migrated centuries ago from India ? For all these views have been advanced without helping raiich towards the solution of this curious ethnological problem. Nor has the Fulah language yet found a definite position amongst the linguistic families of Africa. It has two grammatical genders, not the masculine and feminine, as in most idioms, but the human and non-human ; the adjective agrees in assonance with its noun, and euphony plays a great part in verbal and nominal inflection. In some respects the sonorous Fulah tongue resembles the surroimding Negro dialects, while in the use of suffixes betraying the Semitic influences to which it appears to have been long exposed. But its true position must soon be deter- mined by means of the numerous grammatical works, including one by a prince of Sokoto, that have already been composed in this language. Its general features, combined with the national and historic traditions, seem to assign an eastern origin to the Fulahs, who first crossed the continent from east to west, and then, like the Mauritauian Arabs in more recent times, retraced their steps eastwards. From the banks of the Senegal came those Fulahs who, at the beginning of the present century, foimded the Haussa and Massina empires in the Niger basin. Apart from a few tribes, especially those of the Birgo district, the great bulk of the race have long been Mohammedans. Many are even animated by an ardent spirit of proselytism, although their religious zeal has not rendered them intolerant. Their men of letters are quite free from the slavish adherence to the text of the Koran characteristic of the eastern Mussulmans, and when a passage seems unintelligible or contrary to their way of thinking, they freely modify it in accord- ance with their own religious views. Like other Mohammedans they admit polygamy, but scarcely practise it, a fact due mainly to their respect for woman and to her influence over her husband. " Let a female slave enter a household," say the Wolofs, " and she soon becomes mistress." Unlike those of the Negroes, the Fulah governments are not despotic, each state generally- constituting a theocratic republic, whose almamy, or chief, exercises his temporal and priestly functions with the ad-\-ice of the elders and notables. The elective element inlays an important part in the local administration, and the real rulers are the wealthv families. The ToucouLEi-Rs. Analogous Institutions prevail amongst the Toucouleurs of the four riverain iwovinces of Damga, Futa, Toro, and Dimar, between the Faleme confluence and Lake Panieful. This collective name, by some scarcely seriously derived from the English "two coloru's," because the natives are mostly brown or coppery half-caste Negroes, Moors, and Fulahs, took the form of Tacurores in the works of the Portu- guese writers of the sixteenth century. Hence there can be no doubt of its identitj' with Tacurol, already mentioned by Cadamosto as the old name of the country, and since confused with the Takrar or Takarir pilgrims from West Africa to Mecca, 150 WEST AFRICA. ainoug whica are numerous Senegambian hajis. The Toueouleurs are specially distinguished bj- their Mohammedan fanaticism. Their intelligence, energy, and ambition also render them formidable rivals of their Negro neighbours, and even of the French settlors. Living on the left bank of the main stream over against the Moors who occupy the north side, they have often obstructed the naviga- tion, aud had they not been di^-ided amongst themselves the Europeans could never have conquered the Senegal basin. Till quite recently the French columns had great difficulty in penetrating into the Toucouleur territory ; but in 1 885, after long diplomatic negotiations, the Government was allowed to complete the telegraph system between Groree on the Atlantic and Bamaku on the Niger by connecting the eastern and western sections across the hitherto hostile district from Salde to Bakel. In Kaarta, also, north of Bakhoy and Baule, the way is again barred to the French by the Toucouleur conquerors of that region. But notwithstanding their indepen- dent and fanatical spirit, their love of labour and enterprise render them a useful element in the Senegal basin. They emigrate freely in search of fortune, and whole colonies of Toucouleur peasantry have established themselves on the banks of the Gambia. The Europeans. In the presence of all these different races, who are still in the same period of historic development and social organisation as the Europe of mediaeval times, the modern epoch with its new ideas and advanced institutions is represented by the few whites who are settled at Saint-Louis, Goree, and Dakar on the coast, and who visit the riverain stations or make exploring journeys into the interior. Yet even this handful of Frenchmen does not thoroughly represent all the organic elements of European societj', for it comprises none but traders, soldiers, and officials, with a few artisans amongst the military conscripts. Although the oldest of the French possessions, Senegal has the least claim to its title of " colony." Hither no Euro- peans have ever come freely to settle down in the country as artisans or labourers, and even in most j^rosperous years not more than seven hundred or eight hundred men have ever arrived of their own accord. Women are so rare that their presence is looked upon as a proof of heroism. This, of course, is due to the dangerous character of the climate, which, speaking broadly, is fatal to Europeans of weak constitution and to aU who do not pay the strictest attention to diet and sanitary precautions. To the numerous local endemics are occasionally added violent epidemics, such as cholera and especially yellow fever, which latter has broken out six times since 1830, usually carrying off over one-half of the French residents in the coast towns. Although certain partial experiments have succeeded, as, for instance, the construction of the railway from Dakar to Saint-Louis by European navvies, we must still repeat with Berenger-Feraud that " the acclimatisation of the French in Senegal is a chimera." Until some infallible specifics are discovered against miasma and yellow fever, and health resorts established on the Futa- Jallon uplands, Euro- Pi E-" a < ■< cs < a C-i rEGAL— GOLD-iUXIXG. I53 but being too extensive they have been but partially cultivated, and all such lands allowed to lie fallo-w for a certain period revert to the original owners. A o-reat diflBculty is found in keeping up the stock of animals. The horse, ass, camel, and pack-ox of the Sahara soon yield to the climate, and although the mule is hardier he is also very costly. The sheep thrives, changing, however, its wool for a sUky coat ; and in the interior there are several breeds of domestic animals, such as the Khassonke " scrub oxen," which have become perfectly acclimatised, and which ia some places even van half wild in the forests. MoERAL Resources. Senegal abounds in minerals, such as gold, silver, mercury, copper, and iron. From time immemorial the natives of Bondu and Bambuk have washed the quartzose sands of the Faleme and its affluents for gold, and the Bambuk mines themselves were perhaps worked by the Portuguese so early as the beginning of the fifteenth century. According to the tradition they were all massacred by the natives, and there are certainly indications that in early times immigrants from Iberia jjenetrated into these regions. At the beginning of the eighteenth century Andi-e BDiie erected the two forts of St. Joseph on the Senegal and St. Peter on the Faleme, and sent Compagnon in quest of the gold mines. This traveller traversed the whole of the Bambuk mineral district, ascended the valley of the Sanu-Khole, or "River of Gold," to the Tambaura ilountains, and brought back some very rich specimens of auriferous clays. Since then the country has been frequently visited, but no direct attempts were made by the French Government to work the mines till 1858. Even these experiments, which jaelded somewhat more than £4,000, were brought to an end by the extreme insalubrity of the climate, and the more recent efforts of private companies have met with no better success, leaving the working of the mines and washing of the sands entirely in the hands of the natives. The mineral deposits of the Bure district, on one of the head streams of the Bakhoy, appear to be more productive than those of the Bambuk, yielding to the natives a yearly profit of £8,000. But iron is probably the metal destined to become the chief resource of the Upper Senegal, where the ores cover vast tracts and j-ield an average proportion of from one-half to two-thirds of pure metal. It is already smelted in furnaces of primitive structure, and in many places the natives also utilise the masses of meteoric iron. The Senegalese smiths manufacture iron daggers, spears, and agricultural implements. The jewellers display considerable skill in the production of delicate filigree work, and the native weavers supply considerable quantities of cotton fabrics for the local consumption. But with the exception of a few fancy articles, no manufactured goods are prepared for the foreign market. Social A^-D Political State. Domestic slavery is a universal institution, the so-called "house captives "being considered as secondary members of the family, and treated in every respect like VOL. XII. M 164 WEST AFEICA. their associates. Those employed as artisans, weavers, potters, carpenters, builders, and the Hke, also for the most part enjoy a considerable share of practical freedom. They enjoy the fruits of their industry, may themselves possess slaves, and occasionally rise to important positions in the state. The agricultural labourers fare much worse, and the tribes that own the fewest slaves, as, for instance, the Toucouleurs, also display the greatest energy, contributing most to the social transformation of Senegambia. In the territory directly admiaistered by France slavery has been abolished since 1848, and according to the law all captives setting Tig. 61. — Trade Eo-otes and Peoxeoted Eailwats in Senegal. Scale 1 : 16,000,000. =SE^ •■ ; Timbiiktu.^ ^ — /-•• ■ ^ ^ y/ ^^p — '^^-x \ / J* ^W)Uu|. \ Nioro^ — ** ; 1 15! — ^y " — ~, 'v . JB" ^pT*"'"' ' " TaTiei^ w * '• '"^ •* V ^BWr* Boulebane,« •~"^^Je5 Kayes ; *".. 1 ^^ -.Kaolak ( ledinTin '" 1 % ^^^^^'^C^i^-v^, ^ ^ "^ \\ '/Bamakbu =^ f^ ^^Ji^ )\ ■ '•■ 1 * a», ^^:i=5^5^-fi/^^^^ "^ 1 ■ \ • ' '• f .. «=j^ — '^^ 7^ vr\ / J ,•:..■ ■■H'?.«"'"-» ••■. / r>. '"■'• t<^-.g.°''° ^^\/ / / 'a. '\ / 10^ ^ /^„ , «■• f .•" / Kankian ■■•.^ '•.,;,■* 10' 15° West of ureenwictn 5\ Depths. — , Railways completed. .„ Railways in construction. — Projected railways. Trade routes. etc 160 reet. 660 Feet and upwards. — 800 MUes. foot on this territory become ipso facto free men, although colonial usage connives at the frequent violation of this right. The actual extent of this political domain is far from considerable. Half a century ago it was scarcely perceptible on the maps, and the establishment of a colonial state worthy of the name was not taken seriously in hand tiU comparatively recent times. M. Faidherbe, founder of the French power on the Senegal River, began his operations in 1854, by his personal influence and force of arms gradually establishing peace on a solid footing, converting the independent riverain chiefs into vassals, and abolishing all artificial obstructions to fi-ee trade in the interior. The fort of Medina, erected on the Senegal where it ceases to be na\^gable in the dry season, served as the starting-point of a series of expeditions to the upper valleys, and when a formidable Mohammedan army was shattered under the POLITICAL STATE OF SENEGAL. 155 vralls of tliis citadel, defended onlj- by about a hundred and fifty men, the conquest of the country was secured. The consolidation of their military power in the upper fluvial basin enabled the French columns to push more boldly into the interior, and in 1883 they seized and constructed a fort at Bamaku, on the !Xiger. Henceforth the Upper JoHba became connected commercially ■with the sea, and Timbuktu seems soon destined to turn towards Saint-Louis as its natui'al outport. During the first fervour of enthusiasm created by the occupation of a station on the Niger, hopes were entertained that Senegal and Algeria might soon be linked together by a grand highway, forerunner of a future trans- Saharian railway. These hopes have not been realised ; all attempts made from the Algerian side have ended in disaster, and the Tuaregs mth their allies still block the way. Thus the extreme points occupied by the French on this line — Golea, south of Algeria, and Kulikoro, on the Niger — are still separated by a distance of 1,480 miles as the bird flies; that is, far more than half of the vrhole route. Even the space never yet traversed or surveyed by the most advanced explorers between Twat and Timbuktu exceeds 780 miles, a distance equal to that between Paris and TTarsaw. Nevertheless, the Senegal artery is the most frequented -waterway in "West Africa. Describing a vast semicircle round the Gambia, Casamanza, and other streams flowing southward, it forms the western branch of the great system of running waters which, through the Niger, extends to the Bight of Benin, enclosing a well-defined region some 800,000 square miles in extent. Hence the political importance of the line of the Senegal is very considerable, but it lacks breadth, and would be liable to be broken through at many points were it not guarded with extreme vigilance. European colonisation being also impossible, political cohesion can be secured only by the good-'will of the natives, by satisfying their interests, and gradually developing a sentiment of national solidarity amongst them. But this ideal is still far from being realised, and were France not to come to the aid of the colonial Government with men and subsidies, the situation would rapidly become perilous. EouTEs AND Railways, The most urgent want is a rapid means of communication between the Niger and the sea. TiU recently no route existed except the Senegal itself, which is interrupted for a great part of the year above Podor. But the fluvial port of Saint- Louis is now at least connected with the maritime port of Dakar by a railway 160 miles long. This forms an admirable basis for a network of lines penetrating towards the Sudan ; but, hitherto, summary stirveys alone have been made with a view to the construction of a first Hne over the Senegal and Gambia waterparting eastwards across Futa. This Kne, some 300 miles in length, woiild shorten by one- third the distance by water, while increasing by 120 miles the breadth of the colonial territory. Terminating for the present at Bakel, which, so recently as 1886 was attacked by a force of ilussidman rebels, it would add greatly to the securitj- M 2 156 WEST AFEICA. of this territory, and also form an important section of tlie grand trunk line destined one day to connect the Niger and Timbuktu \nih. the best port on the "West African seaboard. An excess of zeal somewhat difficult to explain has inspired the construction of a railway starting from the village of Kayes, on the left bank of the Upper Senegal, Fig. 62. — The Bafotjlabe Eatlwat. Scale 1 : 660,000. ■^aves 4sA^^' ."^mj^^ . '^•^/o 1 r^H^°"cTre ^"^'^V^'TT/nI ^r "'^J \\\ '"^ o \k *^ 14' K° to "'."HiD:'' x\i "^^^'^^■^■V.wJ. \ f ^ "■' D AJu JJi •''**v^^i\ ~' ^Vn^J fe#^^* ^ ""wiSfi- ,^ ,, , D amoi^ ^^^^ '^— ^^ ^ ^ \^J^:^^ ^^S •^^-^-%-S!^/=^ ""^'-^^'^^ ^L 1^^ Lj. ^^*lL -T- i. ^ Vii^O" "' Si^P'?^^ "^^^^■Mi-Sl i^'ll p/-«. representatives, partly by the officials appointed by the central power. The ADiOXISTEATIOX OF SENEGAL. 169 former, elected by wliites and blacks without distinction of colour, comprise the sixteen members of the general coimcil, and the deputy sent to the Chamber. The chief colonial official, who is invested with extensive powers, takes the title of Governor, and resides at Saint-Louis. A lieutenant-governor is also nominated to administer the southern districts and possessions on the Ivory and Slave Coasts. Owing to the unhealthy climate, home-sickness, personal ambition, and the shifting of political power in the metropolis, these functionaries are often changed, as many as seventeen governors ha\"ing succeeded each other between the years 1850 and 1886. They are assisted by a colonial couucU. composed of high officials and notables. Fig. '2. — PoLmCAI. DmsiOXS of FeENCH SEXEGAi£BIA. Stale 1 : 11,000,003. >. es- oT L3''eer>wicn Annes^d Pots ? jsions and Territories. Illlllli'l Protected Districts. 240 llfles. Out of a total revenue of £100,000 about £12,000 are devoted to educational purposes, and the military and naval expenses are all defrayed by the home govern- ment. The military forces, commanded by a colonel stationed at Saint-Louis, comprise five companies of marines, two battalions of Senegalese rifles, two batteries of marine artillery, a troop of spahis (cavalry), and a few other small bodies, forming altogether a far from numerous force, considering the great extent of country held in subjection, and the thirtv'-five fortified stations between Saint- Lotiis and the Xiger, and from Podor on the Senegal to the Mallicory, which require to be constantly garrisoned. There is also a defensive flotilla under a naval captain, and a small colonial marine to guard the coast. VOL. XII. N 170 WEST AFRICA. Justice is administered by two tribunals, at Saint-Louis and Goree, and a Court of Appeal. At the capital there is also a cadi, nominated by the governor, as well as a Mussulman tribunal presided over by the tamsir, or chief marabout, for regu- lating affairs of inheritance and marriages in conformity -svith the Koran and Mohammedan tradition. The commandants, especially of the more remote military stations, necessarily enjoy much discretionary power, and usually judge according to the local customs. In principle, however, the French Civil Code prevails, pro- mulgated first in 1830 and again in 1855. But the territory to which the French judicial and administrative systems have been fully extended comprises only the four- communes of Saint-Louis, Goree, Dakar, and Rufisque, which are administered by municipal councils and mayors nominated by election. The " occupied " territories, comprisuig the outskirts of the forts, military stations, and factories on the coast, on the Senegal, and in the interior, are also considei'ed as French soU. governed by the colonial administration. But the " annexed " territories are administered by the chiefs, some chosen by the governor, some hereditary or nominated by the people with the approval of the suzerain power. Lastly, the "protected" territories are ruled b^- semi-independent chiefs, who have surrendered part of their sovereign rights, in return for which France secures to them the possession of their states, since 1879, however, reserv- ing to herself the right of permanently acquii'ing the lands necessary for the con- struction of forts, factories, roads, and railways. The spread of French influence appears to have had the indirect consequence of arresting the progress of Islam, which at one time seemed irresistible. The zealous Berber and Toucouleiir proselytisers were at the same time the chief enemies of France, and their overthrow naturally put an end to their propaganda. Although past treaties and letters patent, dating as far back as 1681, 1685, and 1696, seemed to assign the whole coast region to France as far north as Cape Blanco, Spain has recently fonnded a station on Leviier Baj-, in Spanish Bahia del Galgo, sheltered on the west by the projecting headland of the Cape. This question is now the subject of the negotiations undertaken to define accurately the respective limits of the French and Spanish possessions. In the Appendix will be foimd a table of the French circumscriptions and of the vassal territories in North Senegambia. Each circle is administered bj' an officer or a ci\-il commandant with the attributes of a French prefect, and under him are the heads of the cantons, military stations, and native villages. ±'''^£- ~^^u^mM /r^^^Wm' M S ^M^^^nl SS« K CHAPTER V. SOUTH SENEGAMBIA. Gambia. HE river Gambia miglit at first sight appear to be the most important waterway in West Africa for penetrating into the interior. Over the Senegal it enjoys the advantage of being much more accessible to shipping, its estuary opening on less stormy waters, while its bar at all times admits vessels drawing 10 feet. Its banks are also more fertile than those of the northern river, and may be cultivated as well in the dry season as after the floods. This artery is, moreover, navigable farther east than the Senegal, and affords direct access to the auriferous regions and fertile vallej's of Futa-Jallon, inhabited bj- the industrious Fulah people. It represents the chord of the vast arc described by the Senegal. In 1618 the Gambia was explored by Thompson, who ascended as far as the Tenda countrv, near the Futa-Jallon highlands ; but he was murdered on the way, either \s\- his followers or by the Portuguese. Two years afterwards the same route was followed by Jobson, and later by several other explorers, who reached the Barra-Kunda rocks, and unanimously reported that the Gambia was the most direct road to the Upper Senegal regions, and to the auriferous districts of Bambuk and Bure. At that time it was even sujDposed to be a branch of the Senegal itself, and even now Mitchinson asserts that during the floods the two rivers commujii- cate with each other. But despite all these advantages the Gambia has always remained greatly inferior to its northern rival in jjolitical and commercial importance, owing mainly to its more deadly climate, and partly also to the different character of the riverain populations, amongst whom are found neither the enterprising Berbers nor the industrioxis Toucouleurs. IVor has this arterj' an area of drainage at all in proportion to the length of its course. From its source in the Futa-Jallon uplands to the estuary at Bathurst its winding channel develops a total length of about 720 miles, while the basin has a mean breadth of scarcely 40 miles, and a total area of no more than 20,000 square miles. In the southern districts, which have escaped the Mohammedan invasions, the population is reported to be tolerably dense, and the Mandingoes, 172 WEST AFRICA. Serers, and other Gambian tribes proper, probabl)' exceed twenty thousand souls. Of these some fifteen thousand reside within the British territory, which comprises a group of fluvial islands and peninsulas with a total superficial extent of not more than 70 square miles. Of all the streams rising in Futa-Jallon, by far the most copious is the Gambia, which drains nearly the whole of the central mass. Eastwards the main branch Fig. 73. — SOTTEOES OF THE DrMMA ASD COMBA. Scale 1 : 190,000. '6 Miles. encircles the loftiest summits, while on the west and north- west another branch, the Grey River of the English, collects nearly aU the rainfall. Thus the head- streams of the Senegal and Niger, as well as those of the Geba, Rio-Gande, Cassini, and Kakrima, flowing farther south direct to the coast, derive their supplies mainly from the less elevated southern and south-western slopes. The sources of the Gambia, which have been visited by Hecquard, Bayol, and FLOEA OF GAMBLL 173 Noirot, Ke to the north of Labe, 6 miles from the large Tillage of Tunturun and close to the hamlet of Ore-Dimma, or "Head of the Dimma," as the Fulahs call the Gambia throughout its -nhole course. About a mile north of this point is a little reservoir forming the source of the Comba, -which appears to be the farthest headstream of the Eio- Grande, the chief fluvial basin south of the Gambia. The plateau -n-hence both rivers flow sea-wards has an altitude of about 3,800 feet. After flo-wing east of the Futa-Jallon highlands for 1'20 miles northwards, the Gambia s-weeps round to the west, forcing its -way through a series of gorges down to the plains. At Sillakunda, above the last gorge, the channel, averaging 1,000 feet in width, still stands at an elevation of 560 feet. Even after reaching the plains its extremely tortuous course is interrupted by some boulders and ledges, such as the sill of Barra-Kunda, over 270 miles above the estuary. This point is accessible to light craft during the dry season, the most favourable for navigation, the current being then -weakest. But usually deep-sea vessels stop much lo-wer do-wn, opposite ilacCarthy Island, 170 miles from the mouth, -«-here the tide is still felt in the dry period. The mean discharge has not been accurately measured but it is kno-wn greatly to exceed that of the Senegal, regard being had to the much smaller extent of its basin. But here the rainfall is heavier and more fre- quent, the period, especially from July to September, being verj- -wet. On August 9 1861, there occurred a downpour of 9 inches in t-wenty-four hours, and in the same year t-wo others of over 3 inches each. But despite the large volume of fresh -water rolled down from the upper reaches, the Lower Gambia is an estuary rather than a river, an inlet of brackish or salt water. Above the mouth its banks are over 6 miles apart, although the mouth itself is only 2^ miles -wide, -with a mean depth of 65 feet. Here the largest vessels can easily ride at anchor, for the bar, -which has still 30 feet at lo-w water, lies some 12 miles off the coast. Several -winding branches penetrate far inland, one of which. Oyster Creek, sho-ws by its very name that it is not a fluvial but a marine channel. Other tortuous creeks penetrate through the -wooded allu-vial tracts north-wards to the Salum estuary. Flora and Fauna. Above the low-lying tracts about the estuary, the land asstunes the appearance of a pleasant verdant region, gently undulating and dotted over -with those clumps of trees and green thickets which have caused travellers to compare so many African landscapes to English parks. The riverain plains are much more wooded than those of the Senegal, presenting a far greater number of different species, such as the baobabs, several varieties of pahn, and the remarkable shea, or butter-tree. But in many places the woodlands are diversified with savannahs, where the grasses grow to a height of over 20 feet. Wild beasts still hold their ground within a short distance of the English settlements ; lions prowl about the outskirts of the viUages, and the deep foot- prints of the elephants are constantly met along the muddy tracks. At the end of 174 WEST Ai-EICA. the sixteenth century more ivory was still exported from the Gambia than from any other African river, and European vessels have often met herds of elephants swimming from shore to shore of the estuary. The river and neighbouring creeks are also frequented by the hippopotamus and crocodiles. Inhabitants — The Mandingans. Below the Fulah and Jallonke territories most of the riverain populations belong to the Mandingan Negro family, which is most numerously represented on the western slope of the hills in this basin, but which also penetrates into the Senegal region towards Bakel and Bafulabe, and into many districts in the zone of the southern rivers. In some parts of Senogambia this nation is best known by the name of Mali'nk^, or " Mali-men," recalling the empire of Mali, or Melle, which formerly embraced the whole of the Upper Niger basin. Even after its destruction by the Songhais, the mansa, or " emperor," long retained the venera- tion of his ancient Gambian subjects. According to the national traditions, the Mande or Mandingans (Mande-ngo, Mande-nga), came from the east in the sixteenth centuiy, driving before them the aborigines, and breaking them up into a multitude of small ethnical groups such as are now found on the seaboard. The Mandingans are even still advancing, and penetrating northwards into the Serer country, where the royal families belong to their race. But while encroaching in one direction they lose ground in another, and in the east the Fulahs are continually gaining on them. In 1862 the Man- dingan marabouts, formerly called hushrecns, destroyed hundreds of pagan villages and even " towns " along the right bank of the Gambia, and the inhabitants, here contemptuously called Soninkes, had to accept the new faith. The Mandingans are diversely described by travellers, which is due to their diverse interminglings with other Negro peoples, or with the Fulahs, and also to their different pursuits and other causes. On the Gambia they are distinctly Negroes, rather less black than the "Wolofs, with less kinky hair, but a greater degree of prognathism, and broader nose crushed at the root, and with very wide oval nostrils. The expression is stern, almost harsh, although they are really dis- tinguished by great filial affection. " Strike me, but curse not my mother," is one of their sayings, popularised by Mungo Park. Their language, comprising a great number of dialects, has no written literature, since their conversion to Islam all instruction being communicated through the Koran, and all their spells being composed in Arabic. Mandingan grammars, however, have been composed by the Christian missionaries, who class the language with Wolof , as a suffixing or agglutinating tongue. The Mandingans possess a rich treasure of national myths, tales, and songs, and as musicians they take the first rank among the people of West Africa, possessing not only several kinds of drums and iron cymbals, but also the fiddle, gxiitar, and lyre. It was amongst the pagan Mandingans of the Gambia that the English first met the so-called Mombo-Jombo, or village executioners, who were armed with THE 11A^T)IXGANS. 175 tremendous powers to overawe and punish all violators of tlie " custom." At present they are little more than clowns, the laughing-stock of the children. The ilandingans, who are now broken up into many rival petty states, are excellent husbandmen, but display their remarkable talents chiefly as traders. They have been compared to the Sarakoles, "the Jews of West Africa," but, unlike them, are chiefly wholesale dealers, carrying on a large caravan trade between Sierra-Leone and Timbuktu, and extending their expeditions from the Senegal to the lower Xiger. Throughout TTest Africa they are also the chief preachers of Islam, and also command widespread influence as the disseminators of news and the champions of the new ideas, reporting to their brethren in the interior aU the strange sights and the marvels of industry which they have witnessed amongst the Europeans of the seaboard. The EuROPKixs. In the Gambia basin the European element is relatively very slight, and less influential than on the Senegal. In some years there are scarcely twenty European civilians in this so-called " Colony," and few officials reside long enough in the country to take an interest in the populations with whom they are broiight into contact. The whites suffer chiefly fi-om yeUow fever, dysentery, and miasmatic infections, while the black soldiers fi-om the TVest Indies fall victims to small-pox and consumption. It has been ascertained that the Jamaica Negroes resist the climate of the Gambia no better than the whites from the British Isles. TVTiole battalions have melted away in a few months, the average mortality of the troops being 480 per thousand. The half-caste element is also inconsiderable, not more than a few thousands being collectively classed as " Creoles," most of whom appear to be Catholic "Wolofs from Goree and Eufisque, variously intermingled with Europeans, Mandingans, and Fulahs. Recently also African freedmen from the Niger, from the Slave Coast, and from Sierra-Leone have emigrated into the Gambia territory, where, being mostl}' Protestants, they hold aloof from the "Wolofs, and compete severely with them, especially as retail dealers. Being hemmed in between the French Senegamblan possessions and the southern rivers, the English trade in the Gambia basin is but of secondary importance, the exchanges not exceeding £160,000 altogether. Although the Gambia presents the shortest natural highway to the interior and to the Upper Senegal, it has, nevertheless, become a sort of cul-de-sac, afEording but few means of communica- tion between the inland populations and the markets on the coast. The trade also, which since the middle of the century consists mostly of ground-nuts, has to a large extent fallen into the hands of the French, whose Influence must necessarily increase whenever effect is given to the treaties concluded by the French Govern- ment with Futa-Jallon, and especially when the projected railway is constructed from Eufisque to Kaolak. Politically and commercially, the Gambia will then be encircled by territories subject to the suzerainty of France,' " like a mouse in the jaws of a cat," as Mitchinson expresses it in " The Expiring Continent." In 1881 17G WEST APEICA. France even acquired the sovereignty of Bele-dugii, a district on the Gamtian slope where the Gambia and Faleme, with their auriferous affluents, are separated by a space of not more than 30 miles. Hence it has often been proposed to exchange the Gambia for some French territory nearer to Sierra-Leone or to Cape Fig. 74. — Bathtkst a>ii En-traxce or the Gaxbia. Scale 1 : 400,000. West of Greenwich 16° 25' Depths. 0tol6 Feet. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 Feet and upwards. 6 Milee, Coast, whereby the Salum seaboard would be politically united with that of the Casamanza. Topography. Bathursf, or, as it was originally called, Leopold, capital of the English posses- sions, was founded in 181G, on the island of Saint-Mary, which forms the southern point of the lands at the entrance of the Gambia. The town was laid out with a certain elegance, houses and barracks being solidly built on a site conveniently DISTRICT OF IL^"TOE. 177 situated for trade, where vessels can lie at anchor close in shore in 70 or 80 feet of •water. But the place is extremely unhealthy, the island being surrounded and intersected by pestilential channels and stagnant waters. At less than 3 feet from the surface brackish water is found everywhere, and the cuiTent is constantlj- threatening the very foundations of the town. Nevertheless, over three thousand Tolas or Felubs — that is. Coast Xegroes — ilandingans, Serers, and ^olofs, are crowded together in this "water-logged" town. The British Government still pays a small yearly pension to the chief of the Combo ilandingans, who occupy the coast as far south as the Casamanza. The health resort lies in the Combo territorj-, 7 miles west of Bathurst, at Cape St. ilary, near the village of Bacotr, on a cliff rising 50 feet above the sea. Here the invigorating marine breeze, jocularly called the " Doctor," prevails for several hours during the day, carrying off the exhala- tions from the swamps of the Gambia. It has often been proposed to remove the capital to Cape St. Mary, but the anchorage is bad, and the coast is here obstructed by sandbanks. Xorth-east of Bathurst the batteries of Fort BtiUeit, erected at Ban-a Point, command the north enh-ance of the Gambia. All this part of the coast, for a width of over a mile, belongs to Great Britain, which, however, levies no dues, so that all produce is exported free of charge to the French ports in Senegal. The strip of British territory begins at the Jimak Creek, 9 miles north of Fort Bullen, and follows the right bank of the Gambia, thence to and beyond the ilandingan village of JiUifn {GiJfrai), near which place the English had their chief factory before the foundation of Bathurst. The trading station of Alhreda still enjoys some importance, and was formerly a strategic point of great value, thanks to the guns of Fort James, erected in mid-stream 20 miles above Bathurst. In 1698 Andre Briie founded a French factory at Albreda, which, about the middle of this century, was ceded to England in exchange for Portendik, on the Berber coast. In the botanical world Albreda is famous for its magnificent fig-tree, forming a group of several stems with a joint circumference of 130 feet. Farther up, Flephant Island, at the chief bend of the lower Gambia below the large village of Yamina, is the market for the Diara country. Georgetown, in MacCarthy's Island, some miles higher up, collects most of the produce from the Xiani and Ulli districts in the north, from Diamaru and Tumane in the south. 3IacCarthv's Island corresponds on the Gambia to Fort Bakel on the Senegal, being occupied not by soldiers, but by a small body of police, the last estabKshed by the English in this basin. Some 25 miles farther inland are the ruins of Pisania, the village chosen by !Mungo Park as his starting-point during his first voyage in 1796. Still higher up are the ruins of Medina, former capital of the Ulli Mandingans, and near it the trading station of Fatfa Tenda, whence come the best ground-nuts. Boats ascend the river at all seasons to Yarbu Tenda, a Kttle beyond this point. District of K-i^TOR. One of the southern districts about the sources of the Casamanza bears the 178 ■WEST APEICA. name of Kantora, recalling the market of Kantor, of which the early Portuguese writers speak as a centre of traffic rivalling Timbuktu itself. At that time the whole region of the Gambia was called by them the kingdom of Kantor or Kontor. At the time of Goiddsbury's visit in 1879, not a village remained in the district, which had been laid waste by the combined forces of the Bimdu and Labd Fidahs, and most of the inhabitants carried into bondage. Above the Barra-kunda rapids, traders generally follow the land route towards Bondu and Bambuk, although the two large villages of Jalla-Kota and Badi have their ports on the river. Admin istration. Gambia has been under the direct administration of Great Britain only since 1821, before which year the factories were managed by a chartered companj^ The revenue, derived almost exclusively from customs, averages £25,000, and in 1886 there was not only no public debt, but a balance in hand equal to a year's income. The cost of Goiddsbmy's important expedition was defrayed out of a surplus of revenue. Since 1870 no military forces are maintained in the settlement, and the police, 111 men, commanded by a European, are nearly all natives of Sierra-Leone. The volunteer corps charged with the defence of the territory has not yet had occasion to be called out. When a tribal war arises, the Government declares itself neutral, but the belligerents bear in mind that the English factories and river craft must be respected by both sides. All the schools are denominational — Protestant, Catholic, or Mohammedan — and as such independent of the civil power. Nevertheless most of the children attend regularly, except in the trading season, when they accompany their parents to the factories. Casamanza Basin. The Casamanza, so named from the manza (mansa) or sovereign of the Casa (Cassa) people, is on the whole much more of an estuary than a river. Its sources, at the foot of the Khabu terraces, have not yet been visited, but they certainly do not lie more than 180 miles inland, as the bird flies, for the district farther east, traversed by Gouldsbury in 1881, already belongs to the Gambia basin. Confined north and south between the two parallel depressions of the Gambia and Rio-Cacheo valleys, the Casamanza basin has an area of probably not more than 6,000 square miles, with a population roughly estimated at 100,000. Since the middle of the sixteenth centuiy the Portuguese have traded in this region. They were even early acquainted with inland trade routes, leading across the creeks and portages to the Salibn, and some Portuguese terms surviving in the local dialects attest their former influence. But their chief trade being in slaves, they coidd scarcely venture much beyond the enclosures of their fortified CASAMANZA BASIN. 179 stations, and as the districts became depopvdated they had frequently to shift the site of their factories. The English also founded some stations on the banks of the Casamanza, but never purchased any lands from the suiTOunding tribes. The French made theii- fii-st acquisition in 1828, although no settlement was made in the island of Jogue, north of the estuary, which was at that time ceded to them. But in 1836 and 1837 they occupied the two islands of Carabane and Guinibering, conmianding the southern entrance of the estuary, and also founded the station of Sedhiu, at the head of the deep-sea navigation. Since that time nimierous treaties with the riverain tribes have secured to them the suzerainty or possession of nearly the whole basin, and the convention signed with Portugal in 1886 accurately defines the frontier line of the French and Portuguese territories between the Casamanza and Cacheo rivers. The station of Ziguinchor, the last remnant of Lusitanian power in the Casamanza basin, was then ceded to France, while eastwards the French domain was virtually extended across the unexplored wastes of Fii'du and Khabu towards the Upper Gambia and Faleme. Thus the Casamanza is hence- forth regarded as belonging politically to the Upper Senegal basin. At Sedhiu, lOo miles from the sea, the estuary has stdl a mean breadth of at least Ij mile ; but it is so shallow that craft di-awing 6 feet have to proceed very cautiously, or foUow a channel buoyed at intervals with branches of trees. Above Sedhiu boats penetrate for some 60 miles, to the village of Kolibanta ; below it the Casamanza is joined only by one large affluent, the Songrogu (probably the Portuguese Sam-Gregorio), which rises in a marshy district near the Gambia basin. Below the Songrogu confluence, which is nearly 3 miles wide during the floods, the lateral channels become more and more mmierous, forming a navigable network of some hundred miles shifting with the seasons and years, rising and falling with the daily ebb and flow. The water is everywhere brackish as far as and beyond Ziguinchor, 45 miles from the coast. In the lower part of the delta the channels and backwaters commimicate in one direction with the Gambia, in another with the Cacheo estuarj^ But notwithstanding all these inland crossings and intersections, the seaboard preserves a straight line from Cape St. Mary to Cape Eoxo, where begin those intricate indentations so characteristic of all the coastlands in Portuguese territory. The bar of the Casamanza, which first breaks the regular shore-line, is very shallow, with scarcely more than 6 or 7 feet at low water and with three constantly shifting sills. The extensive riverain forests abound in game, and are infested by few rapacious animals. Inhabitants of the Casamanza. In the upper reaches the dominant peoples are the Khabun'ke, or " Khabu- men," and the Mandingans, here also called Suzi, the Sossays of the early writers. Advancing constantly from the east, they have driven before them the aboriginal inhabitants ; but their progress has been arrested by the French, and they have now ceased to press upon the coast people, just as they have themselves beeu 180 ■VN^EST ATEICA. relieved from the encroacliments of the inlaud Fukhs. In the Casamanza basin the Mandingans form petty oligarchic states administered by two dignitaries, the alcaty (cadi), military chief, and the almany, spiritual head of the people. Beside the Mandingans dwell the Fidah pastors and the Sarakole agricid- turists, who had both accompanied them on their advance from the interior, and who afterwards founded numerous settlements about the French stations. Here they contracted alliances with runaway female slaves, thus giving rise to the present half-castes. Other districts were occupied by the Balanta intruders from the Geba basin, who, after laying waste certain parts of Budhie and Yassin on the north, have settled down on the south side of the Casamanza below Sedhiu, driving the Tig. 75. — TeIBES of the CiSAMiSZA. Scale 1 : 1,300,000. 1 6° 50' West of Greenwich Depths. 0tol6 16 to 32 32 Feet and Feet. Feet. upwards. 18 Miles. Bagnun aborigines farther west. A branch of the Bagnuns are the Cassa or Cassanga tribe, who give their name to the river, and whose former capital, Brikam, nearly destroyed by the Balantas, is still seen on the left bank, above the Songrogu confluence. The Bagnuns are of middle size, much smaller than the Wolofs, but taller than the Felups, with very broad Negro features, large mouth and depressed nose. Like certain American tribes, they might be called Orejones, or " long-eared ; " for they pierce the lobe in several places, introducing bits of bamboo which gradu- ally distend the cartilage down to the shoulders. They also file their teeth to a point, like most of the coast tribes, and deck themselves with copper bracelets and other ornaments of that metal. From the Jlohammedan marabouts they procure FELUP TYPES LISRARV OF THE MNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. CASAMANZA BASIX. 181 ctarms, and holy medals from the Portuguese priests, and subject to the ordeal of poisoning those accused of bewitching men or animals. The old matriarchal usages still prevail among them, as among most of the tribes alono- the coast. Eank and property are transmitted in the female line, and the women join in the village deliberations, often exercising a decisive influence on the issue. The coast peoples, hemmed in by the invaders from the interior, have received from the Portuguese the collective name of Felups, and they certainly show a com- mon affinity in their usages and language. But they have lost all national coher- ence, and are now broken up into a multitude of distinct clans, each with its tribal name and separate territory, mostly some island or peninsula in the delta. West- wards, near the sea, dwell the Aiamats, Yolas, Kabils or Karons ; farther east, but north of the Casamanza, the Jigushes or Juguts, the Fognis, the Kaimuts, and those Felups of the Songrogu, whose large heads have earned for them the Portu- guese name of Yacas. South of the river follow the Banjiars, Fulims, and Bayots, these being most distinguished by theii" speech and diminutive stature from all the Felup peoples. From a former higher period of culture most of the Felups have preserved the art of erecting relatively large and comfortable dwellings, very substantial earth houses which resist the weather for years, and which are divided into several compartments in the interior. The Felups, on the right bank of the river, build very large and shapely canoes with the trunk of the bombax, and manufacture arrows, darts, and swords, which they use with much skill. But the social and political bonds are very loose, every hamlet, so to say, constituting a separate state. Even family ties are easily formed and as easily dissolved, and in some places the children are destined beforehand to serve in the household of the village chief. Most of the Felups have the idea of a supreme being, who, for them, is at once the heaven, the rain, the wind, and the storm. Puled by terror, they are a prey to the medicine-men, and nowhere else in Africa are the wizards more invoked and more hated. Thej' are accused of killing by their malevolent arts and philtres, and they are at times themselves seized and tortured to death. But social changes are gradually taking place amongst the Felup populations settled in the neighbour- hood of European factories, and employed by the traders as carriers. Topography. In the Casamanza basin the chief militar}^ and commercial station is Sedhhi, called also Frances-Kunda ("House of the French"), which since its foundation in 1837 on the right bank, at the head of the navigation, has become a real town with European biuldings and extensive depots. Some native villages have sprung up round about, whence are obtained ample supplies of provisions of all sorts. Ziguinchor, the old Portuguese station ceded to France by the recent treaty, and situated on the left bank, below the Songrogu confluence, occupies a favourable position for the overland trade between the Gambia and Cacheo basins. On the 182 WEST AFRICA. same side, but much lower do\ra, lies Saint-Georges, in a fertile district exposed to the refreshing sea-breezes. But the largest place in the delta region is Carahane at the northern extremity of the island of like name, which may be compared to Bathurst for its watery soil and insalubrious climate. Some six miles to the south-east of Carahane stands the old English factory of Lincoln, which has become the wretched village of Elinkin, inhabited by the riff- raff of various populations, much dreaded by their neighbours. GruiNE — Portuguese Possessions i\ Senegambia. The geographical expression Guin^ (Guinea) applied by the early Portuguese navigators to the whole of the West African seaboard, fi'om the mouth of the Senegal to that of the Orange, has graduallj' lost this comprehensive signification. According as the coast-lands became better known they received more special designations, and in ordinarj' usage the term Guind is now restricted to the Portuguese possessions between the Casamanza and Componi basins. The recent convention with France has sharply delimitated these possessions, not by natural features such as rivers and mountains, but by degrees of latitude and longitude. The territory, if not already subjected to Portugal, at least assigned to her future sway, may be estimated at about 17,000 square miles, while in 1885 the portion reallv occupied did not exceed 30 square miles, with a total population of some 10,000. Even the inhabitants of the whole region cannot number much more than 150,000, notwithstanding the exaggerated statements of some Portuguese writers. At the same time there can be no doubt that millions might be supported in this fertile territory, which is abundantly watered by the rivers descending from the Futa-JaUon highlands. Portuguese Senegambia lies entirely within the zone of fjord-like rivers and estuaries, carved out by the waves into mmierous peniusidas and archipelagoes, still limited westwards by the ancient coastline. These various streams, rising on the uplands for the most part to the east of the Franco-Portuguese frontier, are very copious in proportion to the extent of their basins, and like the Casamanza and other northern arteries, may be ascended by shipping far into the interior. The Cacheo, northernmost of these streams, called also Rio de Farim and De Santo Domingos, runs nearly parallel with the Casamanza, from which it is separated bj' a gently undulating tract with a mean breadth of 24 miles. In their lower course the two estuaries intermingle their waters through an intricate system of channels and marshlands, beyond which the Cacheo enters the sea through SI wide mouth obstructed by a muddy sill. The Geba, south of the Cacheo, rises as the Ba-Diemba in the unexplored region Limited eastward by the headwaters of the Gambia, flowing thence parallel with the Cacheo, but soon losing its fluvial aspect. For a space of over 60 miles it develops a wide estuary like a great arm of the sea, accessible to vessels of considerable draught and no less than 10 miles wide at its mouth. In front of this mouth are scattered the Bissagos islets and reefs, forming a vast labyrinth of GUINfi. 183 channels danoreroiis to naviffation, but wliich mav be avoided by one of the lateral passages communicating directly with the Geba. Farther south this system of 184 WEST AFEICA. channels merges in the Rio-Grande estuarj', less spacious than that of the Geba, although the latter appears to be much the smaller river of the t-R-o. The Rio-Graxde. The Rio-Grande, called also the Guinala, appears to be the chief waterway in Portuguese Senegambia. It is supposed to rise on the same plateau as the Gambia, flowing not east but west, and imder the name of the Comba collecting niunerous torrents from the Futa-Jallon highlands. Of these the largest is the Tomine, which also gathers its first waters from the neighbourhood of Labd. One of the districts traversed by it is intersected by such a number of ri^Tilets that it takes the name of Donhol, that is, "Land of "Waters." Even in the diy season it has a discharge of over 350 cubic feet per second at 90 miles from its source, where it winds through a broad valley skirted on both sides by cliffs from 850 to 1,000 feet high, above which rise the escarpments of the granite rocks, presenting the appearance of su2:)erimposed bastions. Lower down the Tomin^ leaves the region of primitive rocks, trending northwards to the Comba tkrough blackish sandstone and ferruginous quartz walls furrowed at intervals by the rocky beds of wild mountain torrents. Below the Tomine-Comba confluence the united stream deserves its Portuguese name of Rio-Grande, for here it is ali-ead}' a " great river," as attested by Goulds- bury and other travellers, who crossed towards the head of the bend it describes from north to west, parallel with the Geba. But in this district a part of its course no less than 90 miles long remains still to be explored, so that it is somewhat doubtful whether the Comba discharges into the Rio-Grande estuary, or flows north- west to the Geba. But as figured on the maps the Rio-Grande would comprise the whole of the Tomind basin, with a total length of about 450 miles. The tides, which ascend 60 miles into the interior, convert the lower reaches into an intricate system of saline channels winding round a number of marshy aIlu^•ial islands, which ate continued seawards by the Bissagos archifielago. Farther south the seaboard is broken into peninsulas and projecting headlands by several creeks or streams terminating in estuaries, and all flowing parallel to each other from north-east to south-west. Of these the Cassini alone deserves the name of river. Rising 120 miles fi'om the coast in the hiUy region west of the Tomin^ basin, it enters the sea through a funnel-shaped inlet accessible to the largest vessels for 30 miles. The Bissagos Archipelago. The Bissagos Islands, which were formerly attached to the mainland, diifer from the other insular formations only in their more seaward position, and in the greater breadth of the intervening channels, which have not yet been thoroughly explored. The group, which is defended seaward by a line of dangerous breakers, comprises about thirty islets of various size, besides innumerable reefs, many of THE BISSAGOS AECHIPELAGO. 185 which are flooded or decomposed into secondary islets by the tides, -which here rise 13 or 14 feet. Thus at low water Cagnabac forms contiauous land with Porcos and Gunnbaua, while Gallinhas, Formosa, Ponta, Corbelha become attached to the neighboiu'ing lands. The archipelago, the navigation of which is rendered extremely dangerous by the strong currents and shifting character of the channels, terminates southward in the isolated Alcatraz, or " Pelican " rock, round which hover dense Kg. 77. — BlSSAGOS AECHrPELiGO. Scale 1 : 3,000,000. clouds of aquatic birds. Orango, or Harang, largest member of the group, is mostly sandy, with a scant vegetation, whereas the others are generally covered with tall pabns and gigantic baobabs, which from a distance seem to grow right out of the water. All the islands are low, and disposed in the direction from north - west to south - east parallel with the mainland. Belcher and the other early explorers described the group as volcanic, but the rocks sup ■ posed by them to be eruptive were probably ferruginous clays, analogous to those on the West African seaboard. The islands, mere fragments of the old coast, consist of the same formations and present identical features. Whether through erosion or slow subsi- dence, the sea has encroached on the land, converting penin- sulas into islands, islands into reefs and banks, the lower reaches of the rivers into estuaries, and these into marine inlets. During these secular transformations numerous animal and vegetable species have had to adapt themselves to the slowly changing environment. Such is the hippopotamus, elsewhere rarely seen far from freshwater streams, but which Belcher met on the south-west coast of Cagnabac (Kanabak), over 30 miles from the coast rivers. 0to62 Feet Dtpilia. 62 to 320 Feet. 320 Feet and upwards. . CO Miles. VOL. XII. 186 "WEST APEICA. Climate — Flora — Faixa. The climate of Guine differs in no respect from that of the Gambia and Casa- manza, except that the mean temperature is higher and subject to greater extremes, which is doubtless due to the proximity of the hilly uplands in the interior. Near the coast the glass falls at night sometimes to 53° F., oscillating in the cold season, from November to January, between 53° and 59° F. after sunset, and in the day rising to 77°, 86°, and even 110°. But at other times the tem- perature is much more uniform, showing for the whole year a mean of 78° at Bissao. The rainfall, not yet accurately measured, is very considerable, the wet season, accompanied by frequent thunderstorms and heavy downpours, lasting for nearly five months, from the middle of May to the end of September. Notwithstanding this copious rainfall the forests are less dense and continuous than in the tropical regions of the New TVorld. Extensive tracts, even in the Bissagos Islands, are crowned by canq)iiias, or savannahs of tall grasses or reeds, above which rises here and there in isolated majesty a solitary giant, in one place a palm, in another a baobab or a butter-tree. Behind the mangrove-fringed banks of the estuaries begins the forest proper, including a great variety of species, such as acacias, date and oil palms, and the so-called " rain-tree," whose foliage, especially at sudden fulls of temperature, collects the night dew and precipitates it as rain in the morning. The fauna, richer than that of Senegal, belongs to the zone of equatorial Sudan, including nmnerous species of the ape family, amongst which the chimpanzee is said to be found. Several large animals, such as the giraffe, zebra, and ai^parentlj' the elephant, have disappeared, although the hippopotamus, wild ox {hos hrachyceros), leopard, and crocodile still abound. Birds are very numerous, and nowhere else in Africa do the termites build such large compact ant-hills, mostly pyramidal in shape and hard as stone. All the creeks and estuaries are well stocked with fish, yielding abundant supplies of food to the natives. Iniiahitaxts. These natives form a perfect chaos of small groups, each with its distinctive name, but otherwise without any ethnical value, and liable to constant fluctuations with the changes brought about by migrations, alliances, and conquest. Hence the discrepancies in the statements of travellers who have visited the country at different periods. Of the nine distinct nations mentioned by De Barros, three only, the Biafars, Papels, and Bujagos, are comprised entirely within the Portu- guese possessions. The Fulahs and Mandingans are intruders from the east, while the Felups, Balantas, Bagnuns, and kindred Buramos (Brames) are met also on the Casamanza, and the Nalus in the Eio Nunez and Cassim basins. Besides the Fulahs proper, this region has been invaded by the half-caste Fulas pretos, or "Black Fulahs," resembling the Toucouleurs of French Senegambia. Of the indigenous peoples, the Balantas, occupying most of the space between the IXIIABIT/VNTS OP GUIXE. 187 ciiddle Casaraanza and the Geba estuary, are the most valiant, and misht form a powerful nation hut for their numerous and often hostile tribal subdivisions. Each 2 18a WEST AFRICA. village forms an independent petty state ruled by the wealthiest family. The Balantas are distinctly black, but smaller and less symmetrical than the Wolofs, with very long skulls, retreating forehead, and small bloodshot eyes. Of all the natives they are the most addicted to plunder, and as theft is a capital crime, they are especially proiid of the "heroic" valour displayed by them on predatory excursions. Special professors are appointed to teach the noble art of robbery, and the viUage youth are not regarded as men until they have distinguished them- selves as footpads or marauders. The Papels or Burnes are centred chiefly in the district between the Cacheo and Geba estuaries to the west of the Balantas, whom they closely resemble in physical appearance and social usages. Like them, they bury the dead with great pomp, and at least, until recently, their chiefs were accompanied to the other world by several maidens buried alive. Even in 1860 human flesh stiU formed part of the " baked meats " at funeral banquets in some remote districts. The Papels are, however, distinguished by their artistic taste, and to their designers are due the ornaments with which the native earthenware and calabashes are embellished. Although showing no kind of respect for their dead, the Biafars, or Biafadas, are the mildest and most pacific of aU the Guine peoples. The Nalus, their southern neighbours beyond the Rio-Grande estuary, are also distinguished for their sociable habits. Amongst them marriages are exogamous, and when a young man selects his bride from a neighbouring tribe, he sends his sister to her brother by way of compensation. The Bujagos or Bijugas, who occupy the Bissagos archipelago and a part of the opposite coast, are a fine Negro race, proud, intrepid, and from infancy accustomed to endure jahysical pain unflinchingly. They were long di-eaded by the Europeans as formidable corsairs, being the only people on this seaboard who ventured on the high seas to any distance from the coast. In their warlike expe- ditions the men smeared themselves with ochre and decked their heads with plumes and metal ornaments ; but they soon learnt to exchange their primitive bow and arrows tijDped with poisoned fish-bones for swords of European make. Their fetishes, representing men and animals, are carved with singidar truth to nature, and compared with similar objects elsewhere in West Africa may be regarded as genuine works of art. In some of the Bissagos islands matriarchal rites still prevail among the Bujagos. Islam is spreading amongst all the coast tribes, and in the Nalu county Mus- sulman communities already reach all the way to the sea. In pre-Mohammedan times the natives were mostly devil- worshippers, considering it useless to pray to the good spirits, and reserving their supplications only for the maleficent genii. Where these \'iews still survive the people assemble at some china, or sacred spot, such as a great tree, the seashore, or the chief's dwelling, and here saci'ifice an ox, a goat, or a fowl, reading the pleasure of the demon in the entrails. If the prescribed rites have been faithfully performed it is always favourable, and the evil one betakes himself elsewhere. To circumvent the minor spirits, who bring BUJAGO TYPES AND TEKMtKS' KEST. LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. INHABITANTS OF GTJINE. 189 bad luck and bewitch men and animals, recourse is had to the jamha-coz, or wizard, 'vrho generally succeeds in averting the pending evil and driving away sickness. But should the victim happen to succumb, it is explained that this was because he wished to die in order to begin a new life beyond the grave, and thus the credit of the magician is upheld. Amongst these populations trees; rocks, animals, colours, sound, everj-thino- assumes a favourable or sinister aspect ; hence all objects of iU-omen are tabooed, whole districts being at times interdicted. Anyone penetrating into such places Fig. 79. — Teibes of the Casamaxza. Scale 1 : 300,000. 121 11° 30' ' •''^" ''' '■■ ^ '"' ■■ ■' ' ' • '* • ■"■• • ' ^il^^:^ ir "30' ^^^^^"'-' " '^^^^'^' '"'"^^^%- ■-'^-^^^' •■ '^' ••••"•' 'l5°50' 'l5° West of Greenwich Depths. 0toS2 Feet. 32 Feet and upwards. — IS Miles. would be immediately punished with death by poison. This practice prevails especially among.st the Felups and other tribes of the Geba basin, where the poisoned cup either produces vomiting or fatal con\'ulsions, thus proving the guilt or innocence of the accused. These barbarous populations are ruled by the dread of the imknown. But as human nature cannot endui'e a perpetual state of terror, violent reactions set in, duiing which they frequently give themselves up to the wild delights of music and the dance. The European race is here represented by about fifty persons, iacluding soldiers, traders, and a few convicts. Nevertheless the Portuguese have, in the course of 190 "WEST AFEICA. centuries, acquired considerable influence over tlio native populations, and the general medium of intercourse is the so-called Papel, a jargon or linrjm-franca of Portuguese origin, which is variousl}- affected by Xegro elements, according to the predominant speech of the several districts. Like all such " pidgin " languages, it has a vcrj- limited vocabularj- and a rudiraentarj' structure, discarding gram- matical gender and modifying the verbal senses by means of invariable auxiliaries. Topography. The six thousand or seven thousand natives directly subject to the Portuguese administration are scattered over an extensive space, along the banks of the estuary and throughout the Bissagos Islands. In the Cacheo basin the only stations are Farim in the Balanta territory, about 120 miles from the coast, and Cacheo (Cachea) on the south side of the estuary, here accessible to vessels drawing 10 feet. Bissao, in the island of lilvc name at the north entrance of the Geba, consists of a fort, round which arc grouped six native villages, each with its re(juh, or head man. But the most important settlement is Bohimci, capital of Guine, residence of the governor and headquarters of the troops. The little town lies on a creek dry at low water, and separating the island of Bolama from the mainland at the north entrance of the Pao-Grandc. This place was occupied in 1792 by two himdicd and seventy-five English settlers, who were soon reduced by famine and sickness to a handful of wretched survivors, saved from certain death by returning to England. Since then the possession of Bolama formed the subject of litigation between Great Britain and Portugal, the question being decided in 1870 by the United States in favour of the latter power. But the trade of the place is in the hands of French houses, which export ground-nuts, and copal collected at the foot of the trees and said to bo the finest in the world. The port, lying to the south-west of the town, is well sheltered, and the island, formerly overrun by herds of elephants, now produces some corn, sugar, and A^egetables. In the Rio-Grande estuary the two chief Portuguese stations are Bisasma and Biiba, both on the south side, the former near the entrance, the latter at the head of the navigation. Farther inland are GuidaU, a little fort recently captured by the Portuguese from the Fulahs, and Kade, on the great curve of the Comba below the Tomine confluence, a place much frequented by IMandingan traders. In the neighbourhood dwells the peaceful and unwarlike Tiapi agricultural tribe, speaking a peculiar language totally distinct both from the Fulah and Mandingan. The South Senegambian Rivers ("The Southern Rivers"). The whole seaboard stretching north-west and south-east for 240 miles in a straight line between Portuguese Guine and the British territory of Sierra- Leone, has been named the " Southern Rivers," as if the mouths of the rivers visited by traders and mariners had alone any value in their eyes. This region has THE SOUrn SEXEGAMBIAN EIYERS. 101 been frequented since the fifteenth centmy, and English, Portuguese, and German factories established at various points. But the trade is chiefly in the hands of the French, whose political suzerainty over all the coastlands and river basins has been recoffnised bv recent conventions. Yet this territory can scarcely be described as a colonial possession, beino- utilised only for trading purposes, and seldom visited by merchants except during the five months from December to April, for the purchase of oil-seeds, sesame, caoutchouc, gums, wax, skins, gold dust, and other produce. But, notwithstanding its great fertility and boundless resources, the whole region is very little known, except in the Nufiez and Scarcies basins. The lower courses are still doubtful of the rivers whose sources have been discovered in the Futa-Jallon uplands. 'Nov is it easy to determine the extent of the territory assigned to France, which, however, at an average depth of about 120 miles between the seaboard and Futa-Jallon, may be roughly estimated at 24,000 square miles. The r.ative popu- lation being relatively dense on the coastlands, may be rated at not less than two hundred thousand. The petty states of Koba and Xobitai, on the Sangarea estuarv, have alone over thirty thousand inhabitants. Like the Portuguese Guine, the whole seaboard is broken into peninsular for- mations, which, at high water, are converted into a labyrinth of islets. But the estuaries seldom penetrate far inland, as the ground here rises somewhat rapidly towards the Futa-Jallon highlands. The northernmost stream, known at its mouth as the Componi (Campuni), and higher up as the Cogon, sends down a con- siderable volume, which in the estuary ramifies into several branches. One of these encloses on the west the island of Tristam, which is the first French territory on this seaboard, and which still bears the name of the Portuguese navigator, Ifuno Tristam, who discovered it in 1445. The Eio Nunez (Nunez), the Nuno of the Portuguese, is also named from the same mariner who first explored it, and here perished in a conflict with the natives. The Kakundi, as it is locally called, is less copious than the Componi, but of more commercial value, being unobstructed by any bar, and accessible to large vessels for about 40 miles inland. Here the tides, the higliest on the coast, rise to over 20 feet high, and rush at times with a velocity of 5 or 6 miles an hour far up the estuarj-. South, of the Nunez follows the Katako, of diflScult access, and some 60 miles farther on the Eio Pongo (Pongos, Pongas) whose hcadstrcaras have their source in the south- western valleys of Futa-Jallon. Its estuary ramifies into numerous secondary branches, developing for a space of 15 miles an extremely intricate system of channels navigable at high water. But the bar is most dangerous on this coast, and during the floods the ebb tide rushes down at the rate of 8 or 9 miles an hour, which seems to imply a considerable discharge. But, judging from its upper course, a still more copious stream is the Kakriman (Kakrima), which has its source in the same uplands as the Gambia, Eio-Grande, and Senegal. "WTiere it was crossed by Olivier, 1,400 feet above sea-level, its discharge was at least 1,800 cubic feet per second, and it cannot be forded even 192 WEST AFEICA. in the dry season, although rendered uuuavigable by falls and rapids. For a stretch of 120 miles in a straight line below these obstructions its course has been surveyed by no explorer, so that it is still somewhat uncertain whether the Kakri- man is the upper course of the Brameya, which enters the sea midway between the Pongo and the MaUecory at the broad estuary of the Sangarea. According to the natives the Brameya is navigable for one or two hundred miles by craft Kg. 80.— The Los Isiaxds. Scale 1 : 120,000. W&st Q'CureenwicW Ib'^S- Depths. Sands exposed at low water. Oto 16 Feet. 16 to 32 Feet. 3,300 Yards. 32 Feet and upwards. drawing 10 feet ; but the ciu-rent is interrupted by a series of dangerous rapids within 36 miles of the sea. The Los Islands. In the interior the hills and plateaux disjjosed in successive terraces and at some points approaching the coast, enjoy a salubrious climate suitable for Eui'opean settlements. Mount Kakidima, near the east side of the Sangarea estuary, rises to a height of 3,000 feet above the surrounding savannahs and palm-groves. It THE LOS LSLANDS. 198 is of perfectly conic shape, apparently terminating in a crater, and according to tlie natives at times emitting a light column of smoke. But no European has yet been permitted to ascend the " sacred mountain," so that its volcanic character is stm doubtful. Towards the south-'svest the heights are continued through the long peninsnla of Konakri and the island of Tumbo, which project westward in the direction of the Los archipelago. These " Islas de los Idolos," or " Islands of the Idols," are 80 called from the sacred images here found bj' the early navigators. They are certainly of volcanic origin, the two principal members of the group exceeding 600 feet in height and disposed in the form of a vast and ruined crater cnciixling a central cone-shaped islet. The prevailing formations are blue and j-ellowish lavas sTrrrounding large masses of porphyrj'. The MaUecory (Mellacore) river south of the Konakri peninsula, is little more than a marine estuary, like the neighbouring ilanea, Morebia, and Forekaria ; but it is of more commercial importance, gi\-ing access to a better-known region. A little farther south foUow the Great and Little Scarcies, the Eios dos Carceres of the early Portuguese writers, which are true rivers, sending down a consi- derable body of water. The Little Scarcie especially, despite its name, is a large stream fed b\- copious affluents, one of which, the Fala, rises on a low saddleback within 24 miles of the Xiger. The two Scarcies, flowing from Futa-Jallou and the neighbouring uplands south of Timbo, gradually converge towards each other, discharging in the same island-studded bay. Since 1882 their lower course, with the adjacent coast, belongs to Great Britaiu, the Anglo-French frontier here following the parting liue between the Mallecorj^ and the estuary of the Great Scarcie. The neighbouring islet of Matacong belongs to France, while the Los Islands are British territory. Cluiate, Flora, .i>"D Fai-xa. The cHmate, flora, and fauna differ Kttle from those of north Senegambia. During the hot rainy season calms alternate with storms accompanied by frequent waterspouts and torrential downpours, while in the relatively cool season the trade winds are weaker and less regular than in the north. Instead of blowing from the normal north-east direction, they take a southerly coui'se, or else follow the shore-Hue, or are even deflected towards the interior of the Continent. But in January the true north-east wind, that is, the Saharian harmattan, resumes the ascendancy, often charged with the desert sands and attended by dense and insalubrious morning fogs. Plants yielding caoutchouc abound in the forests of the Eio Nufiez. The coffee of the same region, well known in commerce, has a smaller berry but scarcely less flavour and aroma than the Mocca variety. A still more valuable plant is the oil-palm {Eheis guineenm), which here first acquires the importance of an economic product. The Mallecory basin is also a chief centre of the kola nut (Sterculia acuminata) indtistry. The kola flourishes best in a dry ferruginous soil exposed to periodical rains, where it attains a height of 65 or 70 feet. The nut 19i "WEST AFEICA. is veiy bitter, but after tasting it all -water, however foul, acquires an agreeable flavour. The juice of the fruit rubbed into the body also affords complete protection against mosquitoes, and by the natives the same fruit, richer in theine than tea itself, is regarded as an almost universal specific. There are two varieties, one yielding red the other -white nuts, the latter being a symbol of peace, the former of bloodshed, -when sent by a chief to his neighbour. Inhabitakts. Here as else-where throughout "West Africa the more ci-\-iHsed populations are those of the interior, -R-ho by continually advancing -west-wards have broken up the ethnical cohesion of the coast tribes. In the north the chief people thus encroached upon are the Bagas, from whom this region takes the name of Ba- gatai. In the last century Adansan called them Yagres, a name probably identical with that of Cape Yerga, the most advanced promontory on the coast. South of this headland dwell the Sapes or Sumbas, akin to the Bagas, and of much lighter complexion and less Negroid features than most of the other coast tribes. A marked physical peculiarity, which at once strikes all observers, is the almost geometrical horizontal position of the plane connecting the neck with the chin. The Baga men are generally well clothed, whereas the women wear little beyond a thread on which are strung rags, pearls, rings, wood or metal ornaments. The rich also insert a ring in the cartilage of the nose, and all pierce the lobe of the ear for the insertion of rice-straw. Field operations are performed by the men, who are very industrious and of peaceful habits, so that the Bagatai territorj- is regarded as a place of refuge, in which all natives go unarmed. Till recently every Baga village formed an independent petty state ; but the French Govern- ment has now brought all at least in the Nunez basin under the jui'isdiction of the king of the Nalus, himself subject to the militarj- commander of Boke. The Landumans, also brought under the same rule, occupy both banks of the Nunez above the estuarJ^ Notwithstanding their stout resistance to the Fulah invaders, they would probably have succumbed like so many others, but for the timely intervention of the French. They appear to be closely related to the Bagas, resembling them in type, usages and speech. They have hitherto turned a deaf ear to the Mohammedan preachers, although showing great respect for the Fulah marabouts, whom they regard as more potent -wizards than their o-wn fetish-men. But the more civilized Nalus have alrcad}- embraced the faith of Islam. Throughout the whole of this region the dominant speech is that of the Su-Sus, who occupy both slopes of the hilly country between the Scarcies and Eio Pongo. Some of their tribes even penetrate farther north, i-ntermingling with the Nalus and Landumans ; eastwards they come in contact with the Fulahs, towards the west with the Bagas, and in manj- places reach the coast. The Su-Sus are akin to the Mandingans, and also claim brotherhood with several other "West-African peoples, such as the Sangaras (Sankarans) of the Upper Niger. During the course of long migrations they have become scattered OA-er a vast domain, and it THE SU-SU TEIBE. 195 vras a Su-Su tribe that in tlio thirteenth century seized Timhiihtu, whence they were driven -^vest-n-ards a hundred years later. Then it was that they overran the regions between the Upj^er Xiger and the sea, after which the limits of their domain frequently fluctuated during their struggles with the neighbouring peoples. Thus they have ceased to hold the Nunez basin, while the Fulahs pressino- forward from the east, have dispossessed them of many districts in the Futa-Jallon uplands. Wlien the French acquired the political supremacy in the Eio Pongo and llallecory basins, most of the Su-Su kings had already become tributary to the Fulah chief of Futa-Jallon. At present these petty states are practically independent, their Fig. SI. — ElVEES OF THE SorxH. Scale 1 : 7,500,000. .5^ ..•■ 'V , ' r^/ ■ West of breenwicH Ileiglits. i w^ to 1,600 Feet. 1,600 to 3,2C0 Feet. S.tOO Feet and upwards. ISO Miles. vassalage towards France implying little more than the acceptance of a nominal protectorate. The Su-Sus are a powerful, broad-shouldered people of distinct Xegro type, combined with a certain softness of expression. The women especially are noted for their graceful carriage and great love of finery, paying great attention to the toilette, decking themselves with gold earrings and coral necklaces, and dj-eing their teeth, nails, and palms with the red juice obtained by chewing the leaves of a native plant. Although required to work with the slaves in the fields, they are better treated than most of their African sisters, are excellent housewives, and bring up their children with great care. A rare phenomenon in African society are the old maids frequently met in the Su-Su country — women who have declined the husband intended for them, and whose decision in this matter is always respected. 196 WEST APEICA. European visitors are struck by the great courtesy shown by the Su-Sus towards each other. At the sight of an aged person bearing a burden, the young man always hastens to relieve him for a part of the way, and strangers casually meeting never fail to inquire after each other's health and welfare. The speech itself, although monotonous, is soft, very pliant, and easily understood, whence its wide- spread use as the language of general intercourse among all the native popula- tions of the country. It is a Mandingan dialect, marked by the absence of gram- matical gender and the use of prefixes, reduced to writing by the missionaries. Fig. 82. — Inhabitants op the RrvERs of the Sotith. Scale 1 : 7,500,000. West of Greern^ich tx> 1,600 Feet. Heights. 1,600 to 3,200 Feet. 3,200 Feet and upwards. 180 Miles. and already possessing some works on grammar, vocabularies, and translations from the Bible and other Christian writings. While many Su-Su communities have accepted the doctrines of Islam, others are still pure fetichists. Some again call themselves Mohammedans, and observe the fast of Ramadan, but remain pagans at heart, while others are animated by the same religious zeal as their Fulah neighbours. On the other hand, some of the tribes near the European factories pass for Christians, wearing medals and scapu- laries, and abstaining from work on the Sabbath. Slavery is still a universal institution, and warUke excursions are even made into the interior to capture slaves, who are afterwards sold at an average price of £8 per head. Most of the industries, such as those of the smith, jeweller, and carpenter, are left to the slaves, although some of the free Su-Sus also display great skill at wood and leather work. In a material sense they are rapidly being civiHsed, and the coast SIEKEA-LEONE. I97 people now mostly wear European clothes, and build themselves houses with separate compartments and ventilating passages, fitted with foreign bedsteads, strong boxes, and the like. In this region there are scarcely any European settlers, the dangeroiis climate obliging most foreigners to depart after transacting their business with the utmost despatch. Hence the influence of the whites is felt rather indirectly, and especially through the Senegalese coloured people and the "Wolof traders, by whom the Euro- pean commercial houses are represented in all the coast villages and far inland. Topography. The most remote European station in the Nunez basin is the pleasant hamlet of Boke, perched on the slope of a verdant hill on the left bank, some 50 miles from the mouth of the estuary. Here is a monument to the memory of Ren^ Caillie, who started from this place in 1827 on his famous journey to Timbuktu. East of Kakendi, as Boke was then called, and on the route to Futa-Jallon, follow the two large villages of Bambaya and Konsofomi, lying in a delightfid and salu- brious district, where the orange groves, banana, coffee, and tobacco plantations are watered by perennial sparkling streams. The district, inhabited by friendly Fulahs, oifers every prospect of success to European settlers. Vakaria, residence of the Landimian kings, lies a short distance below Boke, near a " sacred " wood, affording a retreat to the " Simons," or wizards, who can change themselves into lions to destroy their enemies. Near Vakaria till recently was to be seen the " gallows of death," where the wretched victim, with broken arms and legs, was left to be slowly engulfed in the waters of the rising tide, unless his sufferings were shortened by a passing shark or crocodile. About twelve miles lower down over against the French station of Bel-Air, stands KasasocohuU, another capital, where the Nalu " king of kings " still holds his court. Victoria, a factory founded by the English, lies on the right bank, at the point where the tortuous Rio Nunez merges in the broad marine estuary. Of the numerous factories on the Eio Pongo the most important is Boffa, which is also a custom house and a Roman Catholic missionary station. In the Mallecory basin the onl}' place of any note is Beuty, Ipng in a comparatively health}' district on the left bank of the river. Although Beuty is the official residence of the Administrator-General, and occupied by a French garrison, English, introduced b)'^ the Sierra-Leone traders, continues to be the current language of intercourse. On the Tombo headland, facing the Los Archipelago, has recently been founded the station of Konakri, which promises to rapidly increase as a port of call for passing steamers. It is also one of the stations of the Atlantic cable connecting Europe with the Gold Coast and the Gaboon. The Los Islands, which the native chiefs have leased to English traders, have in recent times lost much of their commercial importance. Sieera-Leone. Like so many mountains in other parts of the world, one of the crests of the 198 WEST AFRICA . chain overlooking Freetown presents the vague outlines of a crouching lion. From this faint resemhlance the hill, with all the neighbouring coast, the Bulombel or Eomarong of the natives, may possibly have received from the Portuouese the name of Sierra-Leon, whence the present strange hybrid form, Sierra-Leone— half Spanish, half Italian. Or is it due to Pedro de Cintra, who on landinw bere in 1467 met a Hon, or more probably a leopard, in the forest, and wished to commemorate the encounter by naming the locality from the king of beasts ? Another conjecture refers it to the thunder-claps, which re-echo in the hills when the storm clouds burst on their summit, and when, as Cadamosto wi-ites, the roar of the tempest is heard " forty or fifty miles out at sea " off the coast of " Serre-Lj-onne." As a political designation this name is now applied collectively to all the British possessions between the French territory of South Senegambia and the 'Kc'^TO colony of Liberia, answering verj- closely to the region known to the early Portuguese navigators as Mitombo. The seaboard of this political domain, taken in a straight line, has a length of 210 miles, which is nearly doubled by the thousand indentations of the coast. In some places English jiu-isdiction extends landwards a distance of 120 miles, while in others it is limited to the coastlands, or even to the shore-line. Absolutely independent communities occupy the immediate vicinity of the seaboard at Krim, near the Liberian frontier. East- wards the territory reserved for the colonial expansion of England is virtually limited by a convention yielding to France the right of future annexations in the Upper Niger regions. But regarding as already British territory the whole of the Rokelle basin, as well as those of the other streams flowing to the sea, thence to Liberia, its total area may be estimated at about 30,000 square miles, while the actual possessions have an extent of no more than 1,200 square miles, with a population in 1881 of 60,550. Were the whole region peopled in the same proportion, it woidd contain over 1,500,000 inhabitants, and in any case at least half a million are centred on the seaward slope. The Sierra-Leone seaboard comprises two distinct sections, differing greatly in their conformation. The southern presents a uniform coastline, drawn with almost geometric precision, and diversified by very slight eminences. The coast of Sherbro Island continues that of the mainland as far as Cape St. Ann, termi- nating in a sharp spit, and for a distance of over a hundred miles the shore-line follows an almost rigidly straight course. This regiilar beach has no doubt been partly detached from the continent bj- a marine inlet and a long creek ; still the spit indicates the original coastline, which is connected with Cape Eoxo between the Cacheo and Casamanza by submerged banks and a chain of reefs and islets, of which the Bissagos archipelago is the chief surviving fragment. Xorth-west of Sherbro the banks extend to a great distance, rendering the Sierra-Leone coast as dangerous as that of the Portuguese Guine, especially in the rainy season, when the horizon is veiled ia mist. At some points of their course pilots are obliged to keep sixty miles off the seaboard. North of Sherbro the coast, carved by marine erosion into gulfs and inlets. SIEERA-LEONE. 199 bristles witli capes aud headlands. Of these promontories the largest is that specially known as Sierra-Leone, at the northern extremity of which stands the capital of the British possessions. During spring tide and hea\'y rains, this Fij;. 83.— Peninsuia of Sieeua-Leone. Scalp 1 : 450,000. 15-po West oT Greenwich Depths. Oto 61 Feet. 04 Feet and upwards. 6 MUes. peninsula is said to be completely surrounded by water, the two creeks partly separating it from the mainland being then united in a single channel. Even during the dry season a portage of a few miles is the only obstacle to the complete 200 WEST APRICA. circumnavigation of the peninsula, -which has an area of 290 square miles, and is mostly occupied with a range of gently rounded hills, culminating in a cloud- capped sugarloaf 2,300 feet high. The peninsular mass terminates northwest- wards in Cape Sierra-Leone, and southwards in Cape Shilling, or False Cape, con- tinued seawards by the Banana Islands and a few other islets. The Sierra-Leone hills are often stated to be of igneous origin, and to the still pent-up gases have been attributed the earthquakes that have here taken place, notably those of the years 1858 and 1862. But this hypothesis is not justified by the nature of the rocks occurring in the neighbourhood of the town, which are sandstones like those of the mainland. According to Matthews, there are numerous symptoms of subsidence on the coast, where some islands in the estuary of the Scarcies have been converted into sandbanks, covered by 13 feet of water. The site of a fort erected by the Portuguese at the mouth of the Rio GaUinas would also appear to be now submerged in 40 feet of water, six miles fi'om the shore. But these statements woidd require to be verified by a carefid series of contemporary observations. Along the Sierra-Leone coast, as everywhere on the Senegambian seaboard, the argillaceous soil overlies a subsoil of coarse and ferrugineous sandstone, which is easily cut with a hatchet, but which rapidly hardens in the air, thus forming an excellent building material. On the surface are strewn boulders of blue granite and other crystalline rocks, nearly all rounded and blackened by the action of the sun and atmosphere. The presence of these erratic blocks, brought from distant mountains, seems to suggest that even these equatorial regions may have also had their glacial period, so that the fjord-like form of the coast between Capes Eoxo and St. Ann might itself be due to the action of glaciers formerly descending from the Futa-Jallon highlands. Numerous streams, fed by a copious rainfall, flow from the hilly watershed across the Sierra-Leone territory. The Rokelle, the first large watercourse occurriag south of the Scarcies, mingles its headstreams with those of the Tipper Niger, and after a south-westerly course trends westwards to a broad and winding estuary, forming the eastern branch of the Gulf of Sierra-Leone. South of the Rokelle, the Bansakolo, an equally copious stream, rises within a few miles of the sources of the Niger, and after escaping through deep gorges westwards pursues a still unexplored course to the coast, either falling into Yawry Bay as the Kamaranka, or more probably merging as the Bagranor Barguruin a funnel-shaped estuary to the east of Sherbro Island. Climate. Although Freetown, capital of the British possessions, is 270 miles nearer the equator than Sodhiu on the Casamanza, its mean temperatui'e is not more elevated, and is even rather lower than that of Boke, on the Rio Nunez. This is due to its position on the coast, where it is completely exposed to the marine breezes. The cli- mate is extremely equable, with no alternations of seasons, except such as are due to the succession of dry and rainy periods, the glass varying scarcely more than seven SIEBEA-LEOXE. 201 degrees, from 75" F. in August, to 82" in April, ^vitli a mean of about 78° F. at Freetown. The sea-breezes prevail along the coast during the hottest part of the VOL. XII. p 202 WEST APEICA. day ; but the whole coast lies beyond the influence of the regular trade winds, and Freetown Hes altogether in the zone of monsoons, calms, and variable winds. The harmattan from the Sahara prevails for a few days ia December and January, bringing with it the impalpable dust of the desert. The rainfall is heavier on the Sierra-Leone coast than in any other part of West Africa, although varjong to a surprising extent from year to year, falling, for instance, from 320 inches in 1829 to less than 40 in 1858. A mean of nine years gives for Freetown about 134 inches, while exceptional downpours have been recorded of 4, or even 8, inches in the twenty-four hours. During these heavy rains, hail not unfrequently falls on the tops of the mountains. The wet season begins generally early in May, or a month sooner than in Senegal, and is usually ushered in with a few local cyclones, caused by the clash of opposing winds. Despite its relatively moderate temperatiire, the climate of Sierra-Leone is one of the most deadly in the world, and of the whole region the capital is the most dangerous as a residence for Europeans. In the neighbourhood are some still imdrained marshy tracts, while muddy banks are left exposed at every tide. The poisonous exhalations risiag from these places are confined as in a cauldron by the vast amphitheatre of hills encircKng the bay. Even on the slopes the nature of the soil contributes to the insalubrity of the climate during the rainy season. The water absorbed by the ferruginous sandstones is rapidly evaporated, filling the atmosphere with heavy dank vapours, Hke those of a hothouse for tropical plants. On arriving in the bay the European admires the picturesque form of the hills, the exuberant vegetation, the lovely shores of the gulf, ramifj'ing in creeks and narrows ; but he cannot shake off the ominous imjjression caused bj' the expres- sion, " White man's grave," commonly applied to the country; and he also remem- bers that the cruisers employed to suppress the slave-trade in these waters were known as the " Coffin Squadron." Epidemics of yellow fever are frequent, generally sweeping olf a thii-d or even a half of the whites unable to escape in time, or compelled by their duties to remain in the country. Some medical men even assert that this scourge is endemic in Sierra-Leone, and that the peninsula is the hotbed of the epidemics that at times ravage the Senegambian regions. The mortality of the English officers stationed at Freetown rises occasionally to one-half, and in 1881 it exceeded a third for all Europeans, although most of them occupy well- ventilated houses on the slope or crest of the hiUs, and seldom expose themselves to the pestiferous miasmas of the early morning. The black troops constituting the colonial militarj' force suffer far more than the European garrisons, and the vital statistics for the whole population show a continual increase of mortality over the birth-rate, amounting to 1,248 for the five years ending in 1875. Animals introduced from the north, as well as horses imported from the interior of the continent, perish rapidly. European dogs take the fever like their masters, while animals which resist undergo great transformations. AU lambs are born with black heads, which may perhaps be a retm'n to a primitive type ; dogs change their coats, lengthen their ears, and cease to bark, while cats turn grey and acquire longer jaws and legs. SIEEEA-LEONE. 203 Inhabitants. The dominant race in the interior of Sierra-Leone is the powerful Timni (Timani, Tcmne) nation, numbering about two hundred thousand persons, divided into several tribes and into as many " kiagdoms " as there are -^-illages. It was a Timni chief who sold to the English the Sierra-Leone peninsula ; but the old owners of the land did not entirely acquiesce in the transaction, and during the earlv period of the occupation the British were frequcnth' attacked by the natives. Defeated on the continent, and driven in their turn from their palisaded villages, they have lost heart although not yet completely subdued. So recently as 1885 a villao-e near Waterloo, some 25 miles south-east of Freetown, was surprised, some men kiUed, and some women and children carried away into capti^-ity. The Timni are centred chiefly in the plains between the Eokelle and Little Scarcie rivers. They are a fine ■^•igorous race with pleasant features and proud beariug, at least in the more remote districts, where they have not yet been brought under the " civilising " influences of the capital. Industrious tillers of the soil, they raise enough rice, cocoa-nuts, and other produce, to supply the wants of Freetown. The Timni language, widespread as the common medium of intercourse in the Rokelle basin, has been carefully studied, especially by Schlencker, who has pub- lished a good grammar and complete dictionarj-. Collections have also been made of the national myths, proverbs, and tales, and several religious works have been translated into this idiom, which resembles the Su-Su, and still more closely the Landuman dialect. The Timni have hitherto resisted Mohammedan and Christian influences, although firm believers in the eflicacy of crosses and Moslem amulets. The tribal government is monarchical, but the regal ofiice may at times prove fatal to candidates for the post. In some places the future subjects of the king have the right of beating him on the eve of the election, and this is occasionally done so energetically that he does not always survive the infliction. The real power belongs to the so-called purra, or porro, an association which judges both ruler and ruled, and to which even slaves are admitted on terms of perfect equaKty. It is a sort of freemasonry analogous to the ho/i of the Su-Sus, and to similar secret societies widely diffused throughout West Afi'ica, all ^"ith their special language, tattoo marks, and symbols, forming a powerful religious and political state within the state. But amongst the Timni tribe they are most potent for good or evil. When their mandates are issued all wars and civil strife must cease, a general truce is established, and bloodshed stopped, offending com- munities being punished by bands of armed men in masks. Strangers cannot enter the country unless escorted by a member of the guild, who is recognised by pass-words, symbolic gestures, and the like. Their secret rites are celebrated at night in the depths of the forest, all intruders being put to death or sold as slaves. In these societies the wizards command great influence, but at times fall victims to their mutiial jealousy. Crocodiles and rapacious beasts are also regarded as p2 204 WEST APEICA. magicians, and when thej' carry off a human being the village of the victim is given to the flames in order to avert the evil omen. But when a member of the tribe dies a natural death a solemn inquest is held over his remains, his supposed murderer being killed in his turn, or else enslaved with all his family. Other close neighbours of the English settlement of Freetown are the BuUoms or Bullams, who have been broken by the pressure of the more powerful Timni into two distinct fragments, the northern Bulloms, a small tribe occupying the coast between the MaUecory River and the Sierra-Leone estuary, and the ilampuas, Tig. 8.5. — Teekiioey of the TVestekx Maxdingaxs is Sieera-Leoxe. Scale 1 : 3,000,000. of the 15° West of Greenwich Depths. Oto32 Feet. 92 to 80 Feet. SO to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and xipw.'irds. i 60 Mfles. or Southern Bulloms, of Sherbro Island and the neighbouring district. The Bullom language, much affected by foreign elements, belongs to the same stock as the Timni. The forest districts east of the Jlampuas, near the Liberian frontier, are held by the Mendis (Mendes), who, however, reject this name as implying the idea of slavery, and call themselves Kossa (Kossu), that is, according to Winwood Read, " "^N'ild Boars." The Mendis, who speak a distinct language, are a warlike people, by whom, either alone or in alliance with the English, the Timni have often been defeated. SIEEEA-LEONi:. 205 N'orth-east of the Timni the cone-shaped huts of the Limbas occupy the crests of all the hills about the middle course of the Little Scarcie. The Limbas are a powerful tribe, who often close the trade route through their territory. They show great respect for their dead, burj'ing them in an u^Dright position, as if about to resume the journey through life in the after-world. The communications between Sierra-Leone and the Upper Xiger- are also occasionally endangered by the Saffrokos and Konos, who dwell more to the south in the hillv regions, about the sources of the coast streams. Still more warlike Fig. 86. — INHABITANTS OF SrEEBA-LEOXE. Scale 1 : 3,000,000. West oT Greenwich LiepUis. toS2 Feet. 32 to SO Feet. 80 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and up-n-ards. , 60 ilUes. are the Gallinas of the Clallina and !Manna rivers on the Liberian frontier, who till recently barred all European access to the interior. Even since the suppression of the slave-trade they have continued their hereditary feuds with their Kossu neighbours on the north and the Vei people on the south-east, and have even waged war against the " American " Xegroes of Liberia. Lately, the queen of one of their most powerful tribes became the ally of the English, who through her interposition are now the supreme masters of the whole country. These Gallinas are in some respects well qualified to cultivate the arts of peace as well as of war. 206 WEST AFRICA. They are noted especially for their ODsthetic taste, and amongst them are many skilful goldsmiths and woodcarvers endowed with considerable original talent. Of all the coast peoples they have been most influenced by Islam, and are at present in the transitional state between Animism and IMohammedanism. They claim to be of Eastern origin, and on the seaboard form the van of the Mandingan tribes pressing forward from the interior. As in Senegambia, this general pressure of the inland on the coast peoples is continually going on. In the north-east the Hubus (Fulahs) are thus gradually encroaching on the inhabitants of the Scarcies rivers ; in the east the Mandingan and Sarakole traders are in the same way gaining on their neighbours, and introducing them to a more advanced ci\'ilisation. Since the middle of this century the Hubus here constituted a state independent of the Timbo chief, escaping subjection by migrating from the Upper Bafing basin south-westwards, to the hilly district about the sources of the Scarcies. But this movement has given rise to incessant conflicts with the surrounding tribes, the cause of Islam still serving as the cloak for incursions and piUage. Their very name is derived from the burden of their warlike songs, Hu, bu : " We love the prophet, united in his love ! " Of the indigenous tribes several have remained pagans, and these differ little in their social state from the neighbouring Limbas, SafErokos, and Konos. Such are the Kurankos, who hold the vallej^s stretching east of the Timni to and beyond the sources of the Niger. Here they are grouped in oligarchic communities, recognising a chief, but governing themselves by a council of elders, who settle disputes according to established usage, and who determine an equitable award between crime and punishment, wrong and its retribution. The vendetta stUI prevails, the victim's family claiming blood for blood, but the murderer of a slave escaping with slavery unless ransomed by pajTnent of the full value. The Solimas, akin to the Su-Sus and Senegalese Jallonkes, are more cultured than the Kurankos, although like them still despised by the Mandingans and Hubus as foes of Islam. They dwell between the Hubus and Kurankos in the picturesque region of hill and dale about the sources of the Scarcies, and thence to the Joliba. Like their neighbours, they speak a Mandingan idiom, and also resemble the Gambian Mandingans in their love of music. They wage incessant war against the Fulahs, decorating the great battle-drum roimd about with the beards of the slain, each inscribed with the name of its former bearer. Nevertheless the pagan Solimas are amongst the most polished peoijles of West Africa. Comfort is widely diffused, their fields are carefvilly tilled, their towns well ordered, and their minute code of etiquette rigorously observed by all. Strangers are always welcome amongst them, and Laing, Reade, Zweifel and Moustier have spoken in high terms of the generous hospitality accorded to them by these pagan highlauders. But there is a dark side to the picture, and Eeade was informed that at his accession the new king gives his yoimgest daughter to the sacred crocodiles, thereby bearing witness that for his people's sake no sacrifice will be held too great. Mandingan traders; are numerous ii> Freetown, and thanks to them, Islam is SIEREA-LEONE. 207 dailv gaining ground in this !N^egro town, founded by the Englisli and Christian missionaries. In 18SG the Moslem communitj- already numbered three thousand adherents, who were wealthy enough to erect a sumptuous mosque in the place. Here are represented all the races of ^est Africa, and a hundred and fifty langiiages were current in this town, which the English cruisers had made the general depot of the captives rescued from the " slavers." After having long been a hotbed of the traffic in human flesh, Sierra-Leone thus became an asylum for ths fugitives, a land of liberty for the emancipated Xegroes. The English company who in 1713 had obtaiaed the privilege of furnishing the Spanish- American possessions with slaves, transported in exceptional years as many as sixty thousand, the product of wars in which at least twice as many victims perished. But it was also at Sierra-Leone that in 1787 Granville Sharp and Smeathman acquired from the Timni chiefs a strip of territory to be converted iuto a land of freedom. A first group of black colonists was here established, and at the close of the American TVar of Lidependence these were joined by other refugees from Xova Scotia. Most of them perished of hunger and misery, but were replaced by others from Canada and Jamaica, and after the official abolition of the slave-trade in 1807, the British Government replaced the Sierra-Leone Company as masters of the peninsula, using it not only as a home for rescued freemen, but also as a con- vict station for mutineers from its other tropical possessions. This intermingling of peoples of diverse speech and origin has produced a hybrid population unlike any other on the west coast, where they bear a bad name for greed, hypocrisy, and degraded morals. Nevertheless, the Sierra-Leonese are an industrious, enterprising people, and their blacksmiths, carpenters, and other artisans are highly valued in all the seaboard towns. Some even profess to teach, if not English, at least an English jargon to all the coast tribes, notably those of the Su-Sus of the Pongo River. Descendants of the freemen are met as far inland as the Xi?er basin, where they are generally known as jwtu, or "whites," not merely because many are half-castes, but more especially because they represent a higher cultm-e, and by their very presence recall such events as the suppression of the slave-trade, and the emancipation of the Negro. Some tribes have even been induced by their example to abolish servitude, and in the Scarcies basin a petty state has been foimded, consisting entirely of fugitive slaves, whose courage and free bearing have secured for them the respect of their neighbours. The diverse origin of the Freetown Negroes has compelled them to adopt Eng- lish as the common medium of intercourse, but in their mouths this lanf^uage has been so strangely transformed that no European Englishman would understand it at first, although consisting of but a very limited number of words. The Mora- vian Brothers had translated the Testament into this jargon ; but the style and words necessarily used by the translators seemed so whimsical that, through a feeling of reverence for the sacred text, the voliune had to be destroyed. It bore the name of "Da Njoe Testament, translated into the Negro- English language by the Missionaries of the Unitas Fratrnm," British and Foreign Bible Society, London, 1829. 208 WEST AFEICA. The emancipated Sierra-Leonese are supposed to be all Protestants of various denominations ; nevertheless, many traces of the old heathendom survive amongst them, and some sects, mostlj' from the Skve Coast, still worship fire, thunder and lightning. In the " colony " ncarlj^ all cliildren attend school, the yovmg men continuing their studies in the secondary establishments, and in the Furah Bay College attached to the University of Durham. At the census of 1881 the wbite population numbered only two hundred and seventy-one, and at times of sickness it often falls below a hundred. The Italian " mercanti " resist the climate best, and almost every steamer brings a few of these pedlars, mostly from Naples, who bravely tramp with their packs of glass beads Fig. 87. — Feeetown. Scale 1 : 195,000. West of breenwich 13° IS- IS" 10' Depths. Oto32 Feet. 32 Peet and upw.ards. 5 Miles. and coral from village to village, living like the natives, and enduring hardships and privations such as would kill any Eurofican unaccustomed to such an existence. Thanks to these intrepid dealers, the retail trade has acquired a certain importance, while wholesale transactions have declined since Freetown, has ceased to be tbe capital of all the English West African possessions. The policy followed by the Government towards the tribal chiefs has also proved ruinous to the trade of the countr3^ Faithful to their theory of armed non-intervention, the English send no troops inland, but they subsidise the chiefs on the condition of their keeping the routes open. These subsidies, however, are mostly devoted to the purchase of arms and munitions of war, with the result that conflicts are constantly breaking SIEEBA-LEONE. 209 out among the petty chiefs. Villages are burnt, fields wasted, captives sold to the b. ^ Mandingans, the routes get blocked, and the produce of the interior — ^palm-oil, kola uuts, caoutchouc, ginger — reaches Freetown in very small quantities. 210 WEST AFEICA. Topography. The roadstead of Freetown, sheltered off Cape Sierra-Leone by the imposing Carpenter's Rock, presents a delightful prospect whenever the encii'cling hills are free from tlie clouds that enshroud them for most of the year. The primeval forest, largely cleared by fire, is disposed in clusters of majestic trees with inter- vening grassy or bushy spaces. On a neighbouring headland rises a clump of gigantic baobabs, fomiing a conspicuous landmark for vessels bound for the road- stead ; charming dells open between the softly rounded hills, above whose crests are seen the summit of the " Lion Mountain." Houses in the European style are scattered along tbe beach, Freetown appearing in the backgroimd between the Furah and Krooboy inlets. Granville, the first capital of the Negro colony, had been founded in a neigh- bouring plain, but after its destruction by a French squadron in 1794 it was never rebuilt. Unfortunately, choice was afterwards made of the unhealthy bay of Freetown, instead of some site more removed from the marshes and more exposed to the sea breezes. However, the higber parts, even of Freetown, are relatively salubrious, and the yellow fever has often visited the lower quarters without attacking the barracks, erected on a hill 400 feet bigh. Freetown, which covers a space of four squai-e miles, contains some fine buildings, schools, churches, and Government offices. But some of the streets are in ruins, and many dilapidated structures are overgrown with grass or shrubs. Freetown is the chief West African market for wild animals, and here the agents of the European menageries come to purchase snakes, carnivora, gorillas, and chimpanzees. Besides this city of some thirty thousand inhabitants, there are no towns properly so called in the British possessions, although the peninsula is dotted over with villages bearing English names, such as Aberdeen, Wilherforce, Wellinr/fo>i, Regent, York, Hastings, and Waterloo. In the interior Port Lokko has acquired some importance from its position on the Lokko River, which flows to the RokeUe estuary. Kamhia, lying farther north, is the chief agricultural centre in the Great Scarcie basin. Sitmata, near the source of the same river, and beyond the British frontier, is a rallying-point for caravans proceeding to Futa-Jallon. On the Kabba, a northern affluent of the Little Scarcie, lies the busy market of Saviai/a, capital of the Tambakka, or Tambuclii (Su-Su) tribe. In the Limba territory the chief places are Biiinba and Biimhadi (Big and Little Bumba). Kahalla is the residence of the most powerful Kui-anko potentate, and Falcha, also in the Little Scarcie basin, is tbe capital of the Solima nation. It is a prosperous place near the depression loading to the Upper Niger, and, according to Blyden, marks the most convenient site for tTie construction of a railway from Sierra-Leone to the JoHba. Towards the Liberian frontier well-known places for holding " palavers " are Ba/iariiKi and Bandasmna, capital of the queen of the Barri tribe in the Sulima bat^iu iSlEKEA-LEONE. 211 Administration. The colony of Sierra-Leone is administered by a governor, assisted by a council, and paid from the colonial revenues, which are derived chiefly from customs, and exceed £80,000 a year. The garrison consists of Negroes and half-castes from the West Indies, commanded by European officers, all highly paid. The police service is entrusted mainly to the Egbas, and to some other natives from the Niger and the Slave Coast. A period of eighteen months' service in this fever-stricken region entitles all officers to a twelve months' leave of absence on full pay. They have also the advantage of health resorts, such as Madeira, the Canaries, and the neighbouring Banana Island. Foreigners cannot purchase land in the settlement without first becoming naturalised. CHAPTER VI. UPPER GUINEA. Liberia. HE " Land of Liberty " has not yet fulfilled aU the promises made on its behalf by its founders. Hence, by an inevitable reaction, most travellers casually touching at some port of the republic allow themselves to indulge in severe censures, too often inspired by racial prejudice. But surely the very constitution itself of a society consisting exclusively of the children of slaves or freedmen, developed in a region where the slavers were wont to collect their gangs of captives, must be regarded as an event of supreme importance. In any case, far from being a weaker or worse organised state than the neighbouring European " colonies," Liberia has at least the advantage of being a colony in the true sense of the word. Its immi- grant founders were not mere passing travellers, but here took up their permanent abode, and here their issue have continued the work begun by them. In speech, usages, and institutions they even represent European culture itself. Yet they are blacks like the natives, and, although too often keeping aloof from them in the fatal character of " civilised aristocrats," they have none the less, in the long run, exercised considerable influence on the tribes in whose domain they have taken up their abode. "With their neighbours they have mostly dwelt in peace, and less by force of arms than by friendly treaties they have succeeded in acquiring the political supremacy over the extensive region at the western angle of the continent. Still the Liberians have also had their wars with the surrounding wild tribes, whom they have reduced by barbarous measures, cutting down their palm-groves and wasting their tilled lands. In 18L5 some fortj' American Negroes were brought over to Sierra-Leone bj- a wealthy fellow-countryman of Massachusetts, and next year an American societj- was founded for settling emancipated slaves on the African seaboard, whence their ancestors had been carried off. But the first expedition under its auspices did not take place till 1820. It was directed to Fixrah Bay in the Sierra-Leone estuarj' ; but having been badly received by the English, the settlement was removed in 1822 to a bay commanded by Cape Mensurado, 210 miles south-east of Freetown. LIBERIA. 213 After the first difficulties were surmounted the colony gradually expanded, strip after strip of territory being added year after year, and parcelled out in the American fashion in geometrical parallel lines at right angles with the coast. But the settlement did not yet constitute an independent state, and continued to be administered by delegates of the American society, whence arose frequent diplomatic difiicidties, the Engli.sh traders on the coast refusing to pay customs to a private company. At last the society surrendered its claimis, and the revolu- tionary year, 1848, saw the birth of the new JSTegro Republic on African soil. Fig. 89. — ^Tekeitories annexed to the Colony of JIoirRoviA. Scale 1 : 8,000,000 Depths. to 660 Feet. 660 Feet and upTrards. 18(i Miles. Most of the powers hastened to recognise the independence of Liberia, which at that time comprised about eight thousand " citizens," and three hxmdred and fifty thousand natives. In 1882 the first had increased to eighteen thousand, while all the other inhabitants of the vassal states were approximately estimated at one million and fif tA' thousand ; but from this number must be deducted the people of the coast between Manna Point, near Sherbro Island, and the river Manna near Cape Mount, which was definitely annexed to Sierra-Leone in 1883. At present the area of colonisation covers an extent of 15,000 square miles. But the State would be four times more extensive if be included all the territories 214 WEST AFRICA. officially protected in virtue of treaties concluded with the native populations, some of which even lie to the east of the hills in the Niger basin. m a 5! o n n bo 'A As now delimited, the territory of the republic forms a somewhat regular LIBEEIA. 216 quadrilateral, stretching 380 miles along the coast, with au average breadth of 150 miles. The seahoard is intersected by numerous streams mostly «ith narrow- basins, and flowing in parallel beds from north-east to south-west, according to the normal slope of the land. At high water and during the periodical floods nearly all the low country between the first line of hills in the interior and the coast dunes is submerged. The Saint Paul, largest of the Liberian rivers, rises nearly 200 miles from the sea, north of the Foma hills and south of the Loma rano-e, which separates its basin from that of the Niger. It is navigable for about 20 miles by vessels drawing 10 feet, and even above the rapids the upper reaches are in many places deep enough for river craft. But a dangerous bar at its mouth obliges all seagoing vessels to ride at anchor in Monrovia Bay. The Saint Paid is joined in a common delta by the Mensurado, and farther east two otlier rivers, the Queah and the Junk, converge on the coast. Other considerable streams are the Cestos, Sang win (Sanguin), Sinu, and Cavally (Cavalla), the last so named by the Portuguese because it is within a ride ( " cavalcade " ) of Cape Paliaas. Beyond this point follows the San- Pedro, forming the eastern frontier within the limits of the Ivory Coast on the Gulf of Guinea. Several of these streams, notably the Cavally, are accessible to boats for 70 miles from the coast, which is here endangered by numerous sandbanks. One steamship comjDany alone lost six vessels in ten years between Sierra-Leone and Cape Palmas. Most of the Liberian rivers are separated from each other by intervening ridges or spurs projecting from the Mandingan plateau. But most of the sea- board is low, either fringed with lagoons or carved by the waves into small red and white cliffs, with here and there a few conspicuous headlands. Such is Cape Mount, a wooded almost insular bluff, whose highest crest rises 1,065 feet above sea-level. Cape Mensurado (ilontserrado), although less elevated (280 feet), is a more important object for mariuers, as it projects farther seaward and ii:arks the entrance to the port of Monrovia, capital of the republic. In the interior is ^-isible a chain of hills culminating in the Table Mountain, 1,100 feet high. North of Cape Palmas, at the angle of the continent between the Atlantic and Gulf of Guinea, another hiHy mass, consisting of red sandstone, ries to a height of 1,09-1 feet. In several places, and especially to the east of Monrovia, eruptive rocks have cropped out, but the prevailing formation appears to be a reddish claj' over- lain by a ferruginous sandstone like that of Sierra-Leone and Senegambia. The Mandingan plateau when cleared of its natural growth of tall grasses is extremely fertile, and according to Anderson, potatoes here grow to a size of eight or ten pounds. On the escarpments of this plateau are strewn some granite boulders, several of which are scored with strife, another indication +hat these equatorial regions had also their glacial period. Climate. The seasons are less regular in Liberia than on the more northern coastlands, which must doubtless be attributed to the change in the direction of the shore-line, 21G WEST AFEICA. facing in one direction westwards, in another southwards. But the general distribution of the seasons is the same as in Senegambia, the year beiag divided into a dry period lasting from December to the end of April, and a wet, which is again divided into a period of heavy and one of slight rains. The torrential downpours last from the beginning of May to the middle of August, when an interval of fine weather is followed towards the end of September bj- fresh rains accompanied by sudden storms. Notwithstanding its equatorial position, the mean annual temperature of Monrovia is not more than 81° F., the daily variations lying between 77*^ and 86° ; in other words, its climate corresponds to that of hot summers in temperate Fig. 91. — Chief EotrrES or Exploeees m Liberia. Scale 1 : 6,000,000. Dept hs. to 660 Feet. i60 Feet and upwjirds. 120 Miles. zones. The greatest extremes occur during the dry season, when the intense heat of the day is followed by comparatively cool nights, caused by the harmattau blowing from the uplands of the interior. The harmattan is mostly accompanied by dense fogs, which are generallj' dissipated during the morning, but which at times last, like those of England, all day long. Normally the atmospheric currents succeed each other with the regularity of clockwork. The land-breeze prevails in KEOOSIEN. LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. LIBERIA. 217 the morning, following a mean direction from north to south, and is replaced in the afternoon by sea breezes from the west. The Liberian climate is considered highly dangerous for immigrants, but still less so than that of Sierra-Leone. The whites have a settled belief that a residence of over throe j^ears would be fatal to Europeans, who especially dread the dry season and marsh fever. Most maladies cause a certain decomposition of the blood, which is expressed by the local saying that the prick of a needle first draws a drop of water and then one of blood Even Negroes from the United States are liable to marsh fever, from which the aborigines are exempt. Flora of LriiEiiiA. The Liberian flora, coming within the Sudanese zone, differs little from that of Sierra-Leone, which it rivals in the wealth of its vegetation and the extent and beauty of its woodlands. Even the dunes are clothed with plants, such as the convolvulus with its flowery wreaths, and the dwarf palm [Iiypluene) expanding its fan-shajjed foliage within a few feet of the ground. The cocoa-nut, introduced at an unknown date, here found a congenial soil, and has run wild not only on the coast but also along the riverain tracts. Few of the uncultivated plants yield edible fruits, although Liberia is the home of a variety of the coilee plant which grows spontaneously in the forests, and which has recently acquired great econo- mic importance for the revival of exhausted plantations in other tropical regions. The LemUeia vasfatrix, which has committed such havoc in Cej'lon, India, Java, and Brazil, has compelled growers to replace the old Abj'ssinian and Arab stock by the Liberian plant, at least on plantations at a corresponding altitude, this variety generally occupying a lower zone than that of the common species. Its berrj' also is equally fragrant, when subjected to suitable treatment. It is not, however, a shrub like that of Arabia, but a tree, which in the primeval West African forests occasionally attains a height of from 40 to 50 feet. More pre- cocious and productive than the ordinarj' plant, it resists the attacks of the Lemileia vastatrix, and flourishes in the vertical zone comprised between sea-level and 2,800 or 3,000 feet of altitude, thriving best in an argillaceous and slightly silicious soil. Liberia also exports palm-oil, caoutchouc, and the camwood (hajMct Lceinutoxi/loii) employed especially in France for dying textiles. The native flora also includes a "fever tree," whose foliage appears to possess the efficacy of quinquina. Few ground-nuts are now exported, owing to the depredations of rodents and other animals, but the lower course of the St. Paul is already fringed with cocoa-nuts and sugar-cane. But the so-called " pepper," which gives its name to the " Grain Coast," is now entirely neglected by exporters. It is a species of cai'damom (amomiim g rnn ion pa radisi), -which in the sixteenth century was used for adding fire to alcoholic drinks, and which is still employed by the natives as a febrifuge and for perfuming the dead. VOL. XII. g 218 WEST APEICA. Fauna. The slight differences that exist between the Liberian and neighbouring faunas are explained by the nature of the soil and distribution of the woodlands. On the Mandingan plateau the savannahs are roamed over by multitudes of antelopes, buffaloes, and elephants, while domestic animals — horse, ox, goat, and sheep — thrive well in the settled districts. But in the moist low-lying valleys there are no flocks or herds, and imported horses rapidly yield to the climate. The large variety of the hippopotamus is rare, and still rarer the smaller species, as well as the two varieties of the crocodile. Nor are rapacious animals very numerous in the forests, where no lions or hytcnas are met, while the leopards occasionally seen prowling about the enclosures are timid creatures, of whom the natives have no dread. The most formidable beast is a buffalo, the bush-cow of the Liberians. There are also some chimpanzees, or "baboons," as they are called, which are greatly respected and never eaten, because of their resemblance to man. The woods arc inhabited by several other species of monkeys, and the clearings by various kinds of antelopes, including the spinigera, smallest of the gazelle family. Insects swarm in such numbers that Liberia has been called the home of the ant, and whole quarters of Monrovia, undermined by termites, have had to be rebuilt. Inhabitants. The plateaux and uplands of the interior are occupied by the powerful Man- dingan nation, who have advanced from the east, and who here as elsewhere in West Africa exercise great influence, thanks to their superior civilisation. At the foot of the escarpments some fortified valleys in the St. Paul basin belong to the Pessi and Bussi, warKke tribes distinguished by their extremely coui-teous manners. Both have their distinct speech and system of tattooing, and, according to Win- wood Reade, cannibal feasts were held as recently as 1870. The Bussi are good husbandmen, raising large quantities of cotton for export. A more powerful and numerous people are the Golas, or Guras, who dwell chiefly along the western affluents of the St. Paul and the neighbouring rivers. They are fierce warriors, who are said to have nearly exterminated the Deh or Devoi tribe, some of whom arc still met about the plantations on the coast. On the north frontier the banks of the Marfa and Fisherman's Lake are held by the Vei, a branch of the Mandingans, numbering some fifty thousand souls. These peaceful agriculturists have mostly adopted Islam, but their harmonious speech, which has been carefully studied by Koelle and other grammarians, is gra- dually being replaced by Liberian-English. It possesses a sj'Uabic alphabet of over two hundred characters, invented in 1834 by Doalu Bukere, a powerful member of the tribe. This writing system is even still used in correspondence and for record- ing family events, and in it the inventor wrote a history of his nation and a treatise on ethics. South of the St. Paul follow the still savage BarKns, and beyond them the LIBEELV. 219 Bassas, the Kroos south of the Sinu Eiver, and the Grebes near Cape Palmas. The peaceful and industrious Bassas, numbering fifty thousand, supplj' a great part of the republic with rice, poultry, and other provisions. A southern branch of the Bassas, together with the Fishermen, the Nifus, Grebos, and Krus, numbering collectively about forty thousand, are grouped under the general designation of Kroomen, or Krooboys, either a corruption of " crew-men," " crew-boys," or else derived from Kraoh, the primitive name of one of their tribes living near Settra- Kroo. They are traditionally from the interior, the kindred Grebos having appa- rently reached the Cape Palmas district since the Portuguese discoveries. But they Fig. 92. — Terbttort op the Keoomen. Scale 1 : 420,000. 5° West ot b-'eenwc^i Depths. 0to32 Feet. 32 to 64 Feet. 64 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and upwards. 6 Males. have now become skilful fishermen and excellent sailors, displaying uncommon daring, coolness, and dexterity. The Kroos, properly so called, form a compact body only in the narrow strip of coast between the Sinu River and Cape Palinas, where are situated their five chief villages, Kroober, Little Kroo, Settra-Kroo, Nana Kroo, and King Williamstown. But beyond this territory they occupy numerous hamlets on the coast, where every town has also its Kroo quarter (Krootown), exclusively inhabited by these sea- faring Negroes. They are a stout, muscular, broad-chested race, probably the most vigorous and robust of all African peoples. The head, joined by a bull's neck to their broad shoulders, presents the ordinary Negro type — flat nose, prominent cheek- bones, thick lips, slightly projecting incisors, yellow, bloodshot eyes ; in fact, " the q2 220 WEST AFEICA. head of a Silenus on the bodj- of an Antinous." Morally, as weU as physically, the Kroos arc one of the most remarkable peoples iu Africa. At ouce honest and proud, and conscious of their power, they are passionately fond of freedom, never endurinf servitude at the hands of any masters. Although settled on a seaboard exposed for four centuries to the visits of the slavers, they have always combined to resist every attempt at capture, and when they wei-e seized they either starved or drowned themselves to escape bondage. Nor did they ever themselves trade in human flesh with the whites, although domestic slavery was a national institution. The Fishermen, however, originally a distinct tribe, but now mainly assimilated to the Kroos, made no slaves, but sacrificed captives taken in war under a fetish tree. The Kroos constitute small commonwealths, whose hereditary chief is, so to say, merely a " minister of foreign affairs," whose duty it is to deal for the common good with European captains and the representatives of Liberia. He does all the speaking at the palavers, gives and receives the presents, but takes no part in the government of the tribe. The elders, recognised by the iron ring worn on their leg, discuss all the communal interests, deliberating on the measures to be taken and securing their execution. Their president, who is at the same time head of the fetish-men, has charge of the national symbols. His house is a sacred asylum for fugitives, whom he protects until convinced of their guilt. He is regarded as specially entrusted with the welfare of the nation, so that if all goes well he receives the public thanks, but otherwise is deposed and reduced to the pcsition of a private citizen. Propert}', apart from a few personal objects, is held in common by the whole family, and cannot be alienated without the consent of its adult members. The land also is theoretically a collective propertj^ but the actual tiller of the soil is its de facto owner, and he can be dispossessed by no one, although he has no right to sell it. When he ceases to work his plot it reverts to the community. Notwithstanding their devoted attachment to their homes and families, the Kroos are of all Africans the most given to temporary emigration. Leaving the cultivation of the soil to the women and captives, they offer themselves in their fourteenth or fifteenth year for employment either in the factories or on board ship, usually, however, stipulating for a short engagement, seldom extending beyond " thirteen moons." But for them European trade on the Guinea coast would be almost impossible. Vessels that have lost all or most of their white crews would be at the mercy of wind and water but for these hardy and daring mariners, who thus completely disprove the commonly accepted statement that the natives of tropical lands are always hopelessly indolent. Full of respectfor their employers and loyal to their engagements, the energetic and persevering Kroomen also expect and insist on the faithful execution of the contract by the traders or skippens engaging them. They also do some trading on their own account, selling to the ships' companies cattle, rice, ground-nuts, palm-oil, and preparing sea-salt for the Mandingans of the interior. The Kroo language, a member of tlie ilauda family, which also includes the Fanti, Ashanti, Bassa, and Grebo, is gradually giving place to English, at least in the neighbourhood of the factories. Most of the chiefs have received and accepted LIBEELV. 221 jocular Euglisli uicknames, such as Jack-after-Supper, Flying Jib, Two-jjouud-teu, and the like. Most of the villages also have an English by-name, and nearly every group of huts has in its vicinity a quarter bearing a similar name, preceded by the words " half," or " picanninj-." The Kroos are also taking to European clothes, pea-jackets, felt or straw-hats, umbrellas, bracelets, and other ornaments, and the houses themselves are often fitted up with English furniture. It may be questioned whether this native race is not exercising more civilising influences on the indigenous elements than the " American " colonists with their Fig.- 93. — Inhabi'^ants of Libekia. Scale 1 : fi.OOO.non. West oT Greenwich Depths. to 660 Feet. 660 Feet and upwards. Approximate heights of 2,000 Feet. 120 Miles. pedantic ways and borrowed formulas. The white population numbered in 1884 no more than forty persons, all males except the wife of a missionary. The coloured people call themselves whites, and as such aspire to the government of the republic. Here party struggles turn on the ascendancy of the " coloured " or half-caste and fuU-blood Negroes, and hitherto the former have maintained them- selves in olEce. Apart from a few upright men who have endeavoured to carry out the work of moral regeneration for which the colony was founded, most of the Weegee, or "civilised" Liberiaus, endeavour to assert their own superiority bj^ despising the 222 WEST AFRICA. "stinking bush-niggers," as they call the aborigines, and keeping them in a state of servitude and degradation. Scarcely any alliances are contracted between the " Americans " and the native women, so that the civilised population is mainly recruited by fresh arrivals, such as the numerous emancipated Negroes from South Carolina in 1877. Left to itself, it would diminish from year to year, and finally become absorbed by the surrounding aborigines. Slavery has been abolished only in name, for although the law pronounces severe penalties against purchasers of slaves, it does not prohibit the trafiic in Fig. 94. — EoBERTSPOKT AND Fisiierjt.vn's Lake. Scale 1 : 380,000. West oT Greenwich M'eo iriO' Depths. 0tol6 Feet. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 to 64 Feet. 64 Feet and npwai'de. 6 Miles. " boys," whom the planters get from insolvent chiefs in the interior and keep in bondage. The missionaries, who are here relatively numerous, have founded several inland stations, where they buy orphans and bring them up in the American way, giving them the name of some United States patron, who pays for the educa- tion of his adopted child. Several of the tribes about the plantations have also been converted to various Protestant sects, and like their kinsfolk in the New- World, hold those camp-meetings at which praj'ers, psalm-singing, and preach- ing or shouting are intermingled with groans, sobs, frenzied dancing, fits, aud convulsions. LIBERIA. 223 The foreign trade of Liberia, wliicli iu ISSo was almost monopolised by three commercial houses, bears but a slight proportion to the extent of the state. Formerly the chief relations were with America, but at present nearly all the traffic lies with England and Hamburg. The people themselves take a direct part in the coasting trade, which employs a number of small craft of fifteen to eighty tons burden, built at Monrovia Ivory, formerly a staple of export, has now been mostly- replaced by dyewoods, caoutchouc, palm-oil, coffee, ground-nuts, exchanged for textiles, implements, paper, and especially spirits and tobacco. The birter system of trade still prevails almost everywhere except in Monrovia and the other seaports, which have adopted a metal currency. Topography. Despite its convenient position, Robertsjmrl, the northernmost town in the republic, is still little more than a rural commune dotted over with houses and huts. It is pleasantly situated at the foot of Cape Mount, whence an extensive prospect is commanded of the blue waters of Fisherman's Lake and of the sea, with its white fringe of breakers encircling the verdant headland. One of the crests of this peninsula, rising above the fever zone, has been chosen as the chief residence of the Liberian missionaries. Eobertsport is the natural depot of all the streams converging in the common basin of Fisherman's Lake, but its pros- perity is impeded bv the incessant local feuds of the Yei, Kosso, and GalLina chiefs, and so recently as IS8'2 it only escaped destruction by the opportune arrival of troops from Monrovia. In times of peace it receives its supplies from the hamlets of Madina on Johnny Creek, Bessa, Coro on the Japaca, CoboUa, residence of the Yei king, " Sandfish," and Baporo, capital of king "Boatswain," in the Condo country. Baporo is a busy trading place, which at the time of Anderson's visit in 1868 had a population of about ten thousand, including representatives of aU the sur- rounding tribes. But the dominant element were the great slave-owning Moham- medan Mandingans, who treat their slaves much more rigorously than do the neighbouring pagan tribes. AU the towns in this district have sacred fishponds, inhabited by " armed fish," formidable animals which struggle furiously for the offal thrown to them by the natives. They are covered with scars, and Anderson had reason to think that they were occasionally fed with human ^-ictims. Monrovia, capital of the republic, was so named in honour of the United States President Monroe. Its position is somewhat analogous to that of Eobertsport, standing at the foot of a marine headland at the outlet of an estuary which re- ceives the discharge of se-\ eral inland streams. But in the absence of fresh spring water, the inhabitants have to depend on cisterns, or to draw their supplies from the interior. The town is laid out in the regular American style, the chief thoroughfares running cast and west at right angles with the by-streets. But the stone or wooden houses are not continuous, being built at considerable intervals, with intervening courts and gardens planted with cocoa-nut palms and mangoes. The finer quarters are centred on the higher and more salubrious grounds near the fortifications which command the roadstead. 2S1 WEST AFBICA. A steamer penetrating from Monrovia through Stockton Creek north vrards to the St. Paul River at Caldirell, keeps up the communications with all the sugar and other plantations lining the banks of this artery. Here aU the groups of houses bear some American historic or geographic name, such as Virginia, Clay-AdihmJ, Jig'. 95. — MosmoTiA ixii the Lowee St. Pirx RiTxa. Scale 1 : ♦SCi.CiCO. OtoSS Fleet. SSto64 Fert- 64 Feet aad . 6Mil^. Kentueiy, Ne« York. 2FiIkhurg, the MiJilenburg of the Grerman missionaries, has also some plantations and small factories on the rapids of the St. PauL But the Mandingan traders, who avoid all contact with the despised "Americans," and prefer to deal directly with the natives, have chosen as their depot the town of VansKah, situated ia the marshy district a few mUes west of the river. Here they LIBERIA. 225 liave a school and a mosque, and from this place runs a well-kept highway across the forests northwards to Baj)oro. At Bojeh, about 60 miles from the coast, this road crosses another running south-west through Sublmn, capital of the Gola territory, to Fisherman's Lake. These trade routes have a normal breadth of from 6 to 7 feet. The upper valleys of the St. Paul, hitherto visited by only one explorer, seem destined to become one of the most flourishing regions in Africa. Here the popu- Fig. 96. — Grand Bassa aito Mouth of the St. John. Scale 1 : 73,000. Deptlis. otoie Peet. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 to 64 Feet. 9 om v«,.,l= 61 Feet and upwards. lation is very dense, towns and cultivated districts follo-mmg continuously along the slopes of the plateaux. The towns visited by Benjamin Anderson ia 1860, Zolu, Fessabiie, Bokkasa/i, Zirjah Porah Zue, in the Bussi territory, and Zu-Zu on the St. Paul, are all places of several thousand inhabitants, and their fairs are attended by multitudes from the rural districts. The eastern slope of the Vukkah Hills belongs to the Mandingans, whose chief town is Musardu, or Masadu, which, although much reduced from its former splen- 22G WEST AFRICA. dour, had still a population of nearly eight thousand in 1869, and its solidly built h '^t t !( !ij ramparts were defended by a numerous garrison. Nevertheless, since then it has LIBEEIA. 227 beeD several times occupied by the Sultan of Mcdiita, a fortified town lying two or three days' journey farther east. Recent treaties with Liberia appear to have restored peace, and given the political suzerainty to the Monrovian Government. The women of ilasadu and the neighboiiring Bilklah Ka'ifal wear jewellery made with the gold imported from the Upper Xiger washings. According to Anderson, the most productive placer is at Buhi, a four days' march to the east of Masadu. The small port of Marshall, at the mouth of the Junk, is but Kttle frequented, whereas Grand Bassa, officially called Biic/ianan, is the commercial centre of the republic. Here are the chief factories, and the place is regularly visited by the large steamers ph-ing along the west coast. On the opposite side of the St. John River stands JSdiiia, over against Grand Bassa. Farther south the port of Green- ville, at the mouth of the Sinu, lies near the Kroo territory east of the Great and Little Biitu rocks, coasts, and villages. Still farther south the new port of Nifit has been lately opened to foreign trade. Cape Pabnas, at the angle of the continent, marks the site of the " American " town of Har/er, the Bamiiepo of the natives. Capital of the old colony of Mary- land, and now annexed to Liberia, Harper occupies one of the most salubrious positions on the coast, standing on a hilly island connected by a strip of saud with the mainland. The roadstead is sheltered by the islet of Russwurm, which is separated from the headland by a navigable channel. The white houses of Harper are visible from the sea throug-h the clusters of cocoa-nuts which have o-iven their name to Cape Palnias. But landwards the horizon is everywhere bounded by the unbroken skyline of the woodlands. The chief station of the Protestant missions lies to the north-east, on the banks of the Cavally River, and above this point foUow several other settlements as far as Bo/ileii, at the head of the fluvial navigation. Bohlen lies iu a region of auriferous sands, which have not yet been explored, because the tutelar deity demands human victims, and in this land of petty republican confederacies men are too valuable to be thus sacrificed. ("VTinwood Reade.) Not far from the mouth of the Cavally rises the "Stone of the Great DevU," a rock pierced at the base, which is frequented by awe-stricken pilgrims from every part of the Kroo ten-itory. Their presents of corals, glass beads, tobacco, nun, animals, when placed at the entrance of the grotto suddenly disappear in a mysterious way. The sound made by the hidden demon swallowing the offerings of his worshippers is distinctly heard, say the believers. Near the stone is also shown the twisted stem of a tree, which is stated to be an impious scoffer, who laughed at the miracle as the clumsy trick of some kna^-ish priest concealed in the recesses of the cave. Adsiinistration. The Liberian constitution is slavishly modelled on that of the United States, without the slightest original feature adapted to the difference of race and climate. The Government consists of a President and a Vice-President, each selected for a period of two years from the class of proprietors worth at least £120. The 228 WEST AFRICA. electorate comprises all citizens twenty-one years of age. In case of death the President is replaced by the Yice-President, who is also President ex-officio of the Senate. The executive is entrasted to five cabinet ministers, irresponsible to the Congress, which comprises a Senate of eight members elected for two years, and a Chamber of Deputies elected for four years. These at present niunber thirteen, but are liable to be increased with the increase of population. The citizens are not eligible before their thirtieth year, and whites are excluded from the franchise. Till recent!}- they could not even purchase land without first becoming natural- ised ; but since the late modification of the laws they are able to acquire real property, although still only indirectly through Government agency. As in the United States, justice is administered through district courts and a high court at Monrovia. There is no state religion, although the American Kg. 98.— Cape P.iLiiAS. Scale 1 : 4-10,000. Depths. to 32 Feet. 82 to 64 Feet. 64 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet and upwards. i Miles. Episcopal Church predominates, and public opinion exacts a formal observance of the Sabbath, even on the part of the Mohammedans. Everj' callage of three hun- dred inhabitants supports a primary school, besides which two colleges have been founded for the higher instruction of both sexes. All citizens between their sixteenth and fiftieth years are bound to military service, although seldom enrolled except during the wars with the surrounding tribes. The national militia comprises four territorial regiments, under the supreme command of a brigadier-general. The navy is limited to a few sloops and rowing-boats. The revenue falls short of £40,000 ; but the debt, imposed on the state by some dishonest speculators, is relatively heavy, amounting in 1886 to £316,000. Liberia is at present divided into four counties : Mesurado, Grand Bassa, Sinu, THE IVORY COAST. 229 and Maryland. Until 1860 the last mentioned was a free Xegro colonj-, forming a separate republic under the patronage of a Baltimore society. But since its union with Liberia it is administered by a " superintendent," who is charged with the duty of gradually assimilating the local institutions to those of the other counties. These are again subdivided into townships, defined, as in the United States, by geometrical lines, and each averaging 3 square miles in extent. Ivory Coast — Gra>;d Bassam — Assixi. East of Cape Palmas the coast-line develops a ciuve of surprising regularity stretching for 370 miles eastward to Cape Three Points. The greater part of this gently curved seaboard takes the name of the Ivory Coast, and also that of Fig. 99. — Ditch of Little BisSAit. Scale 1 : 425,000. otoie Feet. 16 to S2 Feet. Depths. 32 to SO Feet. 80 to 320 Feet. 320 Feet and upwards. 12 Miles. the Leeward, in contradistinction to the Windward Coast, exposed to the fury of the Atlantic storms. It is divided by no prominent natm-al landmarks into distinct regions, nor have the political frontiers been accurately drawn till quite recently, to indicate the extent of territory appropriated by France. This terri- tory, which extends for a still undetermined distance inland, presents a coast-line of about 130 miles. The rest of the seaboard, stretching for 1^0 miles between the San-Pedro and 230 WEST AFRICA. Lahu rivers, is one of the few sections of the continental periphery which has not yet heen claimed by any European power. The western section of the Ivory Coast is also one of the least explored in the whole of Africa. Apart from the seaboard and the summits of the hills visible from the shore, nothing of this region is known except the names of some tribes and towns. The dark curtain of forest trees has not yet been raised. Yet few other countries reserve more inte- resting revelations for travellers. Due north were formerly supposed to lie the culminating points of the so-called Kong Mountains, figured on our maps from vague reports, but which would appear to form a comparatively low waterparting between the coast streams and the Niger basin. The western and still independent section of the Ivory Coast is the most elevated, and here the Sassandra (Saint Andrew) hills attain an extreme altitude of 980 feet. Farther on. Mount Langdon and the Sisters rise to elevations of 360 and 390 feet respectively. Most of the cliffs appear to be of sandstone formation, and the streams here reaching the coast are said by the natives to traverse a large inland lagoon called Gle. The Lahu River, which now marks the western limit of the French possessions, seems to be of considerable length, and evidently rises in the uplands of the interior. It sends down a large volume, and enters the sea through three arms with intervening wooded islands. But the bars are so dan- gerous that they cannot be crossed even by canoes. Here the submarine bank stretches for a considerable distance seawards everywhere except at Little Bassam Bay, that is, the point where the arc developed by the Ivory Coast reaches its extreme northern convexity. An extremelj' deep trough or ditch, Ij mile wide, opens normally with the shore -line between the two submerged banks, which slope gently seawards. At 4| miles off the coast the Little Bassam " ditch " has a depth of 1,600 feet ; at a third of a mile 600, and close in shore 120 feet. This submarine valley resembles the so-called " Gouf " near the south-east angle of the Bay of Biscay. Before reaching the sea the Lahu spreads out westwards in an island-studded lagoon separated from the Atlantic by a narrow strip of land. But east of the river this lagoon formation acquires far greater proportions. For a space of over 130 miles between the Lahu and the Tanwe there is, so to say, a double shore-line, the outer or seaward beach running in an almost straight line for an interminable distance west and east between the foam of the breakers and the verdant forests. The inner or continental line is broken by creeks and secondary inlets, presenting a labyrinth of approaches to the rivers of the interior. The Ebrie lagoon, forming the western section of this system of inland waters, comprises a multitude of channels, passages, isles, islets, and banks, stretching for 70 miles parallel with the coast, and navigable at all seasons for boats drawing 2| feet. The Akba or Como^, largest of its affluents, and said to be 240 miles long, enters the lagoon at its east end, where it pierces the outer coast-line to reach the sea. During the floods it has a velocity of from 8 to 9 miles an hour, and its alluvia causes the bar to silt up to .such an extent that vessels drawing 10 feet are unable to enter the lagoon. But at other times the bar is easily crossed, and the Great THE IVOEY COAST. 231 Bassam mouth, as it is called, gives the best access to the iuteiior on tha whole coast from Cape Palmas to the Bight of Benin. But about 24 miles from its mouth the Akba is interrupted by rapids near the village of Little Alepe. The approach to the Assini (Issini) lagoon, some 22 miles farther east, resem- bles that of Lake Ebrie, but is shallower, more tortuous, and inaccessible to craft drawing more than -5 feet. But in the interior the lagoons ramify into numerous deep creeks and inlets, the two chief influents being the Bia or Kinjabo in the north-west, and the Tanwe, foiTuing in the east the frontier of the French posses- Pig. 100.— Assmi. Scale 1 : 720,000. LFa//s orAd^fso We- of G- 0°40' Oto32 Feet. 32 to SO Feet, SO to 160 Feet. . 12 lliles. 160 Feet and upwards. sions. The latter has been ascended to a distance of 60 miles from its delta in the Assini lagoon, but on the Kinjabo all navigation is soon arrested by the Aboiso Falls. Both rivers, as well as their tributaries, are washed for gold, the tenacious clayey soil of their beds yielding an average of about two shillings the cubic metre. On the slopes north of the lagoon, Chaper has discovered boulders and clays of glacial origin. Thus for a space of 900 miles, fi'om the south Senegambiau rivers to the Gold Coast, ti-aces are presented of former glacial action. Climate, Flora, and Fauxa. The climate of the Ivorv differs little from that of the Grain Coast. Here also 232 WEST .\rEICA. the year is divided into two rainy seasons, with two intervening periods of dry ■weather. For strangers the most dangerous period begins in October with the north-cast winds, corresponding to the harmattan of the Liberian coast. The exports, such as oil, dyewoods, gums, ground-nuts, wax, ivory, also show that the flora and fauna of the unexplored interior are much the same as in Liberia. The Fi". 101. — Women of Giiand Bassam. only plant extensively cultivated is coffee, which is largely grown by a French house along the west bank of the Albi. Here are found three species of monkeys, including the chimpanzee ; the elephant also is occasionally seen on the coast. But the hippopotamus, which formerly frequented the creeks and lagoons, has almost entirely disappeared, at least from the Assini district. Chaper has met the THE KING OF ASSINI. LIBRARY OF THE UNlVERSJTYofttLINOtS. INHABITANTS OF THE IVORY COAST. 233 sloughs of pythons over thirty feet long and twenty inches round in the middle. But notwithstanding their size, these animals are little dreaded hy the natives. IXHABITAKTS. The populations in the western districts of the Tvory Coast are still classed as Kroomen. The Glebos (Gleboe), as they are called, belong probably to the same stock as their western neighbours, the Grebos, and the two names are perhaps fun- damentally one. Cannibalism is said to have only recently disappeared, and mention is made of a tribe in this district with such a limited vocabulary that their speech requires to be supplemented by contiauous gestures and play of features. On the banks of the Gle lagoon report speaks of a colony of fetish women, vowed to celi- bacy, and governed by a queen, who by means of certain herbs develops a kind of artificial elephantiasis. All male children bom in these Amazonian villages are at once put to death, but girls are carefully traiaed for their futui-e profession of fetish women. East of the Glebos follow numerous tribes, scarcely better known than the fore- going, and speaking dialects of which very incomplete vocabularies have hither- to been pi'ocured. The leading people appear to be the Avekvoms or Avikoms, who occupj- a part of the Adu country to the west of the Lahu river. For over two centuries these Xegroes have been commonlv known by the name of Kwa-Kwa (Quoa-Quoa), from their salutation, which Bosman compares to the quacking of ducks. The trading station of Great Lahu on the outer coastline west of the Lahu mouth is inhabited by Avekvoms. The tribes farther east about the Ebrie Lagoon are generally known by their English nickname, Jack-Jack. They are active traders, playing the part of agents or middlemen for the inland populations, and dealing directly with the European shippers of palm-oil, nuts, and other local produce. In 1884 they thus disposed of five thousand tons of oil, chiefly consigned to Liverpool and Bristol houses. The villages are very numerous about the Ebrie Lagoon, which has an estimated popu- lation of eightv thousand, lars-elv engaged in fishing. Grand Bassam alone owns over five hundred canoes. The whole population of the Ivor}- Coast inland to the K^iger water-parting cannot be less than five hundred thousand. The tribes dwelliag' to the north of the French territories of Grand Bassam and Assini appear to belong to two distinct stocks — the Agni, the original owners of the land, and the Oshin conquerors, who according to their tradition, arrived towards the end of the eighteenth century. The Agni are shorter, more thickset and robust, the Oshins slimmer, with longer head, and more projecting lower jaw. In some villages the women go naked, while the men wear a .sumptuous robe or blanket of many-coloured strips. But whatever their origin, all the tribes on this coast are alike noted for their mUd disposition and trustworthy character. All business transactions are carried on exclusively by verbal contract, and although at times lasting for months or years, they are always scrupulously fulfilled. At present their territory- may safely VOL. XII. R 234 VTEST AFEICA. be traversed in all directions ; only expeditions are still very expensive, as the inha- bitants of every village expect a present from every white traveller. For several generations there have been no wars in the district ; stiU every native has his gun, with which he burns much powder, noise and uproar being indispensable elements of all festive gatherings. Islam has not yet reached this region, where the reli- Fig. 102.— AoNi Ttpe. gious observances are still of a purely Animistic character. But they do not appear to be celebrated with much zeal. The fetishes set up at the entrance of every village and at the cross roads are much neglected, and the tabooed or sacred groves are now mostly reduced to small enclosures, surroimded with skulls of animals and pots-herds. In some places even the enclosures have disappeared, and the fetish temple is reduced to a mere diorite boulder brought perhaps in remote times THE GOLD COAST. 285 from the interior and new forming a stumbling-block in the path of the unwary wayfarer. KiNJABo — Administration of the Ivory Coast. A powerful French -sassal state has been founded on the shores of Lake Assini by a chief of Ashanti origin, who resides at Kinjabo, a place of about thirty thou- sand inhabitants, on the left bank of the river. This bloodthirsty potentate's chief occupation seems to be the administration of justice, and under the shed where he presides at the " sessions," the heads of his victims are piled up in pyramids. So recently as the middle of the present century the foundation of every village was preceded by a human sacrifice. The victim, made drunk with pabn-wine, was beheaded and disembowelled, the fetish-man predicting the destinies of the future settlement by inspecting the entrails. The king keeps a band of captives, and it was recently feared that the old custom of the " blood bath " for the royal corpse might be revived by the massacre of these wretches. The few French factories belong nearly all to a house in Rochelle, and the only places where any French officials reside are Grand Bassam and Assini, both situated near the bars of like name, and Bahu on a creek on the north side of the Ebrie Lagoon. Dabu is a fortified outpost, which holds in awe the Burburi, a fierce and restless tribe occupying some large villages near the Jack-Jack territory. The French settlements on the Ivory Coast were formerly administered from the Gaboon. But by a recent decree they were, jointly with the factories on the Slave Coast, attached to the Senegal Government. The Gold Coast and Volta Basin. Nowhere else in Upper Guinea have the Europeans secured such a firm footing as in this region. The English, masters of the territory officially known as Cape Coast, from the name of its former cajntal, occupy a section of the seaboard 360 miles long, between the French possessions of Assini and the German factories of Togo. Inland their domain extends to a point 120 miles from the coast, and beyond these limits their political ascendancy is recognised far and wide by the conterminous populations. According to the approximate statistics, Cape Coast has a total area of 17,000 square miles, with a population of over 500,000 in the j'ear 1886. The northern kingdom of the Ashantis, Gyaman, and the contiguous provinces have upwards of one million inhabitants, and the whole population of the Gold Coast, taken in its widest sense, is estimated at three millions. The very name of this region accounts for the eagerness of the whites to establish factories on this coast and to explore the interior. Traders from all the European states were tempted to establish factories for the purpose of exchanging their wares for gold dust, and most of the Powers erected fortified stations to protect the trading posts of their subjects. The French, Prussians, -Dutch, Danes, and Portuguese possessed such stations, but the English have become the exclusive heirs of the trade and political supremacy in this rich territory. R 2 236 WEST AFRICA. The actual priority of possession is one of the most warmly discussed questions in historical geography. In 1666 the traveller Tillant de Bellefond, who had reached the Grain Coast, for the first time alluded to the Dieppe navigators who were supposed to have made settlements on the Gold Coast in the second half of the fourteenth centur3^ But the undoubted discovery of this region dates only from 1470 or 1471, when it was first exjDlored by the Portuguese na^'igators, Santarem and Escovar. About Fig. 103. — EouTES OF Chief Exploeebs Noeth axd East of twelve vcars later Kinff Cape Coast. ^ ° John II. had the fort of Sam Jorge de la Mina erected on a headland of the coast, and by his orders the transjjorts were scuttled which had accom- panied his ships of war. This was done in order that foreign- ers might suppose the Guinea waters unnavigable except for vessels of Portuguese build. Nevertheless other nations also in due course found their way to the Gold Coast. The Dutch made their appearance towards the close of the six- teenth century, and after expelling the Portuguese, pur- chased the Brandenburg set- tlements foimded in 1682 on Cape Three Points. The Dutch were in their turn driven out by the English, who in 1850 claimed the whole coast, except a few Danish and Dutch factories. The former were purchased by the English, the latter acquired in exchange for the rights possessed by the Brit- ish to certain territories in Sumatra. But the surrender of the Dutch factories in 1871 involved the English in hostilities with the natives, which terminated with an expedition against the Ashantis and the destruction of their capital. Since then the whole country has been ti-aversed by survej'ors and pioneers, and even in the conterminous territories the routes of explorers are continually expanding. Scale 1 : 2,9S0,000. /^ A^ante .-' ; Slade s.i.i..^'--"' ; 8'. A«oboii.-;.'..-»s???.?ysr.-- .:Jk*^y' •' i^ ) KpaViloV, .Aviltlif/" 8' 6°. .6° -^^±r- -= 1° 0° West of Greenwich Depths. otoeeo Feet. 6ijU leet and upwards. . GO Miles. THE GOLD COAST. 237 Physical Features. The -whole seaboard of the British possessions projects seawards beyond the normal coastline. But the most prominent headland is Cape Three Points, •whose granite, diorite, sandstone, laterite, and conglomerate hills terminate in three sharp peaks. Several of the promontories at this angular section of the coast rise to a height of about 3-30 feet, and one of the inland summits 12 mUes from the sea attains an altitude of 2,000 feet. Most of these hills in the interior are either isolated, or else disposed in short ridges, such as the Ajamanti group north-west of Accra. But north of this town occui's the dome-shaped Dampa, the first summit of the Aiwapem hiUs, which develop a true range running north-east and gradually increasing in elevation. Beyond the gorge pierced by the river Tolta, this range is continued nearly in the same direction through the Busso coim^try towards the lofty crests of North Dahomey. West of the Yolta other ridges branch off from the Akwapem system. Such are the Okwahu hills, which run north-east, merging in a broad plateau 2,200 feet high, which falls southwards through a series of abrupt terraces, but slopes gently northwards to the thinly peopled steppes beyond the Okwahu territory. West of these grassy plains a few isolated masses 1,600 or 1,700 feet high, form the escarpment of the less elevated Ashanti plateau. Such are the Adansi hills, which have become famous in the history of recent wars, their densely wooded slopes forming the natural frontier of the Ashanti country on the route between Cumassi and Cape Coast. In this hilly district lies the Bussam Oche, or " Sacred Lake," a landlocked lacustrine basin, which has become one of the great fetishes of the country. The fish here captured are smoked and exported, wrapped in banana leaves, to eveiy part of Ashanti. Xorth of the bill y zone stretch vast plains strewn with a few isolated bluffs, such as the majestic rocks resembHng Gibraltar which Lonsdale met on the route between Cumassi and Bontuku. The grassy plateaus are con- tinued north-westwards to the still unexplored highland region generallj- known by the Mandingan name of " Kong," or " [Mountains." But in the Salaga and Jendi territories north-east of Ashanti these Kong !iIountains are comj)letely inter- rupted, so that the route from the Upper Yolta to the Niger is nowhere obstructed by any elevated ranges. River Systems. Copious streams descend from the hills and upland plains forming the water- parting east of the Upper Niger. In the west the fii-st important river is the Ancobra, or Ankobar, which encircles the promontory of Cape Three Points, falling into the Bay of Axim through a broad mouth with a sill scarcely 7 feet deep. The Ancobra rises at least 150 miles from the sea, in the Ashanti country between the basins of the still larger rivers, Tanwe and Boosum Prah, whence it flows south-west and south through Wassaw, one of the richest auriferous districts 23S WEST AFEICA. on the Gold Coast. Its name is a corruption of the Portuguese Eio da Cobra, or ' Snake River," so called from its numerous meanderings. • East of Cape Three Points flows the Boosum Prah (Bussam Pra), that is, " Holy River," so named because it served a sort of Via Sacra for the Ashantis, who followed its course on their marauding expeditions to the south of their territory. Its formidable bar once crossed, the Prah, or " River," as it is now commonly called, may be ascended in large craft for a distance of about 100 miles, while higher up the Ashanti country may be reached in canoes through its western afiluents. Fig. 104. — The Lower Volta. Scale 1 : 900,000. tsst ot breeni^ich e 0to32 Feet 32 to 80 Feet. Deptlis 80 to 660 Feet. 160 Feet and upwards. 18 Miles. Towards its eastern frontier the Gold Coast is traversed by the great river Volta, or Amu, probably the most copious on the African seaboard between the Gambia and the Niger. For five months in the year it is accessible to vessels drawing seven feet as far as Medica (Amedica), 55 miles from its mouth; and Bonnat ascended in a canoe b joni the rapids to Yeghyi, the port of Salaga, 240 miles from the coast. The floods, lasting from July to October, rise at Medica 46 feet and beyond the Krakye Gorge 65 feet above low water, and at Akwamu, 62 miles from the coast, the current is confined to a rocky channel little over 80 feet wide. Here five dangerous rapids follow within a space of half a mile, but above this point the stream flows placid as a lake in a broad bed 60 feet deep. CLIMATE OF THE GOLD COAST. 239 In the low-h-ing plains below the gorges the Yolta expands in the rainy season to a breadth of some miles, and, although obstructed bv a shiftincr bar it is then accessible to vessels drawing IS or 20 feet. On approaching the sea it develops a delta with several branches ramif_\-ing roimd the Kennedy Archipelao-o and other islands. Communication is also afforded through side channels with the coast lagoons, separated from the sea only by narrow strips of sand against which the surf breaks fiuiously. The Quetta, one of these lagoons, is a veritable inland sea no less than 160 square miles in extent, and studded \s-ith numeroiis thickly peopled islands. Such is the geometrical sjTnmetry of the semicircular beach faciag seawards that the mariner has a difficulty in discoveriug the Cape St. Paul figuring prominently on the maps, but really indicated only in a conventional way by a buoy, which itself often disappears beneath the muddy foam of the ragiog surf. Xowhere else does the calemma, or endless line of parallel breakers bursting on the sandy beach, present a more formidable aspect than at this point of the Guinea coast. Seafarers call it the "bar," comparing it to the sills which obstruct the river mouths, and it really acts like a "bar," or barrier, between the high seas and the shore, dreaded even by the most skilful sailors. At all times, even when the sea is calm, these crested billows roll in from the deep, lashed into furv bv the tides, the winds, and opposing currents. Occasionally the daring Kroomen them- selves refuse to venture in their sirrfboats across the furious waves, bevond which the large vessels are seen riding calmly at anchor in smooth waters. Climate. On the Gold Coast the seasons follow in the same order and present the same phenomena as in the regions hing farther west. As on the Ivory Coast, the wet season, beginning in March or April, is ushered in with fierce tornadoes, after which the gales gradually fall off according as the rains set in. The monsoons reappear with the diy season, when the south-west winds strike against the coast, stirring up the waves and veiling the horizon in fog and mist. In October follows the period of short rains, the most dreaded by Europeans, dry weather again setting in with the new year. Then the harmattan is most prevalent, forcing back the breakers and facilitating the approach to the rivers, but also withering up the vegetation and filling the air with clouds of dust. At the missionary station of Abetifi in the Okwahu uplands, 2,000 feet above sea-level, the temperature ranges from 51" F. to 95° F., and even at 62° F. the natives already complain of the cold. On an average these uplands are four or five degrees colder than the coastlands. The rainfall is also much higher, rising from 31 inches at Elmina on the coast to 44 at Abetifi. On the whole the climate is somewhat less dangerous than that of Senegambia, more especially as the two hundred or three hundred Europeans stationed in the country have been able to establish health resorts in the hiUv districts of the interior. 240 AMi:ST AFRICA. FlOUA AXU Fauxa. Til inks to tlic copious rainfall, the inland liill}- districts are clotted witli dense forests of gigantic timber. In Wassaw and Dankira the stem of the so-called Karkum has a diameter of 8 and even 10 feet, and grows to the height of 200 feet. But the districts stretching north of the Akwapem hills are deprived by these woodlands of the moisture needed to support forest growths, and are conse- quently covered with herbage, with here and there a few thickets of scant foliage. Yet even here large trees interlace their branches above the streams, forming long avenues of ^erdvire along the riverain tracts. The Gold Coast is especially rich in jjalms of diverse species, and the butter-tree and kola nut also flourish in the northern forests. The elephant was formerly almost as common on the Gold as on the Ivory Coast. Bosnian, who resided at Elmina at the beginning of the eighteenth century, speaks of an elephant getting killed in the garden of that coast station, but at present these animals have almost entirely disappeared from the coastlands. Even beyond the Adansi, Ajamauti, and Akwapem hills, scarcely any game is now to be seen ; but the more inland savannahs, and especially the Okwahu district west of the Yolta, still abound in elephants, bufialoes, gazelles, wild boars, and various species of carnivora. The hippopotamus and crocodile are also numerous in the Volta, notwithstanding the European steamers now plying on that river. In the forests are met two remarkable simians, a black monkey ^vith white beard, and an ashy o'rev with a Ions silken coat. In the savannahs the butterfly world is as varied as are the flowers themselves, and here the naturalist, Buchholz, collected no less than seven hundred species during a short trip to the interior. Amongst the insects is now included the formidable American "jigger " {Bukx penetrans), intro- duced from Brazil by the emanciiDated Negroes. The tsetse, or some analogous species, is fatal to cattle in many districts on the coast, and the destructive ants have been known to attack and devour poultry, and to drive the natives themselves from their dwellings. The great enemy of the ant is the apra [Manis longicau- datiis), which is completely encased in strong scales, and sleeps like a snake coiled within its long tail. For the natives the most valuable animal is a species of snail, which is said by Bonnat to constitute the chief staple of food in Ashanti. IXHABITAXTS. The peoples of the Gold Coast belong to two distinct stocks, the conquered aborigines and the conquerors. The former have held their ground as sejiarate groups in the Upper Volta basin, and especially in the hilly inland districts. Those of the Brong coimtrj', north-west of the Ashanti state, are by the Ashantis collectively called Potoso, that is, "Barbarians," and most of them speak the Gwang, the Nta, or allied idioms derived from the same original source as those of their conquerors ; but nearly all are now also familiar with the Oji or Ga of their political masters. Physically, the two races differ little from one another, except that the aborigines are more robust, and practice peculiar social usages OF Th r. UHiVERSlTVof ILUNUib, IXHABITAKTS OF THE GOLD COAST. 241 But even tlicse primitive contrasts are gradually being effaced bv crossings, a common civilisation, and the spread of Islam on the one hand, and of English and Protestant influences on the other. Besides the more closely allied Ashanti dialects, there are several others which, althoiigh belonging to the same group, are mutually unintelligible. Such are the Obutu of the Fanti district, and especially of the town of Aguna, a name formerly applied to the whole region now known as the Gold Coast ; the Kyerepong of the Akwapem uplands, and the Akra (Inkram) with its two dialects, the Ga and Adamfi, spoken by over one hundred thousand persons on the Accra Coast and throughout the proviuce of Adamfi, that is, the triangidar space limited east and north by the Yolta, and west by the Akwapem hills. The Banda, Gvaman, and Kong, current north of Ashanti, also belong to the same linguistic family, which is distiaguished by monosyllabic roots and the use both of suffixes and prefixes. In Ga and Adamfi the roots are so few that the different tenses have to be distinguished by tones, as in the Indo-Chinese system. The figurative expressions employed by the Ashantis reveal a vivid fancy and considerable poetic sentiment. The ethnical group of the Oji peoples, including the Ashantis (Asante), Dankiras, Wassaws, Akims, Assins, and Fautis, is by fur the most powerful in the mountainous country bounded west and east by the Tanwe and the Yolta. The kingdom founded by the Ashantis, who tiU lately ruled over nearly all the other states in this region, dates only from the end of the seventeenth centurv, when the conquering tribe advanced from the land of Inta to the north or north-east. But this migratory movement seawards has been going on for countless ages all along the seaboard from the Senegal to the Congo, successive streams of migration flowing continuously from some common centre in the interior towards the coast. It is even now proceeding in the Ashanti country, where the intruding iloham- medan MancUngans are already numerous in the chief towns, and where several petty states have been brought under the preponderating influence of Islam. The Ashantis are physically one of the finest peoples on the African contiaent, the men tall and well-proportioned, the women graceful, ^\"ith regular features. The complexion is very black and the hair kinky, but the nose is thin, while the lips protrude very little ; hence in theii" original homes the Ashantis may perhaps have inteiiningled with the Arabs and Berbers. They have a quick intelligence and excellent memory, and readily adapt themselves to their srirrouncUngs. On the river banks they are husbandmen, in the steppes stock-breeders, on the lagoons and seacoast fishers and boatmen, in the towns eager traders and skilful craftsmen. They weave cotton fabrics, tui-n and glaze earthenware, forge iron, fabricate instrriments and arms, embroider rugs and carpets, set gold and precious stones. Their language, variously known as the Oji, Ochi, Chi, Twi, &c., is one of the most harmonious in Africa, and has also been one of the most carefully studied, sufficient materials having already been collected for a comparative study of its various dialects during an evolution of two centuries. The best suited for literature appears to be, not the Akan, or court language, but that of Akwapem, into which the Bible, prayers, and hpuus, have been translated. It scarcely 242 "WEST AFRICA, differs, except in pronunciation, from the Fiinti, and before British intervention these two peoples were at constant warfare, although conscious of a common origin. According to the legend two brothers, after long enduring the pangs of hunger, found each an edible plant, one they«« the other the -i/ian, whence their national names Fanfi and Ashanti. Before their power was broken by the English, the Ashantis had established an absolute government based on an organised system of terror. The despotism of the king over his subjects, of the nobles over their retainers, of the military chiefs over the soldiers, of master over slave, knew absolutely no limits. But its sanguinary code and atrocious customs at last rendered this system intolerable. Revolts and foreign wars, demoralisation within and the outward influence of more humane usages, brought about the dissolution of the Ashanti empire, the ruin of its institutions, and a gradual modification of the corresponding social order. The descriptions current in books of travel refer to a society which has ceased to be, but which has left behind it many traces of its former existence. The Ashanti king r\iled over a nation of grovellings, who crouched like whipped hoimds at his feet, awed or terror-stricken at his every word or gesture. Although enjoying a traditional right of veto in questions of war and imposts, his ministers had long been content to play the pai't of fawning courtiers and approvers. One of the chief functionaries of the royal household was the head executioner, who wore as an emblem of his office a gold axe in a loop of his dress. The pages were armed with fetish weapons, enabling them to plunder indiscrimi- nately and with impimity. The sovereign was moreover the legal heir of all the gold, gems, and precious objects belonging to his subjects, and on grand occasions he decreed a general confiscation of property on behali of the treasury. All male adidts formed his army, and on the declaration of war every man seizing his gun, his bag of victuals, his amidets, hastened to join the ranks ; while the women, daubed with white clay, went in procession through the streets, searching the houses for laggards or deserters. The throne is inherited not in the male line but by the eldest son of the king's sister, or by some other nephew on the female side. According to Bowdich, the official number of wives was 3,333, of whom five or six onl}' occupied the private harem; but all were jealously guarded by eunuchs, and allowed to go abroad only at night. The king's sisters might marry the man of their choice, but this was a dangerous favour, as in case of her death or that of her son, the husband was expected, like a faithful slave, to follow them beyond the grave. Persons of royal birth were also frequently condemned to die, but without effusion of blood, by drowning in the river. The military chiefs also, in case of defeat, committed suicide in presence of their troops, in accordance with the Ashanti proverb, " Death is better than disgrace." Although, Uke the king, these " cabaceres " had many wives, most of the people were satisfied with one ; but all were extremely jealous, while the greatest cruelties were sanctioned for trivial offences. Women suspected of sorcer}' were put to the torture, gossips condemned to lose the upper Up, and eavesdroppers deprived of one ear. INHABITANTS OF THE GOLD COAST. 243 Till lately, funerals were the most di-eaded events in Ashanti society. On tte approacliing death of a chief the slaves were watched or even chained to prevent them from escaping the terrible ceremony, and immediately after his last gasp two were sacrificed to accompany him beyond the grave. Then at the solemn biu-ial, the whole gang of appointed victims, nimierous in proportion to the rank or wealth of the deceased, walked in the funeral procession amid a throng of women howling and dancing, their bodies painted a blood-red colom-. A certain mao-ic word might save the wretches doomed to die ; but the shouts of the rabble and the roll of drums always prevented the saving word fi-om being heard. The executioners, known by their black attire, were deaf to all appeal, and to stop the crv for mercy closed the mouth of the slave either by gagging or by thrusting a dagger through both cheeks ; then they severed his right hand and ?awed off his head. But slaves did not suffice, and the great captain also needed the society of a free man in his future home. Hence one of the assistants, suddenly and at haphazard seized from behind, was immolated with the rest, and his still palpitating body thrown into the pit, which was immediately filled up. When the king himself died, hundreds perished in this way, all who had served as spies, or were known as };ra or " souls," of the sovereign, being immolated to continue their watch over him in the other Hfe. With him were also buried vast treasures, which his successor could touch only in case of extreme peril to the State. The criminal code was no less sanguinary. To break an egg or spill any palm- oil in the streets of Cumassi, were capital offences. The arms of murderers were struck off before being kiUed, and the bleeding wretches had then to perform a funeral dance in the king's presence, lighted torches being applied to their wounds to stimulate them in the execution of the prescribed gambols. But the great " customs," or feasts were the chief occasion of the wholesale massacres, which had become a necessary institution under the Ashanti system of government. The autumn harvest feast had especially to be copiously watered with blood ; at that season the provincial cabaceres were required to visit the coast, and on entering the town they offered a slave to the local genius. Each quarter had its sacrifices, blood flowed everywhere ; the executioners indulged in frenzied dances, beating their di-ums decked with human skulls, and the fetish-men concocted philters against death bv mixing human blood with corn. Licence reigned in the riotous city, for it was the feast of renewal, of life and death. One of the streets of Cumassi was called •' Xever dry of blood," and according to a Fanti play of words the very name of the city meant " Kill them aU." The new-born infant was slain on a day of ill-omen ; in certain districts the poison cup was the means of solving all difficulties, and in this way whole tillages were nearly depopulated. In such a land of terror and oppression Life was held in slight esteem, and suicides became very frequent, especially amongst the slaves. When one of this class made up his mind to die he gave notice to his owner, who gave him a bottle of brandy to make him drunk, and then had him clubbed to death. It was full time that by the influence of the English on the one hand and 244 WEST AFEICA. of the ilandingans on the other, an end should at last be put to such a frightful reign of carnage. Before the war of 1873, which brought the English to Cumassi, the kingdom of Ashanti with all its vassal states occuijied a space comprising in the north and north-east all the mountain slopes, while the plains of Dugomba for a distance of 240 miles paid it tribute. In the south the Ashantis had reduced the Dankiras, their former masters, and developing a crescent from the Assini to the Lower Yolta, they were pressing the allies of the Europeans more and more towards the coast. Fig. 10-5. — RonTE feom Accka to CtrnAssi. Scale 1 : 800,000. W £St of Ij'^enwich 30 ililcs. They had even reached the sea at the mouth of the Boosum-Prah, and elevated by former successes over the whites, as at the battle of Essemacu, in 1824, when they " devoured the courage of the EngKsh " by eating General MacCarthy's heart, they even attacked the fortresses on the coast, scaling the ramparts to the very canon's mouth. But in the decisive campaign of 1873, said to have been foretold by the fall of the great fetish tree at Cumassi, they were fain to yiel^l to British valour, the flight of the king immediately involving the whole empire in complete disorgani- sation. All the vassal provinces resvmied their independence, and many Ashantis themselves were glad to settle in Dankira under British protection. The kingdom IXHABITAKTS OF THE GOLD COAST. 245 is now reduced to the district limited on the south by the wooded hills of Adansi, and a mere threat of the Resident at Accra sufficed to induce the once formidable Ashanti potentate to surrender to the Queen of England, if not his golden axe, at least an imitation of that terrible fetish, symbol of the right of murder which he claimed over his whole people. According to Lonsdale, the Ashanti chiefs would now find it impossible to raise an army of over six thousand men. The Fantis had been the almost constant alKes of the British, as the Ashantis had been of the Dutch. General ilacCarthy, who died at their head early in the centurv, had become for them a tutelar deity ; their most solemn oath was taken Kg. 106. — Gold Coast Possessions asd SunEotTNiirN'G Disteicts. Scale 1 : 4,800,000. Depths. Ota 660 Feet 6&1 Feet and upwards. — 60 JlUes. in his memory, and many gave their children the name of Karte, Fanti form of the Irish IlacCarthy. Kinsmen, but hereditary enemies of the Ashantis, the Fantis resemble them in disposition and versatility of character. But their manners have changed, and instead of a single monarchical government, they have formed an almost republican confederacy of petty states. Thanks to long contact with Europeans, they have ceased to celebrate their feasts with massacres, and at burials the himian victims are replaced by gifts of clothes, ornaments, and the like. Nevertheless the Fanti penal code is still severe, capital punishment being often inflicted for several offences. Amongst these peoples wealth is held in special honour, and till recently justice was sold in the most cynical manner. In lawsuits one of the suitors would challenge his opponent to prove the righteousness of his cause by a better present than his own to the paimiu or " elders." Each party then displayed in open court 246 WEST AI"EICA. all the bottles and jars of whiskey that he could afford in support of his case, sentence being given in favour of whoever made the greatest show. The insolvent debtor is held in dishonour, and at his death cast on the highway without funeral rites. The Fanti is distinguished from the neighbouring peoples by incisions on the cheek-bones and nape. The Akims, also on the south-east frontier of the Ashan- tis, are said to be easily recognised by remai-kable prominences on the cheek-bones, forming, as it were, two rudimentary horns on either side of the nose. Till recently every Fanti was a soldier bound to follow his brqff'o, or "leader," to death. At the time of the first migrations towards the coast, the warriors are said to have declared that they would choose as their sujjreme chief whatever nobleman Fig-. 107. — Inhabitants of the Gold Coast and Sukrouxdixg Districts. Scale 1 : 4.,i00.nrio. Depths. 0to660 Feet. 660 Feet and upwards. , 60 MUes. was wiUing to sacrifice his right hand for his coimtry. Thereupon a chief eagerlj^ tendered his arm, which, being severed at a blow, he was proclaimed braffo by acclamation. In this family, which was nearly exterminated by the Ashantis, the order of succession is always from the uncle to the sister's son, as amongst so many other African peoples. Every town, every ^^llage and family has its fetish, besides which there is a " master of masters, father of all," who bj' many tribes is confounded with the firmament. All natui-al objects are supposed to act for good or for evil on the destiny of each individual, and these influences have to be solicited or conjured by magic ceremonies. When a whale is stranded great evils are threatened, because the marine mammals are an ancient race swallowed up by the waves, but TOPOGRAPHY OF THE GOLD COAST. 247 ever anxious to recover the land. On the other hand, the Xi/p/n'as glacUm is a fish of good omen, -n-hose sword is regarded as a priceless heirloom, protecting the family from all mishaps. Trees, plants, rocks, streams, are all classed amongst the beneficent or hostile spirits, and Bosman tells us that, tiU recently, the second w-ife in wealthy circles was specially dedicated to the genii, and as such declared to be fetish. On the coast and uplands occui- a great variety of tribal names, although most belong to the same stock as the Ashantis and Fantis, whom they resemble in speech, usages, political and social institutions, and religious views. StiU the eastern tribes — Accras, Krobos, Awunas, Agotimes, Krepis — are distinguished from the Ashantis proper by greater physical strength, courage, and industry. They were fonnerly collectively known as Minas or Aminas, a term now reserved for those H^-ing stUl further east on the Slave Coast. At present numerous stations are supported by the Catholics and Protestants, but esp3cially by the Lutherans of the Basle Mission, successors of the Moravian Brothers who arrived in 1736. But although some new villages are exclusively occupied by converted Xegroes, very rare, comparatively speaking, are those calling themselves Christians for disinterested motives. Some, no sooner than baptised, make themselves Mohammedans ; yet amongst them spring iip new sects, which may, in many respects, be compared to that of the Chinese Taipings. The fetishes have lost their credit in the Adele and Akabu territories, east of the middle Yolta, where the native missionaries are proclaiming a new gospel, announcing that a " son has been born unto God, who has forbidden all work on the Lord's day." When the Portuguese spoke to them of a supreme God the coast populations regarded him as the great fetish of the European peoples. " Not he," thev said, " but the earth gives us gold ; not he, but our work has given us maize and rice ; the sea yields us fish, and to you, Portuguese, we owe the fruit-trees." This foreign god was for them a white being like the men that worshipped him. But were they not blacks, and how could they invoke any other fetish except one of their own colour ? By destiny itself their lot was made different from that of the whites. When the two first men had to choose between gold and letters, the Negro had taken the metal, while the white man learnt to read and write. Thus he became the stronger, and his God was the most powerful of all gods. Topography. West of Cape Three Points the English have no important seaport. Albatii, standing on the strip of sand between the lagoon and the sea, is a mere hamlet sometimes called Half-Assini, as compared with the French factory at the issue of the lakes. Be/iieii, the ApcUouia of the Portuguese, is a mere group of huts like all the palisaded villages following in a continuous Kne eastwards. This section of the coast is one of the most densely peopled in Africa, although till lately posses- sing only a single centre of population. On a hill between the two villages stands the fort of Axim, originallv Portuguese, then Dutch, now English, erected to 248 WEST APKICA. command the Ancobra valley, beyond which, towards Caps Three Points, are seen the ruins of the Brandenburg fort Gross-Friederic/ishurg. ^\jsim, the £ssim of the natives, offers the best landing on the whole coast, thanks to the shelter afforded by the islets of Bobowusua and Poke. Here Burton picked up some implements of the Stone Age, and nowhere else on this coast have so many stone hatchets been found as in the Axim district. Axim must one day become the port of the whole region stretching away to tlio Kono-, and comprising the still little known territories of Aowin, Sahwi, and Gyaman. A o-ood road now connects it with the Ancobra, which affords the easiest access to the Wassaw gold mines. The petty chiefs have also been called upon to clear the forest routes and bridge the streams in order to keep the com- munication open between the coast and Tarlava (Tarquah), headquarters of the mining district. A railway, 56 miles long, has even been proposed for the convey- ance of the he ivy machinerj'^ needed for the systematic working of the gold mines. Aodwa, fonnerly capital of Wassaw, is now a mere hamlet, most of the people having gravitated towards the mines granted to English and French capitalists after Bonnat's careful survey of the ground. The gold is obtained especialh' from the gneiss and other primitive rocks, the yearly yields, excluding that collected by the natives, averaging £125,000 between I8(J0 and 1880. Veins of silver, copper, and tin have also been met in the hills, while iron and manganese occur every- where. Gold dust is the only currency in this province of Guinea, from which the old English gold piece took its name. Most of the labourers engaged on the works are Apollonian s and Kroomeu, nearly all demoralised by the vices almost inseparable from this industr3\ The orAy noteworthy place beyond the mining district is Mansti, lying about midway on the new route between Tarkwa and the mouth of the Prah. The fort commanding the little creek of Di.rcovc, oast of Capo Three Points, has some strategic importance, thanks to its position near the headland. Most of the other old forts on this jDart of the coast are now in ruins, but Chama has been maintained and even enlarged in consequence of its position at the mouth of the Prah. But most of the trade with the interior has been transferred to Elmiiia, the oldest European factory on the Gold Coast. The French first settled at La Mine towards the end of the fourteenth century, and after their deijarture the Portuguese made Elmina their chief stronghold on this seaboard. Later it became the head- quarters of the Dutch possessions on the Gulf of Guinea, and passed from them to Great Britain in 1871. Since then, having ceased to be a capital, it has lost most of its inhabitants, although enjoying the advantage of good carriage roads, both with the mouth of the Prah through the station of Commcmlah, and eastwards with Cajw Coast Castle, which has become a chief centre of British authority on the Gold Coast. The Ljwah (Erjira, Of/ira, Gira) of the natives owes its English name of Cape Coast Castle to a misunderstanding of the Portuguese Cqpo Corso, the Cap Corxe of the French, although the term " castle " is justified by a number of forts erected ! mmk ^^'i^f Pi„, , o o LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ItLINOIS. TOPOGEAPHT OF THE GOLD COAST. 249 on the encircling hills. The traders of this place do a considerable traffic with the Prah valley and the Ashanti state, and here is the seaward terminus of the main VOL. XII. S 250 WEST APEICA. route leading througli tlio Upper Prah basin to Cumassi. On this route the chief military stations are Mansu, at the confluence of the chief branches of the Prah, and Prahsu, or " Prah-head," on the river of like name, below the junction of the Birim. At the latter station, described as the "key" to Ashanti, the chiefs of that state come to consult or receive the orders of the British authorities. Cunuisui, capital of Ashanti, is a large place nearly 4 miles in cii'cumference, situated on an extensive plain watered by a tributary of the Dah, the chief western branch of the Prah. Before the war it was said to have a population of seventy thousand, but since the destruction of the royal palace and neighbouring quarters by the English in 1874, most of the inhabitants have emigrated, and at the time of Lagden's visit in 1883, Cumassi differed little from the other Ashanti villages in the neighbourhood. But in 1884 a great change took place : the trade routes were again opened, thousands of natives returned, and now houses, some with two storeys in the European style, sprang up in all directions. Gold mines are worked in Ashanti, and especially in the provinces of Dadeassi and Inquautfl, where the rich deposits of Tarkwa are continued towards the north- east. During the rainy season the gold-seekers wash the sands for the precious dust in the very streets of Cumassi itself. The clouds of vultures and other carrion birds have ceased to hover above this city, and its sacred groves and royal necroj)olis or charnel-hoixse of Bantama, formerly girdled round with dead bodies and reeking with human blood. The last sacrifice appears to have taken place in 1882, at the funeral of one of the king's aunts. In the other Ashanti provinces cities have risen and fallen according to the vicissitudes of peace and war, subsequent to the invasion of the conquering race. Juabini, former rival of Cumassi, is stiU a populous place ; Koliofu, Inqitanta, and Mamiwng, lately capitals of vassal states, were almost completely abandoned at the time of Kirby's visit in 1874 ; Bccqua, at one time nearly as populous as Cumassi, was also deserted in 1885 in consequence of an outbreak of small-pox. On the other hand, the more fortunate towns of Akim, in the Uijper Prah and Birim basins, have increased in population and wealth. Insuaini {Nsuaem) or Oba, capital of "West Akim, near the Birim river, has become one of the great cities of Africa ; Soadra, half a mile to the south, is also a large place, and probably over twenty thousand people are concentrated in a space of about 4 miles round Oba. Bonipata, capital of Aldm- Ashanti, lies on a headstream of the Upper Prah, where it has replaced the now ruined to^-n of Biviranm in the Okwahu uplands. Here also are the picturesque towns of Wraso in the wooded hilly districts between the Prah and Volta basins. East of Cape Coast follow the seaports of Anamahu, Koromantin, Ahemfo or Sa/t-Pond, so named from the neighbouring salines, Winnchah (Siiiipn), and 90 miles from Cape Coast, the important town of Accra {Nkran or Gn), commanded by Fort James. Since 1875 the old Danish citadel of Christianshorg has been the official capital of the British possessions, but Accra is the chief centre of European life, and the governor resides in the neighbourhood of the fort, which was much damaged by the earthquake of 1862. Christianshorg, which presents the appear- TOPOGRAPHY OF THE GOLD COAST. 251 ance of au imposing feudal castle, contains vast cisterns for the supply of the garrison and shipping. In the vicinit)' the Basle missionaries have founded a technical school, where are trained the best artisans on the whole seaboard between Sierra-Leone and the Gaboon. Accra is the starting-point of several routes for the interior, and it is now Fig. 109. — Fkom Accka to the Sajiatoeium of Abouei. Scale 1 : 315,000. Oto32 Feet. Depths. 32 to 80 Feet. 80 Feet and upwards. 6 Miles, proposed to connect it by rail with Kpong, on the bend of the Yolta, 50 miles distant. Some 24 miles to the north lies the little health-resort of Aburi (Abtide), founded by the Basle mission, amid a forest of fruit trees over 1,300 feet above sea-level. AJa-opong, former capital of the Akwapem state, serves also as a sana- torium for the whites and a centre of instruction for the natives. s2 252 WEST AFEICA. Between Accra and tlie Yolta lie the little fishing Tillages of Tessi, Prampram, Big Ningo (Firdensborg), and a few others buried amidst the coco-palms here fi-ing- iug the coast. The natives are said to have often collected gold on a reef near the shore, but the precious metal is revealed only at certain feasts and through the intercession of a potent fetish. The Yolta basin, which reaches inland far beyond the British possessions, contains some trading centres visited by the Mohammedans of the Xiger for the purchase of the coast produce and European wares introduced especially through the Assini and Kinjabo routes. Bontuhu, on the Tin in Gyaman (Gaman), a con- federacy of seventeen " kingdoms," was visited for the first time by Lonsdale in 1882. Since the fall of Cumassi it has become a thriving place, deaUug chiefly in gold dujst and local cotton fabrics, and inhabited mainly by "Wangaras, or iloham- medan Mandingans. In the valley of the Kong, five days farther north, has been foimded the new capital, Hirabo, in the Mandingan territory between the Niger and Volta basins. In 1884, Brandon Kirby reached Qiiantampoh [Kutampo), the Tintinpoh of the Mussulmans, a city situated on a southern affluent of the Upper Volta, 70 miles north of Cimiassi. At that time this great emporium contained nearly forty thousand iuhabitants, natives of every country between Sierra- Leone and Lake Tsad, all living in separate communities under their respective chiefs. The province of Koranza, between Quantampoh and the Ashanti state, has also received numerous immigrants from the imsettled districts in the south. D>iring a long l^eriod of peace it has become a prosperous country, studded with populous tillages and doing a profitable export trade in kola-nuts. Ateobii (Atabuobii), lying on a grassy plain watered by the headstreams of the Poro and Sene, affluents of the Volta, is capital of the "kingdom" of Brong. It appears to have been formerly a very large place, and stOI comprises several quarters connected by avenues of shady trees and surrounded by heaps of grass- grown ruins. Its decay is due to the closure of the two trade routes connecting Cumassi with Salaga, and by which gold and kola-nuts were formerly exported to North Sudan. Salaga, first visited in 1875 by Bonnat, although much reduced, is still a con- siderable centre of trade, with a population reduced from twenty thousand in 1877 to ten thousand in 1885. The suj^pression of the slave trade all along the seaboard has ruined the Salaga dealers in human flesh, and at present the staple exports are cattle and kola-nuts. The town has an Arab appearance with its mosques and schools, its tanneries, weaving, goldsmiths' work, and other industries, all carried on as in North Africa, and the products exposed in the same way for sale in the bazaars. Some 50 miles to the north-east, and aho in the valley of a northern affluent of the Volta, stand JcniU (Yeiidi, Yancht, Yene), another large trading place and capital of Dagomba, a great kingdom which stretches northwards to the Mandingan territory in the direction of the Niger. But the trade of Jendi seems to have been affected by the same causes that have reduced that of Salaga. At present TOPOGRAPHY OF TUE GOLD COAST. 253 tte chief town in the middle Volta region is Kcfe, till recently a mere suburb of Krala/e {Karati, Kraciti), which has retained the rank of a capital. Krakye, which stands on a bluff 200 feet high opposite the Sene confluence with the Volta, is a fetish city, whose tutelar deity, the Dente or Odente, dwells in a neighbouring cave shaded by a sacred grove where the oracle is consulted by votaries from all quarters. The high-priest of the temple, the most distinguished person in the country, is at the head of a confederacy of petty states formed since the dismem- Fig. 110.— Abetifi Mountains. Scale 1 : 230,000. '■ ■ ■' ••:■"*.. ' •' ■" ■" ■''•■••:."i'-'-.V'° •• •'■ /^- •' "'■ '■■' ■' . \ ^ \. '• . o." . • ' ^ ■ - » « ."• ". ■ -/ *> ° °'. *' -..^ ">..;:_ ■■ ' '•s;i^'f^^'^it^k^';''i r-\ : r^!^'^-'- - "7 ' #X:^'^^^\:f ' '^ ■ "'i^&& s° '■' . •■-"'' ''^ 'V „'..-s.«J,v .6° -ts- "/is''"- '• ^ /■■ 45' wm?^^ • I' ■;' . '' ,-j-V; ".T- -'.'-' '■'■■' ,,. ■ .1 "abetifi ■ , f •" ■• -'; • ^''^'^:.,,.^^Jl2^«^fe:s; •: ■- / ^- > . \i4 ;Si 1-H , ^-/■•^, ■ -■ — ,T " Wjv > ' ^"^ '> 6° '■-,'.:,. ... - . -^-r^^5/' 40.' ;*!{#',, ^^ ' 1—-^ '""■" 'j-i^-^i\ . -./ )&^ ".■,!^%;,?>,J--.: '■:-■• jV ■.'',; Ob=_ / •tr; ! . . , " .'. „ ■•/<• -.. ,-' -■. ■'->-^-' -.v*^;^\W; ■ ^' ^ ■^ \r%.::3r7-^ ^-.----^ :^..; '-#'■/, 0°-- 1 ■ -0 Vvest ol Greenwich 6 Miles. berment of the Ashanti empire. But the fetish and this potentate appears to have recently lost some of their influence, the Mohammedan traders having gr-adually become the real masters of the laud. Every town in this region has its fetish, whose power increases or diminishes with that of the community itself. The genius of Wuropong, who is enthroned on the table-mountain of Sia, some 60 miles south-east of Krakj^e, is an evil sj)irit who demands human victims, and to whom a man was, till recently, immolated every year. To the north-east lies the extensive but thinly peopled land of Busso, that is, "highlands," whose two capitals, Siaile and Dadcassi, have each a very powerful 254 WEST AFEICA. protecting fetish. Nevertheless, three-fourths of the inhabitants are said to be aflBicted with goitre. The Afram, which joins the Volta above the gorges, flows through an almost uninhabited i-egion. But on the waterparting between its basin and the sources of the Prah stands the pictm-esque city of Abetiji, capital of the kingdom chosen Fig. 111.— Mourns of the Volta. Scale 1 : 78,000. C^s- hast bT breenwicK 0%2' Depths. Sands exposed at low water. OtolO Feet. 10 to 32 Feet. 32 Feet and upwards. 3,300 Yards. by the Basle missionaries as the centre of their stations. Nearly opposite the Afram confluence lies Peki, capital of a confederacy including several towns, such as the large Mohammedan markets of Kpando, Angvoe, Aratime, the triple city of Anum, and over a hundred ^•illages on the eastern watershed of the Yolta basin. Farther down follow Akuamu, former ally of Ashanti, and like it noted for its TRADE OF THE GOLD COAST. 255 sangxiinary " customs," and Kpong, favourably situated on a great bend of the Volta, which is here navigable and connected by a trade route with Accra. Kpong is the port of the little state of Krobo, whose capital, Odumassi, lies on the Accra route at the foot of an isolated hill rising 820 feet sheer above the sur- rounding plain. On this acropolis and sacred mountain of the nation nearly all the Krobo girls arc educated for six j-ears under fetish priests and priestesses. Below Krobo follow, on the right side of the Volta, the towns of Baifoi; Agyrai'i, governed b)^ a fetish priest, and near the bar the ports of Ada {Adda) and Riverside {Adafo). To overawe the lawless populations on this part of the coast, the colonial Government has placed a strong garrison in Quetfah {Kef a), the old Danish Fort Prindsensteen, near Cape Saint Paul, between the sea and lagoon. Agriculture. — Industries. — Trade. — Administration. After long industrial and commercial stagnation, the coast populations have lately made rapid progress, despite the forebodings of the proprietors whose slaves were emancipated and whose " pawns " (debtors) were released after the Ashanti war. The outcry raised by the spectacle of soldiers purchased as captives and of thousands of enslaved female porters accompanying the British troops, resulted in the formal abolition of slavery in 1874. Since then the natives work more willingly for Eiu'opeans, and the extent of cultivated land has considerably increased. In many places the palm forests have been replaced by regular plantations, and more care is now bestowed on the coffee and tobacco crops. The cacao and other alimentary plants have been introduced from America ; attention is given to the production of caoutchouc, especially in the Krobo couutrv, while the natives of Krebi already raise large quantities of cotton. The industries have also been developed, thanks to the numerous artisans trained by the Basle missionaries and to the Mohammedan craftsmen who have settled in all the towns along the banks of the Volta, and who already occupy a whole quarter in Accra. But jewellery, formerly the staple industry, received a great blow by the destruction of Cumassi. Amongst the treasures taken from the King of Ashanti and removed to England may be admired many remarkable objects, such as bracelets, rings, gold and coral ornaments, chased metal plates, and fantastic animals whose forms remotely suggest those of the old Egyptian jewellerj'. Notwithstanding the name of the country, palm-oil rather than gold forms the chief article of export. Hence, like the Bonny and Calabar estuaries, the creeks along the Gold Coast also take the name of " oil-rivers." The imports are mainly restricted to cotton goods and brandy, the chief aim of European " civilisation " apparently being to clothe and intoxicate the natives. In the coui'se of ten years the whole trade of the Gold Coast gradually rose from £640,000 to £1,200,000. The administration of the Gold Coast, which now includes Lagos on the Slave Coast, is entrusted to a governor appointed by the Queen, and assisted by a legislative and executive council composed of the chief functionaries and 256 WEST AFRICA. European traders. After the Ashanti war the seat of government was removed from Cape Coast to Christiansborg- Accra. Each colonial district is administered by a magistrate, and the tribal chiefs are gradually being transformed to justices of the peace with power to settle all minor matters according to local usage, while affairs of importance are referred to the English court. The military forces consist chiefly of Fantis, Haussas, and Kroomen. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to enlist troops in the states north of Ashanti the natives of which regions refuse to migrate towards the seaboard. The revenue is derived exclusively from imposts levied on imports in the twenty- five coast towns opened to foreign trade. The colonial administration, which is slowly displacing that of the tribal chiefs has in no way modified the limits of the annexed states now reduced to provinces. Nor does it interfere directly in the affairs of the conterminous states beyond occasionally sending visitors or agents, whose advice is usually accepted. Formerly all the Upper Volta basin formed part of the Ashanti empire ; but these agents have pursued a policy of political dismemberment, and numerous so-called " independent " kingdoms have been established in the regions coming within the influence of the British authorities. But farther inland there still exist some absolutely independent states, such as Gyaman, Dagomba, and Busso. In the Appendix is given a table of the colonial districts and petty states conterminous to the Gold Coast, together with their chief towns and absolute or approximate populations. The Slave Coast. — Togo, Popo, Ajuda, Badagry, Lagos, Dahomey, Yoruba. The section of the African seaboard Ij'ing between the Volta and Niger deltas describes an extremely regular slightly curved arc of a circle masking an inner shore-line, from which it is separated by intervening lagoons and back- waters. To this region, washed by the Bight of Benin, still clings the sad name of the Slave Coast, a reminiscence of the traffic in " black ivory " which flourished on the shores of these cursed lagoons from the first years of the Portuguese discovery down to the second half of the present century. Nowhere else were the slavers able to conduct their operations in more open defiance of the cruisers. The beach is defended by formidable breakers, where the most skilful pilots alone can dare to venture ; the mouths of the estuaries are invisible from the sea, and the inner bays offer a thousand secret inlets on the densely wooded shores, in which it was easy to conceal the human merchandise. The caravans of dealers from the banks of the Niger, the troops escorting gangs of captives forwarded by the kings of Dahomey and Yoruba, were able to consign their victims under the shelter of the gloomy forests without exposing themselves on the open seaboard. But while all the Western nations were glad to have a share in this profitable business, no foreign power except Portugal made any official settlements on this coast before the year 1851, when the English occupied Lagos and made it the headquarters of their operations for the suppression of the traffic in the Bight of THE SLATE COAST. • 257 Benin. In 1863 France purchased the territory of Porto-Novo, which ^vas soon after abandoned, and again occupied by her in 1883. Next year the Germans took possession of the Togo district immediately east of the British territory on the Gold Coast, so that at present this seaboard is shared by four Powers, including Portugal, which administers the part of the coast still claimed by the King of Dahomey; but towards the interior the limits of the respective territories are nowhere accurately determined. Few travellers have ever penetrated far into this region, except towards the east in the direction of the Niger, where the routes of explorers intersect each other at several points. The natural limits of the country are clearly indicated on the west hj Cape St. Paul and the lagoons fed by the waters of the Volta, on the north-west and north by the uplands which form a continuation of the Akwapem ranges, on the north-east and east by the divide between the Niger basin and the streams flowing to the Atlantic. The whole region may be approximately estimated at about 62,000 square miles, with a total population of probably not less than three millions. But no trustworthj^ returns have yet been made except for the British possessions of Lagos and Badagry, which in an area of 75 square miles had a settled population of over seventy-five thousand. Physical Features. — Rivers. From the sea no hills are anywhere visible beyond the slight pyramidal eminence at Badagry. Large timber is also rare, nor are any dunes developed on this coast, owing doubtless to the north-east winds, which carry seawards the sands washed up by the waves. But in the interior, beyond the intricate coast lagoons, the land rolls away in gentle undulations from 200 to 230 feet high in the direction of the inland plateaux. North of the isolated mass, 2,700 feet high, forming the culminating point of Dahomey, the Busso ranges rise to considerable altitudes, according to Skertchley terminating in the Mahi country with peaks over 6,700 feet high, falling rapidly towards the northern steppes, and descending in terraces on the southern side. From a summit ascended by this explorer the range, apparently the highest in Africa south of the Atlas and west of Abyssinia, was distinctly seen stretching away in the direction of the Volta. Some of the chief crests consist of granitic domes, some of columnar basalt pyramids, and others again of trap formations piled up like frowning fortresses or else resembling isolated craters. In one of the valleys were seen accumulations of debris present- ing all the characters of moraines, and here were also noticed I'ocks striated by ice, (Skertchley, Dahomey as If Is.) None of the streams flowing seawards between the Volta and the Niger are of large size, their parallel basins being everywhere confined within narrow Kmits. During the dry season most of them fail to reach the sea, discharging into the coast lagoons without being able to force a passage through the intervening beach. But after the rains the overflow of the lagoons finds an exit, breaking the shore- line now at one point now at another. The channel at Lagos, forming the outlet 253 ■WEST AFEICA. for a considerable coast stream and for lagoons fed by several affluents, alone remains open throughout the year. The river Ogun, the largest of these affluents, rises probably some 180 miles inland, and receives numerous tributaries before leaving the uplands. The Great Popo Channel is also generally open, while at other points the natives frequently cut passages for their boats between the lagoons and the sea. Most maps represent the Togo district as almost entirely occupied by Lake Fig. 112. — Shoee-Lixe E.iST of Lagos. Scale 1 : 780,000. 3°-to' Depths. 64 to 640 Feet. 640 Feet and upwards. 12 Jlilea. Avon, an inland sea 1,200 square miles in extent, and so called from the English vessel which surveyed this coast in 1846. But the size of the Haho, as the natives call it, from its chief influent, has been strangely exaggerated, for it is scarcely more than 6 miles long in any direction. The Nokhw^, or Lake Denham, west of Porto-Novo, is also much smaller than it appears on the maps, while the largest of all these coast lagoons is Ikoradu, which with its numerous ramifications has given the Portuguese name of Lagos, or the "Lakes," to the town at its seaward THE SLAVE COAST. 259 entrance. These lagoons form a continuous waterway, which might bo easily made navigable aU the waj- from the mouth of the Volta to the Niger delta. 2C0 WEST AFEICA. Steamers already ply for a distance of about 40 miles between Badagry and Lagos, and in 1870 one of these ascended to the neighbourhood of Abomey, by the river Whemi (Owo), which has a mean depth of 13 feet, and falls into Lake Denhara north of the Kotonu channel. In its flora and fauna the Slave Coast forms a simple continuation of the Gold Coast. Its climate, with a mean temperature of about 78° F. and two dry and two wet seasons, is regarded as the most salubrious on the whole seaboard between the Senegal and the Congo. Europeans have hitherto escaped the attacks of such epidemics as yellow fever, small-pox, or typhus ; but they have still to dread the marsh fevers, especially during the early days of their residence in the country. The most dangerous period is the close of the heavy rainy season, when the ground reeks and the atmosphere is charged with miasmatic exhalations. Inhabitants. Notwithstanding certain dialectic differences, the natives of the Slave Coast present marked affinities to their Fanti and Ashanti neighbours. Apart from the Minas, -who dwelt formerly west of the Yolta, all the popidations between that river and the Ogun belong to the Ewe (Ewhe, Azighe) famih', from whom the whole region takes the name of Eweme, or " Land of the Ewe." The land west of the Ogun is held by the Yorubas (Yaribas), here collectively known as Nagos. The Ewe ajopear to form five distinct linguistic groups ; the Anlo (Anglo or Anglawa) on the Gold Coast frontier ; the Krepi, of Anfwe speech, north and north-east of the Anglo ; the Jeji, of Ajuda speech, east of the Anglo and Krejii ; the natives of Dahomey, in the interior ; lastly, in the extreme north, the tribes speaking the Mahi or Makhi, purest of all the Ewe languages. All the Ewe peoples are of tall stature and well-proportioned, with more regular features and fairer complexion than the Wolofs. Many of the natives of the interior are noted for their yellowish colour and red hair, probably a sort of albinoism rather than the result of crossings with Europeans. Others again on the west coast, collectively known as Minas, are descended from Negroes and half- castes imported from Brazil, and in the public estimation these take the foremost rank for physical strength, moral qualities, and love of freedom. The_v are also active traders, who compete successfully with Europeans, and who by their family alKances with the natives are steadily acquiring a numerical preponderance over all other foreigners. Under the influence of this new element the old ethnical divisions are gradually disappearing. The family names of Souza, Almeida, Andrada, and Albuquerque have become very common, and Portuguese has already become a rival of English as the current language for international relations. Near the Gold Coast English prevails, but Portuguese is chiefly spoken at Ajuda and taught in the local schools. The most powerful branch of the Ewe group are the Fons, now known as Daumas or Dahomeys, from the kingdom founded by them to the north of Ajuda in the first half of the seventeenth century. Although proud of their warlike INHABIT^VNTS OF THE SLAVE COAST. 261 deeds and conquests, tlie Fons are distinguished by great intelligence and a remark- able facilitj' for acquiring foreign languages. According to Broca's measurements, they take a foremost place amongst the races of mankind for cranial capacity. Nevertheless, for the abject slavery of its subjects and the tyranny of its rulers the kingdom of Dahomey bears a striking resemblance to that of Ashanti. The sovereign is a god ; his power is limitless, the life and fortunes of his subjects are at his mercy ; he is master of all the living, heir of all the dead. Formerly infants were removed from their mothers and brought up in other families in order to prevent the people from forming anj' ties of affection except Fig. 114. — IxHABITANTS OF THE SlAVE CoAST. Scale 1 : 4,500,000. reeoiA ich to 160 Feet. Depths. 160 to 660 Feet. 660 ieet and upwards. 60 MUes. towards their sovereign. Being exempt from the ills that other mortals endure, this potentate is supposed to need neither food nor drink, and was till recently regarded almost as an invisible spirit, the delusion being fostered by the practice of taking his meals apart and hearing petitions from behind a screen. He main- tains an army of " amazons " commanded by the dada, or queen, who enjoys the right of life and death within the limits of the harem, and whose sons ai'e alone recognised as royal princes. Some of these women are state dignitaries, and when royalt}' condescends to take counsel, his wives consult with the miiigo, or prime minister, and other high officials. The amazous rival their male com- panions in arms in prowess, contempt of death, and cold-blooded cruelty. Their 262 "NTOST AFRICA. ■war dances are performed with a precision unequalled by the best-trained ballet corps, and Skertchley describes one of these military displays with dances, songs, and sacrifices, which lasted no less than sixteen hours. Human victims were formerly immolated wholesale at the graves of the king and powerful chiefs, and, as in India, wives often volunteered to join their husbands in the other life. This continual flow of blood had accustomed the people of Dahomey to scenes of incredible cruelty. Travellers describe in detail the massacres, tortures, crucifixions, and arrangement of the dead bodies in artistic groups along the avenues. One of the yearly ceremonies consisted in filling a great reservoir left open for those who preferred to commit suicide ; while the terrible Draconic laws always supplied victims in abundance for the national " customs." Cannibalism also was recently practised, the bodies of the slaugh- tered being roasted and devoured smoldng hot. At the same time by most of the natives the prospect of a violent end was little dreaded. The belief in immortality was so absolute, that to them death seemed a mere passage from the shadow of a dream to a real and everlasting life. When the king, "cousin of the leopard," wished to hold converse with his ancestry, he despatched the first to hand as an envoy to the far-off world, and the kindred of the dead felt highly honoured at their sovereign's choice. But the struggles of rival creeds for supremacy must inevitably tend to weaken this simple faith in an after life, and thus enhance respect for the earthly existence. The boy or girl formerly sacrificed at every grave is already rei^laced by a kid, and the wholesale massacres attending the annual customs are no longer regarded by the sovereign as necessary for the safeguarding of the monarchy. The extensive region lying between Dahomey, the Bight of Benin, and the Niger watershed, is peopled by the Eyos, Iktus, Egbas, Yebus, and other kindred tribes collectively known as Nagos, or else Yorubas, from the name of the country and the current speech. Thej' differ little from their Ewe neighbours, presenting the ordinary tj7)e of the coast Negroes, although of somewhat lighter complexion, with less prognathous jaw, and thinner lips. Each tribe is distinguished by a system of tattooing, which is a real national emblem uniformly executed on every individual. All travellers describe the Yorubas as a gentle, kindly people, faithful to their word, extremely docile, artless and sincere, and ever less mindful of injuries than of favours. On the frequented highways sheds covered with foliage [cn-ojehs) are set up at intervals for the convenience of waj-farers, who here find shelter, water, and wine, and who, if so minded, may deposit a few cowries in return. The sociable Yorubas are almost everywhere grouped in urban communities, so that populous towns are numerous in their territory. Even the peasantry prefer to reside in the to^vns, willingly making long daity walks between their homes and their farms. On these they raise large quantities of maize and yams, the great staples of food, besides millet, manioc (taj^ioca), sweet potatoes, pulse, ground-nuts, various species of vegetables, bananas, and other fruits. Agriculture is their chief industry, and they display great skill in extracting the palm wine INHABITANTS OF THE SLAVE COAST. 263 from the Raphia tinifera, -wliich they climb with surprising agility by means of a rope attached to the stem and brought round the body, shifting it up or down by a simple movement of the arm. There are no large estates, the land bein» Fig. 115. — ^A iloHAJntEDiM ToEUBA Teader. regarded as belongin" to all in common, or rather to the State for the benefit of all. Hence the actual cultivator enjoys the fruits of his labour, and when he ceases to work, the land reverts to the State, being then at the disposition of the first comer wilLing to occupy it. 264 \\'EST AFEICA. The Yorubas are also clever artisans, and every village has its potters, smiths, Fig. 116.— Isi-Ainj SCENEET, Slave Coast. Mm« launers. , saddlers, weavers, and dyers. They make their own agricultural imple- THE TOGO TEEEITORY. 2G5 merits, but the white and blue cottons formerly exported to Brazil have been driven out of the market by Manchester goods. As builders the Yorubas excel all natives of Africa, some of their palaces comprising as many as fifty rooms. The doors and friezes of the verandahs are embellished with carvings representing scenes of war or the chase, fantastic animals and religious symbols. They have a special veneration for the furniture made of sassa, because this wood often creaks and moans, especiall}' at night. Although unacquainted with letters, they are said to have had little knotted cords for recording events, like the Peruvian quippos. The power of the Yoruba obbas, or hereditary kings, is limited by usage, while each town has its semi-independent chief, appointed by the sovereign, and enjoA-ing royal prerogatives. Chiefs and governors alike are assisted by councils of the notables, and on great emergencies the whole people are occasionaUv sum- moned to a general national assembly. The authorities are also held in check b)' the aboni, a powerful secret society, whose members are bound together by solemn oaths. They are at once judges and executioners, all sentences being carried out by themselves. As in Dahomey, the kings were formerly followed to the grave by a numerous suite of ministers, women, and slaves, the latter massacred by force, the former politely invited to drink the poisoned cup. Belief in ghosts is universal, and the most minute precautions are taken to prevent the return of departed friends. Theii' arms are buried beyond the gates of the city, and are thus concealed from the owners who might happen to return at night from the other world. The bodies of children are thrown away in the forests, all premature deaths being ascribed to the e-sil spirits, who are thus circumvented. But the old nature-worship has been greatly modified during the last four hundred years by the influence both of the Portuguese and of the Filani (Fulahs), and other Mohammedans advancing from the interior. The Obba-el-Orun, or "King of Heaven," has been gradually confounded either with the God of the Christians or the Allah of the Mussulmans. He is even called Obba-t-Alla, or " Lord Allah," and has been diversely associated with the tribal traditions and missionary legends. Certain rites practised in several places along the coast are evidently of CathoKc origin, introduced by the Portuguese or Brazilians. But all forms of religion are gradually giving way to Islam, which is everywhere preached by the traders from the banks of the Niger. Togo. The hitherto unknown term Togo has suddenly acquired a certain political importance, since it has been adopted as the name of the western district on the British frontier occupied in 188-1 by the Germans. According to Zoller this territory, of nearly quadrilateral form, is about 22 miles long both ways, with an area of 520 square miles, and a population roughly estimated at forty thousand. More recent inland annexations in the Krapi and Mina territories have consider- VOI,. XII. T 266 WEST AFRICA. ably increased the range of commercial enterprise, and the Jlina town of Adanghe, 30 miles from the coast, w-ill probably soon lose its independence. Some GO miles farther north lies the still more important city of Atahpameh, whose inhabitants have valiantly and successfully defended their freedom from the attacks of the king of Dahomey. In Togo the chief crops are maize and ground-nuts, and of the whole area about one-twentieth is under cultivation. Togo, the capital, comprises five villages standing close together in a forest of cocoa-nut palms on the north side of the chief lagoon. Be, the fetish town of the Togo natives, lies much farther west, near the British frontier, and within 2 miles of the coast. The neighbouring village of Biasse is inhabited chiefly by manu- facturers of fetishes and earthenware. Some, the chief market in Togo, is quite a Fig. 117.— Togo Disteiot. Scale 1 : 850,000. rao' Last dV ureenwich to 18 Feet. Pepths. 16 to 50 Feet. 50 to 64 Feet. 64 Feet and upwards. . IS Miles. new place recently founded on the coast close to the English possessions. On the same coast, but farther west, are Bagkla (the Bagdad of some maps), and Porto Segiiro, which was founded by immigrants from Brazil, and which had some importance before the aboKtion of the slave trade in 1863. Popo. The kingdom of Little Popo, east of Togo, was till latel}' a French protectorate, but has recently been transferred to Germany in exchange for some places on the South Senegambian coast. Povo, as it is called by the Germans, consists, like Togo, of two distinct zones, the seaboard on which are situated the trading places, and the almost unknown but much better cultivated region beyond the lagoons. DAHOMEY. 267 Little Popo, the Aneho and Plavijo of the natives, is an old Portuguese settle- ment dating from the end of the seventeenth century. Man)' of its inhabitants come from the Gold Coast, and still speak the dialect of theii- ancestors. Depend- ing politically on the king of Greji, which lies on the north side of the lagoon, Little Popo had in 1884 no less than three chiefs, all claiming the title of king, and each supf)orted by one or other of the foreign and native nationalities. The German suzerain is represented in Togo and Little Popo only by the Hamburg and Bremen traders settled in the seaports. The village chiefs and fetish priests are still the true masters of the land. Agice {Ahrjiccy, AJifjo), 6 miles east of Little Popo, foimded in 1821 by the Minas, belongs politically to France, under whose suzerainty it has become a place of refuge for the persecuted of all the surrounding regions. All races and religions are thus represented in this republic, which is wrongly described as a kingdom, its chief magistrate being charged only with the executive power. Round about are grouped several other petty states, constituting a republican confederacy and including Abanankem, bearing the French name of Baranquere. Great Popo, the Pla of the natives, also founded by fugitives, is a mere group of scattered huts, which, thanks to its favourable position on a channel always open to the sea, has developed a considerable foreign trade. French influence is dominant in this thickly peopled district, which with Agwe has an estimated population of 120,000. Dahomey. East of Great Popo begins the Dahomey territory', guarded by the important town of Glehiceh, known to Europeans by the various names of Fida, Hevedah, Wliydah, Wida. The old writers called it Juda, and its inhabitants were said to be Jews, while the neighbouring river Allala, whose real name is Efra, became the Euphrates. Dui-ing the flourishing days of the slave trade, from sixteen to eighteen thousand were annually transported from Ajuda, as the Portuguese called this place, which at that time had a population of thirty- five thousand. The tutelar deity of Whydah is the snake, and its famous fetish temple is served by priestesses, called " mothers " or " sisters " of serpents, and recruited by the abduction of young girls on feast days. Whydah belongs by right of conquest to Dahomey since 1725, when it received its name of Glehweh, or "The Farm," indicating the part it played in supph-ing the capital with pro^'isions. A neighbouring town was also called A_rdi-a, or the "Calabash," because its produce was destined for the royal kitchen. The Yevo- ghan, or " Chief of the Whites," the local governor, who " opens the roads" for travellers going inland, is the third personage in the state, although his power has long been neutralised by foreign, and especially Portuguese influence, which is here dominant. Since the blockade of the Dahomey- coast was raised by the English in 1877, the trade in palm-oU, the best on this seaboard, has acquired a great de- velopment, notwithstanding the numerous restrictions placed on free intercourse T 2 2G8 WEST AFRICA. Fig. 118. -Dahomey and Axuda Coast. Scale 1 : 3,420,000. by the authorities. In stormy weather the roadstead is unsafe, as is evident from the wreckage constantly strewn along the beach. On the route to Agbomey the first station is Saii {Xavier), former capital of the kingdom of Whydah, whose sovereign was said at one time to command two hun- dred thousand troops. Beyond Savi the route jjasses by ToJU, and A/lada, the ancient Adara, also formerly the capital of a state, and still regarded as the metro- polis of Dahomey, one of the royal titles being " Lord of Allada." Yet the place was ruined by the Dahomey people themselves in 1724, when they con- quered the seaboard route and mas- sacred the inhabitants of Allada. The natural limit which formerly separated the states of Allada and Dahomey is the extensive swamp of Ko, or Lama, easily traversed in the fine season, but almost im- passable during the rains. In 1784, the most difficult points were bridged and the road partly raised, but soon again subsided. North of Ko begins the true continental coastline, and here, on a terrace over 1,000 feet above the sea-level, but easily accessible from the south, stands Aboineij (Agbomei/), capital of Dahomej^ a " City within an enclosure," as the name signifies, with monumental gates, deep ditches, and a thick-set wall of thorny trees. Abomey covers an extensive area, but most of the enclosed space consists of gardens and ruins, while the aggregate of huts called the palace is alone two miles in circuit. The wall of this residence was formerly stuck all round with human heads or skulls, eloquent witnesses of the royal power. But tlie Minister of Portugal, the protecting state, no longer tolerates the massacres till recently required by custom, and nothing is now seen except the iron spikes on which once stood the hideous trophies. The popiilation of Abomey varies with the migrations of the court between the ofiicial capital and Kaiui (formerly Kana-Mina, or Calminci), a summer residence, lying in a fever-stricken depression between the hills, and resembling a rm-al district dotted over with houses, rather than a city in the proper sense of the term. to 160 Feet. Depths 160 to 640 Feet. 640 Feet and upwards. 120 Miles. LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS, POETO-XOYO. 269 Botli places are connected by a fine highway, 100 feet broad and 7 miles long, lined all the way with magnificent trees. In the neighboiu-ing scrub reigns a phantom king, the doiible of the true sovereign, with his palace, his courtiers, his amazons, and his budget. In his name are levied the taxes, and to him are attri- buted all grievances, while the actual king takes the credit and receives the public thanks for all beneficent deeds. North of Dahomey proper, in the province of Mahi and the territory of the Dassa people, follow the important market of Zeng-Numi ; the picturesque town of Zoghgho ; Logozabi, situated in a delightful region of hills, woods, and streams crossed by suspension bridges ; Saralu, former capital of the Mahi country ; JaUaJiu, surrounded by scattered granite blocks, compared by Duncan to Stone- henge. These Dahomey highlands, which have been visited only by two travellers, almost captives in the hands of their escort, differ from the low-lying jDlaius in their climate, natural history, and inhabitants. Porto-Novo. East of the Portuguese "protectorate" of Dahomey, the French possess a second enclave on the coast, the petty native state of Porto-Novo, which was constituted at the begianing of the eighteenth century by the foundation of the town of Honi- bonii. By its founder, a son of the King of AUada, or Ardra, it was also called Litt/e Ardra, but is known to the present inhabitants by the name o! AJaskei/. The territory of Porto-Xovo, with a coastline of about 24 miles, is estimated at 760 square miles", and the population at one hundred and fifty thousand souls. The town having been bombarded by the English in 1861, the king placed himself imder the protectorate of France in 1863, which first occupied, then abandoned, and definitely re-occupied the place in 1882, attaching it to the government of Senegal. Porto-Novo, which is exceeded in population only by Lagos on this coast, forms a group of villages on the north side of the lagoon which communicates with the Badagry and Lagos rivers. The royal palace, which is approached by a fetish gate embellished with rude sculptures of tutelar deities, was surrounded so recentlj' as 1875 by decapitated bodies and festoons of human skulls. A considerable trade is carried on with the northern towns of Aggrra and SaJccfei/, and with the interior as far as the banks of the Niger. In Porto-Novo the unique administrative arrangement consists of two sovereigns, reigning by day and night alternately. Each has the right of inflicting the penalty of death on his colleague, if found abroad when out of ofiice. Kotoiiti or Appi, the seaport of Porto-Novo, lies to the south-west, on the channel where converge the navigable arteries of Lake Nokhwe. This place, which formerly belonged to Dahomey, and was consequently claimed by the Portuguese, was finally ceded to France in 1885, while the two neighbouring towns of Godomey and Aghomey-Kalavi were left to Portugal. The A-illages of Afafoiiu and Ahicansoli are built on piles in the middle of the lake, like the old lacustrine dwellings of Switzerland. 270 WEST APEICA. Badagky axd Lagos. Badagry, on the north bank of the Ossa, here 550 yards wide, is the first English town met on the Slave Coast going eastwards. It was formerly the capital of a kingdom, and the largest slave market on the whole seaboard. Richard Lander Fig. 119.— Lagos. Scale 1 : 90,000. 5°2^ tjBst of breenwicH 3° £8- wm Depths. Sands exposed at low water. OtolO Feet. 10 to 32 Feet. — 3,300 Yards. 32 Feet aud upwards. relates that, at the time of his visit in 1830, the supply far exceeded the demand, and the old and infirm were then got rid of by being thro'ma to the sharks. Others, reserved for the sacrifices, had theii' hearts torn out, which were eagerly devoured by the Icing, his wives, and chiefs. Lander himself had to drink the poisoned cup to prove his innocence of a crime, but escaped by taking a timely emetic. LAGOS. 271 In the basin of the Okpara river, north of Badagry, are the independent kingdoms of Ado, Pokra, and Okeadan, which still suffer from the incursions of the Dahomey people. On an island in the Ossa, 40 miles east of Badagry, stands Lagos, the " African Liverpool," capital of the British possessions and the wealthiest city on the "West African seaboard. Lagos occupies an extremely advantageous position about the centre of the Bight of Benin, and at the converging point of several inland routes. Through the navigable river Ogun it communicates with the great city of Abeokuta, and commands the western outlet of the Ossa lagoon, which affords a navigable highway to the Xiger delta. Jf early all the European trade is in the hands of the English and Germans, while the inland trafEc is carried on mainly by the ^lohammedans, who increased from twelve hundred in 1865 to some thirty thousand in ISSG. The island of Lagos, the Auni or Awani of the natives, lies three miles from the sea, between the arms of the lagoons, the mouth of the Ogun river, and the channel opening seawards. The city occupies a large space on the west side of this marshy land, where the European quarter has been built on ground partly reclaimed from the lagoon. Of late years its trade has suffered from the frequent wars between the inland states, owing to which much of the traffic has been diverted to the factories on the Xiger delta. East of Lagos, the chief places on the coast are Pahna, Lechie, or Ycbu, and Odi, and on the lagoon the most important town is Ejie. The district of Mahin, lately occupied by the Germans, has been restored to England by a convention recognising her right to all these alluvial lands in the Yoruba country. An extensive clearance in the forest separating Odi from the Mahin channel has become famous under the name of Atijeri {ArtUjeri), perhaps the Atagara which the Haussa sultan mentioned to Clapperton as the chief trading place on the Slave Coast. Mahin belonged to the formerly flourishing but now decayed kingdom of Benin, which, according to Dapper, was able at one time to raise eighty thousand fighting men in a few days. But in order to display his power and propitiate the gods, the king offered human sacrifices, which depopulated his state. Benin, now the obscure village of Beni, had schools and temples whose priests were able to carve " hierogh-phical figures " and stone images, by means of which they related the history of the country. Lagos, i-esidence of the British administrator, has been independent of the governor of the Gold Coast since 1886 ; but the protectorate is organised in the same way, the English settlements being defended by Haussa garrisons, while the authority of the judges appointed by the Crown is gradually replacing that of the local chiefs. The revenue is derived from imposts levied at various sea- ports, and the whole territory is divided into the four districts of Lagos, the North, East, and West, this last with capital, Badagry. 272 WEST APEICA. YORUHA. Abeokiita, the great republican city on the banks of the Ogun, is one of the largest places in Africa, being probably exceeded in population by Cairo and Alexandria alone. Most travellers estimate at over one hundred thousand, and some missionaries at two hundred thousand, the number of inhabitants residing within the enclosures, which are formed by an earth wall 8 to 10 feet high and an outer ditch 10 feet deep and over 20 miles in circumference. This capital of the Egba nation, which is over 4 miles long by 2 broad, presents a remarkable appear- ance, covering an undulating plain strewn with granitic bovdders of different heights. The highest of these, called the " Rock," in a pre-eminent sense, and regarded by the natives as their tutelar deity, rises 300 feet above the mean level of the plain, which is itself some 560 feet above sea-level. All these eminences present the greatest diversity of form, some being rounded off like domes, others terminating in points sharp as needles, or else serrated Uke the teeth of a saw or disposed like a regular wall, while one resembles the shell of a huge turtle. The houses are pleasantly grouped at the foot of these rocks, whose grey granite walls present a striking contrast to the verdure of numerous clumps of trees dotted over the plain. Hence this place has been well named Abeokuta, that is, "Under the Rocks." The Egba metropolis is of recent origin, dating only from 1825, when the inhabitants of several villages, leaving the open plain, took refuge amid this labyrinth of rocks from the raids of the slave-hunters. They were soon joined by the persecuted and outcasts from all the surrounding districts, and in a few years Abeokuta became one of the great continental cities, strong enough to resist the attacks of undisciplined and rudely armed forces frequently sent against it by the people of Ibadan and the king of Dahomey. The inhabitants, uniting for the common defence, have constituted themselves in a free confederacy of some sixty distinct communities, each retaining the usages, religions, privileges, dialects, and the very names of their original villages. Amongst them are many thousands of Mohammedans, and a few hundred Christians grouped round the chapels founded by the missionaries. For some years these stations were tolerated, but being afterwards regarded as the centres of religious propaganda, they were all sup- pressed and the missionaries banished, while the converts were permitted the free exercise of their religion. Recently some fresh Protestant and Catholic stations have been foimded in Abeokuta. During the floods large boats ascend the river Ogun to the Aro rapids, within 2 miles of the city, but at low water they can get no farther than the bridge of Agbameya, and have sometimes to stop at Igaon, a little above Lagos, which is 80 miles by water from Abeokuta. The chief magistrate of the Egba republic, who bears the title of king, is chosen for life from one of the four chief tribes ; but if his subjects are dissatisfied with his rule he is invited to abdicate. Formerly he was requested to go to sleep, whereupon he withdrew to his harem, and a few days afterwards it was announced^ that the " royal sleep " had begun, from which he never woke. TOETJBA. 273 Tbndan, till recentl}- the rival of Abeokuta, lies in south Yoruba, some 60 miles a north-east of the Egba capital, on the water-parting between the Ugim and 274 WEST AFRICA. Oshun basins. In 1851 Bowen estimated its population at seventy thousand, which has been raised to over one hundred thousand by the missionaries, who have subsequently visited the place. Like Abeokuta, Ibadan is an urban confederacy of villages grouped in a common enclosure, but each with a distinct name and special organisation. The Mohammedans are more numerous than in the rival republic, whose supremacy Ibadan has at last been compelled to acknowledge after a series of sanguinary wars. During one of these the great city of Ijayeh, lying 18 miles north-west of Ibadan, was totally destroyed. Along the much-frequented highway leading through the markets of Shonga or Egga north-east to the Nupe country, follow some other large towns, capitals of independent kingdoms, in which Mohammedan influences are continually spread- ing. Here Oyo became the capital of the north Yoruba state after the destruction of Katanga by the Fulahs ; but it is a much smaller place than its neighbour Oghomosho, which lies in a fertile valley close to the water-parting between the coast streams and the affluents of the Niger. Since it was first crossed by Clap- perton, this divide has been visited by few travellers, every obstacle being thrown in the way of European visitors hy the middlemen, who have a monopoly of the international trade. CHAPTER VII. THE NIGER BASIN. Gexeral Survey. HE "Xile of the Blacks," long regarded as a branch of the Egyptian Xile, and also confused with manj' other " Xiles," such as the Senegal and Gambia, has at last vindicated its claim to an indepen- dent existence. It is now known to have a separate fountain-head ; it has abdicated the title of Xile, but retained that of "Eiver of the Blacks," or Xiger, as the fluvial basin containing the largest Xegro population. Apart from its importance in historical geography, this name corresponds to a certain extent with an ethnological classification. Yet this acceptation is justified by no expression in the various languages current along its banks. Towards its middle course the Tuaregs (Berbers), who occupy both sides below Timbuktu, simply call it Eghii'ren, that is, " streams," or " channels," a term more specially applicable to the part of the river where it ramifies into countless branches in the low-lying tracts. Except the Arabs, who contemptuously call it Kil-el-Abid, or " Nile of the Slaves," all the other riveraia populations designate the Xiger by some term having the invariable sense of a large or copious stream. Thus in its upper course the main branch is the Joliba (Dhioli-ba, Yuli-ba), the Ba-ba of the Mandingans, that is, the " Great "^ater," answering to the " Mayo," or " Eiver," in a pre-eminent sense, of the Fulahs. This again corresponds to the Issa or Sai of the Songhais, the Shaderba of the Haussas, the Edu of the Nifas, and to the Kwara (Quara) current along its lower course, and by geographers often appHed to the whole river. The Xiger, one of the great rivers of the globe, ranks third in Africa for the length of its coui-se, and second for volume, being in this respect surpassed by the Congo alone. From source to mouth the distance in a straight line is only 1,100 miles, but by water no less than 2,500 miles, this great disparity being due to the fact that the river, flowing at first northwards iu the direction of the Mediterranean, penetrates into the Sahara and then sweeps round to the east and south. The basin thus developed cannot be estimated at less than 1,000,000 square miles, including all the regions of the Sahara depending upon it by the slope of the land and direction of the intermittent or diied-up fluvial valleys. The whole of the 270 WEST AFEICA. Tsad system, witli (lie Sliari and its otlier affluents, miglit even be regarded as belonging to the Niger basin, the divide between the two hydrogrnphic regions being extremely low, and the general aspect of the land showing that at a foi-mer geological epoch both systems were connected by intermediate channels. It is even probable that, before piercing the coast ranges barring its passage southwards to the Gulf of Guinea, the Niger flowed eastwards, developing vast inland seas, of which the Tsad is a surviving fragment. Possibly the " Nile of the Blacks " may at that time have really effected a junction with that of Egypt, through the low water-parting between the Upper Shari and the numerous streams flowing to the "White Nile. In that case the Benue, at present its great affluent from the east, would have been the branch for communicating directly with the Atlantic. Tra- versing regions exposed to a much heavier rainfall, the Benue, although shorter, has even now an equal, if not a greater volume, than the main stream itself. In the joint Niger-Benue basin the population is very unevenly distributed, certain tracts on the Saharian slope and elsewhere being uninhabited, whilst others are densely peopled, with numerous large towns, villages following close together, and the whole land forming a continuous garden. The actual population is esti- mated by Behm and Wagner at forty millions, although judging from the detailed descriptions of travellers, it can scarcely amount to half that nimiber. In any case it is certain that throughout a long historic period, powerful com- mercial and industrial nations have succeeded each other in the Niger basin. Like the Nile, this river was a centre of culture, and its cities became famous throughout Northern Afi'ica, and even beyond the continent. The kingdom of Ghana, whose name under the form of Guinea, has been so widely diffused along the western seaboard, was known to the Venetian traders long before it was visited by any European travellers, and for centuries Timbiditu figured iu the imagination of the western peoples as a sort of remote African Babj-lon. The Niger affords a striking example in support of the law of primitive cultures, recently expounded by Leoa Mechnikov. Here also, as in the Hoang-ho, Indus, Euphrates, and Nile basins the riverain populations have been very irregularlj' developed, nor were the inhabi- tants of the fluvial deltas anywhere the first to reach a higher state of civilisation. Progress was always most rapid in the interior, where were first constituted national groups sufficiently powerful and industrioiis to play an important part in the history of mankind, and transmit their fame to remote regions. "While such nations were being developed along the Middle Niger, the natives of the delta remained in a barbarous state, blocking the approach to the sea from the civilised inland peoples. Progress of Discovery. Thus it hapi^cncd that, for four centuries, Europeans frequenting the seaboard remained profoundly ignorant of the true course of the great Nigritian river. Even Mungo Park still supposed that it reached the Atlantic through the Congo, and it was mainly in the hope of verifying this theory that Tuckey's disastrous THE NIGEE. 271 expeditiou up the Congo was carried out in 1816, wMle Peddie was to join hands with him by descending the Xiger ! Yet in 1802, the geographer Reichard had already traced on the map the true mouth of the river, although even he made it pass through Eennell's " Sea of Wangara," now identified with Lake Tsad. It was only in I8o0 that the brothers Lander determined its true lower course by actual exploration ; nor is the survey of the whole river yet quite completed. It began with ilungo Park, who devoted his life to the problem, and who in 1796 reached the Xiger at Segu, which he found already as large as the Thames at West- minster, and flowing slowly towards the east. From this point he followed it for 120 miles down to Silla, and for the same distance up to Bamaku, thus apparently vei-ifying Herodotus' account of a great river flowing " from west to east " across Fig. 121. — Htpotkeses of the Old Geogbapht.bs ox the Course of the Nigek. Scale 1 : 60,000.000. 3C Meridian oT Lrreenv/Icn . 1,200 Miles. Africa. In 1805 he started on his second voyage from the same village of Bamaku, but after four months' floating with the stream he perished with all his party at the passage of some narrow rapids near Bussa. One slave alone escaped, and as the papers were lost in the rapids, no details were received in Europe of this ill- fated expedition. In 1826 Clapperton crossed the Niger below the point where Mungo Park was drowned, and the approximate form of the ramifications above Timbuktu was detennined by CaiUie's journey in 1827-28. Lastly, in 1830, Richard Lander, companion of Clapperton in the previous expedition, succeeded, with his brother, in following the lower course all the way to its mouth. In 1832 Laiug reached the hillv district where the headstreams have their 278 WEST AFRICA. source, and in 1869 Winwood Reade crossed the Joliba itself ^\-itliin 110 miles from its origin. Ten years later, Zweifel and Moustier came witliiu sight of the Tcmbikundu hiU, the fountain-head of the sacred river ; but the spirit of the waters, represented by a suspicious high-priest, barred their farther advance. Of the upper course the best known section is naturally that which forms the present boundary of French Sudan for a distance of about 300 miles between Falaba and Sansandig. But even here the side branches and eastern affluents have been ti-aced on the maps only from the reports of native traders. Below Timbuktu the ■pia-. 122. — Chief Routes of Explobees iv the Nigee Basin West of the Bente. Scale 1 : 20,000,000. 16° /'-llr^'j , -^r^^ =?0?^-?L cA* ••>. '•■3 -^SS 0° Me''idian 01 b'^eenwicVi Depths. to 640 Feet. 640 Feet and upwaids. 300 Miles. course of the stream has been more accurately determined bj- Earth's survey in 1854; but the space of about 165 miles, between the towns of Sai and Gamba, at the Sokoto confluence, has never been revisited by any European since Mungo Park's expedition. All the lower reaches, except some of the secondary branches of the delta, are well known, having been ascended from the sea by Laird in 1832 and Oldfield in 1834, and since then by numerous other explorers, including Josejih Thomson, who, in spite of many obstacles, made his way from the coast to Sokoto and back THE NIGEE. 279 in four months. The Benue also, discovered by Earth in 1851, was ascended in W I fee iiP»^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1854 by Baikie for 660 miles from the Atlantic. In 1879 a steamer belonging to 280 WTi:ST AFEICA. a missionary society penetrated 180 miles beyond Baikie's farthest, ascending 36 miles the Faro confluence, where the Benue had ah'eady been crossed by Barth. Since that time both the Benue and the Niger have been brought within the sphere of European trade, and the "Eoyal African Company," formed by a number of English merchants, has become the almost oflacial sovereign of all these regions, Fig. 124. — Upper Niqee Valley. Scale 1 : 1,100,000. . IS Miles. comprising nnmerous kingdoms and republics, and peopled by various races with different languages and religions. According to the stipidations of the Berlin Conference held ia 1885, the future supremacy of the Joliba, or Upper Niger, is reserved to France, that of all the rest to England, the main stream being, however, thrown open to the flags of all nations. THE NIGEE. 281 The Upper ajju SIiddle Niger. A special interest attaches to the origia of the great river whose basia has thus been already partitioned between two European Powers. Although prevented from coming within four miles of its soiu'ce, Zweifel and Moustier were at least able to collect sufScient information to describe it. The Tembi, as the farthest head- stream is called, appears to rise at the Tembi-Kundu hiU, that is, the " Tembi Head," a huge rounded block standing between two others of Hke form, but much higher, with a bluish range in the background. The spring immediatel}- develops a ri^Tilet two feet broad, which flows rapidly to a little lake with a rocky islet shaded by a wide-branching tree, the retreat of a powerful wizard renowned throughout the surrounding lands. Beyond the lake the Tembi plunges into a deep fissure, reappearing some distance below the village of NeHa. The " father of the Joliba," which at its source has an altitude of about 2,800 feet, flows mainly north to its junction with the Faliko, 84 miles from the Tembi- Kundu hill, the united stream forming the Joliba, and maintaining a north- easterly course through French Sudan to and beyond Segu, and receiving the Tankisso and several other affluents from the neighbouring hills and plateaux. At the Tankisso junction, 260 nules from its source, it has already descended considerably more than half of the total incline, and is here little more than 1,000 feet above sea-level. At Bamaku the mean breadth is over 500 yards, with a depth of 6 or 7 feet ; but the channel is here obstructed by numerous reefs and sandbanks, such as that of Sotuba, above which steamers can ascend only dui-ing the floods. At Sansadig, where its bed is little more than 800 feet above the sea, the Joliba enters a flat region with scarcely any perceptible incline, in which the sluggish current ramifies into a sort of inland delta. The eastern and largest branch, which was alone followed by Mungo Park and Caillie, encloses with the Diaka, or western arm, the low island of Burgu, which is fully 120 miles long, but intersected by innumerable connecting channels. From these branches the stream converges in the Debo, a vast morass flooded during the inundations, and succeeded farther down bj' other insular tracts and temporary lakes, Hke those of the White NUe about the Bahr-el-Ghazal confluence, but destitute of the floating masses of matted vegetation so characteristic of that river. In this lacustrine region the Joliba is joined from the south by its great affluent, the Bakhoy, or " White River," called also the TJlu-Ulu, which is probably as copious as the main stream itself. The vast basin of the Bakhoy, occupying all the northern slopes of the Kong uplands from Liberia to Ashanti, is still almost entirely unknown, Rene Caillie being the only traveller who has yet crossed this region, which is watered by several navigable streams. After its confluence with the Koraba (Pambine or Mahel Bodeval), which is over 300 yards wide and 10 feet deep at the point crossed by Caillie, the Bakhoy flows parallel with the Joliba, and after ramifying into numerous branches in the Jenne country', joins the main stream above Lake Debo. VOL. XII. u 282 WEST AFRICA. Below the coufluence the Niger again develops an intricate system of channels and backwaters penetrating 90 miles southwards under the meridian of Timbuktu. The riverain populations capture large quantities of fish in this labj'rinth of waters, which rise and fall with the seasons ; they also grow rice in the moist depressions, harvesting the crops before the periodical retui-u of the floods, thus ^ alternately using the same tracts for Fig. 125. — Backwaters South of Thibttktu. Scale 1 : 1,500,000. TIMBUKTU fishing and husbandry. Some 15 miles farther down the main stream, arrested in its northerly course by the southern escarpments of the Sahara, is abruptly deflected for about 240 miles eastwards to the gorges in the Burum district, imme- diately below which it sweeps round to the south, retaining that direction for the rest of its course to the GuLf of Guinea. But before opening this passage seawards it is probable that the Niger converted into a vast inland sea all the low-lying region which is now intersected by the network of backwaters flooded during the inun- dations. One of these channels still runs northwards in the direction of Timbuktu, beyond which, according to the information collected by Pouyanue and Sabatier, it appears to be continued through a series of depressions probably marking the course of the Niger at a geological eiDOch anterior to the jjiercing of the Burum gorges. But the suggestion that the Wed Messaura of Southern Mamitania and the Twat oasis now occupies the same depression with its sandy bed, seems to be contradicted by the provisional measurements taken by de Soloillet and Lenz in Twat and Timbuktu, the latter point being apparently some 430 feet higher than the former. About 60 miles below the Burum defiles, where at Tossai the fluvial bed is contracted to less than 300 feet, the Niger passes from the zone of the Sahara to that of Sudan. Here two branches of the stream at the foot of the sandstone Ausongo hills enclose an island 18 miles long and strewn with rocks in the form 16' '.4r-Aodj3 w. of g; reenwich e°4o- :s Jiiics. THE MIDDLE NIGER. 283 of obelisks, the remaiiis of obstructions not yet entirely removed by the current. Farther on follow other narrows and barriers, especially south of a chain of hills 800 to 1,000 feet high skirting the left bank Here the Niger is joined by the now almost di'ied-up Wed Tafassasset, which rises on the southern slopes of the Ahaggar hills, and which with its various ramitications probably at one time watered a region as extensive as that of the Joliba itself. The Jallul Eosso valley, in which the whole system converges, is even now never quite waterless, its lower course winding through a district with a j'early rainfall of scarcely less than 20 inches. Lower down the Niger is joined opposite Gomba by the perennial Gulbi n' Sokoto, or " River of Sokoto," so called from the city of that name situated on its banks. The Sokoto, which rises in the Katsena coiuitry, waters the northern zone Fig. 126.— The Bxmui: Defiles. Scale 1:121,000. <• -.' •"'^ o?^^"*' ■ ' " ^"^ ^^^^^ A O l/SSA ^vV> 17* 17" 40' ■^0- ^ ° A-' "^'^ ^^^^V^ ^ '^^^a^'r '" ^ ^^H^ / ■^^i, -s ^Ifc'^i.^. / 17° ■^ c ^ **■" ''^%'LlitS", 17- SO- ^ ^ ''.^ ''1^ CO Wett of Greei.vich 0' { IS Miles of Sudan on the verge of the Saharian savannas ; but its bed, from 130 to 250 feet wide, contains very little water except dui-ing the floods. Flegel, who surveyed its lower com-se for 90 miles from Gomba to Birni n' Xebbi, represents it as obstructed by vegetable remains, trunks of trees, and muddy banks. Below the Sokoto confluence the Niger is still obstructed by some extremely dangerous rapids, such as those near Bussa, probably the point where Mungo Park perished in 1806. The boatmen who accompanied Flegel in 1880 assured him that at low water the remains of the European boat were still visible, and the brothers Lander obtained from the king of Bussa some books and other documents belonging to the famous explorer. At Geba, where the river is deflected south-eastwards to the Benue confluence, the rocky islet of Kesa rises abruptly 330 feet above the water, and from this point the Niger, still 450 feet u 2 284 WEST APEICA. above sea-level, glides Mith a placid uniform flow, unimpeded by any farther obstacles for 450 miles to the coast. This section, which is joined above Egga by the copious river Lifun, or Kaduna, from Zaria, is now navigated by large steamers even iu the dry season, when some Fig. 127.— The Bussa Rapids. parts are over 60 feet deep, rising 30 Scale 1 : 135,000. or cvBU 40 f cct higher during the floods, 10' ••'•". ' ;.'. ■' °'". ■'.''■'• '•'^^Mi^' "••■'•'"•*•• f'* 10° £0' £0 .'.r. '•.' .'"'::-}■■ ' •; GanaWa. ' '■'•'■/.• e- " g" . 'a'« • • ".'• ■ :•' . ■ '' "\'. "^v"'- '•■ ••■ '.y- •' v.'"f' ■ ° '.'•■..'/-.. ''■ ^'^' . ''•■ ''^-/t- .'-:Vi-:^oh3tah i.,°° '■'' ■■»'•■.' • ".'• .°'" •.'•'' '/■■■: 1 1 '' "r * ■>)j°-; !^ ,; "• •'/'■''••'y'°'^°i°#y^4V.''" (,.. " '* gg '. ' , '„. ^ . ' . '. •'_ ^^Imlity i ** 'o' ..".'•;:■.■ v.';-' ' -^'-Xl^fM^^^ °." .' ■ "S- "." °\\ .^^^^/iooky Ssrrier.i •. ■. g, /.Keayu/pneM •* *.* .* •'' -1 ,* .• « . ' " .' ■°' ■°''- ''• ( ■ #■' '"'t'" '^1 °.°°- '■'■ '^•'■■•' ." . - ' • o'^* <***•*"'.■ •■-.'' ."• ' I''. 'I ■ ' . \'m 4 *'•" •*' \ . . °. • ' .' •■,." ■'.' t °V.- ■ .'. ,/;^ '^■■' ■' .•'"f".'-V'; °^. .•■o-;'.-"" >^ ■. -"/"^ •"'g'^:.-' : ,'t.o ■ ^ "• o» ' " .-■''*. ■ ■ '^ ° - . '„."*'",■.■ ' ,^- '."' . . l°''A:M°:^^'i'Uiy^-'i^^^ ■ f". °'.' ./m'- !' "', . °j • °- '.. -•. .' "• ^^«\>--..::i.:,v:-v''-^^" •" ■ fciP^S^'.* ■ «»** '■' '*•*■.■'•■ \. r "^ • * ■ \ t \SaK^w^ * ,•■„ ■'■ ' , o ' *'^ '' .•°^'^^&k°' -'•••' • '^- °': °" i" ;.°";. -^^^ •• ".° o» • .'•.•.'"o- " ■'.. '^'■''■^•'■^^••° "■ '" '•. -■• :°' '■' 10° °^!:-^.::'::il"W^ .■"•• 10^ 10' • = ■ o '. " *<•*•_■ ** ^yf .' ■*'„« O Z^' " o. " 10' ^-^eGLast of" ureenwich ^'ag' The Bexue. The Benue, or " mother of waters," is asecondNigerin volume, whileit must be regarded as by far the more im- portant of the two great arteries in economic value, as a navigable river flowing through thickly peopled and cultivated lands. The term Chadda applied to it by some of the riveraia l^eoples and adopted by the early ex- plorers, had its origin probably in a confusion between its upper covu'se and Lake Chad or Tsad. Most of the other local designations are referable to a sort of nlJ^sticx)pposition between the two rivals, the Benue, or "Black," and the Kwara (Niger), or "White Eiver," an opposition fully justified by the coloiu' of the respective waters. Of the Benue the most striking feature is its slight incline, estimated at scarcel}^ 600 feet in a total course of as many miles, and falling from about 900 feet above sea-level at the head of the navigation to 270 at the confluence. Thanks to the explorations of Baikie, Ashcroft, and Flegel, the navigable section is well known ; but the region of its farthest headstreams still re- mains uu visited. According to Yogel, Hutchinson, and others, the Upper Benue is connected, at least during the floods, by a continuous line of navigable channels with the Shari and Lake Tsad. From the Tuburi swamps, discovered by Vogel at an altitude of about 1,000 feet above the sea, the superfluous waters flow in one direction northwards to the Logon branch of the Shari, in another westwards to the Mayo Kebbi, apparently . 31 Miles. THE BENTJE. 285 the largest headstrcam of tlie Eenue, wliich descends from the neighbour in » Ngaundere Moimtains. After the confluence the united stream, already 500 or 600 feet wide, winds westwards between sandstone hills rising many hundred feet above its bed, which at many points is obstructed by rocky ledges, rendering all Fig. 128. — CONPLtTENCE OP THE NiGEE &XI> BeNTTE. Sc-Ue 1 : 170,000. / , G'-ia' East of Greenwich G%7' Depths. Otoie Feet. 16 Feet and upwards. m — . S Miles. navigation impossible in the dry season. But it is soon swollen by numerous affluents from the Wangara hills in the north, and from the south by the Taro (Paro), a copious stream descending from the stiU unexplored regions beyond Adamawa, and sweeping round the east foot of Mount Alantika, one of the 286 WEST APEICA. culminating points of "West Africa, although Earth's estimate of its height, 8,000 to 10,000 feet, is regarded by Flegel as exaggerated. Below the Faro confluence the Eenue flows mainly in a south-westerly THE BENTJE. 287 direction in valleys of varying breadth, but everywhere skirted on the horizon by ranges or detached masses of hills and mountains. At many points the stream is over 1,000 yards wide, and here and there di\aded by islands into several branches. At the Niger confluence the intermingled grey and blackish currents present the aspect of a vast lake encii-cled by hills, and during the floods in August and September discharging probably over 1,000,000 cubic feet per second. From this point the united stream flows nearly due south for 230 miles to the head of the delta, which is still 60 miles from the coast. This extensive low-lying tract, Fig. 130. — Mouths of the Nun and Beass. Scale 1 : 500.000. East of G"r~eenwich Depths. OtolG Feet. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 Feet and upw,ard3. , 6 lliles. developing a remarkably sjTnmetrical semicircle between the Benin and Brass estuaries, and intersected by countless channels, lagoons, marshes, and stagnant waters, has a coastline of about 210 miles, with a total area of 10,000 square miles. The Niger Delta. At present the chief branch of the delta is the river Nun, which follows the main axis of the Niger, entering the sea at the southernmost point of this watery region. North-west of it flows the Benin, which gives its name to the neigh- 288 WEST APEICA. bouring bight, and which is the Formosa of the Portuguese. Although over 16 feet deep at low water, the bar at the mouth of this channel is rendered so dangerous by the fury of the breakers that vessels drawing more than 6 or 7 feet scarcely venture to risk the passage. Between the Benin and the Nim follow nine other branches, of which the Rio Forcados alone is of easy access to craft of average size. The mouth of the ISTun, although often dangeroiis, may still be easily ascended by vessels drawing 13 or 14 feet. Farther east follow other arms at average intervals of 10 miles, all with dangerous bars, and all connected in the interior by a labyrinth of navigable channels. For ten months in the year the prevailing winds blow inland, often with sufficient force to enable sailing vessels to stem the fluvial current. Towards the end of jSTovember begins the season of the so-called " smokes," dry fogs rendering the seaboard invisible at a short distance off the coast, but usually dissipated by the afternoon breeze, and occasionally dispersed by tornadoes. The two ramifjang estuaries of New Calabar and Bonny are usually regarded as forming part of the Niger hydrographic system, with which they are connected by a branch of the delta and several brackish channels along the coast. But these estuaries are chiefly fed by an independent stream which rises in the hilly region skirting the south side of the Benue Valley. The Old Calabar estiiary, which has also been iacluded In the Niger system, and which higher up has been wrongly named the Cross River, as if it communicated westwards with the delta, is on the contrary an entirely Independent basin, which in Its middle course takes the name of Ovono. It is a very large river, which in 1842 was ascended by Becroft and King for 190 miles to the rapids, and which In many places was found to be over 1,000 yards wide and here and there from 40 to 65 feet deep. The surveyed section describes a complete semicircle roimd a mass of syenltic hills over 3,000 feet high, and its valley is probably continued eastwards, so as to isolate the Kameroon highlands from the rest of the continent. The lower course of the Oyono, although not directly connected with the Niger, nevertheless forms, like the Rio del Rey farther east, an easterly continuation of its alluvial zone, the whole region presenting everywhere the same general aspect, and yielding to commerce the same natural products. Politically also these secondary basins, like the Niger itself, are under the suzerainty of Great Britain. The Uppek Niger States. The lands watered by the Upper Niger as far as the Benue confluence com- prise a large number of tribes and nations with little ethnical coherence, but at present constituting three main political groups. Like most of the empires developed since the Mohammedan invasion, the southern state is of religious origin. It dates only from about the year 1875, when mention first occurs of the new prophet Samburii, or Samory, who was then reported to be agitating the Wassulu and other Upper Niger lands, destroying the towns of the imbellevers, and enroU- THE TOUCOULETJE EMPIEE. 289 ing the Faithful for the Holy "War, The French had no direct relations with him till 1881, when they sent him a native envoy, who ran great risk of his life in undertaking this mission. Soon after their respective forces came into collision, ■with the result that Samory acknowledged the French protectorate on the left bank of the Xiger below Tankisso or Bating, while consolidating his own power in the upper regions and eastwards beyond Wassulu. Siace the foundation of this ilussulman kingdom a veritable social revolution is said to have been accomplished by the new llandingan sidtan, who has Fig. 131. — AxciEMT Empire of the TotJCOUlETms. Scale 1 : 7,000,000. 15' Soverei^ State. Vassal states. Ancient domains of the Empire of the Touconleurs. 120 Miles. generally suppressed the slave trade, enlisting the captives as soldiers, arming them with modem rifles, and accustoming them to European discipline. These tactics wiU probably lead to fresh conquests, especially in the direction of Sierra- Leone, hj the absorption of the Kuranko and Timni territories. On the other hand, the Toucouleur empire below the French protectorate on the left bank of the Niger has entered on a state of decadence. It was founded in 1850 by the pilgrim Omar, who after overrunning the Jallonke country, received a first serious check at the French station of lledina in 1857. But although 290 "WEST APEICA. defeated on tlie Senegal, Omar was still victorious on the Niger, reducing Kaarta and Bele-dugu, and advancing through Segu and Massina to Timbuktu. After his death family dissensions, followed by the revolt of the oppressed Bambaras and Mandingans, brought about the dismemberment of the state, which was broken into detached fragments by the advance of the French to the Niger. The Fig. 132. — Inhabitants of the T7pper Nioee. Scale 1 : 10,000,000. 18- TIMBUKTU ^ >^ A. .-'llT ■ r^ ^ ap Bassikounmi .-' <^ '. '. \^J__^ tj ^ Yoafou;J. NioPO ^Bakulnlt * j^ Goumbou J "^ -sowoio,/ [ rovz^s-s ^ • •,■■. A . Hamdallahi „,,,.. \ / "^ ^ "^ S.,nsand;|jjl/ ).Bandla|»ra rv. ^y^-J"'—- V ■ y 'Jennl?/ 1 ^~ NV^^--. ■- "amir;ay,_>«^ ^ ... ^ / I \ '• i / befoubikoro >' \ Y\}'- "V^ / r -■..."'" ' '".";•■, ^"■'-. ''^ '. ' y^ / '■, '* ; i '■, ..'■. A ' /Bamal [ .■■; ; ; ; 10- Talaba; W fr f/fa"'^ w^m -* -5 o ^ri-^ ^ ^ '^ rfi^ .^'''' re *■ A Jl ssajre Vl/est dt breenwich £° r-vcT 18 Iiiaes. scattered for nearly 1,200 miles ia every direction northwards to the Algerian frontier, eastwards to the neighbourhood of Lake Tsad. Those of the Niger region all belong to the Awellimiden confederation, some still bearing the name of Tademakka (Tademekket), a vanished city which lay west of the Air Mountains. These are kinsmen of the Khumirian Dedmakas, now assimilated in speech and usages to the Arabs. Below Timbuktu the Imohaghs have crossed the Niger and reduced the coimtry far to the south of the river. They not only occupy the sandy tracts and savannas, but have penetrated into the Hombori valleys, and beyond them into the fertile Libtako plains. Here, however, few of them have preserved the camel, faithful associate of aU other Tuaregs, breeding horned cattle and sheep instead, and in some places even intermarrying with the native Negro populations. Hence, perhaps, all these southern Berbers have received from their northern kindred the THE SONGHAIS. 301 collective name of Ireghenaten, or " Mixed." They also appear to be gradually- adopting the Fulah and Songhai languages, although some amongst them stiU. preserve the Berber type ia aU its purity. They live almost exclusively on a flesh and milk diet, and like those of Ahaggar are di^dded iuto two castes, that of the nobles, whose business is war, and that of their retaiaers or slaves, tillers of the land. The Songhais (Sonrhai, Sourhai) occupy both banks of the Middle Mger between Timbiditu and the Sokoto confluence, penetrating far inland within the great bend, where their speech is cm-rent as far as the lacustrine district below Jenn^. Although now a degraded people, the Songhais had their epoch of splendour and dominion. After overthrowing the Mandingan emperor, enthroned Fig. liO..— TlMBITKTC. Scale 1 : 530,000. 12 Miles. in Mali, the Songhai chief, Askia, founded iu 1492, with Gogo for its capital, a mighty kingdom stretchiag far up towards the source and down towards the mouth of the great artery and away to the oases of the desert, so that " travellers journeyed six mouths across his dominions." Askia became the most powerful of Afi-ican potentates, and to celebrate his triumphs he undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca escorted by his vassal chiefs and fifteen hxmdred men-at-arms. He was renowned thi'oughout the East for his generous deeds, and he attracted to his court the wise and the learned, who made Gogo and Timbuktu centres of light for all the Negro lands. But this great empire lasted not quite a himdred years, having at last yielded in. 1591 to a small band of Maroccan troops commanded by Jodar, a Spaniard from Almeria, and including many other Andalusians equipped with European firearms. 302 WEST AFRICA, These Maroccan Eumas, as tlicj^ were called, supplanted the dynasty of Askia, their power extending to Bakhunu, Jenne, and the Hombori Mountains. But all relations soon ceased with the mother country, and the Rumas, intermarrying with the natives, gradually lost their supremacy, although down to the beginnino- of the present century still controlling the navigation of the Niger a long way above and Fig. 141. — El-Haj Abd-el-Kadek, En-vot of Tijebtjkttj. below Timbuktu. Then came the conquering Fulahs, founders of the Massina empire, and the nomad Tuaregs, who planted themselves on both banks of the river, so that the Songhais are now almost everywhere subject to peoples more powerful than themselves. But notwithstanding their political decadence, their speech, the Kissur or Ki- TIMBTJKTU. 803 Songhai of Timbuktu, is still widely diffused, although largely affected by Arabic elements. The Songhais are of nearly black complexion, with delicately chiselled features enfi-amed in long kinky hair. Some tribes are distinguished by special tattoo marks, and in the eastern districts the women wear a metal ornament passed through the cartilage of the nose. In their present degraded state the Songhais are a dull, sullen, unfriendly people, described by Barth as the least hospitable of all the Negroes he came in contact with during all his long wanderings. On various grounds this writer argues that they at one time had relations with the Egyptians, a theory which receives some support from their practice of embalming and from their domestic architecture. T0P0GR-\PHY. Timbuktu (Tombiiktu), the most famous city not onl}- in the Songhai country but in all central Africa, is known only to Europeans by this name, the true Songhai form of which appears to be Tionhutu. It is said to have been founded in the fifth century of the Hegira by the Tuaregs, who more probably captured it at that period. Mention is made of it at the time of the Ghana empire, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and later under the dominion of the Su-Sus. But such is its position, at the sharp angle formed by the Niger at the converging point of so manj' side branches, that here or hereabouts a market-place must always have existed. Under the ilandingan kings of Mali (Melle) in the fourteenth century, Timbuktu was a rich and flourishing place, whose fame was spread far and wide, thanks to its great trade in gold and salt. The name of Timbuch occurs for the first time on a Catalonian map of 1373. But a city containing so much treasure could not long escape pillage. It was plundered in the fifteenth century by the Tuaregs and Songhais, and a hundred years later by Jodar's Andalusian fusiliers, after which time it was frequently contested by Tuaregs, Fulahs, and Toucou- leurs. After the Toucouleuj occupation of 1863, no further attempt has been made to resist the attacks of the surroirnding peoples, the mimicipal authorities paying tribute now to one, now to another, and indemnifying themselves by the profits of the local trade in peaceful times. The population, estimated by Barth at thirteen thousand in 1853, and at twenty thousand by Lenz in 1880, consists chiefly of Arabs fi-om Marocco, of Berabish Arabs, of Songhais, Tuaregs, Mandingans, Bambaras, and Fulahs, besides a few Jews, tolerated since the middle of the present century. Apart from Portuguese envoys in the fifteenth century, and European captives in later times, Timbuktu has been visited in the present century only by Laing in 1826, by CaiUie in 1828, by Barth in 1853, and by Lenz in 1880. But although Ki-ause failed to reach it in 1887, it seems probable that the relations opened with France, by the despatch of an envoy to Paris in 1884, will be increased with the growth of trade between Bamaku and the riverain ports lower down. The 304 "WEST AFEICA. Niger at this point was reached by a Frencli gunboat from Bamakii for the first time in 1887. Timbuktu lies 9 miles north of the Niger on a terrace or escarpment of the desert about 800 feet above the sea. Formerly a navigable lateral branch reached the foot of this escarpment, and in 1640 a low-lying quarter of the city was even immdated. But the channel has gradually silted up, and even during the floods boats can now reach no farther than the basin of Kahra (Kahara), the port of Timbuktu on the Niger. Both port and city have greatly diminished in size, and travellers arriving from the north and west now traverse extensive spaces covered with refuse. The position of the great mosque, formerly in the centre, now near the outskirts, also shows how greatly the place has been reduced in recent times. This mosque, dominated by a remarkable earthern tower of pyramidal form, is the only noteworthy monument in Timbuktu, which consists mainly of a labyrinth of terraced houses and huts with pointed roofs. Notwithstanding its decaj-ed state, Timbuktu is still the centre of a consider- able transit trade between the desert and Sudan, the salt from Taudeni and other Saharian deposits being here exchanged for millet, kola-nuts, textiles from the southern regions, and even European wares penetrating up the Niger. Cowries, hitherto the general currency, are being gradually replaced by five-franc pieces, a sui'e indication of the growing iuflueuce of the French in the Upper and Middle Niger basin. The local industries are almost confined to the manufacture of those leathern pouches and amulet bags which are distributed throughout the Sudanese markets from Walata or Biru, the northern rival of Timbuktu. Walata, already a famous market in the fifteenth century, is the chief station on the roundabout trade route between Timbuktu and Saint Louis, which has to be followed from oasis to oasis when the natural highways up the Niger and down the Senegal are closed by local wars. The municipal administration of Timbuktu is entrusted to a kah'ia, or heredi- tary mayor, a descendant of one of those Andalusian "Rumi" captains who contributed to overthrow the Songhai empire. But the authority of this official is controlled by a Tuareg chief or sultan, and by the family of the Bakhai marabouts, who have adherents in every part of the Sahara, and even in Mauri- tania. Timbiditu is also a learned city, with rich libraries and expounders of the law, who dispute on points of dogma with the same subtlety as the mediieval Christian theologians. Gocjo {Gao, Garho), capital of the old Songhai empire, 60 miles south of the Burum district, had formerly a circimiference of over 6 miles, comprising a pagan quarter on the west, and a Mohammedan on the east bank, besides an insular quarter between the two fluvial branches. At present little remains of all this except three hundred round huts scattered amongst the palm-groves on the left side, and a minaret like that at Agades, a kind of massive pyramid 50 feet high disposed in seven compartments, beneath which Askia, founder of the e^^hemeral Songhai empire, lies buried. Below Gogo, both banks are almost uninhabited for a distance of 180 miles, GAEU.— DOEE.— SAI. 805 when some large villages and cultivated tracts announce the approach to the twin cities of Guru and Sinder, standing on some rocky islets in mid-stream. On both sides of the river the plain is here studded with habitations, and yields an abun- dance of millet for the local consumption and for exportation to Timbuktu and the Tuareg country. The two insular cities comprise altogether several thousand houses, with a collective population estimated by Earth at sixteen or eighteen thousand. They enjoy a certain political independence, by taking advantage of the rivalries of the neighbouring Tuareg chief and the Haussa governor of Sai, over 120 miles lower down. The route through the independent Soughai terri- tory, west of Sinder, leads to Dore, capital of Libtako, a province belonging at Fig. 142.— The Eaces of West Apeioa. Scale 1 : 18,000,000. West of &, Arabs and Berbers. ^t'^ Tuaregs, Bambaras, Arabized Songhais. Songliais. Fiilahs, Toucouleurs. Mam^ingans, Mossi. CD Bambaras, SarakoliSs. ^^ Wolofs, '.-^ -^ Serers.; Coast tribes : Felupg, Balantas, Timni, &c. 300 jSiIiles. least nominally to the Haussa kingdom of Gando. Dore, with a population of four thousand, mostly Songhais, is the most frequented market in the whole region comprised within the great bend of the Niger. The town of Sai, meaning in the Songhai language "River," stands at the chief passage across the river below Biu'um. The transit is made in boats 40 to 45 feet long, formed by two hollow trunks placed end on end. The town lying on the low west bank exposed to inundations during the floods, consists of detached groups of huts divided into two sections by a depression alternately dry and filled with muddy water. It owes its importance chiefly to the intermediate position it occupied on the trade route between Sokoto and Timbuktu. It is also the natural 806 WEST AFEICA. outport for the Mossi (More-ba) country, whicli stretches south-westwards in the direction of the Kong uplands. The ilossi people arc apparently allied to their Tombo neighbours in the north-west, and to the Gurnias in the north-east, all speaking dialects of a common idiom. Thej' are a historical nation, already mentioned in the fourteenth century, when a Mossi army crossed the Niger and seized Timbuktu. From reports received during their early explorations on the seaboard, the Portuguese fancied that the Mossi king was the famous Prester John, and envoys were actually sent in search of him. When summoned by the Songhai emperor Askia to embrace Islam, the Mossi people " after consulting the souls of their ancestors," refused to complj% thus bringing on a " holy \^'ar," in which their cities were destroyed and their lands wasted by the arms of the fanatical monarch. Nevertheless they have remained pagans, except in the towns, where foreign influences are predominant. Their territory is grouped in numerous petty autonomous states with a federate organisation, each paying a slight tribute to the prince of Woghodogho, the central city of the country. They are active traders, visiting all the surrounding fairs, where they are easily recog- nised by their coloiu-ed shirts and enormous straw hats, like those of the Kabyles in South Mauritania. The section of the Niger between Sai and the Sokoto confluence has hitherto been navigated by no European since the time of Mungo Park. Numerous towns are mentioned by Earth, situated on or near the river banks, but nothing is known as to their exact position and relative importance, except as regards Kirotashi, ^\hich is stated to be a much frequented market on the east side, about 18 miles below Sai. Haussa Land. Haussa, probably the Tuareg Aussa, that is Cis- Niger, in contradistinction to Gurma and Aribinda, meaning Trans-Niger, is a well-defined natural region watered by the Sokoto, and limited north by the Sahara, east by the Tsad basin, south by the Benue waterparting, and west by the Niger. But these frontiers, scarcely anywhere presenting serious obstacles, have been frequently crossed at several points, and while various African races have settled in Haussa-land, the Haussa wa themselves have occupied vast territories bej'ond their central domain, so that the political boundaries have constantly oscillated with fresh conquests and migrations. At present this region, one of the richest and most densely peopled in Sudan, enjoys a preponderating influence over all the surrounding lands. It commands numerous states beyond its natural limits, while its language, regarded by the local populations as the medium of trade and culture in a pre- eminent sense, has been diffused throughout the greater part of Sudan. Hence in describing Haussa it is impossible to exclude some of the adjacent lands presenting the same climatic and ethnical conditions, and sharing in the same political destinies. The area of the whole region, comprising all the fluvial basins flowing to the main stream between the Sokoto and Benue, may be approxi- mately estimated at 160,000 square miles. Notwithstanding certain rough HAUSSA LAXD. 307 esh'mates of ten millions and even twenty millions, according to the descriptions of Jr ,W r '^ I ' '1' r s 'Iff 'if ;- '5r 1? ^rTi Barth, Rohlfs, and otlier travellers, the population, excluding the Benue basin, can scarcely be calculated at more than four millions. 308 WEST AFEICA. Towards the east, the Niger basin is separated by no continuous or clearly defined divide from that of Lake Tsad, although the waterparting is doubtless more distinct than that between the Shari and the Benue, where certain marshj' and lacustrine tracts seem to belong to both systems at once. In East Haussa the slopes are so imperceptible that in many places it is difficult to determine to which basin belong the running and stagnant waters which persist throughout the dry season. But the region of the divide is strewn with numerous sharp or rounded granite rocks, between which the rich humus sujjports an exuberant vegetation of palms and leafy trees scattered in picturesque clusters amid a labyrinth of bluffs and boulders, from which the groups of huts or houses cannot always be easily distinguished. Owing to the absence of a decided incline the waters have in many places failed to develop a fluvial system, but are collected in lakes or lagoons, which rise and fall, expand or disappear, according to the seasons. Even where the annual rains have carved out continuous channels, the streams for over half the year are reduced to a line of shallow waters, separated by intervening sandbanks. In its lower reaches alone the Sokoto presents an uninterrupted current, but even here winding so sluggishly over its pebbly bed, that the waters become unwholesome for man and beast. The rainfall, however, differs greatly in quantity in the two sections of the basin, one bordering on the Saharian steppes, the other comprised within the zone of Sudan. In this region the transitions are very abrupt fi-om the dry to the wet zone, and while the rains are rare in the northern city of Sokoto, they are very copious at Gaudo, only 40 miles farther south. During the wet season the whole country becomes almost impassable, the rivers overflowing theii' banks, the saturated highwa3's changing to quagmires, treacherous morasses filling every depression. Thanks to its arboreal vegetation, the southern section of the Sokoto basin presents a smiling aspect throughout the year, while in the north in many places nothing is visible in the dry season except parched and arid steppes. Flor.\ a^b Falna. As in Senegal, the landscape derives its distinctive character from the tamarind, baobab, and other giants of the vegetable kingdom. The three species of palm, the date, dum, and deleb, marking distinct zones in North Afi-ica, are here found flourishing side by side in some districts. The butter-tree is common in some parts of Sokoto, while others are noted for their forests of doria (parkia), whose parched seeds, prepared in the form of cakes like chocolate, form an important article of export to the northern districts, where the tree is rare, and to the Tsad basin, where it is not found. The banana, wrongly said to follow the Negro across the whole of Sudan, is absent in the region some 600 miles wide intervening between Adamawa and Gando, but is very common and of excellent quality in the western part of Haussa. Rice is the cereal in a j)re-eminont sense throughout the Sokoto basin, although unknown in Bornu, farther east. Onions are of exquisite flavour, and everywhere form an important article of diet. Of industrial HAUSSA LAND. 309 plants the most ^dely spread is cotton, as, according to the statements of Leo Africanus, it already was in the sixteenth century. Wild animals of large size have mostly disappeared from the central parts, but considerable herds of elephants are still met in some of the most remote districts, while the maneless lion of the Sahara infests the steppe lands about the Niger. The chief domestic animals are goats, all of a uniform brown, and horned cattle, all of a pure white coloiir. Bee farming is actively carried on, the hives, formed of hollow branches, being generally suspended from the boughs of the baobab. In the low-lying and marshy tracts the mosquitoes are an almost intoler- able plague, far more dreaded than any beasts of prey. But in some places the people have devised an ingenious plan to escape from these pestiferous insects. At some distance from their huts they prepare a retreat placed 10 or 12 feet above the groimd under a conic shed supported on stakes. This retreat is kept com- pletely closed during the day, and at night they gain access to it by a ladder, suddenly closing the door behind them, and thus escaping from the buzzing swarms of their tormentors. iNHABrrANTS. The Haussawa, or " People of Haussa," claim to have come from the north, and the Goberawa, formerly dominant in the Air ^Mountains, certainly belong to this group. In their mythical genealogy the name of their great ancestor would seem to imply a servile origin for the whole race except the " sons of Gober." The traditional home of all the family is the divide between the Sokoto and Tsad basins, and more particularly the eastern watershed, whence they spread gradually westwards. According to the legend the Haussa family comprised seven " legiti- mate " sons, to each of whom was assigned a special department of the public service. Thus Gober, the warrior of the north, was required to defend the land ; Kano in the same way became the dj'er, Katsena the trader, and Seg Seg, in the south, the slave-hunter. Then the family was further increased by seven " illegiti- mate" childi-en, outsiders of different speech, but who understood the Haussa language. These are the inhabitants of the Lower Niger and Benue, still regarded as strangers and inferior in nobility to the Haussawa proper. While the domain of the latter is scarcely 50,000 square miles in extent, their language is spread over a region five or six times more extensive. Richardson called it " Sudanese," as if it were the imiversal speech of Sudan ; and it is certainly dominant in the whole region comprised between the Sahara, Lake Tsad, the Gulf of Guinea, and the Kong Mountains. It is even current in all the surrounding- markets and amongst the Negro communities in Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. Its structure is agglutinating with prefixes and postfixes, and for harmony, wealth of vocabulary, simplicity and elegance, it certainly deserves to take a foremost rank amongst the languages of Africa. Its literature is mainly restricted to religious works, grammars, and dictionaries composed by Europeans ; but, according to Schbn and Krause, the Haiissawa woidd also appear to possess original manuscripts, written, however, in the Arabic character. Haussa, which is said to be spoken 310 WTST AFRICA. with the greatest purity in Katsena, is affiliated by some authorities to the Kanuri of Bornu, while also presenting some marked affinities wdth the Berber family. The "Seven Children" do not all belong to the fold of Islam. At the time of Earth's journey, the Goberawa of the north still continued to reject the Mussulman teachings, while the others seemed to be animated by little zeal for the faith. In this region the work of religious proi^aganda has been reserved exclusively for the Fulahs, who were long settled here as pastors, and most of whom by the eighteenth century, if not earlier, had already embraced Moham- medanism. Scattered throughout the Haussa lands they had become very numerous, but had nowhere acquired political power before the war of 1802, when the Sheikh Dam-fodie Othman encouraged his brethren to form themselves into jetnaa, that is, religious and military communities, for the purpose of propagating Fig. 14-1. — Eanqe of Mohammedanism in Centkal Africa. 1 ; 30,000,000. 0^ Mei'idian of breenwrch , 600 Miles. the faith with the sword. After numerous reverses the Fulahs triumphed at last over the Haussawa, founding a vast empire which stretched as far as the sources of the Benue. Amongst the pretended Fulahs of Sokoto, there are many of different stocks who belong to the conquering race only through social and political alliances of long standing. Such are the Sisilbe or Sillebawa, descendants of the "Wakore or eastern Mandingans, who speak both Pular (Fulah) and Haussa, having long forgotten their mother tongue. Such also, but of inferior caste, are the Lahobe of Senegal, and the Soghorans or Jawambes of Sokoto. The Torodos or Torches, akin to the Senegalese Toucoideurs, but reckoned amongst the eastern Fidahs, constitute a religious and militaiy aristocracy. The Toucouleurs of Sokoto are also a mixed race, in which the T7olof element is said to be as strongly represented as in Senegal. It was on this fact of the HAUSSA LAND. 811 presence in Sokoto of a half-caste Wolof people that Earth assigned a western origin to the Fulahs. One thing is certain, that these nomad pastors and husband- men easily shift their camping-grounds, driving their flocks for hundreds of miles from pasturage to pasturage, but also as readily settling down permanently in any favourable localities where they can make themselves masters. Thus are Fig. 145. — A Sokoto Ftjlah — Bkothee of the Suxtax. explained the constant modifications of the ethnological map of the Fidahs in Sudan. In the pro\-ince of Kebbi, the Songhais, here known by the name of Kabawa, occupy most of the triangular space comprised between the Niger and the river valleys descending from the Tuareg territory. The Tuaregs themselves are also very numerous in Haussa, where the prc^-ince of Adar (Tadlar), in the north, has already been to a great extent Berberised. The national litzam, or veil, has been adopted as a sign of nobility even by many Fulahs and Haussa wa without any strain of Tuareg blood. The vast Fulah empire, founded by Othman at the beginning of the present 312 WEST AFEICA. century, is now divided into two kingdoms — that of Wurno in the east, comprising portions of the Tsad and Benue basins, and in the west G.otdo, which stretches bej-ond the Niger as far as the Mossi territory. About the middle of the century the Fidah power seemed already on the wane, and Earth anticipated a speedy restoration of the former political status. The empire, however, still holds together, although many feudatories, such as the Sidtan of Nupe, are far more powerful than the suzerain himself. Since the return of peaceful times, the central provinces, both in Gando and Sokoto, have even made surprising progress in material prosperity. Joseph Thomson speaks with admiration of the commer- Fig. 146. — Inhabitants op HAtrssA. Scale 1 : 5,000,000. <^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^„ Tessawa "i^e -w a L', Wourno ,„V».-;-S0K0TO KATSENA.^ vr taslof LrreenwicK CO Miles. cial activity of the inhabitants, and compares the incessant traffic on the highway between the cities of Gando and Sokoto to the stir and bustle about an anthill. The horizon is bounded by large villages, each as populous as towns elsewhere. The towns themselves appear at a distance Kke groves or thickets, every house possessing its wide-branchiug tree, while the old forests have disappeared from the well-cultivated plains. The frequent national or dynastic wars have compelled the people to surround their towns with walls and ditches, with gates flanked by strong towers. Kurrcfi, some 30 miles south of Katsena, may serve as a model in this respect. Built in the middle of the century as a refuge for eight or nipe KATSENA. 813 thousand persons rendered homeless by the destruction of their dwellings, Kurrefi rests on one side agaiast a granite clifp, and is defended on the other by a triple wall and two broad moats. These defences are broken only by two gateways, so disposed as to compel the enemy to wind a long way between walls pierced with loopholes. The chief approach is further masked by an outer place d'armes, also surrounded by a double ditch. Industry is very active in the large Haussa towns, where the division of labour has given rise to numerous guilds of potters, weavers, dyers, tailors, saddlers masons, smiths, jewellers, and other craftsmen. The bazaars are well-stocked, and the din of the workshops everywhere intermingles with the cadenced voice of the scholars reciting their lessons from the Koran. Labom* is held in honour in these Nigritian cities, and although slavery is not yet abolished, the number of slaves is diminishing, as in many provinces they are seldom allowed to marry, and slave-hunting expeditions to keep up the supplies are now less frequent, thanks to the spread of Islam. TOPOGKAPHY OF HaUSSA LaND. The Damerghu country, which, in the speech and culture of its inhabitants, must be regarded as forming part of Haussa Land, belongs to the zone of transi- tion between the Sahara and Sudan. Here the tamarind and other large trees find their northern limit, and here cotton and other economic plants cease to be cultivated. The fields are still watered by regular rains, but not always in sufficient quantity to prevent injurious droughts. This province, inhabited by mixed Berber and Negro peoples, is dotted over with numerous villages ; but when visited in 1851 by Earth and Overweg it did not contain a single city. The region stretching south of Damerghu belongs, not to the Niger, but to the Tsad basin. Here Daiira, capital of the district of like name, 90 miles north-east of Katsena, is the metropolis of the oldest of the " Seven Haussas." Before the Mohammedan invasion it was also the residence of Dodo, the chief Haussawa deity, overthrown in single combat by a doughty champion of Islam. Tessaica, which in the Tsad basin lies nearest to the source of the Yeu, might be taken as a tj^pe of most Haussa towns. While the open plain is bare and monotonous, the enclosure is full of large trees overshadowing the houses and ciiltivated spaces. The inhabitants of Tessawa, as well as of the neighbouring Gossenako and Gassaica, are mostly half-caste Tuaregs engaged in trade and dyeing. Katsena, capital of an eastern province and formerly a royal city, lies near the head of an intermittent stream flowing eastwards through the Yeu to Lake Tsad. In appearance Katsena is one of the great cities of Africa, with walls 30 feet thick, 35 to 40 high, and over 13 miles in circimiference. But most of the enclosed space is now occupied with ruins, fields, and gardens, the houses and market being grouped in the north-west, the palace with a few scattered buildings in the north-east corner of the irregular rectangle. In the sixteenth centiiry, and pro- VOL. XII, ¥ 314 WEST AFEICA.. bably earlier, Katsena was a centre of civilisation frequented by strangers from all quarters, and at that time the kings, although nominally vassals of Bomu, were practically independent. They offered a heroic resistance to the Fulahs, the siege of the capital lasting from 1807 to 1814, and accompanied by a frightful famine, during which carrion birds. Lizards, and snakes, were sold at exorbitant prices. After its capture the Fulahs showed no mercy to the inhabitants, and endeavoured to efface all traces of their ancient independence, burning the historical records and razing to the ground the town of Bankama, where the king had taken refuge after the siege. Kano, at present the largest place in east Haussa, lies within the Tsad basin at the foot of the Dala rock, which was formerly crowned by a citadel. Like Katsena Fig. 147. — Katsena and Dajtkama. Scale 1:390,000. 'y.}-':'A-:' •'■'■' -'^ SifeSM 'i-v-'';/'-'- has* or Greenwich . ililes. it consisted originally of a number of villages, which were all enclosed within carefully preserved ramparts 15 miles in circumference. Towards the south are still visible the remains of a still more ancient enclosure now covered with houses. Scattered over the irregular oval space within the walls are several flooded depres- sions, the largest of which extends 2 miles east and west, but is crossed in the middle by an isthmus, or "bridge," leading north to the great market-place. Kano rose to importance only after the fall of Katsena, when traders were obliged to remove the centre of their operations to this place. Inside the walls it occupies at least 10 square miles, peopled by immigrants of every race, each residing in its own quarter. Kano carries on an active trade, especially in cotton fabrics woven and dyed by the people themselves with the cotton and indigo WUBNO— SOKOTO. 315 raised on the surrounding plain, which has been called the "Garden of Sudan." Other products of the highly developed household industries, such as shoes, sandals, leather pouches, are exported far and wide, and large quantities of cereals, after supplying the local wants, are also available for the foreign markets. East of Kano the most important places depending politically on Haussa are Gerld, near the Bornu frontier, and Katagum on the river of like name flowino- intermittently to the Yen. On the water-parting near the Mger and Tsad basins to the west of Kano lies the picturesque town of Kammane, one of the most industrious in Haussa, producing cotton stuffs highly esteemed for their durability and remarkably bright colours. Surmi, capital of Sanfara, near the source of the Sokoto, is still a populous place, although it has suffered much from its constant feuds with its rival Maradi, capital of Gober. Farther west, on the route to Sokoto, Fig. 148.— Kano. Scale 1:450,000. IS' Ba|ds eoa V 6'80- Lla St o I ureeritviCf" Wasa^ 6 e saw a o Tchare IS' 8'o eililes. follow Buchi, lost amid a labyrinth of rocks; Sansane A'issa, one of the strongest places in the empire ; AIJ:alawa, formerly capital of Gober, on the banks of the Sokoto at the northern verge of the dense forest of Gundumi ; lastly, Konni, one of the chief places in Gober, two days to the north-west Wurno, present residence of the Seriki n' ilusulmya, or " Sovereign of the Mussulmans," occupies a splendid site on an isolated saalstone bluff rising 130 feet above the surrounding valleys. At its northern foot flows the river which is formed by the confluence of the Surmi and Maradi, and which lower down takes the name of Sokoto, from the city which preceded Wurno as the capital of the Fulah empire. Like TTurno, Sokoto stands on a sandstone rock overlooking a valley watered by a perennial stream. This river, which flows eastwards, is the Gandi or Bakura, so named from two important towns on its banks. A little to y2 316 WEST AFEICA. the nortli of Sokoto it falls into the main stream, Sokoto thus occupying the con- vero-ing point of several natural routes leading east to Kano, Katsena, and Lake Tsad, and west to the Niger. The ramparts, built by Sultan BeUo at the beginning of the present century, form a perfectly regular square 3,000 yards long on all sides. The map which BeUo gave his visitor Clapperton, and on which are figured in perspective all the surrounding lands as far as the market of Atagara on the sea- board, attests the importance which his capital had in the eyes of the chief of the Fulah conquerors. When the Fulah empire was at the height of its splendour the space comprised within the lofty ramparts of Sokoto was occupied by a compact population of a himdred and twenty thousand souls. But twenty-five years afterwards it was estimated by Earth at no more than twenty thousand, and since then it has still further diminished, owing especially to the unhealthy atmosphere Kg. 149. — Plan op Sokoto and Map of Haussa, dka-wn by SuLTA:>f Bello, of the place. Most of the inhabitants are Sisilb^ Mandingans, industrious artisans famous for the excellence of their embroidered leatherware, textiles, dyes, arms, and implements. A Fulah slave on his return from BrazH established near Sokoto a small sugarcane plantation and a refinery, a remarkable instance of the influence already exercised by the New "World on the civilisation of the Old. A separate quarter of Sokoto is inhabited by Arab traders from Rhat and Ghadames, and English dealers have also recently made their appearance in this great market of Central Africa, which was first visited by Clapperton. Here this famous traveller died in 1827, and was buried in a neighbouring village by his companion Eichard Lander. The decayed city of Shifawa (^Sifaica), 18 miles south of Sokoto, is a historical place, where the founder of the Fulah empire resided for some years. Gando, 36 miles farther to the south-west, was also one of Othman's residences, and is now GANDO. 817 the capital of "West Haussa with all its dependencies west of the Niger as far as jiiiiaaiiiiiMii!'Kj';> the Mossi territory ; but it recognises the supremacy of Sokoto, capital of the 318 WEST AFEICA. eastern empire. It occupies a singular position in a cavity encircled on all sides by escarjjnients, and watered by a small affluent of the Sokoto. This depression is surprisingly fertile, yielding an abundance of exquisite fruits and vegetables. The bananas and onions of Gando are famous throughout Haussa Land. Birni n'Kehhi (" Fort Kebbi"), standing 30 miles -west of Gando, on a terrace 280 feet above the broad and fertile Sokoto valley, occupied an admirable strate- Fig. 151. — Gando and Sokoto. Scale 1 : 1,000,000. f I '» ; 4 ; =?/ « : •Si *".-- ^hlfa i Ar^oun^o GAfiOp'f, ■ V' ■<■ V«, ^addabadcla ^^ , \J:?Sha|al Koussada Mandera Ai;> ■5jf icss Bl 4°50- hast of Greenwich 5*20' , 3 Miles. gical and commercial position near the head of the navigation, and at the terminus of the shortest route to Sai on the Niger. But this former capital of Kebbi was destroyed in 1806 by the Fulahs, and has since been replaced by a new town called simply Kebbi, built in the neighbourhood, and in a district exposed to the incessant feuds of the surrounding Haussa, Fulah, and Songhai populations. Jega, on the Gulbi n' Gindi, a sub-affluent of the Niger, appears to be at TATIRI— BTJSSA. 319 present the largest and most commercial place in this region. Gomba, on the right bank of the Xiger, at the Sokoto confluence, is a mere village, and Yauri, lower down on the left bank, has been ruined by the Fulahs. It was formerly capital of the floui-ishing kingdom of Yauri, and was at that time a city of " prodigious extent," as populous as any other on the continent, with an enclosure from 20 to 30 miles in circumference. The great commercial city of Kulfo has also been razed to the ground by the Fidahs. Some years ago the king of Nahtcamach, the state bordering Yauri on the east, made a slare-hunting expedi- tion in the Niger valley, during which he destroyed foui-teen cities, including the powerful TTbaka, of which the walls alone now remain. This razzia secured for the conqueror thousands of captives, but the destruction of life was enormous ; whole districts remained uninhabited, and fugitives from Yaiui fled for refuge to all the surrounding lands. Kontohora [Kontagora) , capital of the Nakwamach or Bamashi Negroes, was recently visited by Joseph Thomson, who found it a large city lying in a delightful hilly country, 60 miles east of the Niger. In one of the rocky islets, 60 miles above Bussa, stands the town of IJcioig, a famous market which in peaceful times attracts traders from all the surrounding lands. Bussa (Bussan), near the rapids which proved fatal to Mungo Park, lies within half a mile of the right bank, some miles north of the ruins of another town bearing the same name. At the time of Flegel's visit in 1881, Bussa was the capital of a petty state, completely independent of the Fulahs ; fifty years previously, the brothers Lander had spoken of the king as the most respected sovereign in TYest Africa, not so much for his power or opulence as for his ancient pedigree, for he was " the first monarch of West Africa at the beginning of the world." Eichard Lander relates that after the death of Mungo Park the inhabi- tants of Bussa were attacked by a raging epidemic, which was regarded as a visitation from heaven. " Take care not to touch the whites lest you perish like the people of Bussa," then became the password throughout the land. West of the petty states of Bussa and TToh-Woh stretches the Borghu country, comprising several distinct kingdoms, of which Niki is the most powerful. By the brothers Lander the city of this name was reported to be "immense," and its king had such a strong army that the Fulahs did not ventui-e to di-aw the sword against him. The traveller Duncan, coming from Dahomey, penetrated in 1845 eastwards to Adafudia, in a fertile undulating district draining to the Niger, and dotted over with nxmierous towns inhabited by courteous, hospitable Moham- medan Negroes. Dimcan mentions Assafuda, ITicampanissa, Kassokano, Sahakano, Kallakandi, and Adafudia, following from south-east to north-west on the northern slope of the Mahi water-parting, all with six thousand to ten thousand inhabitants, and even more. He mentions incidentallj' on hearsay that the natives, probably akin to the Mossi, have succeeded in taming the elephant ; but in any case they raise a fine breed of horses, the playmates of the children from their infancy. Over 60 miles below the Bussa rapids stands Glajebo, already within the Nupe territory, which, thanks to its position on both sides of the river where it approaches nearest to the coast at Lagos, occupies one of the vital points for the 320 WEST AFEICA. trade of Central Africa. Nupe has tlie further advantage of an almost uniformly fertile soil, yielding in abundance aU the fruits of the tropics. It might support millions of inhabitants, and at various epochs the population has been relatively very dense. Rabba, formerly one of the great cities of the continent, had one hundi-ed thousand inhabitants at the beginning of the present century, when the slave-dealers had made it a depot for their gangs of \aclims destined for sale on the seaboard. Opposite Rabba stood Zarjoshi, peopled by boatmen and artisans, who, like all the riverain populations, obej-ed the " king of the gloomy waters," a sovereign nearly always afloat on the stream. But both places were ruined by the suppression of the slave trade and the Fulah conquest. Eabba has partly recovered, thanks to its admirable position on a bend of the Niger at the southern extremity of a range of hiUs, skirted on the east by the little River Gingi. Kg. 152.— Rabba. Scale 1 : 400,000. •4° 45 Last of^ Ljreenwich 6 Miles. Bhonga-xcharf, 15 miles farther down, has been chosen by the EngKsh as the chief depot for goods destined for Yoruba. Katanga {Kaiunga), former capital of the great kingdom of Yoruba, stood some 24 miles from the bend of the Niger at Geba, and had itself succeeded Bohu, which was much more advantageously situated in a fertile and picturesque valley. But both were destroj'ed by the Fulahs, and the kings of this country now pay annual tribute to Bida and "Wurno. About 30 miles south of Rabba lies Saraki, a large place situated in a hilly but highly cultivated district, abounding in cotton, cereals, j^ams, and ground-nuts. South-west of Saraki, the route across the Oshi affluent of the Niger leads to the great city of I/orin, standing over 1,300 feet above sea-level, near the divide between the Niger basin and the streams flowing seawards. The enclosure, s;0NnilioAllsa3AiNf 3 HI do THE L0\ I20 . . 1 Katanja* AsafoLfda ■'^ " "■ J •— • . - ! ^yp.. Bohou - / .•- " y^x^ '^« ■s[6iib«>t»nda j- ^-- tlorln ? .^.^^ ^. i . .. - ^- . ■ Savalov V ,0^bornB«ho *! y.^-s^:- 6 , . x$^ '-: > JallaKoo • -f; OYO -— -^ ^ ^ r /i as A- , - \ Zo§lo5bo .Idjaye u Zou6„om, V f' «■ ~J tJ / ''iBADAN ABOMEH \ Egi>^ .s&^*» ,K.na V ABEOKOUTA ' iJ-*-sJ "Du|bah \ i 1 Oda 5 « - ^a r'Zama/ ^ ^^ •A • ? f \ Sakett' ~, • OUiadan ' ^' Allacia (ArdraJ ' . . Ajlern PoUra.Ado '" lUoradou . _ , ' Epe -2. McU.c^ \ ti:^^-" -, YeJ>ou Bin! (Benin) Savi Kotof^OLj • ■'- — ■ * ■ Psifma . . .• — -^ — . ' Atidierl ,- • • Bada|>-y Lagos "-eke - — ^j^^jT'-T'^' ' \, "-'?'?Ajuda (WhydaKl - V G" G^ Popo ' of S e re. i n. 'Mahin s <: >'^ -^ r /^..^- £ *! 6? Z7- Z F T ILasi ol' On* eiuvidi . FiMfci- 5,000 \nhahUanti Over 5,000 Otw 10,000 Or«- 20,000 I (^NDC ■ R NICER "-a ^«;\ ^Lafia (Bere-Berc) .Oudeni Vi ^^^ \ Y^^ "^^^v^^^^ ? Aiv ^%- -f- Wakar RoSan -Kofo o ^, M i i c h z S ■* AssaWa Aro° A /< ^ '^ Ebo .'^<^=-'^' V^ \'~^m \ \ \ LiOknk — • CresU-Tow DwUeTown i. iNew Calaba / A.nciony P tt df Aktu; y ,«5 Bonny tinnema JV E '^r 'xrz^pOTl^ Victoria ^0 32 ft. 32 640 /if. 640 ft. upwards rLOKCSr— BIDA. S21 forming a regular polygon, has a circuit of over 12 miles, and the broad thorough- fares are lined with shops stocked with wares from Europe and Africa. Fairs are held every five days in this republican city, which was fomided in 1790 by fugitives from all parts of Yoruba, who, in Lander's time, occupied twelve separate quarters, each belonging to a different tribe and represented by an elder in the Fig. 153. — BrcA akb Kadu-va. Scale 1 : 450,000. bast of Lrreenwich 5'l 6 Miles. general council. At present the Mohammedan Fulahs predominate, although most of the inhabitants are still pagans. Bida, capital of Nupe, occupies the centre of the peninsular district limited southwards by the Niger, west and north by the Kaduna affluent, and watered by the Lauja, which flows through the Baku to the main stream. Although of 322 WEST AFEICA. recent foundation, Bida was said to have alreadj^ a population of nearly a hundred thousand at the time of the missionary Milum's visit in 1879. It is a fortified city, surrounded bj' a regular quadrilateral rampart and broad ditch, and laid out with wide streets, extensive squares, and market-places. Its Moslem inhabitants are very industrious weavers, dyers, iron-smelters, and forgers, and even manufac- ture ornamental glassware for arms and personal decoration. Schools are estab- lished in all the districts, and most of the children read and write Arabic. The large river Kaduna (Lavon, Lafun), which joins the Niger between Rabba and Bida, has its farthest head streams in the provinces of Katsena and Kane, whence it flows through the province of Southern Ilaussa, known by the various names of Seg-Seg, Saria, and So-So (Zcg-Zeg, Zaria, Zo-Zo). Saria {Zariija), capital of this territorj', boasts of the finest mosque in Haussa Land. Lying on rig. 154.— Egga. Scale 1 : 500,000. ^/A^ § Kompi. .r : ..■'■' :1\ m ■'■'•• u 'J,^ h.^ ^ 6° tasl ot breenwich B°50' , 12 Miles. the divide between the Kaduna basin and the northern rivers, it probably stands over 3,000 feet above the sea in a well-watered, fertile, and extremely healthy district. The plains of Ecjohhi, south of Saria, appeared to Lander more especially worthy of being compared with the most charming sylvan landscapes in England. Egobbi itself, pleasantly situated on a northern afiluent of the Kaduna, is regularly laid out, with open well-kept streets within a perfectly square rampart. Its calabashes are greatly prized for the delicacy of the carvings, chiefly of domestic animals, with which they are decorated. The dominating Fulah section of the community retains the national love of a pastoral life ; by them husbandry is held in honour, but stock-breeding is a religion. In the upper Kaduna basin there are no large towns, but numerous villages, peopled either by Mohammedan Fulahs, or pagan Negroes of the Kado nation. ADMIXISTEATION OF HAUSSA LAXD. S23 Sucli are the markets of Ya, on a headstream of the Kaduna, and Sango-Kafab, one day's march farther south, " the centre of five hundred small hamlets lying close together." Birni n' Gwari, capital of the province of Gwari (Ghari), between Saria and Tauri, Kes still within the Fulah empire, and maintains, commercial relations with the Xi^er through Kontokora, and with Bida through the vallev of the ATarigo, chief western affluent of the Kadima. In the Abuja country, east of Bida, which also belongs to the Fulah State, the principal trading-place is Egga (Eggan), on the right bank of the Niger, at the point where it trends southwards to join the Benue. Egga, which is a large place, unfortunately situated in a swampy, malarious district, already comes within the sphere of British trade, the town and territory forming part of the domain protected by the Royal African Company. Over 30 miles lower down and on the same side lies Igbido (Buddu), capital of the Kakanda (Eifon, Shebi) nation, who are the agents for the transit trade between the Lower and Middle Niger. Some of them make long journeys into Haussa Land and even as far as Air, and occasionally maintain direct relations with the people of Ghadames. Administration of Haussa Land. The Fulah empire, founded by Othman at the beginning of the century, although now divided into the two kingdoms of "Wurno (Sokoto) and Gando, still maintains a certain political unity, the suzerainty of Wurno being fullj- recognised by the western state. In other respects the whole territory consists of distinct kingdoms, each with its local organisation, and attached to the suzerain only by the annual tribute. In the hilly districts some tribes even still maintain their independence, while the frontiers of the vast domain constantly fluctuate with the vicissitudes of wars and revolts. Now also the sovereign power of the Fidah monarchs is notably diminished by the commercial concessions that have been made to the English company- in the southern regions on the banks of the Niger and Benue. The revenue of the Haussa sultans must be considerable compared with that of other African potentates. In the middle of the century those of the single kingdom of Kano were already estimated by Earth at ninety million cowries, or £7,200, the annual impost being at that time five hundred cowries for every head of a family. The two kings of Sokoto and Gando might easily raise an army of a hundred and twenty thousand men, including thirty thousand cavalry. The royal authority is limited by a ministry, the nomination and fimctions of which are regulated by custom. The ghaladima, or prime minister, always enjoys considerable power, and under him, in order of precedence, follow the chief of the cavalry, the commander of the infantry, the cadi — ^who is at the same time the executioner — the heir to the throne, the chief of the slaves, and the minister of finance. Most of the petty states are organised after the model of the kingdom of 824 WEST AFEICA. Wurno. Imperial decrees are passed on from vassal to vassal to tte extremities of tlic empire, and Homage and tribute are in the same vraj sent up to the central Government. The Bexue axd Louver Niger. — Bonxy axd Old Cu^abar. The access afforded by the Lower Niger and Benue waterway towards the interior promises one day to become the most important of aU commercial high- ways in the African continent. The mouths of the Niger open seawards near the head of the Gulf of Guinea, between the Bights of Benin and Biafra, that is to say, towards the natural converging point of the chief lines of navigation in the South African Atlantic. From this point the inland fluvial route already ofl'ers a continuous navigable highway accessible to steamers for over 900 miles unob- structed by a single difficult impediment. Of all the great African rivers, the Benue alone is free from rapids in its middle coui'se ; and even at the head of its navigation the slope of the land is continued eastwards through the Shari basin, while all reports agree in anticipating the existence of easy routes through the Niam-Niam territory from the Tsad to the Nile basin. Thus the Nile and Niger are connected by a great transverse artery crossing some of the most popxilous and productive regions in Central Africa. Yet after the first appearance of the Portuguese on the Slave Coast three centuries passed before any Em-opean traders attempted to obtain a footing on the banks of the Niger or the Benue. Baikie's memorable expedition of 1854 ushered in the new era, which brings the purely African civilisation of Nigritia into direct contact with that of the whole world. Some English commercial houses sent their agents to the riverain cities along the Lower Niger, and at present the stream of commerce flows regularly from the whole of this region towards London and Liverpool. The English merchants have become the true sovereigns of the popu- lations dwelling in this African Mesopotamia. Nevertheless they had for a time to contend with the rivalry of some French houses, which began to found factories in the Niger delta about the year 1880. But the various British companies soon merged in a single powerful association, disposing of twenty-five steamers and a capital large enough to buy up all the French houses, and, despite the diplomatic clauses declaring the Lower Niger open to all nations, the commercial monopoly was thus restored to Great Britain. A German society, admirably served bj- the explorations of Flegel, has also recently made great efforts to secure the trade of the Benue ; but the riverain chiefs, dazzled by the more brilliant offers of the EugUsh, have yielded to them all com- mercial privileges. " Wherever a British consul shall set his foot," writes the emir of Nupe, "there also I shall set mine." The position of the English representatives, supported by over two hundred treaties, is no longer challenged, and the support of the home government is gradually transforming their prerogatives into a political dominion. Not only can the company trade along the river to the exclusion of all others, but it has THE BENUE BASIN. 325 also the right of buying or " otherwise acquiring mines, quarries, forests, fisheries, and manufactures, of cultivating the land and erecting structures on it. The company is moreoyer the political ruler of " all the territories ceded to it by the kings, the chiefs, and j^eoples in the Niger basin," and in return undertakes to treat with justice " the nations in its territories," to respect their religions, their laws, and properties. Nevertheless the company is bound to treat with the natives for the gradual abolition of slavery, on this condition obtaining a royal charter which places it under the control of the Secretary of State. Thus has been constituted a second East India Company, which enters at once on the posses- Fig. 155. — The Upper Bentje. Scale 1 : 920.000. 12" JO' 15° Last or ureen'vvich 18 MUes. sion of a territory -^dth a coast-line of no less than 600 miles, and at least double that distance along the inland stream. PHTsiciL Features. Towards its source the Benue basin is sejsarated from that of the Tsad by a scarcely perceptible water-parting ; but towards the north the divide between its aiHuents and the Kaduna river is formed by plateaux dominated by some of the loftiest mountaias in North Africa. These highlands are separated by intervening 326 WEST AFEICA. vallevs into distinct groups, disposed for the most part in the direction from north- ^^•est to south-east. The Gabi, the most copious stream rising in this region, flows THE BEXUE BASIN. 327 through a transverse valley lying north of the highest part of the uplands, beyond which, under the name of the Gongola, it pierces the divide at its narrowest and lowest part, ultimately joining the Upper Benue below Tola. In the Kalam country and on the Bornu frontier, the surface is diversified only by low rounded heights rising above the sea of verdure; but in the Bauchi district, source of the great river Kaddera flowing to the Middle Benue, the hills again rise and merge in a magnificent Alpine system. Domes, needles, or quad- rangular blocks with verticul walls, red, grey, or blackish granite crags, assume stupendous forms, towering 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the gorges, their slopes clothed with impenetrable primeval forests. Mount Saranda rises to a height of 7,000 feet immediately to the west of the great city of Yakoba, whUe farther west other granite chains nm north and south, or north-west and south-east, crossed by the Gora Pass (4,500 feet), which leads down to the gently sloping plains about the head waters of the Kaduna. Explorers have given English names to most of the mountains and hills skirting the right bank of the Benue. Thus a sharp cone above Yola, dominating all the surrounding heights, has been named Mac-Iver Peak. On the same river occur Mount Forbes, the Murchison chain culminating in Mount Roderick (1,650 feet), and lower down the Ellesmere range along the southern section of its course. But the loftiest border range, running parallel with the Upper Benue for a space of 120 miles, has retained its native name of Muri. The scarcely less elevated hiUs on the opposite side are also still known by their African designations — Kwana, Morinu, Bak n' Dutchi. Below these the hills, rising in one of their peaks to an altitude of 4,650 feet, again take the English name of Albermarle Eange, their peaks being provisionally named after Biot, Herschel, and other astronomers. The border chain near the Mger-Benue confluence is called the Oldfield Eange, and aU the hills encircling the confluence, with the single exception of the superb Mount Saracte, have similarly been named after British worthies. Flora axd Facxa. The upland valleys of the Saranda and neighbouring mountains have a climate like that of Southern Italy, suitable for the cultivation of all the plants of the south temperate zone. But towards the east stretches the domain of the dum and date-palms, and westwards that of the delcb, oil-palm, and cocoanut. In the western forests is found the Una or runa, the fruit of which yields a kind of honey highly appreciated by the natives and even in Marocco, where it takes the name of ia mulei dris. In the Benue basin the most widely cultivated plant is cotton, whose fibre is remarkably firm, and so glossy that the woven material might readily be taken for sUk. In the Upper Benue basin there are said to exist two species of the elephant, one with a yellowish coat ; and large herds of this animal are still met in the forests on both slopes. The upland woodlands afford cover to the rhinoceros and wild buffalo, and all the gorges are infested by the panther. The civet, though seldom 328 WEST AFEICA. seen, is very common in tlie lands draining to the Benue ; but, according to Rolilfs, there appear to be no large and very few small snakes, while all travellers remark on the almost total absence of spiders. Inhabitants. In the Yakoba highlands the chief Negro people are the Bolos, who give their name to the province of Bolo-Bolo, better known by the designation of Bautchi. They are amongst the least favoured races in Sudan, short and thickset, with broad Fig. 157. — Chiep Eoutes op Explorers East op the Benue. Scale 1 : 13,500,000. 10" 10! 5! 4^ ,M, ''-'-^^ f'W-^7~0'\-. '^^ F'l^/x '1>-1S / "-4 M^\4 i ; /?<*; %^Lm^ 4° East of Greenwich ' 14° to 160 Feet. Depths. 160 to 640 Feet. Gin Feet and upwards. 180 Miles. depressed nose and timiid lips, biit generally of less dark complexion than their Fulah neighbours. North of the Mui'i Mountains dwell the pagan "Wurukus and Tangalas, the latter the most dreaded of the Nyem-Nyem (Yem-Yem) tribes, who, like the Niam-Niams of the "Welle basin, are confirmed cannibals, devouring their captives, but not their own sick and dead, as has been reported. In the popular belief the souls of all the departed are absorbed in one collective and highly venerated deity, called Dodo, to whom temples are erected in the shade of the baobabs. The Fali and Bele tribes in the Gongola basin, near Bornu, speak dialects akin INHABITANTS OF THE BENUE BASIN. 329 to the Kauuri, while the speech of those bordering on the Nifawa and Haussawa betrays certain afiiuities to the languages of those more polished nations. Although despised by the Mussulmans, these aborigines are often skilful artisans. The finest mats and best-baked pottery sold in the Lower Niger markets are prepared by the Afos and Bassas who dwell near the Benue confluence. In the open plains the bulk of the population are Haussawa in the east ana Nifawa (Nupe) in the west, while several towns towards the Bornu frontier are chiefly inhabited by Kanuri. The Fulah conquerors are everywhere numerically Fig. 158. — KrvESAiN Popui^tions of the Bentte add Lowes Niqeb. Scale 1 ; 10,000,000. \ ••■\: J s " 5-"-'"!??'*' 'ijpnSoia-, WIA N D A 1. 'A ' ^L .Doloo 10' 4° test cti* breanwich 8' 0to32 Feet. Depths. 32 to 160 Feet. 160 Feet ana upwards. 180 Miles. inferior, except in a few scattered enclaves where their herds find good pasturage. Many of these Fulahs, especially towards the Upper Benue, are still pagans at a very low state of culture. In Adamawa, on the left side of the Benue, they are more numerous than in the north, in some districts forming the majority of the population. Here most of the petty states are governed by Fulah chiefs, whose language prevails in the towns. The Sani, Bula, Bassama, Mbum, Fall and other aborigines collectively known as Battas have been driven into the mountains or the forests, or else reduced to slavery. The magnificent lands of Adamawa are VOL. XII. Z 330 WEST AFEICA. eveiywhere cultivated bj' slave labour, and Earth met several Fulab proprietors who possessed over a tbousand slaves. On the left bank of the Benue below Adamawa and Hamarawa, the pre- dominant element are the Akpas, Wakari, or Juku, divided into numerous tribes, each speaking a distinct dialect of the same stock language. Some have been partly civilised by their Fulah neighbours, while others in the more remote districts are reported cannibals, wearing garments of foliage, and altogether leading very primitive lives. The Mishi or Mitchi occupy, on the south bank below the Akpas, an extensive territory stretching southwards to the Old Calabar basin. Facing them on the north side are numerous peoples speaking the Doma or Arago idiom, which appears to be related to the Yoruba. The domain of the Igarras (Tgallas), called also Apotos or Aputus, stretches along the left bank of the Lower Benue, and thence below the confluence to within a short distance of the Niger delta. But their territory has been encroached upon at several points by Bessas, Fulahs, or Haussawa from beyond the Benue. In the intei'ior the Igarra speech extends probably to the neighboixrhood of the Old Calabar river, and in any case this language, which has been carefully studied by the missionaries, is one of the most widely diffused in the Lower Niger regions. North and south of the confluence are some enclaves of Igbara and Kukuruku tribes, the latter so named from their cry, resembling the crowing of a cock. The domain of the Ibo speech is stiU more extensive than that of the Igarra, comprising west of the Niger a vast territory in the Yoruba country, besides all the head of the delta, and in the east the Old Calabar basin as far as the unex- plored regions. Egba is divided into a great number of very distinct dialects, but the form current along the Niger has become the general standard, and has been adopted by the missionaries for their translations, grammars, and vocabularies. Formerly all the slaves transported from the Niger to America were indifferently called Ibo, of whatever speech or tribe they may have been. The Ibos worship Tchuku, a powerful god whom mortal eye has never seen, but whose voice may at times be heard ; but woe to whoever hears this voice, for he shall henceforth be dumb. The deity dwells at once in a cavern and in the firmament, so that one eye pierces the depths of the earth, the other the heavenly spaces. Till recently his wrath was appeased by the sacrifice of hajjless maids, who were dragged over the ground till they expired, and their bodies were then thrown to the fishes and crocodiles. Amongst the Ibos the social castes are strictly upheld, although anyone may pass upwards by right of purchase. The highest nobility comprises only a few members, whose greatness is proclaimed to the jjublic by tinkling bells attached to their legs or borne in front of them. Others of lesser rank are anuoimced from afar by horn-blowing ; but all may be easily recognised by their special tattoo-markings. Some have the skin of the forehead brought down like a sort of visor over the eyes. The delta region south of the dominating Ibos, is still occupied by scattered tribes without social or linguistic coherence, although the Izekiri (Tchekeri), or Benin language, prevails in the western districts towards the Yoruba frontier. THE EYO NATION. 331 The Jfun branch is occupied by tribes of Akassa speech, which like the Nempe of Brass, the Bonny Okrika, and others, belong to the Eyo (Ijii) family. Commer- cial activity promises to give the preponderance to the Nempe, into which the native pastors translate the English religious works. Like the Ibos, the Eyo tribes believe in a supreme god, who, however, is confounded with the heavens, revealing his power in the clouds, the rainbow, the fierce g-ale, the lightning flash, and the thunder-clap. But this god is too remote to be directly worshipped, and Fig. 1.59. — Lasgitaoes op thb Bexue axd Lowes Niger. Scale 1 : 75,000. im ..KefR.- 1 1 N III iriiMii 1 1 iiriiiniiiiiiiMiiiltif Mil I itititiiiii DM iinni Mill 1 iiitiiiti nil iiiiM iiinui iiiii II iiiiiiiniriiii iMiM V I n 1 1 1 1 1 ( I II 1 1 1 1 M I II n 1 ri X-^' 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 n I u 1 1 1 1 ■^ "^^ 1111111111111111 -x^ ,X^ v\- \N x\^W XN •Jl""""'"i «i^iiiii* East of GreeX<^ Bonny & Okiika lAndony g^^Bannw,^^ Hau..a , Tongues j^^Sr & PoularL Depths. - Poulnr &Fulah OtoMO Feet. 640 Feet and upwards. , 180 Miles. is therefore approached through the mediation of secondary and more friendly deities, such as the iguana in the Bonny estuary, the shark in New Calabar, and elsewhere monkeys. Every two years the towns are purified, not by cleansing the houses or sweeping the streets, but by exorcising the foul fiends. The Jew- Jew-men, or wizards, play a preponderating part as medicine-men, priests, and prophets, as judges often condemning the accused to the ordeal of poison or of a plimge in some estiiary infested bj- sharks and crocoddes. From them the Europeans learnt the potent properties of the essere, or Calabar bean (P/ii/sostigma z 2 832 WEST AFEICA. venenosum), whicli is now used in the treatment of oplithalmia. Formerly criminals were put to death in the Bonny district with every refinement of cruelty. They were attached, half torn asunder, to two gibbets set up on the beach and then chopped to pieces, beginning with the hands and fore-arms, and when nothing remained but the trunk, the heart was torn from the breast. These Bonny men are the keenest traders on the coast, although closely pressed by their eastern neighbours, the Andoni, Quas, and Efiks of Old Calabar. These three tribes speak dialects of a radically distinct language, possibly related to others known only by name in the unexplored interior. The Efik, which alone has been seriously studied, seems to occupy an intermediate position between the Negro tongues in the north and west, and the great Bantu family, which begins in the Cameroon highlands, immediately east of the Rio del Rey. Except a few missionaries, traders, and officials in the employment of the Royal African Company, no Europeans are settled in this region, where the early attempts at acclimatisation proved disastrous. Of the forty-nine whites on board the first two steamers that ascended the Niger in 1832, nine only escaped with their lives ; and on three other steamers sent by a philanthropic society in 1841, forty-eight out of a hundred and forty- three died during a short voyage of a few weeks. The "model farm" foimded by them on the right bank above the confluence was not quite cleared for cultivation when the death of all the Euro- peans restored the land to wild beasts and the jungle. But then came Baikie's ever-memorable expedition in 1854, when by the judicious use of wine and quinine, and other sanitary precautions, a long voyage was made up the Benue without the loss of a single life. Henceforth Europeans had a decisive example of the proper measures to take, if not for complete acclimatisation, at least for temporary protection against the perils of this dangerous environment. Topography. The Upper Benue basin lies almost entirely within the province of Adamawa, which is tributary to the Sultan of Wurno. According to native report, the most frequented market in this almost unknown region is Ncjaundere, on the water-parting between the streams flowing to the Benue, Logon-Shari, Congo, and Old Calabar. Here are also the large towns of Chamba, on the south slope of Mount Alantika ; Konteha, where the sugar-cane grows wild, and Tola, near the south bank, present capital of Adamawa, or Fumbina, as it was called before the Fulah conquest. At that time the chief town was Gurin, on the left bank of the Faro, 24 miles above its confluence with the Benue. East of this confluence is Re'i-Buha, whose strong ramparts show that the so-caUed " savage " aborigines had already developed a certain degree of culture before the arrival of the Fulahs. North of the Faro mouth stretches the delightful land of Demsa with its pleasant villages scattered amid the thickets at the foot of the wooded granite hills. On the route from Demsa to Bornu, Barth passed the Arab town of Bckm, then Sarau, inhabited partly by Fulahs, partly by BereOere or colonists from Bornu; TAKOBA. 3S3 Badamijo, held by the Fali people, and near the divide Uha, the most advanced Fulah settlement in the direction of Lake Tsad. The Gongola, which joins the Benue a little below Yola, waters the imjjor- tant provinces of Bautchi and Xalam, vassal states of the Fulah empire. Near the source lies the capital, Garo n' Bautchi, better known by the name of Yakola {Yakohari), either from its founder or from the neighbouring Yako tribe. Like Yola, it is a modern place, built at the beginning of the present century by a Kg. 160.— Tola. Scale 1 : 7,600,000. Cast of" Greenwich IS°34' I2°57' i 3,300 Yards. converted Moslem chief, to whom the Fulah sultan had given in fief the vast territory lying between the province of Kano and the Benue. Yakoba stands over 3,000 feet above sea-level in the northern part of this region, surrounded by lofty mountains, whence streams flow in various directions towards the Gongola and other tributaries of the Benue. Thanks to its favourable position at the con- verging point of several caravan routes, and to other advantages, it increased rapidly, and at the time of Rohlf's visit was said to have already a population of one hundred and fiity thousand, mostly Haussawa. 334 "^VEST Ai-RICA. North-east of Yakoba, near the right bank of the Gongoia, lies GomM, capital of the kingdom of Kalam, also a large place, inhabited mostly by Kanuri people. In MUEI.— LOKO. 335 the same district are two other uolewoithy places, Biiri-Buri in the south-west, also inhabited by Kaniu-i, and Buku in the east, with a mixed population of Kanuri, Haussawa, and other elements. On the north side of the main stream below the Gongola confluence stands Muri {Hamarmca), capital of the JIuri vassal state, inhabited chiefly by zealous Fulah Mohammedans. On the oiDposite side of the Benue lies the city of Zhiru, enclosed on the south by the Adamawa Mountains. JVukari, capital of the Kororofa state, which is separated fi'om Bautchi by the main stream below the Kaddera junction, was visited for the first time by a European (Flegel) in 1883. Like Muri, it lies some distance from the bank of the river, where the neighbourin» ports of Tcharo, SJiibu, Ibi and Ani/as/ii are now frequently visited by explm-ers Fig. 162. — Yakoba and Mount Saranda. Scale 1 : 630,000. 9^50'East of Greenwich- 12 Miles. and traders. Bansofa, lying higher up on the same side, is noted for the mines of lead, wronglj- said to be of antimony, which are situated two or three days' march in the interior. In the basin of the Sungo, which joins the Benue near the southernmost point of the great bend, are some important places, such as Lafia, Bere-Bere, a Kanmi settlement 60 miles north of the main stream ; Alahashi, more to the west, and Keana, on the route between Lafia and the Benue, capital of a petty state tributary to Wurno. Loko, on the right bank of the main stream, 90 miles above the Lokojo confluence, is the busiest place in the Benue basin. It is the largest ivory market in West Africa, exporting annuallj' from fifty to sixtj' tons of this commodity. Midway between Loko and the confluence the Benue is joined by the Okwa 336 WEST AFEICA. (Kogna), from the Seg-Seg country, ^vhe^e Kes the great city of Keffi Abd-es-Senga, so named from its founder, who built it in 1819, and peopled it with Moslem NUPE WOMAN. LIBRARY ■ OF THE INIVERSITyoftLLlNOiS, LOKOJA.— ONITCHA. 837 Fiilahs and Haussa-wa. At the time of RoUf 's visit it was a flourishiiig place, and the chief station on the trade route between Kano and the Lower Xiger. Some 45 or 50 miles north-east of the Benue-Xiger confluence, and -within the present kino-dom of Xupe, lie the ruins of the famous city of Panda {Fenda), formerly capital of the powerful kingdom of the Ighara nation, destroyed by the Fulahs towards the middle of the present century. Siuce the commercial importance of the Benue has been recognised, the English have established a factory at the -s-illage of Lokoja, near the Niger confluence, and this place has now become an important trading, political, and religious centre. Ighegbe, on the left bank of the main stream below the junction, was formerly a chief stronghold of the slave-himters, and is still a busy tradiug-place. Idda, Fig. 164.— Idda. Scale 1 : 110,000. r- ^^^^■HH ^^^^^^- - '-' . ^ ^^= =^'l^ -' *■, *.' ,-. :''V,^ ''■Z'*-' '■ "'■ ■'''£^' •'*•■' 3°-^^^ --«?s^-^"-^^ ^ ^- :.• .i • ■'. ^ :■- ■:-. -- ; •i-;^viM,i.-. „■ 70 "6' ^ \ *. . ' Village ^ — Si -^» - " ■ .■"•«.* J '4- ". - > .;••/' "m- ^^•■:^-^.^^y y:%^'::^^'§^: 'T- •- ■ - ' ' .- ■ W--'^^ '■' ■•^lii|^\■^)^<^'^^V■^■:■"•^f^: -.■■■. .,%^'v' .•#?•• ■'■'■'■ iM Si---^--" -p. '•....■•■-■■- =::..■>■' \ .'■ ' '• .' ^ . i-^= ^a'r '■\==\' •• i :' . • ° ■. •'.'■"=;. ' • • '." '»'* y 1 ^^ - • >^'~Vt==i^A - J^ ^ ;^ ^ . ■ ■ ^ • .c . ja ■ ' ■ --i: ^§~'>7 " ^^3^^^^» °' • "\* ----- ''•;'°'-' ■ -^ . ■ • " l J- W-l ^^^^Bfe:- ^/ '' • - * ''M • ''.'''-• ' . *• ■•T- ' *' - V 'f=^ ^Vff f^ r t" . ■' "'' " ' ■ =- ' ' .' V ;. ■ ■ K •.•:'[•■ .•• •: ^= \^ '/~ - J "■' • f"'^-^' ■ ■■ ^t .:-' . ■•.;■;•• :• ;;f ■ L^^.> -y^ '■ ■ ■= ■ ''.''•■ '.' .>;\rr •■•' - , • ^ )^W^^^=\ A^ ?' ^^'*i{ i^i':\ .-. ^.. >v.°./. 7° 5' '••• ^ :• • :-.;V-:-:* p;•;;;P:^i:';'^-;:|'^^^^^,^^:^ 70 5- -_ 1 East or ui-eenwich 6^-^5' Depths. otoie Feet. 16 Feet and upwards. . 3,300 Tarda. cipital of the Ibo kingdom, occupies the most picturesque position in the Lower Xiger basin, crowning a bluff some 60 feet high on the left bank, here everjTvhere skirted by rich and verdant plains. Onitcha, a still larger place than Idda, Kes about 2 miles from the left bank on a well-cultivated terrace rising 130 feet above the low-water level. On a bluff a little higher up on the opposite side stands the town of Assaba (Assabita), where the English have also some factories. TiU recently no one could be ennobled in Assaba without offering a human sacrifice to the local genii, and the town con- tained no less than four hundred of these dignitaries. Thanks to its position, about half-way between the Xiger-Benue confluence and the mouth of the Nun, Onitcha has become the most important depot along the whole course of the Niger, 338 WEST AFRICA. aud has also the advantage of water communication with some very populous districts on both slopes of the river. The local " king " is now obliged to remain permanently within the precincts of his palace, because custom requires a human victim every time he goes abroad. Once a year only, that is, during the yam feast, he is allowed out to take part in the public rejoicings. In the midst of the unexplored forests stretching eastward lies ^^-o, the mj'sterious "city of sins," where are made great sacriiices of animals, and perhaps of men, for the cleansing Fig. 165. — Onitcha. Scale 1 : 135,000. 6° 6° 7' r/P^^:-^:/-.:-^ ••• 6° IE- 6° 7' - 'A. ■'..,.. »-TC ..:.^(M.r/ ■■- •'■ ■. '■''Oko /^ a/^ ■^•- '■• -^■'■' '°'' •' 'i'i i". "• '^"-^^^^^■■'.'.It - •■.'^^:>v 6*^40' 6''4S' East of Greenwich Depths. OtolB Feet. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 Feet and upwards. . 3,300 Yards. of the people. A pilgrimage to this place, "where dwells the Creator," is held to be a meritorious act even by the Mussulmans themselves. Along both banks follow several other towns and markets, such as Osomari and Ndoni on the left, Ebo and Wari on the right side, the latter capital of the kingdom of like name, and in an island near the bar the village of Akassa, which has become a chief centre of the commercial operations of the Royal African Company. Bonny and Calabar. East of the Nun, the estuaries of the delta and of Old Calabar have received the name of Oil-rivers in a pre-eminent sense. Here the staple of the export trade BRASS.— BONNY. 339 is palm-oil, the chief imports being rifles, muuitions, textiles, Idtchen utensils, hardware, implements of all sorts, mirrors, glassware, and coral. Brass, the iirst important trading-place east of the Nun, lies some distance from the coast amid the network of channels connecting the Niger with the Bonny. Here are a few factories on the very verge of the forest, hut much of its Fig. 1C6. — Bonny and New Caiabae. Scale 1 : 410,000. Deptlis- to 16 Feet. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 to 04 Feet. 64 Feet and upwards. , 6 Miles. trade has, in recent years, been diverted to the Niger The double estuary of Boniuj (Okoloma) was formerly connected with that of New Calabar by a common mouth now separated into two channels by an island of recent formation. It gives access to some great highways of trade traversing vast and populous but almost unknown regions in the interior. Bonny was the most frequented station of the ''slavers," and as many as three hundred and twenty thousand captives were said to 340 WEST AFEICA, have been sold in the markets of this estuary during the first twenty years of the present century. After its suppression in 1819 this traffic was gradually replaced by that of palm- oil, of wliich nearly twenty thousand tons have for some years past been exported Fig. 167. — Old Calabae and Otono. Scale 1 : 2,150,000. Cast oT breenwich 0to32 Feet. 32 to 160 Feet. Depths. IGO to 640 Feet. 640 ieet and upwards. . 30 Miles. from Bonny alone. Owing to the multitude of tribes and languages now repre- sented in this district, English has become the almost indispensable medium of general intercoui'so. Near the extreme point of the coast below Bonny stands the port of FiiDiema (Fammena), by the English sailors generally called Jew-Jew-town, flif i'5 -Mi -«1 W <1 Hi o p o M ;?! O W MlltUI( l^tf/ [ fl ^^l ]ll]^]t| ||yil|iB' j LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. OLD CALABAE. 3il because here Kve the potent riverain magicians. The European traders do not reside on the coast, but in hulks grouped together to form a floating town. Here may be procm-ed all the comforts of an English hotel, and the decks generally swarm with a world of domestic animals — ^monkeys, birds, sheep, goats, cats and dogs, and other pets. Elegant barges of European build ply between the hulks and the shore, and the estuaries are also animated by solidly constructed native craft embellished with original decorative designs. Some 70 miles east of New Calabar lies the Old Calabar, or simply Calabar, estuary, 10 or 11 miles wide and everywhere studded with wooded islands. The various groups of houses known by the collective name of Calabar all stand to the north of this estuary, on the banks of the Cross Eiver (Oyono) and its afiluents. Buke-toicn {Atakpa), where the hulks are moored, lies towards the head of the inlet, near the junction of all the tributary streams. Creek-town, the residence of the local " king," stands still farther north, on the slope of the amphitheatre of hUls above the course of the stream; and the village of Old-town, the remains of a former prosperous station, lies midway on the channel leading from Duke-town to Creek-town. It was formerly the centre of the local traffic, but the English traders, wishing to divert the movement to their factories at New-town, as Duke- town was then called, invited the leading members of the rival town to a " palaver " on board their hulks ; then it is stated by Clarkson that the natives had scarcely moored their boats to the hulks when they were shot down from the decks {History of the Abolition of the Slave-trade). The Qua tribe is regarded as the suzerain of Old Calabar, and as such receives a yearly tribute. Ikorofiong, higher up the Cross River, where the first sandstone hUls are seen, still belongs to the Calabar district ; but Uman, on a low island farther north, is governed by fetish priests, who are powerful enough to enforce the old sanguinary " customs." Beyond this point, some 60 miles from the estuary, the river enters the territory of the Akunakuna tribe, whose capital, Okurike, stands on a range of hills skirting the left bank. English influence extends no farther inland than Okm'ike, although the Oyono was already explored in 1842 as far as the rapids near the north foot of the Cameroon highlands. Beyond this point begin the unexplored regions, which Germany already claims by treaty as the seat of its future colonies. CHAPTER rni. the tsad basix. Ge>-erai. Sitrtet. ^HE geographical centre of the African continent is not an Alpine range, as in Europe and Asia, but on the contrary a deep depres- sion largely flooded by marsh waters, and in its reKef inclining rather towards the Niger and the western regions. East and south this basin is encircled by mountains and uplands, north and west by disconnected hills and terraces, falling in the south-west to open, low-lying plains, through which the great lacustrine depression almost merges in the Benue hTdrographic system. Thus the central region is -almost everywhere easily acces- sible, and also contains a relatively dense population, estimated at certainly more than seven miUions in a total area exceeding 280,000 square miles. Thanks to the f ertilitY of the soil and its rich vegetation, the Tsad basin promises to become perhaps the most flourishing region in the whole of Africa. But this inland basin has not yet been brought into direct and regular com- munication with the civilised world. Tears pass before the echo reaches Europe of the events of which it is the scene, and the great movements of migration, wars and conquests remain unknown. Hitherto its direct relations have mainly been through the Dar-For and TTadai routes with the east, whence it has received its Mohammedan religion, its foreign culture and knowledge of the outer world. The highway connecting the Tsad basin with the Mediterranean seaboard has been of far less historic importance, although in recent times more frequented by traders from the north, and consequently now better known. But this more direct route is, in its turn, being gradually replaced by the much longer but easier south-western waterway of the Benue and Lower Xiger. The Tsad basin has hitherto been visited by few European explorers, and this dangerous journey has proved fatal to several of those who have attempted it. Bomu was first reached in 1823 by the Fezzan route and Kawar oasis by Denham, Clapperton, Oudney, Hillman, and Toole ; but two of these English pioneers never returned to their native land. Over a quarter of a century passed before the next expedition was undertaken in 1851 by Eichardson, Overweg, and Barth, but the TELE TSAD BASIN. 343 two former soon perisliecl, wliile their successor, Vogel, met with, a violent end in Wadai, the same fate some years afterwards overtaking Beurmann in Eanem. In 1871 and 1872 better success attended Nachtigal, who, after visiting Borku and Kanem, successively traversed Bornu, Baghirmi, Wadai, and Dar-For. Matteucci and Massari followed in 1880, but no traveller has yet succeeded in crossing the water-parting which separates the waters flowing north to Lake Tsad and south to the Congo. Nor has any European yet reached the Mendif uplands, which may be regarded as the orographic centre of the continent, dominating at once the Nile, Niger, Tsad, and Congo basins. Eastwards the natural limit of the Tsad geographical system is formed by the Fig. 108. — Routes of Explorers in the Tsad Basin. Scale 1 : 12,000,000. ^^I'^^A^ "X ~v^-^_ i "•- -^..3h.r -\>.£.J^..^^ ...■■■ .H\ \T.-- 10' . lEast of Greenvvi(^h 180 Miles. Marrah range, which in Dar-For constitutes the divide in the direction of the Nile. Farther west the plains are broken by some secondary chains, such as the two parallel Tirdze ridges running north and south in Dar-For and Wadai at an altitude of about 2,0(K) feet above the sea, falling imperceptibly northwards in the direction of the Sahara, and continued south-westwards by isolated eminences and by the Gher^ hills occupying a large part of West Wadai. West of the Shari, some of whose affluents flow from the Ghere uplands, the divide between the Tsad and Benue is formed by the Wandala Mountains, which have a mean elevation of 2,600 feet, culminating in Mount Magar, about 3,000 feet high. Near this range rise two isolated peaks, Kamalle, terminating in a columnar mass, and much farther 344 WEST APEICA. soiith tlie twin-crested Mendif, which at a distance seem white, but which are said to be really blackish, probably basaltic, the white appearance being due to a deposit of guano from the myriads of birds whirling round these heights. Towards the west the incline is very slight from the plains of Bornu to the divide separating them from the oceanic basin. The absolute height of the hills does not exceed 2,000 feet, except in the isolated Mount Fika, visible in all direc- tions for several days' march. In the extreme north the limits of the Tsad basin are indicated less by the relief than by the climate, although some chains of sand- hills, escai-pments of the plateau, and a few rocky eminences vary the monotony of the steppe zone intermediate between the forest regions and the Saharian wastes. Lake Tsad. Although the streams flowiag westwards from the Marrah range belong to the Tsad system, it seems probable that none of them, except on rare occasions, actually reach the lake or its great tributary, the Shari. The Wady Azum and its various affluents form a permanent watercourse only during the kharif, or rainy season, and even then the slight general incKne and the iatervening eminences cause the sluggish current to expand in shallow meres, soon carried off by evaporation. The Batha, which rises in the Tirdze hills, flows south-west and west to the Fitri depression, alternately a morass and a lake, according to the abundance of the rainfall. In the language of the riverain populations who preceded the present Kanuri masters of the land, Tsad (Tsade, Chad, Chade), had the sense of " great body of water," and the term Kolo (Kula), applied to this vast flooded depression by the Tedina islanders, appears to have the same meaning. Burckhardt was the first to describe it with some approach to accuracy. All Arab traders, accepting the assumed identity of the Timbuktu, Bornu, and Egyptian waters, regarded Lake Tsad either as a common reservoir of all the African " Niles," or the inland sea of a great central plateau, whence the rivers escaped in all dii-ections to the periphery of the continent. Since Denham, the first European who reached the lake, which he named "Waterloo," accurate surveys have shown that, on the contrary, it occupies one of the lowest regions in Africa, standing, according to Vogel and Nachtigal, not more than 850 or 900 feet above sea-level, while its hydrographic function is limited to collecting the surrounding waters in a completely landlocked basin. Its actual extent cannot yet be even approximately estimated, the sources and headwaters of its chief affluent, the Shari, being stQl unknown. Nachtigal's tentative calculation of 11,000 square miles for the lake alone is reduced by Rohlf s to 4,500 for the dry, and raised to 22,000 for the wet season. But although thus rivalling in extent some of the other great lakes of the Old and New Worlds, Tsad cannot compare with them in the depth or volimie of its waters. According to the natives the greatest depth between the shore near Kuka and the Shari mouth, is only " the height of two men," and the island of Seyorum, 12 miles off the coast, may be reached on horseback. In the deepest parts sur- LAKE TSAD. 345 veyed by tim, Overweg found only 20 feet, so that Tsad is ratter a permanent inundation than a lake in the true sense of the term, in this respect resembling VOL. XII. A A 346 WTilST AFEICA. the Siberian Balkash, apparently a great inland sea, in reality a shallow expansion of the River Hi. The coastline is clearly defined only at the northern extremity, where the Saharian sands drifting before the trade winds have been heaped up in dunes, whose base projects like a headland into the water. Almost everywhere else it seems impossible to say where the Fig. 170. — T.Ain; oF TuBURI. Scale 1 : 860,000. "IS y _;. i! "v " Tj^- TUBUfiU - , ^ ■ K > ) . J..W \ 1 J -A~. Q ) TdL-tr ) J, .u-^ «l i) _.■ lEZ- is -> ;-—- « ^^- > °^t* _-^li^ ; % ■L^ - -^-.a. ,' land ceases and the water begins. The south-east comer, and farther north the part near the Kanem coast, are occupied by groups of islands, covcrins', according to Nachtigal, one- third of the whole sm-f ace, and separated from each other by shallow or mar.shy straits. The southern archipel- ago of Karka is in fact a mere assemblage of eminences dotted over a morass, which if drained would present an appearance analogous to that of the neigh- bouring land of Kanem, where green hills and leafy thickets alternate with treeless spaces. Besides the rains, which begin in June, Tsad is fed by large tributaries, chiefly from Boruu iu the west, and from Baghirmi in the south. From Bornu come two l-omodofju or " rivers," which in the dry season shrink to a mere chain of lagoons, but which during the rains flow iu a con- tinuous stream much too deep and rapid to be forded. The Yeu (Yoobe of Nachtigal, Waube of Barth), has its farthest sources in Haussa Land, 480 miles to the west, and it drains the whole of West Boruu, and apparently also the Babir territory on the Adamawa frontier, which is said to send it a tributary flowing for part of its course through an underground gallery. Much more important are the contributions received from the southern regions watered by the copious tropical rains. The streams, such as the Mbidu, rising in the Maudara country, flow sluggishly over the level plains, expanding into vast 9' of G. ast o\ br-eenwich IS Miles. LAKE TSAD. 347 sheets of water, and for weeks and months together interrupting all coraniunica- tions. Lake Tubui-i is the centre of a series of lagoons presenting a continuous waterway between the Upper Benue and the Tsad, while during the rains aU the branches of the Shari delta, on the south side, are merged in a common stream 30 miles wide. "NYhen this great body of water reaches the lake it begins to rise rapidly, attaining its highest leyel towards the end of Xovember. The Shari, which in the local idioms has the same meaning as Tsad, is one of the great riyers of Africa, the problem of whose source, howeyer, is not yet completely sohcd. At the same time, Schwcinfurth's suggestion that the "Welle of the ^[onbottu and Xiam-Xiam regions is its upper course, is now rejected by most geographers; who regard the TTelle as an affluent of the Congo. The farthest eastern headstreams of the Shari are probably still oyer 600 miles from Fig. 171. — The Ba Bcsso, ob Eastern Sham, at Miskdt, South-East op Logon. the source of the Welle, taking their rise in the southern uplands of I)ar-For and Wadai. Acco^-ding to the naiiyes, the ramifications of its delta begin 300 miles aboye its mouth, at a point where it divides into two ba or chief branches, the Ba Bai, or Logon, flowing to the left, the Ba Busso, or Shari proper, to the right. But howeyer this be, the eastern arm after receiying the Bahr-el-Abiad (" White Eiver "), from the Banda territory, throws off a branch, the Ba Batchikam, which is again united 150 miles lower down. Farther on both main branches are merged in one, while a number of secondary channels find their waj- in shifting beds to the lake. The annual discharge of the Shari is roughly estimated by Xachtigal at oyer 2,100 billion cubic feet, or an average of 70,000 per second, this quantity being at least double the supply received by the lake from all other influents and the A a2 343 -^VEST AFEICA. rainfall taken together. The total rise caused by all these contributions is estimated by Rohlfs at about 30 feet, the area of the flooded depression increasing during the inundations by many thousand square miles, and exceeding in extent the lake of Greneva ten or even twenty times. Unlike all other large closed basins, Tsad is a freshwater lake, a phenomenon all the more surprising that wells sunk in Kanem yield a brackish fluid, while seTcral islands in the eastern archipelago contain saltpetre. Doubtless its main influent, the Shari, flows through a region extremely poor in salt ; but if the lake Fig. 172. — Tsad asd Bahb-el-GtHAZAL. Scale 1 : 6,000,000. X^' Ea.: of liWilfles. were of great geological age, the saline particles, however small iu quantity. must necessarily have accumulated by the effect of concentration and evaporation, whence the inference that this reservoir is of comparatively recent formation. At present it is the scene of incessant change, due mainly to the action of the Shari, whose alluvial delta advancing on the south side causes the liquid domain to encroach on the other sides, and especially on the west coast, where the route between Bomu and Kanem is constantly receding farther and farther inland. Here the district of Kuka is exposed to frequent inundations, which laid the city under water in 1873. when the Sheikh proposed to remove his residence much LAKE TSAD. 349 farther west. For the same reason several other towns, such as Ngigmi in the north-west corner, have had to be rebuilt farther inland. While the water is thus advancing westwards, it is retiring on the opposite side, where the Bahr-el-Ghazal, although at a lower level than the Tsad, has been gradually drying up. This watercourse was long supposed to be a tributary of the lake, until Nachtigal's survej's confirmed the original statement of Denham and ClaiDperton, that it is really an old emissary, which is even still occasionally flooded. At the time of Nachtigal's visit, the current penetrated some 50 miles into the Bahr-el-Ghazal, which according to the local tradition, only ceased to be a regular affluent about the second half of the last centiiry. Some infiltration probably stiU goes on below the surface, where brackish water can always be found at depths of from 4 to 6 or 7 feet. According to Nachtigal's preliminary survey, the Bahr-el-Ghazal flowed first east, then north-east for about 300 miles to the Bodele depression, at the foot of the Borku escarpments. West of this point occurs another broad depression, that of Egay, also at a lower level than Tsad, and separated from the Bahr-el- Ghazal by a barrier of dunes. Here the sandhills, all disposed in the direction from north-east to south-west, generally move with considerable rapidity under the action of the regular trade- winds. Where the original lacustrine bed is not concealed by these sands, it is found strewn with the remains of fish in such numbers and so well preserved that a naturalist might here conveniently study the ichthyology of the Tsad basin. At present there are neither cultivated tracts nor permanent settlements in this region, where, however, Nachtigal discovered the remains of a city, and where the Senusiya missionaries have announced their intention of founding an establishment near the copious Galakka springs, on the route between Bodele and Borku. Climate. — Floka. — Fauna. The climate of Bornu is much more equable than that of the Sahara, the difference of temperature being much less perceptible between day and night, and scarcely exceeding 17° F. between the hottest and coldest months. According to Denham the mean for the year at Kulca is 82°, falling to 75° in December, and rising to 91° in April. Throvighout most of the year the trade winds prevail, flowing sometimes from the north-east, at others parallel with the equator. The rainfall increases generally in the direction from north to south, and from east to west, and is consequently much heavier in Bornu than in Wadai, in the Shari basin than in Kanem, and heaviest in the Mandara uplands, where the wet season lasts seven full months, and sometimes even more. In Bornu the corresponding period begins towards the end of May, and is over at the end of September, here the mean annual rainfall being certainly more than 40 inches. The remaining eight months are divided into a dry and a hot season, the former following, the latter preceding, the rains, and the transition between all these periods being everywhere very abrupt. 350 WEST AFEICA. m L.VKE TSAD. 351 In the intermediate zone between the Sahara and Sudan, the characteristic vegetation are graminaceous phxnts and trees not requiring much moistui-e, such as the acacias, the prevailing species of which traverse the whole continent from the Eed Sea to the shores of the Atlantic. Here animal life is surprisingly rich, including vast herds of antelopes and gazelles, of giraffes and elephants, ostriches still as numerous as they ever were on the Algerian plateau, and the hippopotamus in the lake and all its affluents. Eapacious beasts, such as the lion and hyaena, are also met in this region, while in the forests the weaver-bii-d hangs its nest on every pliant bough, and the shallow waters are animated by flocks of ducks, geese, pelicans, storks, and herons. Snakes are niunerous, and after every shower the ground swarms with centipedes and other insects. South of the border zone, vegetation increases in vigour and variet}- in the direction of the equator. The dum palm, rare and stunted iu the steppe, acquires its full development in the interior of Bornu, and on the plains of Baghirmi and the Mandara territory, here and there accompanied by the deleb pabn, and every- where associated with the leafy tamarind-tree, and in the south with the gigantic baobab. In South Baghirmi the forest vegetation prevails everywhere, the trees increasing in size and presenting several new species peculiar to the troj)ics, such as the Efiodendroii anfi-actuosum, yielding a down soft as that of the eider ; the stLU more useful butter-tree (bassia Parkii), so valuable in a country where the domestic animals supply but little nnlk, and the Parkia biglolosa, whose berry affords an extremely nutritious flour. In these forest regions the characteristic animals are the cynocephalous apes, lions, and other feHdae, elephants, the hippopotamus, and in South Wadai the abu-koni, or two-horned rhinoceros. Baghirmi is described by Earth and Nachtigal as a land teeming beyond most others in insect life, scorpions, ants, and termites swarming everywhere, while certain districts are infested by the tsetse fly, or some analogous pest. Pyramidal termite-hills are frequently seen, resembling the native huts, but more solidly built, and for centuries resisting the action of the tropical sun and rains. Some were seen by Barth which stood 40 feet high with a circumference of about 70 yards. During the rainy season, when they assume wings, the termites hover heavily about their nests, and are then captured and devoiu-ed in vast quantities by the natives. They are found in endless variety : some almost microscopic, some nearly an inch long ; some black, grey, or green, others brown, red, or white ; some forming warlike aristocracies, others communistic republics, but all equally industrious and hardworking, whence the term kida-kkia ( " work- work " ) applied to them by the natives. Lake Tsad appears to abound in fish, which form the staple food of the islanders, and which are largely exported to the interior of Bornu. The lacustrine fauna includes some much-dreaded carnivorous species, and the ma/acoj^fenirus, a dangerous electric fish, besides the manatus Vogelii, a cetacean so named from the traveller who first described it. In the Tsad basin the chief cereals are dokhn and durra, the former cidtivated in the sandy districts of the north, the latter in the stronger soil of the south. 352 t\t;st afeica. Crops are also raised of maize, rice, sesame, and ground-nuts, besides a Kttle wheat and barley, which, like the fig, citron, and pomegranate, are of recent introduction. These trees grow to an enormous size, but the fruits are inferior in flavom- to those of the Mediterranean regions. Horned cattle, horses, asses, sheep, and goats thrive well, and despite the pre- cepts of Islam, the people of Kuka keep herds of swine, which act as scavengers in concert with the carrion birds. In Bornu camels are rare, except in the north, where the Koyam people have succeeded in acclimatising a particular variety. Of oxen there are several breeds, of which one is distinguished by enormous horns growing in the form of a lyre 20 inches in circumference at the base ; while another has a hump like that of the zebu, and short movable horns rocking at every step. The horses, introduced from the north during the period of the Mohammedan invasion, are of the Barbary stock, which they still equal in endur- ance, vivacity, and speed. All these domestic animals are carefully tended in well- kept stables, and protected against the " evil eye " by high enclosui'es furnished with amulets. Wadai. In the Tsad basin the political preponderance belongs at present to "Wadai, or Borgu, which is, nevertheless, neither the richest nor the most populous state in this region. "Wadai, properly so-called, is a country of small extent lying west of the low Tirdze range, scarcely one-tenth of the subdued territory, not even reckon- ing the vassal states of Kanem and Baghirmi. The sultan's dominions, which are scarcely anywhere clearly defined, are officially conterminous with Dar-For, from which, however, they are separated by no natm-al frontier, but rather by an inter- mediate neutral zone or borderland occupied by nomad populations. Towards the north and north-west the frontiers oscillate with the migrations of subject tribes moving from camping-groimd to camping-ground ; the western limits also are frequently modified by wars and marauding expeditions, while southwards the territories of the reduced tribes have no known confines. But the area of the empire with all its tributary states and dependencies may be roughly estimated at about 180,000 square miles, with a scanty population — according to Nachtigal, not exceeding two millions six hundred thousand. Nearly all the attempts hitherto made to visit "Wadai have ended in disaster. Curry and Beurmann both perished, one approaching from the east, the other from the west. Vogel reached the capital in 1855, but only to be murdered by the fanatical Mussulman inhabitants; Nachtigal, however, who crossed the frontier in 1873, was more fortunate, by his prudent conduct overcoming prejudice and securing friends even amongst the most zealous Mohammedans. Matteucci and Massari also were at least able to traverse the country rapidly and under escort in 1879. The Arab element is relatively much larger in "Wadai than in any other part of Central or "Western Sudan. The indigenous races have, nevertheless, maintained the preponderance, and the Negro Maba nation, comprising one-seventh of the WADAI. 353 whole population, claim to be nobles amongst the nobles, founding their preten- sions on their early conversion to Islam. Their speech is widely diffused amongst the surrounding tribes as the general medium of social and commercial inter- course. South and south-east of the Mabas dwell the Abu-Sharibs, separated from the kindred Tamas, who occupy the uplands of the same name north-east of Wara, former capital of the kingdom. Like theii- Kadoi neighbours they are a valiant race, who long maintained their independence against the Mabas. Other power- ful peoples are the recently subdvied Massalits in the eastern borderland between "VVadai and Dar-For, and the Kukas and Bulalas, founders of the Fitri state, who still enjoy a measure of independence, and whose sultan, although now tributary to Wadai, is considered of more noble origin than his suzerain chief. North of Wadai proper, the Zoghawas, as well as the kindred Dazas and Tedas, are repre- sented by some zealous Mohammedan tribes. Wadai is at present a chief centre of religious propaganda, the Maba sultan having become the aUy of the Senusij'a sect. Nevertheless, most of the subject tribes or vassals in the south have remained pagans, or are at most merely nominal Mohammedans. Thus the Kutis, akin to their Moslem neighbours the Eungas, still practise witchcraft, while other "Kafir" popidations inhabit the southern region vaguely known as Dar-Banda. Like the Niam-Niams still farther south, the Banda people are cannibals, and worship a goddess Wamba, to whom they offer beer and the first-fruits of the chase. This country, say the natives, is boimded southwards by the Bahr Kuta, a great river inhabited by crocodiles and hippopota- muses, and very probably identical with the Welle or some other great affluent of the Congo. Of the Arabs, collectively known in Wadai by the name of Aramka, the most numerous tribe are the Mahamids, settled in the country for over five hundred years, and very rich in camels and other live stock. They pitch their tents especially in the northern valley, and on the steppes stretching away to Borku and Tibesti. The other Arabs of Wadai, more or less mixed with Niiba blood, are divided into the two groups of the Soruks, or "Blacks," and Homr, or "Beds." The Arab element is also largely represented among the Jellabas, or traders, whose caravans penetrate west to Sudan, south to Dar-Banda, and south-east to Baghirmi, taking slaves, ivory, ostrich feathers, and copper in exchange for salt and European wares. Topography and Administration of Wadai. Abeshr (AbesJieh), present capital of Wadai, lies in the Maba country, near the caravan route leading from Kuka through Dar-For and Kordofan to Khartum. It is a modern town, founded in 1850 by a sovereign whose previous residence, Wara, was exposed to the attacks of the surrounding highland popidations. Of Wara, situated 24 miles north of Abeshr, nothing remains except a brick mosque and minaret, and on the summit of a rock a sacred cabin, where, on his accession, 354 WEST AFEICA. tte sultan has to make a seven days' retreat. It was for rashly penetrating into this hallowed spot that Yogel seems to have been put to death. Nimro, west of Wara, is the centre of the JeUaba traders, but not their chief depot. Of the other groups of population the largest is Kodogus, 120 miles south of Abeshr, in a district inhabited by Arabs and Abu-Sharibs. Taica, ou Lake Fitri, capital of the Bulalas, is said to be one of the oldest places in Sudan. The Sultan of Wadai, a member of the Ghemir (Xuba) tribe, is the direct ruler onlj' of the northern part of the kingdom. This territory is divided, like Dar-For, into provinces named from the cardinal points, and governed by kemakels, or lieutenants, with the right of life and death over their subjects on the condition of remitting to the sultan the customary tribute. This tribute varies according to usage and the local conditions, some places furnishing slaves, some horses or cattle, others honey or corn. In the administration of the coimtrj' the Sultan is assisted by the /r/.s/ic;-, or "pri\y council," while the laws — that is, the Koran and its commentaries — are iaterpreted by Xhcfakih or ulima, although local usage stiU largely prevails. The army, of about seven thousand men, is chiefly emploj^ed iu euforciag the payment of tribute in Baghirmi and the other vassal states. Kanem. Taken in its general acceptation, Kanem is the region, some 30,000 or 32,000 square miles in extent, which is bounded ou the south-west by Lake Tsad, on the south-east by the Bahr-el-Ghazal depression, on the west by the great caravan route from Bornu to Tripoli, and on the north bj' the line of wells on the verge of the desert. But in a narrower sense Kanem, properly so called, is the triangular space whose base is formed by the shore of the lake, and apex by the two latitudinal and meridional lines running north and south-east from the two corners of the lacustrine basia. "Within this region of woods and cultivated tracts are concentrated nearly all the inhabitants of Kanem, who are estimated at scarcely more than one hundred thousand. Northwards stretch the almost level Manga plains, forming an intermediate steppe zone towards the desert. The kingdom of Kanem was for five hundred years, from the beginning of the tenth century, the hotbed of the Mussulman propaganda, and the most powerful kingdom in Central Africa, Then about 1500 the centre of political influence was displaced towards Bornu under the influence of the Bulala invaders from the east, a people akin to the Kanuri. Since that time Kanem has never recovered its independence, passing successively from the Bulalas and Kanuris to the Dazas and its present Arab rulers, the Aulad-Sliman, who are regarded as the masters of the country, although forming a mere fraction of the population, and in 1871 musteringr not more than one thousand armed men. Yet this handful of warlike clansmen, often at feud among themselves over the distribution of the plunder, contrive to keep in a state of terror all the populations comprised between Bornu, Air, and "Wadai. By the Dazas and others bordering on North Sudan they are called Minnemime or " Devourers," a name said to be given to them on accoimt of KANEM. 353 their gluttony, but which may be accepted in a figurative sense ; for they have verily devoured the land on which they have pitched their tents, and in many places they have passed like a -s^hirlwind, sweeping before them the inhabitants with their flocks and all their substance. The Aulad-Sliman come from the Mediterranean seaboard, where some of their kinsmen still survive, but whence the bulk of the tribe were driven southwards after long and sanguinary wars with the Turks of Tripolitana. Settling in Kanem Fig. 174. — Inhabitants of Kaneii. Scale 1 : 3,000,000. Kauouri. Arabs. Makari. . 60 Miles. Gameighu. just north of Lake Tsad, near the natural trade route between Sudan and the Mediterranean, they first raided in the Kwar Oasis and Bibna salines, in a few years capturing over fifty thousand camels. But having on one occasion fallen foul of the Tuaregs, these terrible children of the desert vowed vengeance, and in 18.50 nearly exterminated the tribe. Yet the survivors, joined by others from the north, found themselves in less than twenty years strong enough to renew their depredations, and to revive the reign of terror which they still maintain over aU 356 WEST APEICA. this region. In vain they are threatened with hell by the Senusiya emissaries if they persist in spoiling and slaying the " faithful." To them the " peace of Islam " is as naught, for scorning work they delight only in war and pHlage. "True," they confessed to Nachtigal, "that we Kve in injustice and sin ; but to earn a livelihood otherwise we should have to work, which our fathers never did, and it would be a shame and a treason not to follow their example. Besides, why are the cursed pagans on the earth except to work for a nobler race?" Yet these "pagans" are nearly all Mohammedans, at least in name, and are often even allied bj- marriage to the Aulad-Sliman, from whose tyranny, according to the latest reports, they will soon be released by the intervention of the Sultan of Wadai. The Kanem-bu and Kuri Peoples. The Kanem-bu, or " People of Kanem," former masters of the land, are also immigrants from the north at an imknown date, as indicated by the very word Kanem, which means " South." The various Daza tribes who occupy the northern districts have also a unanimous tradition that their original homes lay to the north. They are in fact related to the Tedas, or northern Tibbus, with whom thousands of them still dwell at the foot of the Tibesti hills. The general movement of the population has thus been southwards, and in recent times large numbers of the Kanem-bu have been compelled to migrate still farther towards Bornu, the marshy shores and even the islands of Lake Tsad, where they have sought shelter from the raids of the Aulad-Sliman marauders. The Kanem-bu are distingiushed from the kindred Tibbu race by their darker complexion, larger stature, and less graceful carriage. In the remote districts their dress is limited to a skin or leather loin-cloth, and a high headdress fastened imder the chin by a white bandage, which may be regarded as a survival of the litzani or veil worn by the Tibbus and Tuaregs of the desert. They have also retained the spear and other weapons of the nomads, except the shangormangor, or iron dart. They regard themselves as the elder brothers of the Kanuris of Bornu, who were originally an advanced colony of the Kanem-bu, and who during their long sojourn in a more fertile and civilised region acquu-ed greater power and social refinement. Of all the Kanem peoples the Ngijems and Danoas alone have succeeded in preserving their independence, never having been subdued even by the Aulad- Sliman. But in order to maintain the struggle they have had to shift their quarters more than once, and in recent times they have acknowledged themselves vassals of Wadai. The Danoas are settled in the south-east part of Kanem, grouped round the central station of Nguri in the woodlands some 2-i miles from the shores of Lake Tsad. Physically speaking they differ in no respect from the Kanem-bu, and like them speak an idiom closely related to the Kanuri ; but their traditions connect them with the Manga nation living on the banks of the Yeu in West Bornu. The inhabitants of the Tsad islands, although for the most part belonging to LiBRARy OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. KANEM. 857 difPerent races, are connected at least geograpMcally with the populations of Kanem. Lying in the immediate vicinity of the east coast, the shifting insular groups are sufficiently accessible to afford a refuge to fugitives from the mainland. Hence numerous Kanem-bu, Dazas, and others are here settled either temporarily or permanently, while hundreds of Arabs have for generations been encamped roimd the inlet comprised between the Shari delta and the Bahr-el-Ghazal effluent. The Kuri, occupying some fifteen islands north of the Bahr-el-Ghazal outflow, are regarded as the true aborigines of the archipelago, no traditions associating them with the mainland. They ai'e of very dark complexion, tall and robust figTires, resembling in appearance and speech the Makari Xegroes on the south side of the lake. By intermixture with Kanem-bu, Arabs, and others, they have been diversely modified, forming in the northern islands the subrace of the Tedinas or Buddumas. Some sixtj- islands are occupied hj these barbarians, who, accord- ing to Ifachtigal, number about fifteen thousand, or one-half of the whole insular population. Stockbreeders, fishers, boatmen, and traders, the Tedinas also occasionally turn to piracy, and, although calling themselves vassals of the sultan of Bornu in order to have access to the Kuka market, they make no scruple of plundering the subjects of their pretended suzerain. During the floods they are ible to penetrate into the very streets of the surrounding vUlages, where they slay the men and carry off the women and children. Yet the Bornu rtders have never fitted out a fleet to pursue these daring corsairs amid the intricate channels of their insular domain. Naval battles have often been fought on the lake, some- times as many as two hundred large boats being engaged, but always between the Kuri and Tedinas themselves. These incessant wars decimate the popidation, which still increases natiu-ally at a rapid rate, as amongst most fish-eating peoples. All the Kuri are Mohammedans, but the Tedinas are so in name only, many stitl practising pagan rites, and invoking Xajikenem, the great spirit of the lake, who lashes the waters and strews them with wreckage. The Bahr-el-Ghazal depressions are scantily peopled by some nomad Arabs, and the Sakerda and Kreda pastors of Daza speech. Having lost nearly all their homed cattle, most of the KJredas have taken to husbandry, retiring, however, farther east in order to place themselves under the Sultan of "Wadai against the Atdad-Sliman marauders. Topography of KL^nem. Mao, residence of the political representative of TTadai, lies on the verge of a great plain nearly in the centre of the historical kingdom of Kanem. But it is of recent origin, and in 1871 formed a group of about a hundred and fifty straw- thatched cabins. JSjiiiii, capital of the state, said to have been a very large place before the Bulala invasion, lies a day's march to the north-west ; and about the same distance to the west stands Gala, formerly peopled by the Kuburi, noblest of the Kanem-bu tribes. At a somewhat shorter distance south of Mao, and like it 358 "WEST APEICA, peopled bj' natives of Kanuri speech, lies the picturesque village of Tagguberi, in the most productive part of Kanem. Some 12 miles to the south-east of this jjlace stnnds the Arab town of Hondo, and midway between it and the lake follow Nguri and Dibelontchi, the former capital of the Danoas, the latter of the Ngijems. It was in the neishboui'hood of Mao that Beurmann was murdered in 1863. Thinldns: him proof against lead and steel, the assassins garotted him with a running noose, BORNU. According to the natives, the true name of Bornu is Barr Noa, or " Land of Noah," given to it b}^ the Mussulman missionaries because of its siirprising fertility. Then the legend, seizing on this word, related that here the ark settled after the subsidence of the waters, the African Ai-arat being sought in the isolated Ilajar Tens rock, on the south side of Lake Tsad. The limits of the kingdom are clearly defined only towards the east by the lake and the course of (he Shari. In the north there can bo no natural frontiers, the transition between the grassy and desert zones here shifting with the winds, the rains, and the incursions of marauding tribes. The southern confines are also very uncertain, thanks to the almost incessant warfare carried on between the Mussulman populations and the pagan highlanders. Towards the west the border- line is better marked between the civilised Bornu and Haussa states, although even here frequently modified by wars and local revolutions. The total area may be approximately set down at 56,000 square miles, with a population roughly estimated by Barth and Nachtigal at upwards of five millions. INHABITANTS. The extremely mixed inhabitants of Bornu, collectively called Berauna, present a surprising diversity of colour, stature, and other physical features. The term Kanuri, current in the country for centuries, designates not a particular race, but simply the more civilised residents, in whom have been gradually merged the various ethnical elements introduced by trade, slavery, war, or peaceful immigra- tion. The sense of the word is unknown, although by a complacent popular etymology referred to the Arabic nitr, " light," whence /t«-iV«n, or " People of Light," earned by their mission of illuminators amid the darkness of the surround- ing heathen world. The fanatical Fuiahs, however, read it otherwise, substituting nar, "fire," for nitr, and designating the lukewarm Mussulman inhabitants of Bornu as Ka-Nari, or " People of Fire," that is, doomed to hell-fire. South-west of the capital dwells the noble ISIagomi nation, who claim to be sprung of the same stock as the ancient dynasty which ruled for nearly a thousand years over Kanem and Bornu. They seem to have come originally from Kanem, as did also the Sugusti and Tomaghera people of the marshy coastlands, and the Koyams west of Kuka, who alone have preserved the camel as a domestic animal. The So, or true aborigines, were gradually absorbed by these immigrants BOEXU. 359 from Kauciu and by the ilakari intruders from the south, and appear to be now best represented by the Keribina tribe on the left bank of the Shari. The south-eastern districts are held by the Makari (Kotoko) nation, who helped the Kanuris to crush the aborigines. Of darker complexion and more uncouth form, the Makari seem to be also less intelligent than the other Xegrocs of Bornu ; nevertheless, they are distinguished for their industrious habits as peasants, artisiins, and fishers, and the products of their industry are easily recognised by their freer style in the bazaars of Sudan. The peacefid Gamcrgus, near the southern extremity of the lake, and the Slandaras (Wandalas), on the slope of the Fig. 175.— I^•HABITA^-TS of BoRiitr. Scale 1 : o.OOO.TOO. W/^////////A -r i- + + -h + -I- ++ + -M- + + + + + + + + + + + + + -*- + ►- + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +-»■ + -»- +++■(-+++++ + + ■»-+ + +++ -^ + +++++ »- ++++++++++ + -H-+++ ++■(■+++ +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ -i- ++ + -n- + -f- + + + + + -I- + + ++ + ++ + + ++ + + + +2^ + +^ -I- + iCr T +>ie + +j£+ + iS^ + + C?*-t«S!^' -+^■+++ + ++ + -t-^ +++ + ++t +++ + ++•*- ' " ^ + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4- + + ++ + + + + + + + 1 4 !+ + + + + + + -^ + + + + T + + + + + -I- T + + + + + + -\.+++++-^++++++++++++++++++ + ^aLlages, properly so-called, their dwellings being always isolated and surrounded by a plot of ground belonging to the family. But this arrangement exposes them all the more to the attacks of the slave-hunters, and when Barth came amongst them as a friend and not to raid, like all other strangers, they thought he must be some god who had appeared in their midst to make them for a moment forget the woes and terrors of Hfe. They were formerly a very powerful nation, capable even in the middle of the present century of raising a force of thirty thoiisand warriors. They mourn only for their young men, rejoic- ing when the aged, weary of life, have been gathered to their fathers. Although reputed barbarians, the Marghi are in some respects more civilised than their neighbours ; thus they have long practised inoculation, scarcely known elsewhere in Bornu. In the extreme north-west dwell the Manga people, who are quite distinct from the Kanuri, and related perhaps to the So aborigines. They are a rude, half-saA'age race, who mei'ge westwards with the Haussawa, and towards the south with other barbarous tribes, such as the Bedde, Ngizzem, Kerri-Kerri, Fika, and Babir, occupying the hiUy borderland between Haussa and Bornu. In Bornu the Arabs are very mmierous, those known by the name of Shoa, or Shua, numbering at least a hundred thousand. Although settled in the country for several generations, and often intermingled with the indigenous populations, they stiU speak the language of the Koran with remarkable purity. The largest tribe are the Salamats, settled in the Makari coimtry west of the Shari river. Owing to the moist climate, the Arab population is certainly diminishing. They are no longer able to supply the nvmierous cavalry formerly placed at the service of the sultan, while the annual tribute of horses and butter has also considerably diminished. The Kanuri language, while intimately related on the one hand to the northern Teda, Daza, Baele, shows on the other certain surprising analogies with the Sudanese languages proper, siich as the Haussa, So, and Baghirmi. In the Tsad basin it has become the dominant speech, everywhere superseding Arabic and all BOENU. 361 other rivals as the chief medium of intercourse. Even at the sultan's court Arabic has ceased to be the official languas-e, even those who imderstand it affect- ing to require the aid of an interpreter when it is used in their presence. The Xanuri people are distinguished by some remarkable qualities. Extremely indiistrious and mostly monogamous, they take their share jointly with theii- wives in field operations, in weaving, dyeing, and all other handicrafts. Thus woman is held to be man's equal, in some respects even enjoying certain prerogatives, such as the right of being first saluted. Temperance is a national ^■irtue, and in this respect the converts are much more rigid observers of the law than the preachers. Instruction is widely diffused amongst the Kanuri and neighbouring peoples ; all Fig. 176. — KrxA. Scale 1 : 72,000. .\X-, Cemetery .-^,1 C3 O-.V East of Greenwich 15^ _ J— 15-47' 55 i.'.20O Yards. the towns have schools attended by boys, and Kuka possesses the most valuable libraiy in the whole of Sudan east of Timbuktu. The people of Bornu are generally regarded as the most cultured in Central Africa, and their industrial products are the most highly esteemed in all the bazaars. They are skilled workers in metal, and can even cast guns, but have hitherto done nothing to improve the communications. Many of the rivers are still crossed on frail rafts constructed of calabashes and reeds, and the general absence of highways, and consequent high price of merchandise, explains the existence of certain industries which would soon disajjpear were greater facilities afforded for the development of foreii^n trade. Topography. Kasr Eggomo, or Birni, first capital of Bornu, stood near a lake in the Middle VOL. .XII. B B 362 WEST AFRICA. Yeu basiu ou tlie border of the Manga territory. Altliough the enclosure is only 6 miles in circumference, it is said to have contained at one time as many as two hundred tliousand inhabitants, but both Birni and the neighbouring Gamheni, residence of the sultan, were desti-oyed in 1809 or 1810 by the conquering Fulahs. The court was then removed to Kaftla, called also Birni-cl-Jcdid, or "New Birni," which lay much nearer Lake Tsad, but which in a few years was replaced by Ngornti, near the south-west angle of the lake. Then followed a change of dynasty, which led to the foundation of a new capital, called Kiika, from a baobab growing on the spot. Ktikatca, the form current in West Sudan, is said to mean in Kanuri "the two baobabs." Kuka, one of the great cities of the interior of the continent, is said by Nach- tigal to have a population of from fifty to sixty thousand, without counting the pilgrims, traders, adventurers from all parts of Sudan and of the Moslem world from Marocco to Mesopotamia. It consists of two distinct quarters, forming two regular parallelograms surrounded by walls, with groups of cabins dotted round about. From the ueighbonring plain, stretching away towards the south-west shore of the lake, the city is scarcely visible, the trees overshadowing every house giving it rather the appearance of a thickly wooded tract. The western and more populous section, forming a regular quadrilateral nearly two square miles in extent, is the centre of all the life and trade of the place, the eastern section, con- taining the roj'al palace and most of the courtiers, being comparatively deserted. Diu-ing the rainy season the streets are converted into quagmires, and stagnant ponds are even formed, in one of which Nachtigal saw a little crocodile living on the offal thrown to him hy the neighbours. Once a week a great fair is held on the west side, attended by over ten thou- sand persons, and stocked with Em-opean and Eastern wares of all sorts. Needles are in great demand, and Barth, who had a large supply, became known as the "Prince of Needles." Visitors are surprised at the low figures for which costly goods are offered for sale, which is due to the fact that this is the great market for second-hand goods imported especially from Egypt and Asia Minor. But of all the "commodities," the most important are himian beings — slaves, eimixchs, court dwarfs. In 1870, Nachtigal witnessed the departure of a caravan of fourteen hundred slaves, of whom one-third were destined for Egypt, the rest for Rhat and Tripoli. Eohlfs speaks of another conveying four thousand captives, which left in successive detachments, taking a fortnight to get clear of Kuka. Since the first half of the present century the legal cui-rency has been Maria Theresa crown pieces, the Spanish douro, and cowries, four thousand of the last mentioned being equivalent to the crown piece at the time of Nachtigal's visit. Some 30 miles south-east of Kuka, and close to the lake, lies Nfjornu, the second largest to\\u in Bornu proper. Owing to the periodical inundations and consequent erosions, Ngornu, like all the coast i-illages, is constantly mo^ving westwards. To the perils of the floods are added the incessant incvu'sions of the Yediua pirates, who lie in ambush or fall suddenly on the people working in the outskirts. Kawa and Barwa are also exposed to these sui-prises, while Ntjigmi and the other coast BOENU. 363 towns farther north are exposed to the attacks of the cquallj- formidable Tuareg and Aulad-Sliman nomads. In western Bornu, watered by the Yen, Clapperton, Earth, and Eohlfs mention several towns with over ten thousand inhabitants. Near the ancient Birni is the village of Ngurutiia, where Eichardsou died of exhaustion in 1851. Farther west foUow Surrikolo, Borsari, Kliadcja, Baiidi, Mashcna, Gummel, and Binnenau-a, the last two on the frontier and peopled by Haussawa, although belonging to Bornu. The north-west angle of the kingdom is occupied by the vassal state of Binder Fig. 177. — The Mora Mountains. Scale 1 : 740,000. DOLOQ ?*/ •'A "h •i'V'^'T^^" \ % /If M-tchik^ f Last of Ijreenwicn 15- SO' IS'IO' Villages. 12 MUes. {Zinder), visited and sometimes plundered by the Tuareg nomads. Here is also a little settlement of Jewish "converts" from the Mediterranean seaboard. The capital, built at the east foot of a bluff, has been called the " Gate of Sudan," owing to the Tuareg traders in salt, who have formed their camping groimd iu the vicinity. The Munio hills, which project like a promontorj' into the steppe bordering on the desert, have also some important places, such as Gure, Vushek, and farther south Bune and Siileri, near which is a natron lake, and another with two basins, B B 2 364 WEST AFRICA. one of fresh the other of intensely salt water. All the towns of the Munio district are built on the model of those of Mauritania. On the trade route leading from. Kuka south-west to the lower Benue one of the chief stations is Magommeri, residence of one of the great dignitaries of the empire. Here Rohlfs saw an ostrich farm, probably the only one in Sudan. Farther on the road traverses Mogodom in a cotton-growing district, and Gujba, partly inhabited by pagans. The southern extremity of the lake, here skirted by the historical highway between Wadai and West Bornu, also contains numerous towns, such as Ycdi, regarded as the cradle of the Yedina islanders ; Marie, on the ethnological frontier of the Kanuri, Makari, and Arabs ; Missene and Ngala on the route to Wadai, and in the Shari delta, Afade and Gii/ei. Elf [Alfii), said to be the oldest place in the country, is carefully avoided by wayfarers, owing to the magic power attributed to its inhabitants. Logon-Karnak, capital of the Logon territory, is the chief station for the traffic between Bornu and Baghirmi, to both of which conterminous states its Mohammedan sultan is tributary. The vassal states in the basin of the Mbulu have also some largo places, such as the stronghold of Dikoa, which was often the residence of the Bornu kings ; the neighbouring Ala, formerly capital of a state ; Mai-dug-evi , inhabited by many thousands of the Gomergu nation ; Mahani and KasuJcula, large markets in the Uje territory where the Mohammedans of the north and the southern pagans exchange their commodities. Farther on at the foot of the Mora mountains stands the city of Doloo, divided into two quarters by a winding stream. This extensive place, which is encircled by modern ramparts, is the capital of the Mandara state, now tribvitary to Bornu. Here Vogel was held captive for a month, and was frequently in imminent danger of his life. South- west of Doloo are seen the ruins of the former capital, Mora, standing on the escarpment of a rock over 650 feet high. Administration. The Mai, or Sidtan of Bornu, usually designated by the title of Sheikh, is an absolute despot, "the Lion, Conqueror, Wisdom," who nevertheless condescends to be assisted by a council including, besides the members of his family, the Kokenawa, or military chiefs, and the official representatives of the various races inhabiting the State. Most of the high offices are held by slaves, and even imder the previous dynasty the commander-in-chief, ranking above the prince roj-al, was always a slave. The permanent army, which is of considerable strength, is partly distributed along the frontiers, partly attached to the person of the sovereign for purposes of parade and prestige. The sidtan possesses some artillery, and the elite of the trcops are armed with rifles, some companies even wearing European uniforms, although of the most varied and fastastic fashions. The cavalry still wear armour, as in the Middle Ages, sometimes coats of mail, sometimes thickly wadded cover- LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY oflLLINOIS. BAGHIEMI. 865 ings reaclting down to the feet. Of these armoui'ed corps there are altogether about a' thousand, more formidable in appearance than really dangerous. The men get no pay, but when invalided receive allotments of arable land, the great military and civil dignitaries being remunerated with fiefs. The provinces directly administered are intermingled, great and small, with the feudatory states attached under diverse conditions to the central authorit^-. In most of these secondary kingdoms the j'ulers continue to dispose of the lives of their subjects, and organise razzias on their own account among the surroimding pagan populations. The homage paid to the Mandara sultan even exceeds that claimed by the Bornu monarch himself. No ceremonial is more strictly enforced and more slavishly performed than that of the court of Doloo, Baghirmi. Baghirmi, properly so called, consists of the open and somewhat marshy plain comprised between the Lower Shari, Lake Tsad, the Sokoro hills, and the cliffs skirting the west side of Lake Fitri, an area altogether of scarcely 20,000 square miles. But to Baghirmi also belong politically the conterminous regions inhabited by tributary pagan populations, or to -^^hich slave-hunting expeditions are regularly sent, raising the total area to more than 60,000 square miles. According to the Arab writers, the natives were called Baghirmi (Bakirmi, Bakarmi), from the two words haggar miya, or " a hundred cows," because the first sovereigns of the country had imposed a tribute of a hundred head of cattle on each tribe subject to them. But in the native language these called themselves Barmaghe, of which Baghirmi may be a corrupt form. The poj^ulation, estimated by Barth about the middle of the centuiy at one million five hundred thousand, appears to have been since reduced by at least one- third by sanguinary wars with Wadai, famines, and marauding expeditions. Like the Kanuri of Bornu, the civilised inhabitants of Baghirmi proper are a mixed people descended from the So, the Makari, and other aborigines, intermingled with Arabs and Fulahs, and further modified by the introduction of Mohammedan culture. According to the local records and traditions, the founders of the state came from Arabia at the end of the frfteenth or beginning of the sixteenth centuries, when a general movement of migration and conquest was in progress, as at present, from east to west. Inhabitants. The Baghirmi are physically a much finer people than the Kanuii, the women especially being distinguished by really pleasant features and an agreeable expression. The men are well built, with robust wiry frames, seldom of very dark complexion and mostly with a reddish, almost metallic tinge. They are generally intelligent and skilful craftsmen, noted especially for their excellency in weaAring, dyeing, leatherwork, and embroidery On his return from the victorious expcdi- 366 WEST AFRICA. tion to Bagliirmi ia 1871, the Sultan of Wadai is said to have carried off as many as thirty thousand builders, weavers, tailors, and dyers, at the same time forbidding the natives to wear fine robes. Thus the local industries were greatly impaired, and it would be no longer possible to build a brick palace such as that occupied by the Sultan of Massena. On the other hand, so accustomed are the people to the use of arms that honest labour is despised by the upper classes, while brutal cruelty is held in honour. The last sovereign was proud of the surname Abu-Sekkin ("Father of the knife"), earned by the wholesale butchery of guests to whom he had sworn faith and friendship. Although despising their Kanuri and "Wadai neighbours, as inferior in martial valour, the Baghirmi have never succeeded like them in establishing a really powerful state, their political status having mostly been one of more or less disguised vassalage. At present they are tributary to the Sultan of Wadai, from whom their sovereign receives his investiture. Amongst the polished Baghirmi dwell representatives of all the surrounding races, Kanuri everywhere, Makari in the west, Kukas and Bulalas in the north, Arab agriculturists (Assela, Salamat, Aula-Musa, Shoa and others) also chiefly in the north, Fulahs mainly in the south. The Fidahs visited by Nachtigal called him "cousin," saying that their ancestors had come like him from the shores of the Mediterranean. The partly or even completely independent peoples in the southern and eastern districts are mostly related to the Baghirmi in speech, while resembling them in physical appearance. They are .spHt up into an infinity of ethnical fragments, each district having its special group, which again becomes broken into fresh subdivisions by every famine, inundation, or .slave-hunting incursion. Most of the tribes are distinguished by some special tattoo or other physical mark : the Gaberi of the southern riverain plains by the extraction of an upper and lower incisor ; the Saras farther to the south by filing their teeth to a point, like so many of the Nilotic peoples; the Kufus, a branch of the Saras, by piercing the lips for the insertion of little rods round the mouth. Tree- worship survives amongst the Somroi, neighbours of the Gaberi, who swear by the bark of a species of acacia. All however believe in a supreme being whose voice is the thunder, and who is enthroned in the clouds. To this god they offer bloody sacrifices of cocks and goats in shrines from which women and children are excluded. The " wise men " interpret to the vulgar the decrees of the deity, reading his will in the blood of the victims, in their last spasms, or the position of the dead bodies. They also denounce the wicked wizards, their rivals in know- ledge of the occult science. "When a yoimg man dies two wise men take his body, which then drags them, as they say, irresistibly to the hut of the murderer. Then blood is .shod for blood, and the property of the "culprit" is shared between the chief and the injured family. Amongst the Saras a tuft of grass or foliage placed upon the magician's head throws him into a divine frenzy, during which he reels, bounds, capers about, staggers as one overcome with drink, falling at last before one of the audience, who is forthwith devoted to death. Amongst the Niyillems, on the right bank of the Shari, young maidens are said to be buried en CO o m H O Pi LiBRARV OF THE Ul^iVERSlTY of ILLINOIS, BAGHIRMI. 367 alive in the grave of the chief, and the epileptic are slain as being possessed by the evil one. Polj'gamy is general among the wealthy classes in Upper Baghirmi, where some remains of matriarchal institutions are also said to survive. Thus one of the jjetty states below the Ba-Busso and Bahr-el-Abiad confluence is known by the name of Beled-el-Mra, or " Women's Land," because the government is here always entrusted to a queen. Although nominal Mohammedans, the Baghirmi make no effort to spread Islam amongst their pagan subjects. They even look askance at the proselytising fervour of the Fulahs, the reason being that, once converted to Islam, the peoples amongst whom their gangs of slaves are recruited could no longer be regarded as vile heathens whom it is lawful to plunder and enslave. The supplies of young men and women for the Sudanese markets are obtained especially from the Sara tribes, who are usually designated by the name of " Vile Slaves." To avoid the razzias of the Baghirmi slave-hunters many tribes voluntarily pay the annual blood tax, uniformly fixed at " a hundred head," and in order to procure these victims such tribes organise marauding expeditions on their own account. When supplied with rifles against men armed only with spear, arrow, or axe, the hunt is always successful, and Nachtigal was obliged to assist at the capture of several Gaberi families who had taken refuge in two large trees. Nevertheless there are tribes, protected by their position, Mho have hitherto defied all the attacks of the Baghirmi " bloodhounds." Such are the Sokoros, whose numerous little republican communities are grouped amid natural strongholds of steep crags, which the warriors of the plains do not venture to assail. Administration and Topography. Like nearly all the central African governments, that of Baghirmi knows no law except the ruler's whim, no limit except the power of rival neighbours. But to guard against dangerous enemies in his own household, the sultan, on ascending the throne, causes each of his brothers to be blinded of one eye, custom requiring the reigning sovereign to be free from any physical defect. His despotic powers are enforced by his numerous eunuchs and other functionaries, who impose the taxes and plunder the people at pleasure. The subject must approach his master in very humble attitude. On entering the sultan's palace all bare their breasts, fall on theii- knees, and bend forward with clasped hands. This rule of etiquette is dispensed with only in favour of the musicians, who are of royal blood, and of some Sokoro chiefs, whose warlike deeds have placed them above the common law. Massena {Massenia), city of the "Tamarind-tree," capital of Baghirmi, was founded over three centuries ago in the vast plain of the Lower Shari, about 12 mUes north of Batchikam. Within the walls is comprised a considerable extent of cultivated land, market-places, and even a temporary lake, presenting somewhat the same aspect as that of Kano, and rendering the city very insalubrious. Massena, 368 WEST AFRICA. which -was captured by the Sultan of "Wadai in 1871, is the largest town in the kingdom, and before the siege had a population of at least twenty thousand. According to Nachtigal, Bugoman, on the left bank of the Shari, is only one-fom-th as large, but occui:)ies one of the most convenient points for caravans to cross the river. Together with its neighbour, Kohorotche, it supplies nearly all the corn required by the markets of the capital. Kanga, perched on a northern bluff in the Grherd hills to the east of the kingdom, Fiof. 178.— Massena and East Baohiemi. Scale 1 : 543,(100. ■'■■■■': ttV f" i *>?.:■■ '•V--. ■.■'••■*■-■' /o I* Bakada l^ASSENA Bou|oman 1 l5°io- I5°40' Cast of bneenwich 12 Miles, is held by an independent Sokoro tribe ; yet it is regarded by the Baghirmi nation as a sort of metropolis, being the traditional home of the royal dynasty. Southwards stretch the still-unexplored regions watered by the Shari headstreams, and ascending either towards the sources of the "VVelle or towards a divide between the Tsad and Congo basins. Here lies the Central African region, where the most important geographical discoveries have stiU to be make in the Dark ontinent. LIBRARY OF THE RSITV-.f llliNO CAMEROONS MOUNTAINS EasLof Paris G° 30 ^r { A <5^ I.ftnri/ y> ft . ^ <. .^•;^ ■' / .... . »^ Bitoiuruli ^ icToia May of AJoahas -^ ^5 I.^andot^ ** v^ S» Isabel ^^ P'f^Bcr-, •mt>j' •'■«<«-<" ■' -^ .0 A ■ -Z L A ■,:_-'_-"s~* vr" > . ^ of natiT5e ■-'■' " ,0 ■ ■■ •: ^c ..: ■ B A;^S-A.\ a^ • \P^--^'.. ■ '• ■' ^. .^^■. ^^,£1 N .a^lA^ - . =1 -.♦»■■ " i* ^'iti M ^ *r .^*'\.' ,•=•5 .>yZ -.^ 4.2.^ 7*^^ ^-.^ ^ '^^.^^ ! to /6/? /^"^ upttcwefs. CHAPTER IX. THE CAMEEOONS. GrENERAL Survey. HE Porhiguese term Camaraos, or "Pra-wns," -was originally applied by navigators to the cliief estuary at the extreme head of the Gulf of Guinea, but it has beeu gradually extended under the English form of Cameroons and German Kamerun not only to the basin of the Eio de Camaraos and surrounding plains, but also to the superb volcanic mass which continues on the mainland the chain of the Annobon and Fernando-Po islands, and recently to all the territory by the Germans laid down on the map as constituting their future possessions in this part of Equatorial Africa. The Portuguese had applied to the great mountain the name of Terra dos Ambozes, that is, the land of the Zambus, or of Amboise spoken of by the old French geographers. One of the islands in the gulf is still called the Isle of Ambas. How the Germans, after long political discussions, have become masters of this extensive region is already matter of history. English missionaries had for some years maintained a station at the foot of the moimtain ; English had become the common language of the coast people, and the British flag had even been hoisted in man}' villages of the interior. On the other hand, German traders had factories on the coast and had purchased land on the slope of the hill. Conflicts had taken place between the agents of the two nations, gi^'ing rise to irritating correspond- ence between the respective Governments. At last Great Britain agreed in 1885 to waive all claims to the Cameroons Moimtains, and recalled her consuls and other agents. South of the estuary the situation was different; this seaboard, held by a multitude of petty chiefs, having been visited by numerous traders, all of whom had concluded conventions with these kinglets and purchased territory for a few rifles and casks of fiery spirits. Old documents showed that such and such points and river mouths belonged to France or to Spain, and when the European Governments were seized with the recent mania for annexations, this coast was claimed partly by Germany, partly by France. But in 1885 the German factories in South Senegambia were by special treaty ceded to France in exchange for all 370 WEST AFRICA. her claims on tliis seaboard. Here the German territory is separated in the bo north from the British possessions in the Niger basin by the Meme, or Rio de THE CAMEEOONS. 871 Rey, and in the south by the Etembue, or Rio del Campo, from the French colonial domain, the total distance along the coast being about 300 miles. Towards the interior a straight line, dra^wn from the north-west frontier of the Cameroons to the Benue above Yola, marks the conventional limits between the British and German imaginary possessions; but onlj' a very small portion of the region claimed by the latter power has been explored, and a still smaller portion brought under its direct influence. This territory is estimated by M. Langhans at about 11,000 square miles, with a population of four hundred and eighty thousand. The Cameroons Mountain, facing Fernando-Po, and towering over 3,000 feet above the insular peak, is one of the most imposing summits on the surface of the globe. It is certainly exceeded in height by Kenia, Kilimanjaro, the Abyssinian Simeu, and possibh' even by some of the Atlas crests, but, owing to its position on the seacoast, it presents a much bolder appearance than all these mountains. From the creeks winding round the wooded headlands at its foot an uninterrupted view is commanded of the whole mass nearly 14,000 feet high, including even the terminal points known as the " Three Sisters." On the slopes follows a succession of climatic zones, revealed below by a forest vegetation, higher up by a herbaceous flora, and towards the top by ashes and bare lavas, at times streaked with snow. So foi-midable does the giant appear to the natives that they have named it Monga- ma-Loba, that is, the " Jlountain of the gods." It was first ascended by Merrick in 1847, but a party of Alpine climbers, including Burton, Calvo, and the botanist Mann, were the first to reach the summit in 1861. Since then several explorers have also mounted to the terminal crater. Although not yet entirelj' surveyed, there can be no doubt as to the volcanic nature of the moimtain, which everj'where presents heaps of ashes, lava streams, even some recent scoriae, and dozens of lateral cones, one of which, the Little Cameroon, towards the south-west, seems, from certain points of view, almost a rival of the supreme crest. At the time of Burton's ascension smoke was emitted from the great crater, and the natives have often spoken of vapours rising from the highest peaks. The whole mass is, in fact, a vast volcano resting on a base 800 square miles in extent, and completely isolated on all sides. The forest vegetation clothing the lower slopes preserves its tropical character to a height of over 6,000 feet. The cultivated species, such as the cocoa-nut, banana, and oil-palm, disappear successively, not one being found above 3,500 feet, the limit of the zone inhabited by the natives. But the eriodendron, bombax, and other large trees, generally festooned with creepers, ascend much higher, the upper verge of the timber zone assuming a European aspect, and at last abruptly yielding to the grasses carpeting the more elevated crests. Towards the summit all is bare as if swept by the wind, except where a few trailing plants find shelter in the hollows. The Alpine flora is very poorly represented, doubtless owing to the relatively recent formation of the volcano, which has been developed by innumerable layers of superimposed lavas and scoriae. Notwithstanding the heavy rainfall springs are rare, none being met higher than 9,100 feet, a phenomenon due, as in Etna, to the extremely porous character 372 ■S^TEST AFRICA. of tlie soil. Hence health-resorts for Europeans can be founded only at the few points -where spring--water occurs. In any case the fierce gales prevailing on the upper slopes woxild render a prolonged residence almost impossible. From the heights dominated by the Albert Peak, the eye sweeps over a vast horizon, commanding a superb xiew of the surrounding lowlands and island- studded waters, and towards the north of other cone-shaped masses. In 1885 Schwarz and Enuston, who penetrated over 70 miles in this direction, found the Fig. 180. — Chief Routes op Esploeeee in the Cameeooxs. Scale 1 : 1,800,000. iB.it AfMu i Caiuract East, OT Gre -.ich Land Eontes, 0to32 Feet. Depths. 32 to 80 Feet. 80 Feet and upwards. I MUes. Water Routes. northern horizon boimded by a range of peaks presenting every variety of outline, forest-clad at their base, and apparently from 8,000 to 10,000 feet high. Being disposed in a line with Fernando-Po and the Cameroons, these Ba-Farami mountains, as they have been named from the tribe inhabiting their slopes, are also perhaps of igneous character, more especially as the intervening plains are studded in many places with blocks of lava. Is'orth-west of the Cameroons rises another mountain mass some 3,000 feet high, known as the Rumbi, which THE CAMEEOONS. 373 dominates the low-lyiug lauds carved into peninsulas by the lateral estuaries of the Eio del Eey. Rivers. The Cameroons are almost completely encircled by marine or fluvial waters. On the west the broad Rio del Rcy estuary is joined by the Meme, whose numerous affluents rise on the Ba-Kundu plain, intermingling their sources with those of the headstreams of the Mungo, which flows to the east of the Cameroons. Near the water-parting lies the little lacustrine basin, 6 miles in circumference, to which Mr. Combsr has given the name of Lake Rickards. It seems to be a flooded crater with no emissary in the dry season, and in the wet season probably sending its overflow to the Mungo. Some 36 miles to the north-east lies the larger Balombi-ma-Mbu, or "Elephant Lake," also apparently an old crater draining to the Mungo, which here falls through a series of rapids a total height of from 70 to 80 feet. Some 12 miles below these rapids the Mungo begins to be navigable for barges, and throughout its lower course, of about 70 miles, is obstructed only by one other rapid at all dangerous. But before reaching the sea it overflows into a broad muddy plain, throwing off towards the south-west the river Bimbia, which enters the Gulf of Guinea by a wide and deep mouth accessible to the largest vessels. The main stream, which retains the name of Mungo, trends eastwards, not to the sea, but to the estuary of the Cameroons River above the bar. The Cameroons River was ascended in 1886 by Johnston for about 60 miles from its mouth to a point where it flows south-eastwards between gneiss walls, rushing over a cataract from the terraces which here seem to form the escarp- ments of the inland plateaux. Farther down the Wuri, as the natives call it, ramifies into two branches enclosing a large island, below which it is joined bj'^ the Abo or Yabiaug, which has its source near the falls of the Mungo. Where the main stream assumes the aspect of an estuary it receives several other affluents, while the numerous channels of its delta communicate on one side with the Mungo, on the other with the Lungasi. On the coast between the Cameroons estuary and Cape Saint John several other streams reach the sea, some of which rival in volume the Mungo and the AVuri. Most of them are interrupted near the coast by cataracts, and all are marked at their mouth by mangrove-covered or alluvial banks, which under the influence of the in-shore marine current are uniformly disposed in the direction from south to north. The Edea, northernmost of these streams, and navigable by boats for 34 miles upwards, communicates by lateral channels with the Malimba and the Kwa- Kwa (Qua-Qua), besides sending two independent branches seawards. Beyond it follows the Moanya, or " Great Water," ascended by Zoller for 24 miles to the falls, to which point it is navigable for small steamers, having a mean breadth of 160 yards, with a depth ranging from 12 to 25 feet at high water. The Lobe, or " Great Ba-Tanga," a small stream chiefly fed by the surface waters from the Elephant Mountain during the rainy season, is famous for the 374 WEST AFEIOA. beautj' of its cascade, which is visible even from the sea. At this distance it looks like a bright silver thread drawn across the current, but a nearer view reveals a broad sheet of water falHng from a height of 50 feet over a rocky ledge above which rise two huge granite boulders, one crowned with a wide-branching tree and encircled by a green girdle of brushwood. Half a mile lower down the river enters the sea between two sandy banks strewn with granite rocks. Climate — Floka — Fauna. Apart from the great moimtain, which forms a little world of its own, the Cameroons climate and natural history differ but slightly from those of the Slave Fig. 181. — The Lobe Falls. Scale 1 : 11,000. 'V. . • «■ • ■■.i-Z- !■'■■■ L .9° 5.3 50 '. • Neg:i'o Hute. 560 Yards. Coast and Lower Niger. As in the neighbouring tropical regions the simimer rains, already abundant in May, continue to increase till the end of August, usually ceasing by the beginning of October. In November sudden squalls and tornadoes are frequent, and the vapours are so dense that even from the foot of the volcano the summit is visible only at dawn and sunset, except when the dry north-east harmattan prevails. As on the Guinea coast, the spontaneous vegetation is represented by the man- grove on the half-submerged marine banks, by the pandandus and raffia palm on the lowlands, and higher up by forests of great trees matted together by a tangled THE C.IMEROONS. S75 network of tall creepers. The cultivated plants are also the same — cocoa-nuts, oil-paLins, wiue-palms, bananas, yams, ground-nuts, sweet potatoes, manioc, and especially colocasia, here called coco, but which is simply the tare of the South Sea Islands. Although still but partly explored, the Cameroons fauna is already- known to be extremely diversified. On the banks of the Abo, Buchholz collected about forty species of venomous and harmless snakes, and the same naturalist has discovered in this region some new species of tortoises, cameleons, frogs, toads, and fish. Every fourth year the Cameroons and the neighbouring estuaries teem in the months of August and September with little j-ellon-ish shrimps of a hitherto unknown thalmsinn species, so closely packed that they are collected in basketfids. These shrimps are smoked and forwarded in vast quantities to the peoples of the inland plateaux. The insect world is also very rich, butterflies sometimes producing the effect of a sort of haze in the atmosphere, while the ground sparkles wiih. the ruby and emerald sheen of the beetles. A species of glossina, scarcely differing in appear- ance from the true tsetse, buzzes about men and beasts, but its sting is perfectly harmless and not even very painful. It is remarkable that the spider family is represented by but few species in a region where they might find such abundant prey. The large mammals are gradually retiring from the coastlands, although apes still abound in the forest, but the chimpanzees and gorUlas, spoken of b}' the missionaries have not yet been seen. The elephant still lingers about the sea- board, but his true domain lies some 60 miles inland in the Mtmgo basin, where numerous herds are still met. The ivorj-, however, of the Cameroons elephants is somewhat coarse-grained and of a dull brown colour. In certain circumstances these huge tusks are said to be shed, like the deer's antlers, and traders pretend to be able to recognise by their texture whether they belong to a healthy or diseased animal. Inhabitants. Nearly all the natives of the territory claimed by Germany are classed by enthnologists amongst the Bantu Negroes, that is, the great South African family of which the Zulu Kafirs are tj'pical representatives. Some tribes, however, occupying a part of the district along the left bank of the Meme, chief tributary of the Eio del Eey, are related to those of Old Calabar, and like them speak the Efik language. With the exception of these tribes, numbering about twenty thousand souls, all the rest, as far as is at present known, are of Bantu speech, although a community of language by no means necessarily implies common descent. From the Niger delta to the Cameroons and Moanya estuaries, the transitions are almost imperceptible in the physical appearance of the natives, who everywhere present nearly the same complexion and general outward features. In the Cameroons territory the chief Bantu tribes, as they may be collectively called, are the Ba-Eisk, that is, people of Kisk on the left bank of the Meme ; 876 WEST AFRICA. the Ba-Farami at tlie foot and in the vallevs of the mountain ransre named from them ; the Ba-Kundu in the plains stretching north of the Cameroons Moimtain ; the Ba-^Ibiiku on the western slope of the same raomitain ; the Ba-Long and Mufimdu in the Mungo basin ; the Dwallas, Abos, Wuris, and Budumans of the Cameroons River, and farther south the Bassas, Ba-Kokos, Ba-^okos, Ba-Pukos, and Ibeas. Several of these tribes are at constant war with each other, and through mutual fear some remain separated by uninhabited borderlands. In the western districts the best-known nation are the Ba-Kwiri, who have settlements about the Victoria and Bimbia factories, and whose territory has to be traversed to reach the mountain. Traditionally they came from the east, and are noted for the great disparity between the size and complexion of the sexes, most of the women being remarkably short and of lighter coloui' than the men. The "Brushmen," for siich is the meaning of the tribal name, are grouped in about sixty separate clans of brave warriors and daring hunters. They are lively and intelligent, displaying singular oratorical power in the popular assemblies, in which all married men take part, and which are presided over by a responsible "king." At the evening gatherings they sing impromptu songs, and give proof of consider- able musical talent, Paternal and filial love are sometimes carried to excess, cases being mentioned of madness or suicide through grief at the loss of a child. The feeling of solidarity is even extended from the family group to the whole com- mvmity, the hunter freely sharing the produce of the chase with all his neigh- boiirs, the brandy-bottle earned by a workman quickly going the round of his friends. On the other hand, the law of blood for blood is pitilesslj' enforced even in the case of accidental homicide, and sorcery carries ofE even more victims than the vendetta. Charges of witchcraft are at times so frequent that whole villages have to be abandoned, and the Isle of Ambas, in the inlet of the same name, near Victoria, has been depopulated, most of the inhabitants having poisoned each other ofE with their everlasting ordeals, and the few survivors ending by dreading the very air they breathe. Each Mo-Kwiri has his life regulated beforehand by the tribal code of magic. Tfo chief can approach the sea imder pain of death ; no woman dare eat an egg or a chicken, and in manv places to touch mutton except on feast-days is a capital oifence. Eeligion is a mere system of ancestry worship. At a king's death tradition requires the sacrifice of a captive, whose body was formerly shared, like the funeral baked meats, between the dead and the living. Good and evil spirits rule over the earth, those of the forests and the sea being- held in special awe. For the Cameroon highlanders, the "Seat of the Gods" is itself a god, "half stone, half man," who wraps himself in a white snowy mantle whenever any serious event is pending over his subjects. The Ba-Kimdus of the northern slopes far excel the Ba-Kwiri in the indusfrlal arts, although apparentlj- not their superiors in natm-al intelligence. Their dwellings are not mere hovels of branches and reeds, like those of the coast villages, but real stone houses, properly cemented, and sometimes even decorated with rude frescoes representing men and animals. The " palaces " of the kings THE aiMEEOONS. 877 are also emtellished witli carved fetishes ; but the talent of the Ba-Kimdu artists is displayed especiallj' iu the ornamentatiou of tho "palaver houses/' i^-hich, Fig. 182. — Tribes of the Cameeoons. Scale 1 : 2,000,000. 9° East ot Gr-eenw'idi 10° Eange of the Tam^jul' speech. to 160 Feet. Depths. 160 to 640 Feet. 610 Feet and upwards. . 30 Miles. however, also serve as shambles. The -n-arrior who has slaia his foe, the woman who has given birth to a son, paint themselves in red to manifest their renown to the eyes of all. The chief occupation of the people is the weaving of nets and VOL. XII. C C 378 WEST .iFEICA. cordage, vritli wliich tliey enclose extensive spaces in the forests to entrap tlie game driven in by the beaters. The plantations of the Ba-Kundus are cultivated as carefully as the finest European gardens by their slaves, nearly all imported from beyond the Ba-Farami mountains. These slaves, generally taller, stronger, and braver than their masters, and their equals in intelligence, are serfs in little more than the name, living in separate 'S'illages, and sometimes even forming autonomous republics with their local chiefs and general assemblies. Their communal independence is complete, and according to the missionary Richardson, who resided many yearrS in the country, the political supremacj^ threatens to pass from the nominal rulers to the nominal slaves The authority of the fetishmen is scarcely less extensive than amongst the Ba- Kwiri. A yoimg man who had committed the crime of eating a chicken at the missionary's table, was himself eaten by his fellow tribesmen. The sight of an owl forebodes great danger ; the ghosts, especially of enemies, are much dreaded, and to them are evidently attributed the tastes of vampire.?, for at the death of a Mo-Kimdu two graves are dug, one in his cabin, the other in the forest, in order to puzzle the spirits and prevent them from knowing where the body has been deposited ; but this jirecaution not being deemed perhaps quite sufficient, after a certain time it is again disinterred, and removed to a distant cave. East of the Ba-Kundus dwell the Ba-Longs and Abos, the former in the Mungo, the latter in the Tabiang basin, both keen traders and active boatmen. But amongst the Ba-Longs all the profits go to the community, and the commu- nistic idea is carried so far that some of the houses are large enough to contain a whole village of five hundred persons. Smaller groups of not less than ten families reside together in a vast hall, while the Abos, on the contrary, live quite apart, each familj- in its own cabin, often completely isolated or perched on some artificial mound, and surrounded by a ditch as a protection against the periodical floods. Of all the Cameroons peoples the best Icnown are the Dwallas, whose .settle- ments on the chief estuary have long been in direct commercial relation with the English and Germans. Although as dark as their neighboui-s, the DwaUas, who number perhaps twenty eight thousand altogether, approach nearest to the European or Semitic type. The women cover their bodies with intricate tattoo designs, the men contenting themselves with a few simple geometrical figures on the face, or even disiDensing entirely with such marks. Physically they arc a fine race, whose well-developed calves upset the theory' of certain writers, who regard this anato- mical feature as an essential characteristic of the western Arj-ans. The Dwallas arc very proud of their pure blood, and imtfl recently were accustomed to kill all half- castes, looking on them as monsters, whose complexion reflected dishonoiu- on the tribe. But the women are held in as low esteem as in auj' part of the continent, being regarded as mere chattels, possessing no personal rights, and a few years after birth sold to their future masters. ^^_. Like the Ea-Kwiri and some other neighbouring tribes, the Dwallas Tise the THE CiMEEOONS. 879 tam-tam or driim not merely for warlike or festive purposes, but for the trans- mission, of detailed news. This curious telephonic system, quite as uigenious as the discoverj- of pictorial writing, consists in a rapid beating of the instrument with varied strength and tone, so combined as to represent either syllables or distinct words. It is a true language, which adepts reproduce by the medium of the lips, but which cannot be understood until the ear learns by practice to distinguish the sounds. The Ba-Kwiri also speak it by means of a kind of horn, whose notes resound from lull to hill. All the initiated on hearing the tam-taming are bound immediately to repeat It, so that intelligence is thus rapidly transmitted to the extremities of the land, like the ripples produced on the surface of a lake by the fall of a stone. Slaves are not allowed to learn this drum language, which very few women have mastered, and the secret of which has never yet been revealed to any European. Anthropophagy as a religious rite sui'vlved till recently. On great occasions the body of a man was quartered, each of the four chief headmen receiving a share. All accession to power was preceded by a sacrifice, the king having no right to exercise his functions until his hands were stained with blood. The royal power is more firmly established among the Dwallas than elsewhere in the Cameroons. The kings have grown rich with trade, and one of them is certainly one of the wealthiest men in Africa, a sort of millionaire in the European sense. Their large profits are derived from their position as middlemen for all the transit trade between the interior and the factories on the coast. Hence their alarm at the efforts of the whites to penetrate inland, and commercial jealousy has certainly been the chief cause that has hitherto prevented the exploration of this part of the continent. Travellers who have crossed the zone of the coastlands find themselves suddenly arrested by a thousand imexpected obstacles ; the guides refuse to accompany them, the porters bolt to the bush or thi'ow down their loads midway ; perhaps also on certain occasions the exploring zeal of the whites has been cooled bj- a dose of poison. Even when the middlemen on the coast allow expedi- tions to be organised, they find means of thwarting them before direct relations can be established with the inland populations. As in the Niger basin the staples of export are palm-oU and nuts. Ivory and some dvewoods are exported, besides caoutchouc, extracted by the Swedish settlers on the Cameroons mountains from Candolphia florida, a species of creeper from 160 to 200 feet long. Ebony and a little coffee complete the cargoes taken in exchange for spirits (here generally called rum), tobacco, textile fabrics, pearls, arms, and furniture, spirits representing two-thirds of the total value. Except the Swedish settlers on the mountains, there are no Eiu'opean colonists in the Cameroons, and very few whites even on the coast, beyond some thirty or forty missionaries and traders. Several of the factories are even managed by blacks or men of colour, who show such aptitude for trade that it may be asked whether they may not idtlmately acquire a complete monoply of the local traffic. cc2 380 WEST AFEICA. ToPOGRArHY. Towards the north- west frontier the first station is the fishing village of Bihundi, Avhich serves as the outport of Bomana, lying 10 miles inland. The German traders propose to make it the depot for the produce of the Upper Oyouo, at pre- sent forwarded to the English factories at !New Calabar. Victoria, the chief station in the Cameroons, was founded in 1858 by some Baptist missionaries who had been exjielled from Fernando-Po by an intolerant Spanish governor. The whole district was acqviired by them for a few casks of salt meat and biscuits, and one of the most picturesque sites in the world selected for the station, at the foot of the forest-clad mountain and on the shores of an island-studded inlet. The two verdant islands of Ambcis (Aiiibozes, Amboi-se) and Mondole stand out against the hazy backgrovmd of Fcrnando-Po with its cloud- capped cone, while the beach, fringed with dense vegetation, stretches away to the south and west. "\'ictoria offers some advantages as a naval station, the roadstead north of the islands being accessible to vessels of average draught, which may here procure a suppty of pure water from a copious stream descending fi-om the mountain. The deep inlet of Man-of-War Baj', penetrating far inland, might also be easily connected with Victoria by a short road, perhaps even by a canal cut across the intervening muddy neck of the peninsula. At present almost the only inhabitants of Yietoria are some Ba-Kwiri and fugitives threatened with the vendetta or the vengeance of the fetishmen. Owing to the political changes, the English BajDtist missionaries have been compelled to sell their establishment and their proj^rietarv rights over the neighbouring lauds. The German Government has introduced in their place missionaries from Basle, charged to instruct the natives in the Gennan tongxie and teach them to obey their new masters. East of the wooded headland at the southern extremity of the great mountain lies the haven of Bimhia, partly sheltered from the surf by Nichols Island. But the approach is tortuous and difficult, and during the rainy season the billows break furiously on the bar. The bay is lined by three villages forming an almost continuous row of houses inhabited chiefly by fishermen. Bimbia is the natural outport for the large Ba-Kwivi villages Sopo, Lissoka, Binma, Bwea or Bea, scattered over the surroujiding slopes. In the Mungo basin the port and chief market near the large village of Mbinga communicates with Mbinga by a deep channel offering excellent anchor- age to large vessels. Farther on lies Bakumlu-ba-Nantbch', an American missionary station in the Ba-Kundu territory. Kumba, much farther inland, appears to be a great market for slaves and palm-oil, with a population, according to Schwarz, of nearly four thousand. The name Cameroons is applied collectively to about a dozen villages with a joint population of ten thousand on the east side of the Cameroons estuary, some of which are separately known as King Bill's Town, King Aktca's Town, from the names of the local "kings." They are reached by vessels of average tonnage, THE CAMEEOONS. 381 tliose of larger size stoiipmg at tlie entrance of the roadstead. A few hulks are also moored opposite the factories, although most of the ti'aders now reside m -well 362 WEST AFEICA. built modern houses on the mainland. The palace of the governor crowns a gently sloping terrace, where stood a native village destroyed by the German flotilla in 1885. But the ofiicials usually reside at the health resort established on the exposed sandy beach at the extremity of Cape Swellaba, to which the Germans have given the somewhat eccentric name of Kaiser WiJhelm's Bad. The term Biafra figuring on most maps as the name of a town in the Cameroons basin has absolutely no existence. It appears to have been applied to some imaginary kingdom or capital, and afterwards extended to the neighbouring Fig. 184. — ViCIOEIA AND BiMBIA. Scale 1 : 150,000. t ast oru'-een.vlch 9°i5 DiptliF. Swamps. ^ to lij leet. 16 to 32 Fept. 32 Feet and upwards. 3J Miles. bight. Eut it should be removed from moleru geographical nomenclature, having apparently originated through a clerical error for Mri/ra, the name of a mountain inscribed in the early maps on the exact site of the Ba-Farami range, so that the resemblance between these two terms may not bo altogether fortuitous. Near the mouth of the Moauya have been established three factories trading with the neighbouring "Little," or JSTorthern Ba-Tangas. Higher up the centre of traffic is at the large village of Jacmija, where the less civilised Ba-Kokos of the interior come in contact with the Ba-Tangas. Under the common designation of " Great Ba-Tangas " are comprised two distinct tribes, the Ba-Pidios north of THE C.!lM;EEOOXS. 383 Elephant ilountain, and the Ba-Nokos in the Criby district and farther south to the month of the Eio del Campo. The long-standing blood-feud between these two tribes was recently brought to an end bj' the intervention of the European traders. This group of tribes are the most skilful boat-builders in the whole of Africa. They launch on the iloauya large war galleys impelled by about sixteen rowers, with a speed unrivalled by any European craft. Amongst the Southern or Great Ba-Tongas these boats have been replaced by skiifs of amazingly light build, about 7 feet long, 12 inches broad, 6 inches deep, weighing but from 10 to 20 pounds, with which they skim over the crests of the waves, fearlessly crossing the dangerous surf-beaten bars which Europeans scarcely venture to approach in open boats. The factories in the Great Ba-Tanga territory are at present the most important depots for the ivor}- trade, brought from the interior by the Ibeas (Ma- Bea), or " Brush People," who speak a very different icUom from that of the coast tribes. Like the Fans farther south, these Ibeas are constantly moving seawards, and have already reached the coast at two points north and south of the Lobe River. Beyond the coast plateaus and the hj-pothctical Sierra Guerreira range, east of their domain, lie the regions stretching towards the Upper L^-Banghi and Shari basins, -nhere is foimd the Liba, or " Lake," frequently- mentioned by the natives. But whether it is really a great sheet of water, or a large river, perhaps the U-Banghi itself, is sttU unknown. Of all the unexplored Central African regions these have hitherto best preserved their secret. CH.iPTER X. THE GABOON ^VXD OGOWAY BASINS. Spanish, Fkexcu, and Portuguese Possessions. [LL recently most of the seaboard stretching for about 900 miles betn'een the mouths of the Ptio del Campo and Congo was left to its native inhabitants, the Eiu'opean Powers confining themselves to a few points on the coast, such as Gorisco, Libreville, and Kabinda. At present there is scarcely a desert strand or a single mangrove Ihicket that is not claimed as an integral part of some political domain, and fanciful frontiers have even been traced across remote, imexplored, or at least little- known regions of the interior. Were priority of discovery the only title to possession, the rights of Portugal could not be questioned, for the Lusitanian mariners had already crossed the line in 1470, and many of the headlands and inlets along the seaboard still bear Portuguese names. Thus the most advanced promontory. Cape Lopez, recalls the navigator Lopo Gon9alvez, while the neigh- bouring estuary of Ferniio Yaz is named from another sailor of the same nationality. It IS also certain that the Portuguese formed permanent settlements at several points along the coast, and the remains have even been discovered of buildings and of rusty guns in the island of Coniquet (Konike), towards the centre of the Gaboon estuary. But for over three hundred and fifty years after the first discoveries, European commercial relations were mainly confined to the slave trade, those engaged in this nefarious business maintaining a studied silence, and screen- ing from the eyes of the outer world the scenes of their profitable operations. The work of exploration, properly so-called, was not seriously undertaken before tho middle of the present century, after the acquisition by France of a strip of land on the north side of the Gaboon estuary as a depot for revictualliug her cruisers. The first station was foimded in 1842, and soon after the whole estuary was surveyed, and expeditions sent to explore the Komo and Pamboe afiluents. Then followed Du Chaillu's excursions to the interior, and his sensational accounts of the gorilla, th3 terrible " man of the woods," after which the Ogoway basin was thrown open and largely explored by Braouczec, Serval, Griffon du BcDay, Aymes, De Compiegne and Marche, "\Yalker and Oscar Lcnz. The systematic 3N1VERSITY of ILLINOIS, 1=". THE ('Sj-f-CLTft. ' Sibai Ol^^a^-a. *:■ »- ■■-■ ■ 4' f^. -/ :«*; (' SanoManoa A^' vi JKuo^iu^^ V ^«„^ rax; ft^ ''^— "Wfi. ^. *jV CaiAarin* 9» LONDON. J. 3.V A B N POvillo 3tio teo 320 ufwS^dt. U E & C° LIMITED- THE GABOON AND OGOWAY BASINS. 385 work of survey was completed by the two De Brazzas, Ballay, Mizon, Rouvier, and others, thanks to whose labours nearly the whole triangular region bounded east and south by the Congo, north by the Gaboon and the equator, is now kno^vn in its more salient features, while the numerous positions determined astronomi- cally sujiply sufficient materials for detailed maps. The Spanish travellers Iradior, Montes de Oca, and Ossorio, have on their part traversed in various directions the whole region stretching north of the Gaboon as far as the Eio del C'ampo, and penetrated for r20 miles inland. Thus in order to complete the preliminary survey of the equatorial lands which the European powers have appropriated by Fig, 1S.3.— Chief Routes o? Esi-LOBEr.s in the Gaboon and OoQ-n-AY Basins. Scale 1 : 12,100,000. G° t. Ml of Ureenw.ch to eio Feet. Ceplhs. G40 to 3,400 Feet. 3,400 Feet ani upwards. ISO Miles. diplomatic conventions, nothing rcmiins except to visit certain norlh-eastcru districts watered by the Congo affluents. To France has been assigned by far the greater part of this equatorial region, her share including the whole of the Gaboon, Ogoway and Kwilu basins, besides those of the Congo affluents as far as the U-Banghi. Spain adds to the island of Corisco and the two islets of Elobey a small strip of territory on the mainland, while Portugal retains possession of an enclave limited north by the river Massabi, east and south by conventional straight lines separating it from the new Congo State. The area of this enclave may be roughly estimated at 1,000 square miles, with a population of at least thirty thousand ; but the extent of the 386 WEST AFEICA. FrencH and Spanisli territories can be measured only by the degrees of latitude and longitude. Broadly speaking, " Equatorial France " may be said to bare an area of about 240,000 square miles, while the territory claimed by Spaia varies from 10,000 to a very iew square miles, according to the different national and foreign estimates. As far as can be judged from the conflicting statements of travellers the total population cannot be less than two millions, while according to De Brazza it is more probably five miUions, including the lands draining the Congo. Physical Features. lu the whole of this region between the sea and the Congo there are no lofty ranges, the highest simimits falline: below 5,000 feet, while very few exceed 3,500 feet. In the north the mo.st conspicuous eminence is Mount Batta, rising like a tower above the neighbouring hills. Eastwards from this point stretch the parallel Siete Sierras, or " Seven Eidges," of the Spaniards, merging southwards in the range formerly known as the Sierra do Crystal, or "Crystal Mountains," with peaks said to exceed 4,600 feet. South of the Ogoway the culminating point, Mount Igumbi Xdele, in the Sette Kama basin, appears to be not much more than 3,500 feet high, while the hills about the Upper Kwilu rise little above 1,000 feet. Altogether the relief of the land presents a great uniformity, a series of ridges parallel with the coast following from west to east in the form of terraces skirted by chains of hills. The central terrace consists of gneiss flanked on the east by quartz, talcky and micaceous schists and elevated sandy plains as level as a lake. Westwards stretch chalk and Jurassic strata advancing with a few interruptions towards the coast, and in many places covered with laterite. Old lavas also occur overlying the terraces, and the early travellers even spoke of "burning mountains," such as the Onyiko and Otombi in the northern part of the Ogoway valley about 120 miles from the sea. But although recent exploration has shown that these " fetish mountains " are not volcanoes, there can be no doubt that great geological changes have taken place in this part of the continent, the very form of the coast attesting a considerable modification in the relative level of land and sea. The curve of the shore-line, tolerably regular north of Cape St. John and developed with almost geometrical symmetrj' south of Cape Lopez, is broken between these two points by the three deep inlets of Corisco Bay, the Gaboon estuary, and Kazareth Bay. Corisco island is itself a mere fragment of the old seaboard, while the numerous stagnant waters south of Cape Lopez represent old river beds that have shifted their channels. Possibly the great riverain lagoon of Banya may be nothing more than the remains of a former mouth of the Congo. Rivers. Thanks to the copious rainfall, the region comprised between the Cameroons and the Congo is intersected by a large number of closely ramif}-ing streams. THE GABOON ESTUARY. 887 The Etembwe, or Rio del Campo, southera limit of the German possessions, is followed by the Eyo, or Sau-Benito, ^Yllich reaches the coast 36 miles north of Cape St. John, and which is navigable for 20 miles to the Yoba falls. The Muni (Angi-a, or Danger), which enters Corisco Ba}' opposite the Elobey Islands, is also obstructed by formidable cataracts during its passage through the red sandstone escarpments of the coast ranges. South of the Muni the narrow island-studded inlet bounded on the west by the Cape Esteiras peninsula has received the name of Rio Munda, as if it were a river, being in reality a mere estuary into which are discharged a few feeble coast- streams. The same description applies to the Gaboon itself, which also received the name of rio from the early navigators, and which till within the last few Fig'. ISO, — CONI'LUENCE OF THE KOMO AND EaMBOE. Scale 1 : 450,000. Depths. to 16 Feet. 16 Feet ana upwai-ds. . Miles. decades was still regarded as one of the great continental rivers, whose sources were sought in the great lakes of the interior. But the Gaboon, so called by the Portuguese from its fancied resemblance to a gabao, or " cabin," penetrates inland little more than 40 miles. In its general outlines, size, and hydrographic system it recalls in a striking way the French estuary of the Gironde, although somewhat broader and with a greater average depth. Lilce that of the Gironde, the entrance is obstructed with sandbanks, which liave had to be carefully buoyed, marking off four deep channels with 26 to 33 feet of water at ebb tide. In its upper reaches the estuary is accessible to vessels drawing 13 or 14 feet, and its two affluents, the Komo and Ramboe, as well as several of their tributaries, are 388 WEST APEICA. also navigable by small craft. Of the two the Komo is tbe larger, rising like the Muni in the upland valleys of the Crystal Range. Some GO miles south-west of the Gaboon estuary, the sea is reached by the Ogoway, largest of aU the rivers between the Niger and Congo, and like the Gaboon at first supposed to be also one of the great continental watercourses. Even after Livingstone's discovery of the Lua-Laba, by him wrongly supposed to be the Upper Nile, many geographers fancied that this emissary' of the great Cazcmbe lakes might trend westwards to the Ogoway, and it was this theory that gave occasion to the expeditions of Oscar Lenz and of other explorers in this Fig. 187. — Supposed Couese of the Ogoway before the late discovekies. Scale 1 : 6,00f,000. y host of breen-vic^ 10' Depths. to 640 Feet. Com'se according to Kiepci-t. 640 Feet nnd upwards. Ti'uG course. , 120 Miles. region. Bnt although occupying a much humbler position than had been supposed, the Ogoway still sends down a greater volume than either the Rhine or the Rhone, or any other river in the west of Europe. At tlie same time the estimates of 1,580,000 or 1,760,000 cubic feet per second during the floods are probably exaggerated; and allowing even that four-fifths of the rain falling within its basin of 120,000 square miles ultimately reaches the sea, the mean discharge cannot greatly exceed 350,000 cubic feet per second. The farthest headstreams of the Ogoway, which has a total course of about 720 miles, rise in the Ea-Tcke territory, within 120 miles west of the Congo. After its junction with the Pafsa, the main stream, alrcadj^ navigable for boats, at o o o H a o < a o o Eh LIBRARY OF THE '.)NIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. THE OGOWAY. 389 least in the rainy season, meanders first westwards, tlien to tlie noi-tli, interrupted so frequently by rocky obstructions that tlio whole of its middle coarse may be described as a continuous rapid. At the Dum^ falls it trends abruptly westwards, beyond which it is again deflected towards the equator, which it follows in a somewhat westerly direction, as if to fall into the Gaboon estuarj'. Here it is joined above the Bowe falls by the Ivindo, a large stream which is supposed to have its source in the neighbourhood of the U-Banghi. From this point the Ogoway rolls down a great body of water, but the current is constantly impeded by rocky barriers, "fetish stones," as they are called, which the boatman in passing hopes to propitiate by sprinkling them with a few di'ops of water from his paddle. From the station of Xjole, below the last rapids, the lower course flows for 200 miles to Xazareth Bay, at some points narrowing to 500 or 600 yards, but else- where expanding to a breadth of nearly 2 miles. The current is dotted with numerous islands, some consolidated by the roots of trees, others mere sandbanks, or else floating masses of vegetable refuse, arrested by the tall sedge growing on the bottom. Even at low water, gimboats di-awing 3 or 4 feet may ascend for over 180 miles fi'om the sea, although till recently no whites were allowed to pass " Fetish Point," at the confluence of the Xgunic. This great affluent fi-om the south is itseK navigable for 60 miles to the Samba falls, which rise scarcely i feet above high-water level. Below the Xgunie junction, the Ogoway ramifies like the Senegal into lateral channels, which receive the overflow during the periodical inundations, when they expand into yast lacustrine or swampy reservoirs, dotted over with islands. Such is the great elim {liba), or "lake," usually known by the name of Zonengway, fanious for its holy island, residence of a powerful fetishman. This lagoon, about 40 feet at its deepest point, covers a space of at least 200 square miles, and communicates with the river through three navigable channels, two influents from, one an emissary to, the Ogoway. Farther west, but still on the same south side, occurs the Anenghe (lonenga, Onangwe), a basin of similar formation, while on the north side a branch of the main stream is skirted by the Azingo and some other lateral depressions, also large enough to deserve the name of lake. The delta properly so called, beginning at the Anenghe lagoon, comprises between the two chief branches, the Lower Ogoway in the north and the Wango in the south, an area of about 1,900 square miles, including the island of Cape Lopez, which projects far seawards. This region is intersected in all directions by shifting channels and backwaters accessible during the floods from at least three points — Nazareth Bay in the north, 20 to 30 feet deep, the Fernao Yaz channel in the south, and between the two, Cape Lopez Bay. The delta is continued south- wards by the extensive NTiomi lagoon, ramifying into a thousand creeks and fed from the north by the TVango branch of the Ogoway, from the south by the rembo (" river ") Obenga flowing from the hills to the south of Lake Zonengway. Other lagoons continue south-eastwards this half- submerged region, beyond which the I^'yanga, escaping through the gorges of the coast range, falls into the 390 ■\VEST AFEICA. sea below the Sctte Cama estuary. But between the Ogoway and the Congo the most important stream is the Kwilu (NgucUa), -nhich higher up is known as the Niadi or Jsiari, with a total course of about 3C0 miles. Like the Ogoway, the Kwilu describes a great bend northwards, and after its junction with the Lilli and with an emissary from the Nyanga, it pierces the region of schistose hills through Fig. 188. — The Ogowat and Zonesgwat. Scale 1 : 925,000. LJVton/9 Stones of Sar7tho%(. .fi'm Last oT breens,v.ch 10° SO- SO Miles. a series of abrupt defiles. It is navigable by gunboats for 36 miles from its mouth to a " gate " of vertical rocks rising 100 feet above the stream, and supposed by the natives to be kept open bj- a powerful fetish, who, however, may close the passage at any moment. Higher up follow still more formidable gorges, in one of which the river, from 1,000 to over 2,000 feet broad on the plains, is contracted to a narrow channel 20 feet wide. The Kwilu, which in some respects offers greater CLIMATE OF THE GABOON REGION. 391 facilities for penetrating inland than the Ogoway, leads to a region within 60 miles of the Congo, which is reported to abound in copper and lead deposits. Climate. The broad features of the climate are revealed by the periodical rise and fall of the fluvial waters. Thus the Ogowaj' continues to rise from September to the middle of December, and then falls to the end of January, indicating the season of Fig. 189. — LixES OP EauAL Cloudiness in Afkica. Scale 1 ; 100,000,000. , 2,400 Miles. the winter rains followed by a short interval of fine weather. Then follow the great rains, when the river again begins to rise, usually attaining its maximum about the first week in May, and again regularly subsiding tiU September. The rainfall gradually' diminishes southwards from the Eio del Campo to Cape Lopez and thence to the Portuguese territory, falling from about 120 inches north of the Gaboon to 100 about the equator, but varying greatly on the Loango coast, where it fell from 63 inches in 1875 to no more than 16 in 1877. The quantity of moisture precipitated corresponds generally to the frequency and density of the 402 WEST AFRICA. childreu being entirely exempt from rickets and the numerous oilier maladies that sweep off so many in civilised lands. In these equatorial regions the interior is henceforth opened to European enterprise, and the natives, who till recently took no part in international trade, may now exchange their gums and ivory for European wares. But without systematic cultivation of the soil the French possessions can have no economic value. Thev will become mere military settlements surrounded by a few groups of factories and missionary stations, and useful for keeping open the communica- tions with the interior. Hitherto no symptoms can be detected of any great social change, except that the Mpongwes are being gradually displaced by the more industrious and more intelligent Fans. But apart from trade, with all its attendant evils, the civilising efforts of the whites have borne so little fruit that a serious beginning has apparently still to be made. What has most to be dreaded is the employment of force, which in a single daj' would undo the work alroadj- accom- plished in the Ogoway and AHma basins by the patience and forbearance of M. Brazza and his associates. Topography. North of the Gaboon estuary there are no settlements beyond a few factories and missionary establishments about the mouths of the San-Beuito and other rivers. The largest centre of native population is found in the Spanish island of Corisco, that is, "Lightning," so named from the thunderstorms here witnessed by the first Portuguese navigators. Corisco is a flat island about 6 square miles in extent, forming a southern continuation of Cape St. John, and inhabited by about one thousand Mbengas, over a fom'th of whom have been taught to read and write by the Protestant and Catholic missionaries stationed amongst them. No European traders reside on the island, the attempts made by the Dutch in 1879 to make it a commercial settlement having failed. Great Elobey also, lying to the north-east near the head of the bay, has been abandoned to the natives, the foreign dealers confining themselves to Little Elobey, an islet half a square mile in extent lj"ing nearly opposite the mouth of the Muni. From this point they are able to super- intend and communicate with their factories on the coast, for Little Elobey lies in smooth water, sheltered by Corisco and Great Elobey from the Atlantic surf. The only inhabitants are the European traders with theii' agents and Kroo domestics, who are supplied with provisions by the Jlbengas of Great Elobey. The islet enjoys a healthy cUmate, and serves as a health resort for the whites engaged on the mainland. Ofiiclally all these islands depend on the government of Feruando- Po, but this political connection appears to be little better than a fiction, the sovereign power being unrepresented by a single Spanish sentinel. The factories also nearly all belong to Hamburg merchants, paying neither imports nor customs to Spain. Libreville, capital of the French i^ossessions, so named from the emancipated slaves settled here in 1849, lies on the north side of the Gaboon estuary, on a LIBBEVILLE. 403 terrace dominated by the Bouet and Baudin hills to the north. .lUthough con- taining no more than fifteen hundred inhabitants — French and other whites (Senegalese, Kroomen, and Mpongwes— Libreville is scattered over a space of about four miles along the roadstead. Here is a Catholic establishment, where over a hundred children are taught various trades, and also cultivate extensive cocoa-uu( oil-palm, and other plantations, serving as a sort of nursery for tho whole rcion between the Niger and Congo mouths. At the opposite extremity of Libreville lies the American missionary station of Baraka, where instruction has now to bi- given in French, the official language of the colony. Near it are the factories of Glass, mostly belonging to foreigners, and much more important than tho French Fio 194. — Coiusco Bay. Scale 1 : 800,000. &^. I. .y:^ M:anit Mii .^*M^J /J ^m^^^-.. /V\ yrs ;:^b X . \^y / '9°50' castor breenwrdi I0°2Q- OtolG Feet. Depths. 16 to 32 Feet. 32 Feet and upwards. . IS Miles. houses. Notwithstanding its great political value since the acquisition of the Ogoway basin and the foundation of the Congo Free State, Libreville is far from being a source of profit to France, the revenue derived from a few taxes and import dues scarcely representing one-fourth of the annual outlay. But notwithstanding its present restricted commerce, there can be no doubt that Libreville must sooner or later become a great centre of international trade. Not only is it the natural emporium for all the produce of the Komo and Romboc basins, but through the latter river it also commands the route to the Ogoway. As soon as a railway or even a carriage road is opened, all the traffic of this basin above the Ngunie confluence must flow to the Gaboon estuary. But meantime 894 WEST AFKIOA. Inhabitants. The inliabitauts of West Equatorial Africa consist for the most part of immi- grants from the east, the ceaseless tides of migration either sweeping away the aborigines, or else by intermingling with them forming fresh ethnical groups which now render all classification impossible. The best known nation are the Mpongwes (Pongos) of the Gaboon, whose Bantu language is by far the most widely diffused throughout these coastlands. It has been carefully studied by the missionaries and others, who speak with admiration of its harmonious sounds and logical structure. Thanks to the precision of the rules determining the relations of roots and affixes, all ideas may be expressed with surprising accuracy, so that it has been found possible to translate the gospels and compose several religious works without borrowing a single foreign word. The Mpongwes, who call themselves Ayogo, or " the Wise," possess a copious collection of national songs, myths, and traditions, besides which the elders are acquainted with the " Hidden Words," a sort of secret language of unknown origin. Although the transition is abrupt between Mpongwe and the eastern Bantu idioms, all clearly belong to the same linguistic stock, and fully one-fifth of the Mpongwe vocabulary reappears in the Swahili of tbe east coast. The Mpongwes proper are a mere fragment of a formerly powerful nation, and are being gradually absorbed by the immigrants from the interior. Those who call themselves " Children of the Soil," and who were distinguished by their physical beauty, are slowly disappearing, carried off by small -pox, consumption, scrofulous affections, and the pernicious habit of smoking liamba, a kind of bemp like the hashish of Eastern peoples. Those grouped round the Catholic and Protestant missions call themselves Christians, and even the fetish-worshiiDpers sell their sacred groves for ardent spirits. All are intelligent, but without perseverance, and frivolous boasters, who have to be replaced on the Government works by Kroomen or coolies from Senegambia. The Benga (Mbenga) tribes of Corisco Island and the opposite coast speak a distinct Bantu dialect, nearly related to that of the Ba-Kale, a powerful nation who have not yet reached the coast, occupying the inland forest between the Muni and Sette Kama rivers. The Ba-Kale, whose chief tribes lie south of the Ogoway, are said to number about one hundred thousand, but are rapidly diminish- ing, whole clans having disajipeared within a generation imder the pressure of the inland peoples advancing seawards. Since the appearance of the whites in the Ogoway basin, the social usages of the Ba-Kale have been considerably modified. Formerly warriors and hunters, they are now mostly traders, packmen, and brokers, monojjolising the transit traSic about the lower course of the river ; their Di-Kele language, mixed with Mpongwe elements, has become the chief medium of intercourse among the riverain populations as far as the first cataracts. They have ceased to work iron and copper, and now obtain by barter all the European arms and utensils that they require. The Ba-Ngwes, who dwell some 60 miles east of the cataracts between the 'A 2; D 3 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSlTYoflUWOlS. INHABITANTS OF THE GABOON. 895 iqDper and lower course of the Ogo-way, ai^joear to be the only people above the Ba-Kalo territorj' who are allied to them iu speech. All the rest, except the Fans, speak dialects akin to those of the Mpongwe and Benga ethnical groups. The Ivili of the Lower Ogoway, kinsmen of the Ba-Vili of the Upper No-unie basin, are a mild, industrious people, who came originally from the south, and are now increasing rapidly at the expense of their neighbours. They appear to be distinct from the Mpongwes, whose language, however, they have adopted, as Fig-. 190. — Inhabitants of the Gaboox and Ogoway Basins. Scale 1 : 7,500,000. CaSbofGreenw.ch Depths. to 640 Feet. 640 to 3,200 Feet. 3,200 Feet and upwards. 120 Miles. have also the Ajumas of Lake Azingo. The Ba-Ngwes, who have a turn for trade, like their Ba-Kale relatives, but who are less degraded by contact with the whites, appear to be also more sedentary and conservative of the old tribal usages. The women, M'ho are of herculean strength, are distinguished by a peculiar system of tattooing, executed in relief on the breast, and like their Okanda neigh- bours, all theBa-Ngwes are passionately fond of salt, swallowing it by handful.?, as greedy white children do sugar. D D 2 396 WEST AFRICA. The Fans. Most of the region east of the Gaboon and north of the Ogoway is now held by the Fan intruders, who have driven towards the south-west all the other indi- genous and immigrant loojDulations. Wlien the French first settled in the Gaboon the Fans were almost unknown, although so early as 1819 Bowditch had already mentioned them under the name of Paamways, describing them as a Fulah people. Their most advanced villages were at that time still restricted to the hilly inland Fig. 191.— Fan Woman. •t^-^ plateaux north of the Ogoway affluents ; now they have become the immediate neighbours of the Mpougwes of Glass and Libreville on the banks of the Komo, stretching north to the confines of the Ba-Tonga territory, while south of the Gaboon their pioneers have already reached the coast at several points. The Syake Fans occupy the zone of rapids above the Ivindo ; the Osyebas have crossed the middle Ogoway, and others have even penetrated to the Rembo Obenga in the delta region. Dreaded by all their neighbours, the Fans are at present a rising power, THE FANS. 397 who become undisputed masters wherever they present themselves. In the districts knovm to the whites their numbers are estimated at two hundred thousand, and since the middle of the centurj' they are said to have increased threefold both by constant immigration and by the natural excess of births over the mortality. The future of French influence in this region depends mainly on the relations that may be established between the whites and these formidable invaders, all other peoples being divided into a multitude of detached groups incapable of any serious resistance. The Fans, that is to say, "Men," are known bj' manj' other names, such as Pahuin, Pa-Mue, Mpangwe (not to be confounded with Mpongwe), Pan we, Fanwe, and within French territory they form two distinct groups, the Ma-Kima of the Upper Ogoway and the Ma-Zuna about the Gaboon, speaking different dialects and waging a deadly warfare against one another. According to some authors the Fans are sprung from those Jaggas, who in the seventeenth century overran the kingdom of Congo, and the vocabularies collected by Wilson, Lenz, and Zoller prove that their language is also of Bantu stock, more allied to the Benga than to the Mpongwe, but spoken with a very guttural pronunciation. Anthropo- logists now generally believe that they belong to the same family as the Niam-Niams of the Upper "Welle region, from whom they are now separated bj- an intervening space of 900 miles, also probably inhabited by kindi-ed populations. Both present the same general physical appearance, complexion, statui-e, features, and attitude ; both file the incisors to a point, dress the haii" in the same way, use bark coverings, and vegetable dyes for painting the body. The chiefs also wear leopard skins, and use the same iron dart — a weapon with several points that tears the flesh. Blue glass trinkets and cowries are prized as ornaments by both nations, who also breed hounds of the same species. Lastly both are decided cannibals, employing the word nia in the same sense of " to eat," so that the Fans would seem to be the western division of the great Niam-Mam race. They are of lighter complexion and less woolly hair than the Ogoway coast tribes, which has caused some ethnologists to regard them as of non-Negro stock. The men, whose only occupation is fighting and hunting, are generallj' tall and slim, but very muscular, with haughtj' bearing and defiant look, very different from the obsequious downcast glance of the Gaboon Negroes. The women, who perform all the household and agricultural work, soon acquire heavy ungaiul}- figures. But the characteristic trait of both sexes is the bulging frontal bone, forming a semicii'cular protuberance above the suj)erciliary arches. The young men and women delight in personal ornaments of all sorts, adding cosmetics to tatooing, intertwining the hair with pearls, foliage, and feathers, encircling neck and waist with strings of cowries and china buttons, loading the calves with copper rings, like those in use among the natives of East Africa. Some of the women are as bedizened as any fetish, and so overladen with ornaments as to render locomotion almost impossible. But when they have to mourn the death of a chief or of a near relative they must put everything aside, and appear abroad either naked or clothed only with foHage and bedaubed with yellow or greenish ochre, which gives them a very cadaverous appearance. 398 \VEST APEICA. The practice of cannibalism, on whicli the unanimous testimonj^ of tlic first explorers leaves no room for doubt, appears to have been abandoned in the neigh- bourhood of the coast. In the interior, prisoners of vrav are still eaten, but the banqiiet partakes of a religious character, being enjoyed in a sacred hut far from the eyes of women and children, the object being to acquire the courage of the enemy by devouring him. Wizards are also said to be consumed in the same ■way, and on many occasions slaves would appear to be immolated and passed from village to village for solemn feasts. Among certain tribes the old alone are privileged to touch human flesh, which is fetish for all others. Thiis the custom seems to be gradually falling into abeyance, the Fans being compelled, like other conquerors, to modify their usages when they come in contact with different populations and become subject to new conditions of existence. Formerly hunters, they have now mostly taken to trade, husbandry, and fluvial navigation. Of all the Gaboon and Ogoway peoples, the Fans are the most energetic and industrious. They are skilled forgers and ingenious armourers, who have dis- covered the art of making ebony crossbows, with which they himt apes and antelopes, that would be scared by the report of firearms. They are also famous potters, and in the neighbourhood of the whites have become the best gardeners, so that they are now the hope of the colony. Those of the Komo district, still in a transition state between the nomad hunting and settled agricultural life, take care always to provide themselves with two stations, far removed one from the other. They have a riverain settlement well situated for trade, but exposed to the attacks of warlike flotillas, and a village in the forest affording a refuge when warned in time by the tam-tam or the ivory trumpet of a threatening danger. The riverain hamlet may be destroyed, but the other remains, and in that are preserved all their valuables. All villages are disposed so as to guard against sudden surprise, and sentinels are always stationed at both ends of the street. In the centre stands the palaver house, where the warriors assemble to deliberate, all capable of bearing arms having the right to make their voice heard in the assembly. In the hilly region about the Ogoway, Nyanga, and Kwilu headstreams, dwell the A-Shangos, akin to the Okandos and A-Shiras of the Ngunie and Rombo basins. According to Du ChaiUu, although darker than their neighbours, the A-Shiras are amongst the finest and most intelligent peoples in Africa. But they are rapidly decreasing, partly through the fearful ravages of small-pox, partly through their depraved taste for the use of liamba. From the A-Shira territory comes this pernicious drug, which with ahigu, or "brandy," is the great " civilising medium " throughout the Graboon and Ogoway lands. The A-Bongos, Ma-Yombes, and Ba-Fyots. Scattered amongst the A-Shango forests, and farther east towards the great river, are the frail leafy huts of the pigmy A-Bongos (Obongo), a shy, timid people living on roots, berries, and game. They are the O-Koas (A-Koas), FAN W01IE>f AND CHILD BANKS OF THE OGOWAT. LIBRARV OF THE 'JNIVERSiTy of ILLINOIS, THE A-BONGOS. 399 described by Marche, and the Ba-Bongos seen by Falkensteiu in the Loango district. According to Du Chailhi, the A-Bongos are of a yellowish complexion, with low retreating brow, prominent cheek-bones, timid glance, hair disposed in little frizzly tufts, relatively short legs, and very short stature. Of six women measured by him, the tallest was 5 feet, the shortest 4 feet 4 inches, and one adult man onlv 4 feet 6 inches ; but the 0-Koas seen by Marche on the Upper Ogoway averaged about 4 inches taller. They are divided into small tribal or family groups, dwelling in the recesses of the forests, remote from all beaten tracts, in low leafy huts, scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding vegetation. Their A-Shango neighbours treat them with great kindness, almost with tendcrucssi Fig. 192. — The BA^■YA Laooon axb Ba-Lumbo Couotet. Scale 1 : 2,400,000. r' '"K uanof Greenw'cK Depths. B to 80 Feet. SO Feet and upwards. > 60 Miles. and ^^■hcn any of their women appear at the markets they are laden with presents of bananas and other fruits. In the Okanda coimtry they hunt the python with assegais and eagerly devoui- its flesh. But although keeping mostly aloof from the surrounding peoples, the A-Bongos are gradually adopting their usages. The mixed populations dwelling near the coast, south of the Nyanga river, and collectively known as Ba-Lumbos or Ba-Yilis, consist largely of runaway slaves from the Gaboon and Congo factories, who have taken refuge on this inhospitable seaboard, where they are sheltered from attack by the surf-beaten shore and surrounding swamps and forests. By alliances with the aborigines they have formed fresh ethnical groups, which, however, differ Httle in their customs from the neighboiu-ing Ba-Yahas in the interior. Like them they suspend 400 "WEST AFRICA. tlie dead to trees, and keep powerful fetislies, which forbid the women to eat goat or game, and command them to till the land and to obey their husbands in all things. The Ba-Lumbos still shrink from contact with the whites, still remem- bering the days of the slave-trade. Their chief industry is the preparation of salt, which they obtain from the sea- water by means of artificial heat, and export it to the Ba-Yahas, who prefer it to the European article. The Ma-Yombes of the Kwilu basin and neighbouring Portuguese territory are grouped in nimierous republics or chieftaincies, some comprising a single village, others forming confederations of several commimities. For centuries they have maintained direct relations with the Portuguese traders, from whom they have learnt to build houses in the European style. But the influence of the whites disappears rapidly in the direction of the east beyond the coast ranges, which have only in recent years been crossed by explorers. Here dwell the Ba- Kunyas, Ba-Kambas, and others, regarding whom the strangest reports were long current amongst the Ma-Yombes. Some were dwarfs, others giants, or one-anned or one-legged, or else people with tails, which when they sat down were inserted in holes in the ground, Possibly there may have been some foundation for the statement that one of their kings never rose from his couch except by the aid of two spears which pierced the breasts of two wretches daily devoted to death. In the district between the Kwilu and the Congo dwell the Ba-Fj'ots, or Ba- Fyorts, who claim to be much more civilised than the surrounding barbarous tribes, and who appear to form the transition between the Bantus of the Gaboon and those of the Congo. In the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth century the whole region boimded north by the Kwilu formed part of the empire of the Mfuma, or " great father," king of the Congo. But the imperial power was represented by lieutenants (iniiene, mani-fuma), who gradually asserted their independence. Thus were founded the kingdoms of Loango, Kakongo, and Ngoyo, which again became subdivided into autonomous territories, each with its chief, assisted by ministers and a council of elders. After the king's death, his obsequies were deferred for several years, the power diu-ing the interregnum being entrusted to the ma-hoina, or " master of terror." It is related that at the last death the people were too poor to worthily celebrate the funeral rites, and that consequently he was left unburied. He is supposed stiU to live, the actual chiefs being officially regarded as simple delegates or viceroys. Several bear Portuguese names, and are surroimded by ofiicials with titles and functions recalling the influence formerly exercised by the representatives of the Court of Lisbon. Even certain Christian practices have survived, such as processions headed by the crucifix, and baptism, followed however by circumcision. Nzambi, the great god or goddess of the Ba-Fyots, is mostly coufoLmded with Sa-Manuelu, the Madonna, or with the " Earth," mother of all. The native theologians have also a sort of trinity, Nzambi, mother of the Congo, being associated with her son in the government of the universe, while a third person, Deisos, takes part in the direction of human affairs. The goddess is represented by the most venerated of THE BA-FYOTS. 401 all fetishes, who punishes with death those guilty of eating forbidden meats, possibly a reminiscence of the Christian fasts. Every praj-er addressed to the fetish is clenched b)' a nail buried in the body of the wooden efEgy, and it must s ink deep and cause even a painful wound, so that the goddess pay due heed to her humble votary's supplication. So recently as 1870 human sacrifices were still made at the burial of a prince, and in 1877 a witch was bui'ned in front of the European factories at Cabinda. The Ba-Fyots, called by the Portuguese Cabinda or Cabenda, from the trading Fif?. 193.— A Cabinda. 1'''>;,. station some 36 miles north of the Congo mouth, are skilful boatmen, who build the so-called palhahotes, substantial seaworthy craft, with which they carry on a coast trade along the seaboard from the Gaboon to Mossamedes. Like the Kroo- men, they also take temporary service in the factories or on board the European vessels. They are also excellent masons, cooks, and tailors, constituting in the southern Portuguese possessions a large part of the artisan population. It is note- worthy that amongst the Cabindas infant mortality is almost unknown, the 402 WEST AFRICA. children being entirely exempt from rickets and the numerous otlier maladies that sweep off so many in civilised lands. In these equatorial regions the interior is henceforth opened to European enterprise, and the natives, who till recently took no part in international trade, may now exchange their gums and ivory for European wares. But without systematic cultivation of the soil the French possessions can have no economic value. They will become mere militarj' settlements sui-rounded by a few groups of factories and missionary stations, and useful for keeping open the communica- tions with the interior. Hitherto no symptoms can be detected of any great social change, except that the Mjjongwes are being gradually displaced by the more industrious and more intelligent Fans. But apart from trade, with all its attendant evils, the civilising efforts of the Avhites have borne so little fruit that a serious beginning has apparently still to be made. "What has most to be di-eaded is the employment of force, which in a single day would undo the work already accom- plished in the Ogoway and Alima basins by the patience and forbearance of JM. Brazza and his associates. Topography. North of the Gaboon estuary there are no settlements beyond a few factories and missionary establishments about the mouths of the San-Benito and other rivers. The largest centre of native population is found in the Spanish island of Corisco, that is, "Lightning," so named from the thimdcrstorms here witnessed by the first Portuguese navigators. Corisco is a flat ish^nd about 6 square miles in extent, forming a southern continuation of Cape St. John, and inhabited by about one thousand Mbengas, over a foiu'th of whom have been taught to read and write by the Protestant and Catholic missionaries stationed amongst them. No European traders reside on the island, the attempts made by the Dutch in 1879 to make it a commercial settlement having failed. Great Elobey also, lying to the north-east near the head of the bay, has been abandoned to the natives, the foreign dealers confining themselves to Little Elobey, an islet half a square mile in extent lying nearly opposite the mouth of the Muni. From this point they are able to super- intend and communicate with their factories on the coast, for Little Elobey lies in smooth water, sheltered by Corisco and Great Elobey from the Atlantic siirf. The only inhabitants are the European traders with their agents and Kroo domestics, who are supplied with provisions by the Mbengas of Great Elobey. The islet enjoys a healthy climate, and serves as a health resort for the whites engaged on the mainland. Oificially all these islands depend on the government of Fernando- Po, but this political connection appears to be little better than a fiction, the sovereign power being unrepresented by a single Spanish sentinel. The factories also nearly all belong to Hamburg merchants, paying neither Imports nor customs to Spain. Librei'iUe, capital of the French possessions, so named from the emancipated slaves settled here In 1849, lies on the north side of the Gaboon estuary, on a LIBREVILLE. 403 terrace dominated by the Bouet and Baudin hills to the north. Although con- taining no more than fifteen hundi'ed inhabitants — French and other whites, Senegalese, Kroomen, and [Mpongwes — Libreville is scattered over a space of about four miles along the roadstead. Here is a Catholic establishment, where over a hundi'ed children are taught various trades, and also cultivate extensive cocoa-nut, oil-palm, and other plantations, serving as a sort of nursery for the whole region between the Niger and Congo mouths. At the opposite extremity of Libreville lies the American missionary station of Baraka, where instruction has now to be given in French, the official language of the colony. Xear it are the factories of Glass, mostly belonging to foreigners, and much more important than the French Fig. 194.— CoRisco Bay. Scale 1 : SOO.COO. ■9"s3- Easter Greenw'ch "■^: \. \ > I0°2Q to 16 Feet. Depths, 16 to 32 Feet. , 18 MUes. houses. Notwithstanding its great political value since the acquisition of the Ogoway basin and the foundation of the Congo Free State, Libreville is far from being a source of profit to France, the revenue derived from a few taxes and import dues scarcely representing one-fourth of the annual outlay. But notwithstanding its present restricted commerce, there can be no doubt that Libreville must sooner or later become a great centre of international trade. Not only is it the natural emporium for all the produce of the Komo and Eomboe basins, but through the latter river it also commands the route to the Ogoway. As soon as a railway or even a carriage road is opened, all the traffic of this basin above the Ngunie confluence must flow to the Gaboon estuary. But meantime 404 WEST AFEIOA. Libreville tas scarcely any value except as the centre of the military power. Besides the gardens attached to the Catholic mission, the only great plantation in the neighbourhood is that of Sibanghe, founded 10 miles farther north by a German house. Above the delta one of the first permanent European stations on the Ogoway is Lambarene, situated at the converging point of the natiu-al highways leading Fig. 195. — Elobet Islands. Scale 1 : 50,000. Depths. Otoie Feet. 16 Feet and upwards. 2,200 Yards. in one direction to the Ngunie valley, in the other to the Gaboon estuary. Here also are some factories and a Catholic mission. Higher up, above an American mission and not far from the first cataracts, lies the A-iUage of Njole, which has been chosen as the chief town in the Ogoway basin. It stands on an islet in mid- stream and is held by a garrison of about forty native troops. Farther on foUow Okoia, Ashul-a, near Lope, a much- frequented fair, Bitnji and Ladoursdllc, so LIBRARY. OF THE ■UNIVERSITY of ILLINui: FEANCEVILLE. 405 named from the explore!" who here perished. Bej'ond the post of Biime, and not far from the Ma-Poko falls, Franceville, central station for the interior exploration, has been founded in the Passa valley, near the village of Ngimi, on the opposite side of the river. From this point runs the route, 50 miles long, leading across a rolling plateau to the navigable river Alima, and thence through the stations of Diele, LckcU, and Pomho to the Congo. South of Cape St. Catherine over fifty factories foUow along the coast to the Fig. 196. — LiBEEVILLE AND MoUTH OF THE GABOON. Scale 1 : 240,000. 9°2o- L astorbreenwicVi 9°50 0tol6 Feet. Depths. 16 to 32 Feet. 82 Feet and upwards. . G Miles. mouth of the Congo. The most important north of Loango is Ma- Yumha, lying on a strij] of sand between the sea and the Banya lagoon, and chief depot for the gums collected in the neighbouring forests by the surrounding Ba-Vili, Ba-Lumbo and Ba-Yaka tribes. Here every river mouth or estuary has its factory, that of the Kwilu being situated on the island of Eds. A group of sheds on the left bank of this river is already dignified with the name of town, being destined by the International African Association as the starting-point of the route laid down 406 WEST AFEICA. from the coast to the Congo along a line of stations which, if they do not yet exist, arc at least indicated on the maps. The three chief ports founded by the French on taking possession of this valley arc Niari-Bahircndc, on the iipper course of the Kwilu, Niari Lu-Bima, at the confluence of the river of like name, and Ngotii, standing on a prominent bluff in the region of the cataracts. Doubtless this route must one day acquire great commercial importance, but this cannot be till a carriage road has been constructed, the Kwilu itself not being navigable. Fig. 197. — Ma-Poko Falls on the UrPEE Ogo'way. Scale 1 : 17,000. Eastbr&reenwich 13 M-jo- I5'i2' 550 Yai-as. Recently M. Cholet made the journey in twenty-five days from the coast to Brazzaville. At present all the trafiic of this region is carried on through the port of Loango (Buala), an old city tiU recently claimed by Portugal, biit now assigned to France. In the days of its prosjieritj-, when it was capital of a province of the Congo empire, Loango was said to have a population of fifteen thousand; at present it is less a town than a group of factories surrounded by chbnbeques, that is, hovels constructed of raphia stems and " Loango grass," or papyrus. At this point the shore-line curves round to the west, thus sheltering the roadstead from LOANGO. 407 the prevailing winds. Goods can accordingly be landed liere more easily than at any other place, and on this protected beach have been founded a number of English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and German factories. In the neighbouring Aillage of Loangiri is seen the necropolis of the old kings of Loango, ■which was formerl}- enclosed by a barrier of elephants' tusks. The royal burial- place at Labu is indicated by fetishes carved in wood, and those who are destined one day to be deposited in this shrine must not penetrate within its i^recincts during their lifetime, as such a visit would be the herald of approaching death. Fonta Negra ("Black Point,") about 18 miles farther south, occupies a position Fig. 198.— Franoeville. Scale 1 : 125,000. ^^ >^.^ E asbcr Gr-eenvvich IO°55- o\ Kiles. analogous to that of Loango, for here also the strand develops a semicircle round a tranquil bay, on which several factories have likewise been established. Beyond this point follow the factories of Massabi, the first within Portuguese territory, and a little farther on the station of S/dnshosho, former headquarters of the German explorers connected with the Loango expedition. In order to protect their warehouses from plunderers, the traders have proclaimed them " fetish," giving the natives to understand that the terrible god of the whites lies concealed behind the brandy casks and bales of cotton. The port of Landana, more than a mile to the south of the Shi-Loango, or 408 "^'EST APEICA " Little Loango " river, is comprised ■within the Portuguese enclave, which is limited on one side by the French possessions, on the other bj- the new Congo State. It is one of the pleasantest places on the M"hole coast, embowered in the graceful foliage of the palms, above which rise the red sandstone cliffs of the Fig. 199. — MOTTTH OF THE KwiL0. Scale 1 : 300,000. La^t cf oreenwicf> Depth. otoie Feet. , G MUes. seaboard. Round the Catholic mission stretch magnificent gardens and the finest orange groves in equatorial Africa ; but the climate is unfortunatel}' rendered malarious by a lagoon fringed with a border of eucalyptus introduced from Australia. The trade of Landana and of its neighbour, Makmla {Molembo), LAJSTDANA. 409 consists chiefly in palm-oil and nuts. At a time when ivory was more abundant than at present, the natives of this district displayed remarkable artistic skill and taste in embellishing the tusks with sculptures disposed in spirals, like the bas- relief of Trajan's column, and representing processions, battles, and treaties of Fig. 200. — PoBTUouESE Possessions Noeth of the Coxgo. Scale 1 : 1,600,000. tsE^of G'-een^■.,c^ ig" Depths. to32 Feet. !2 to 320 Feet. 320 to 1,600 Feet. 1,600 Feet and upwards. — 30 Miles. peace. Some of the figures are very curious, reproducing whites of various nationalities with singular fidelity and a delicate touch of humour. Cahinda, no less picturesque than Landana, stands on a more capacious bay, where vessels can ride at anchor under shelter from the south and south-west winds. Thanks to the industry of its enterprising inhabitants, Cahinda has become VOL. XII. E E 410 WEST AFEICA. a very busy seaport, and although lying some 36 miles north of the mouth of the Congo, it is already one of the entrepots for the commerce of that basin. Its chief factory is the centre for all the British trade between the Gaboon estuary and Loanda. Povo Grande, the largest village in Portuguese territory, is dispersed among the bananas and gardens stretching along the coast south of Cabinda. One of its hamlets was capital of the former kingdom of Ngoyo. A part of the local trade is in the hands of the Ma-Yiunbus, a people of grave and solemn aspect, with intelhgent eyes, straight or even aquiline nose, whose pronounced Semitic type has earned for them the Portuguese designation of Jiideos j^retos, or " Black Jews." They may certainly be regarded as of Jewish origin, if the statement be true that they are strict observers of the sabbath, abstaining even from all conversation on that day. According to the natives, the Ma-Yumbus were expressly created by God to punish other mortals by reducing them to poverty. According to the provisional administration recently bestowed on them, the Portuguese possessions lying north of the Congo are attached to the province of Angola, constituting a special district with the territories beyond the Congo as far as Ambriz. Cabinda is the capital of this district, which is divided into the two northern circumscriptions of Cabinda and Landana. CHAPTEE XI. CONGO BASIN. General Survey. HE great river whose waters colour the sea far beyond the Cabinda coast, takes its rise thousands of miles from its mouth on the Atlantic, its farthest headstreams having their source much nearer the Indian than the Western Ocean. During its long course, describing a vast semicircle through the interior of the continent, it receives diverse names from the riverain populations, all, however, having probably the same meaning of " Moving Sea," or " Great Water." The first navigators hailed it as the Poderoso, or "Mighty Stream," but afterwards learnt from the natives the term Zaire (Nzadi), still current amongst the Portu- guese. After his memorable expedition across the continent, Stanley proposed the name of Li^-ingstone in honour of his illustrious forerunner ; but the proposition was not adopted, and the name of Congo, which was also that of the empire, which in the sixteenth century comprised a portion of the western basin, has finally prevailed in geographical nomenclature. The same name has also been taken by the recently founded State, whose frontiers have already been traced, partly in the presumed direction of the watcr-jDartings, or along the course of the river itself or of its afHuents, j^artly according to the meridians and parallels of latitude. But a great part of the vast domain thus defined on the map of Africa still remains to be discovered, while the course of the great artery itself has been known only for a few years. During the three centuries following their first discoveries on the African seaboard, the Portuguese acquired a detailed knowledge only of the immediate coastlands. Nevertheless numerous expeditions had been sent inland, both in search of gold and to bring the inhabitants under the sway of the king of Portugal and also to discover that mysterious " Prester John " who had been vainly sought in the heart of Asia. During these expeditions it was ascertained that the Zaire had its rise in the depths of Africa, and that great lakes existed about the region E E 2 412 WEST AFEICA. of its sources. But at this period no maps were able to give any detailed outline of the course of the river, and the tracings reproduced on the globes endeavoured to harmonise the definite statements of the Portuguese explorers with the Afi-ican legends and classical traditions of Ptolemy. Thus Joao de Barros holds as certain that the Zaire flows from the largest lake in Africa, which is itself "the mysterious head of the Nile ; " and Duarte Lopez also assigns the same origin to both rivers. Even in the maps of the eighteenth century the same false ideas hold their ground, Fig. 201. — Ateica, accoedino to Hoilann, in 1711. Scale 1 : 90,000,000. IVIe'ridian of breenwicli 0' 1,800 Miles. although Mercator had already in 1541 regularly limited the two fluvial basins by their water-partings. The era of scientific exploration in the Upper Congo basin begins towards the close of the last century with the expedition of Jose de Lacerda e Almeida, who in 1798 penetrated from Mosambique to the region of the great lakes. In 1806 a more fortunate expedition was made by some pomheiros, or caravansmen, right across the continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. But of the route followed little is known beyond the fact that, after passing the great Kwango affluent, they traversed the southern slope of the Congo basin as far as Lacerda's surveys in the EXPLOEATIOX OF THE CONGO. 413 lake region, whence they reached the Zambese. In 1843, the Portuguese Graca penetrated from the west coast to the Upper Kassai Valley in the territory of the Muata-Jamvo. But the first decisive journej- in anj^ region within the Congo basin was that made in 1857-8 by Burton and Speke to the east side of Tangan- yika, without, however, crossing this inland sea or ascertaining whether it belonged to any fluvial system. Even after visiting other lakes beyond Tanganyika and discovering a network of streams flowing northwards, Livingstone was still unaware to what basin they belonged. He even supposed they flowed to the Xile, sending everything to the Egj-ptian ri\er, Hke the old writers, and from his reports many modern geographers still described the great inland lakes from the Bangweolo to the Albert Xyanza as aflluents of the Mediterra- nean. Nevertheless the knowledge already acquired of the continental relief, and of the periodical floods in the various fluvial basins, enabled scientific students to see that the rivers described by Li\-ingstone were really tributaries of the Lua-Laba, or Upper Congo, which traverses a less elevated region than the plateau containing the dei^ressions of the Yictoria Nyanza and other lakes dra'ning to the Upper Xile. Its floods, due to the south tropical rains, reach their highest level in January, whereas those of the Upper Xile occur in August and September. The discharge of the Lua-Laba, calculated at low water by Livingstone, is also over three times greater than that of the Xile below the Bahr-el-Jebel and Bahr- el-Ghazal confluence. Hence it was evidently impossible to hold that the Lua- Laba flowed to the Xile ; and the Shari and Ogoway being excluded on similar grounds, there' remained only two alternatives, either that it discharged into some vast inland basin which had never been heard of, or else joined the Lower Zaire — by far the most Kkely hypothesis. The point was finally settled by Stanley, who after finding Livingstone on the banks of the Tanganyika in 1871, embarked in 1876 on the Lua-Laba, and after nine months' flu^•ial navigation reached the mouth of the Congo. The whole expedition had lasted, from the time of its departure from Zanzibar, altogether nine hundred and ninety-nine days, and a distance of 7,000 miles had been traversed in the various explorations of the great lakes and the river. Kapids had been shot, falls turned, rocks blown up, boats pushed across forests and ra'vines ; hunger and fever had been endured, and as many as thirtj'-two battles fought with the natives, some perhaps too hastily. Of the foui- Europeans forming part of the expedition, Stanley alone had survived, and of his three hundred and fifty six native followers, two hundred and forty-one were left behind in the wilds of Af risa. After this jjrodigious exploit, displaying marvellous daring and energy, indomitable perseverance, amazing moral ascendancy and military talents of a high order, nothing remained except to verify details, correct the first summary draught of the course of the main stream, and connect with this funda- mental route all subsequent surveys made in the region of the Congo and its afiluents. In this work are now engaged a host of explorers, and the observer remains almost overwhelmed with the great results obtained within the brief 414 WEST AFRICA. space of twelve years since Stanley sailed down the Liia-Laba and found it the Congo. The eastern slope of Lake Tanganyika has already been visited by a very large number of white travellers, traders, and missionaries, and the journev has even been made by a lady, Mrs. Annie B. Hore, in a bath-chair. Houses in the European style have sprung ujJ on its shores, and its waters have been navigated by steam. 8outh-west of Tanganyika, geographical triumphs have been less brilliant, although even here Livingstone's routes have been crossed and com- pleted by those of Girauld, Bohm, and Reichardt. Towards the west, Cameron, Fig-. 202. — Congo Bases as traced by Stanley atteb ceossinq the Coxti.ne.nt. Scale 1 :23 500.ono. • 600 Miles. who in 1874 had discovered the emissary of the lake to the Upper Congo, also explored others of its headstreams, and crossed the divide between the Congo and the Zambese, being the first of modern travellers to complete the journey across the continent, from Zanzibar on the Indian to Benguella on the Atlantic Ocean. Others, such as Wissmann, Gleeriip, and Oscar Lenz have since traversed the Congo basin, also crossing from sea to sea, while on the western slope nearh' all the Congo affluents have been ascended as far as navigable. Mechow, Biittner Tajjpenbeck, and Massari have surveyed the Kwango bosin ; Wissmann, De Fran§ois and Grenfell have studied the coui'se of the Kassai, which, with its EXPLOBATIOX OF THE CONGO BASIN. 415 affluent the Sankuru, and sub-affluent the Lo-Mami, offers the most direct route from the Lower to the Upper Congo. Pierre de Brazza has opened the navigation of the Alima, which has already become a busy commercial highway ; Jacque de Brazza, Dolisie, Ponel, Van Gele, and Grenfell have penetrated from opposite sides into the Nkheni, Li-Kwalla, Bunga, and U-Banghi valleys ; the same inde- fatigable Grenfell has ascended the Tchuapa, the Ikelemba, the Lu-Longo, the Mungala, and the Itimbiri. The least known section of the Congo basin is at present the north-eastern Kg. 203.— Congo Bascj as kxows c- 1SS7. Scale 1 : 24,000,000. Tchitamfcs EasL of G'^e«nwich 5£' , 600 Miles. region, which of all others offers the greatest geograj^hical interest, and which will probably one day prove to be the most important, for here is situated the water-parting between th.e Nile and Congo basins. But even here Junker's exploration of the TTelle to within 120 miles in a straight line of the Congo valley, no longer leaves any doubt that this river belongs to the Congo system, and that through it will sooner or later be opened the route to the White Nile. Thanks to Junker's surveys, a rough calculation may already be made of the actual extent of this vast flu\"ial system, which according to Leon Metchnikov is 416 WEST AFEICA. about 1,630,000 square miles. But the elements even for a remotely approximate estimate of the jjopulation are still lacking. From the accounts, however, of various explorers, who have visited many thickly peopled districts, twenty millions Fig. 204. — Chief Routes of Modeen Exploeebs in the Congo Basin. Scale 1 : 2S,OO0,00O. /->■ ") "■vc--x'""""l..^>=i-A...i:-v-;;'( ^?on\" -r--v»rf^-: "--— Lastof Green,-. ■z\^ Land Routes. Water Eoutee. 600 MUes. would certainly appear to be too low a figure, and Stanley himself considers twenty-nine millions as perhaps nearest to the truth. The Tchambesi axd Lake Baxg^^teolo. The farthest headstreams of the Congo take their rise on the southern slope of the Tchingambo mountains, midway between lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, which in a straight line is not more than 420 miles from Kiloa, the nearest town on the shore of the Indian Ocean. This region of the Upper Congo, visited by Joseph Thomson and Stewart in 1879, and by Lenz in 1886, rises to a height of 6,000 LAKE BANGWEOLO. 417 feet, and here several streams traversing a gently rolling plateau converge in a single channel, known in its upper course as the Tchasi, and lower down as the Tchanibesi. Its course is at first from north-east to south-west in the direction of the Zambese basin, from which it is separated only by a low parting-line, but farther down, after collecting several other streams and emissaries of extensive morasses, it enters Lake Bemba, or Bangweolo, southernmost of aU the great sheets of water belonging to the Congo hydrographic system, Bangweolo, discovered in 1868 by Livingstone, and revisited by him five years afterwards to end his days on its southern shores, is an extremely irregular lacus- Fig. 205. — Lake Bangweolo, accoeddjo to Livingstone. Scale 1 : 3,000,000. Livingstone's route. 60 Miles. trine basin divided into numerous secondary sections by islands and peninsulas. Its altitude, estimated by Li^•iugstone at 3,700, is raised by Giraud to 4,300 feet, while the forests of reeds occupying a great part of the depression render it diffi- cult to form a correct idea of its total area. The open water at the northern extremity develops a vast oval, stretching for 60 miles beyond the horizon towards the south-west. About the centre lies the island of Kissi, highest of the archi- pelago, rising 60 feet above the surrounding waters, which are nowhere more than 18 or 20 feet deep, and which towards the south-east are lost in a submerged plain, overgro'mi with sedge. Even the Tchambesi flows throughout its lower course amid low-lying marishy tracts overgrown with reeds, giwmg them an aspect of a boundless grassy plain relieved here and there by clumps of trees. Banks rising 418 WEST AFRICA. a few Let above the surface skirt the ramificatious of the main stream, whose current winds sluggishly through the surrounding swamps. For the greater part of its contour on the east, south, and west Bangweolo is separated from these riverain marshes only by a small wall of reeds 10 to 12 feet high, and across this rank vegetation, concealing a view of the lake, a track has to Fig. 206. — Lake Bangweoio, accoedino to Gieaud. Scale 1 ; 1 ,600,000. ■e Ji i_ast of GreenwIcK 29* SO- SO" ?o 30 Miles. be hewn for boats with an axe. And when at last the open waters are reached the explorer has to follow for days together the monotonous shore-line formed by these tall flags tijjped with tufted burrs rooted in 14 feet of water and growing over 10 feet above the surface. THE TKAYELLEfi GIKAtlD AiUD THE EEEDS OE LAKE BANQWEOLO. L1SRA8Y OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS, OK TMfc" . ISITY of ILLINOIS, THE KAilOLOXDO B.iSIX. 419 Lake Moeeo. Towards the south-east extremity of the lake the two sedg}- walls converge, gradually giving to the lacustrine hasui the aspect of a river. Here is the Lua- Pula emissarv, a meandering stream 20 feet deep and 200 yards broad, which has a winding course, probably of 120 mUes, flowing first south and south-west, then trending abruptly north-west to the Mambirima (Mombottuta) rapids. Beyond these dangerous cataracts no European traveller has yet followed the course of the Lua-Pula, which, however, is known to turn northwards to join Lake Moero, or ileru. In this section of its course, about 180 miles long, falls or rapids must be very numerous, for according to Giraud the difference of level between Lakes Bangweolo and Moero is no less than 1,500 feet. To Moero itself Living- stone assigned an altitude of 3,460 feet, which Giraud reduces to 2,820. Although of somewhat smaller size it presents a larger extent of open water than the southern basin, stretching for about 90 miles uninterruptedly from south-west to north-east, where it is separated from the southern extremity of Lake Tanganyika by an isthmus, also 90 miles broad. Towards the south where it receives the Lua-Pula influent, the shores merge in boundless marshy plains, but everA*where else its waters are clear and deep. Li-s-ingstone, who visited it at two intervals, ascertained that the difference between high and low-water level is at least 20 feet. The surface of the lake is increased hundreds, possibly thousands, of square miles during the floods, when the fish of Silurian types, such as the Clarias cape)isis, spread over the riverain lands, devouring the insects, reptiles, and other animals drowned bv theinundations; and when the waters begin to subside these sUuroids are in their turn captured in thousands, by means of dams and fishing-baskets. The natives mentioned to Livingstone the names of thirty-nine species inhabiting the lake and the Kalongozi, its great affluent from the east. A few islands are scattered about the central parts, while towards the north the Moero assumes the aspect almost of an Alpine basin between the lofty cliffs and wooded slopes of the Rua and Koma ranges. The Kamoloxdo Basin. As they converge from the west and east, these two chains contract the lake to a narrow channel, forming the Lua-Yua or Lua-Laba emissary, called by Living- stone Webb's River. Here the clear although dark current rushes between the forest-clad hills from rapid to rapid, from gorge to gorge, tiU it reaches the Lanji basin, which native report represents rather as a permanently flooded depression, than as a lake in the strict sense of the word. Yet in this reservoir is formed the true Congo, for here converge both the Kamolondo, or western Lua-Laba, and the Lu-Kuga emissary from Tanganyika. The Kamolondo itself develops an extensive fluvial system, bounded south by the great divide between the Congo and Zambese, and comprising such large hi, or "rivers," as the Lu-Bari, the Lu-Fula, the Lu-Laba, and the Lu-Fira. The last mentioned is obstructed by numerous d20 WEST AFRICA, picturesque cascades, such as the Juo falls, where the white foaming waters tumble down a height of 80 feet between rocky red sandstone walls. The main stream on the contrary flows through a chain of lakes, of which the largest, known as the Lo-Hamba, lies secluded in the upper Taller, while the others follow along the lower course like a string of pearls on a necklace. Reichard, who crossed it at over 120 miles above the confluence, asserts that of the two Lua- Labas the Kamolondo is the most copious, and although not the longest, should on this account be regarded as the main branch of the Upper Congo. On the other Fig. 207.— Laee U-Ntamezi, accoedixq to Erhabdi axd Rebmanu. Scale 1 : 20,000,000. 7~^f^7777 > t J.TW» >iV» IT ff Epsb OT G'-etfnwicK . 300 Sliles. hand the Tanganyika emissary sends down very little water, and was even dry when first visited by explorers. Lake Taxgaxyika. Tanganyika was long known to the Portuguese and Arabs, and is mentioned under various names in nvimerous documents of the eighteenth century, although generally confounded with Nyassa and other lakes. The three basins of Xyassa, Tanganyika and Nyanza are even merged in a single inland sea stretching north and south across thirteen degrees of latitude, and still figured as Lake TJ-Nyamezi on Erhardt and Eebmann's map of 1806. But this great Mediterranean has been resolved into its three constituent elements by the memorable voj'age of Burton and Speke in 1858, and the subsequent explorations of Li^angstone and Stanley. TANGANYIKA.. 421 Of all the Central African lacustrine basins, Tanganj-ika Is now the best known, and a comparative study of Livingstone's map with accurate subsequent measxirements shows that it had already been carefully surveyed by the first explorers. From Pambete Bay at the southern to the Ru-Sizi mouth at the Fig. 20S. — Lake TASQAimKA. Scale 1 : 5,600.000. According to the last explorers According to Livingstone 120 Miles northern end, it has a total length of 380 miles, but a mean width of not more than 30 miles. It is of regular form, and nearly destitute of islands and other salient features, beyond the long XJ-Buari peninsula on the north-west coast. Tanganyika presents a striking resemblance to Nyassa, both basins being of the 422 WEST AFRICA. same form, disposed in the same direction, of the same general aspect, and doubtless [nii'''iTiT'i'i"Ti!l;lli'!'l''l!l'T''^r"'" T" '" f ''• '^.'- '""i';' 3 ' produced by the same geological causes. Unlike Bangweolo, a mere permanent TA2JGANYIKA. 423 flooding caused by the back flow of waters obstructed lower down, it is a natural lacustrine basin, with deep water almost everywhere close inshore. At a distance of 2,000 yards ofE Cape Kabogo, Stanley failed to reach the bottom with a 200- fathom Hue, and near the same point Livingstone was equally unsuccessful with one 300 fathoms long, while Giraud recorded a depth of 350 fathoms off the Karema coast. According to the reports of the Ujiji Arabs, the lake boiled up in 1862, emitting vapovirs and strewing the beach with debris resembling bitumen, some fragments of which were afterwards collected by Hore. Tangam-ika, that is, " Union of Waters," is fed by many affluents, mostly however of small size. The largest is the Malagarazi, which during the floods is no less than 1,700 yards wide at its mouth, and even in the dry season is nowhere fordable. Its farthest headstream rises in a lakelet within 330 miles of the east coast, being the point where the Congo basia approaches nearest to the Indian Ocean. The Ru-Sizi influent from the north follows exactly the main axis of the lake, which was at first supposed to send its overflow through this channel to the Xile. Storms are rare on Tanganpka, although it sometimes happens that the cast winds, suddenly interrupting the normal currents from the west, sweep down the eastern slopes and violently agitate the placid surface of the lake. These sudden squalls are mostly to be feared during the rainy season, although the swell is generally heaviest in dry weather. The angry waters are much dreaded by the native boatmen, who, when rounding the headlands, never fail to poui- out libations and make other offerings to the "noble devils" inhabiting them. Those who forget to present a black sheep and a white chicken to the demon of Mount Kabogo never return, a fierce gust from the moimtain swooping down and engulfing them. The scenery, at once grand and picturesque, is pleasantly varied by Cape Kabogo on the east side, and the numerous other headlands breaking the line of verdant slopes, red sandstone cliffs, white limestone walls, granite domes and towers. The transparent waters abound in fish, such as the singa, a great resource of the riverain populations, but the sheU-fish fauna is specially remark- able, more than half the species occurring nowhere else. Some of the forms are essentially marine, being apparently allied to the fossil species of the Upper Chalk in Europe and Xorth America. The water of Tanganyika is perfectly fresh, a fact which alone made it highly probable that there must be an outflow. But when the Ru-Sizi was shown to be an affluent, and no emissary could be found at either extremity flowing in a line with the main axis, as is the case with nearly all lakes, it was at first supposed that the inflow was carried off by evaporation. But it was soon discovered that the level was gradually rising, flooding old beaches and forests, and submerging rocks standing over 10 feet above the old level. This phenomenon seemed to indicate that there was no issue, until the observations of Cameron, Hore, and Thomson made it evident that the Lu-Kuga was certainly an intermittent emis- sary, conveying the overflow from the west coast to the Congo. After reaching the level of this river, which at the outlet is over 2 miles wide, but often choked 424 WEST AI'EICA. witli dense matted vegetation at the narrower parts, the lake again began to subside, falling over 10 feet by 1882, and 5 feet more by 188G. This subsidence caused great alarm to the natives, who feared the " white wizards " might empty the whole lake by throwing " medicines " into Lu-Kuga. " See," said a chief to M. Giraud, " how they cross the lake and the water goes with them." Their Fig. 210.— Tee Ltt-Kuoa befoee the Fltj.sh. Scale 1 : IIO.OOO. ■as'a-i Ea St of GreenwicK £9'a5- Ignorance of any former outflow seems to show that the basin was long closed before its recent rise to the level of Lu-Kuga. According to the latest measurements, Tanganj'ika stands over 2,600 feet above the sea, which would give the emissary a fall of about 7 feet per mile, during its course of 120 miles to the Congo. Throughout its upper course, which alone has hitherto been surveyed, the current is very rapid, without, however, forming any cascades. Its foaming waters flow through a charming valley between wooded hills, rising on both sides from 800 to 2,000 feet above the THE MIDDLE CONGO. 425 surrounding grassy plains, studded here and there witli clumps of trees, and roamed over by herds of buffaloes and antelopes. Eelow Lake Lanji, the Lua-Laba, or rather the Congo, flows for some 60 miles through a still unexplored region. Eut from the confluence of the Lu-Ama, descending from the mountains skirting Tanganyika, it is now known to geogra- phers throughout its whole course to the Atlantic. At this point it is already a great river, over 1,200 yards broad, and with a mean but not constant depth of 12 or 15 feet. It flows first westwards, then nearly due north to the eqiiator, sometimes in a single channel, sometimes ramifying into several branches encir- cling wooded islands or sandbanks. Here it is joined on both sides by several large aflluents, between two of which, the Lu-Fu and Kankora, it rushes in a narrow rocky bed over a series of seven cataracts, obstructing all navigation. These cataracts, where the stream crosses the equator and trends north-westwards, have been named the Stanley Falls, in honour of the daring explorer who dis- covered and successfully traversed them. Below the falls the river, flowing at an altitude of 1,400 feet above the sea, expands into a broad placid stream offering no farther impediments to navigation tin it approaches the Atlantic. In this section it is joined by several great aflBuents, such as, from the south the Lu-Bilash and Lu-Lami (Lo-Mami), which rises near another Lo-Mami, flowing through the Sankuru to the Kassai ; from the north the Arawhimi, rivalling the main stream itself in volume, and rising in the highlands to the west of Lake JIuta-N'zige. Stanley supposed at first that the Arawhimi was a continuation of the "Welle, discovered by Schweinfurth in the Niam-Xiam country ; but the subsequent journeys of Bohndorff, Lupton, Casati, and Junker have shown that the "Welle lies farther north, and that the true headstream of the Ai-awhimi is the Nepoko, seen by Junker to the south of the Monbuttu territory. Below the Arawhimi confluence, the Congo, which here assumes an almost lacustrine aspect, is joiaed by the Lo'ika (Itimbiri), and the Mo- ITgala, two other streams descending from the north, biit too small to be identified with the "\\"elle. North and north-west of the Nepoko, Junker followed the curve of the "Welle (Makua) to a point within about 110 miles of the Congo ; but he was compelled here to retrace his steps without solving the "Welle problem. In this region, however, he found the ^elle swollen by the Mbomo with its Shiuko tributary, which may probably be Lupton's Kuta, the Bahr-el-Kuta of the Arabs. Beyond the Mbomo confluence the united stream ■would appear to continue its westerly com'se parallel with the Congo, ultimately joining the U-Banghi about 240 miles from the farthest point reached by Junker. The F-Banghi was itself ascended by Grenfell far beyond the probable junction, which however was not noticed by him either because he kept mainly to the right bank, or because the mouth of the Welle was masked by some of the wooded islands aboimding in all these great waterways. Beyond the Itimbiri confluence the Congo, ramifying into numerous channels with a total breadth at some points of 12 miles or even more, continues its VOL. XII. F F 426 WEST AFEICA. ■westerly course for 240 miles, during whicli it is joined by its largest affluents. From the east come the deep Lu-Lougo with its Ba-Eiuga (Lopori) tributary, the Ikalemba, and the Paiki (Bo-Ruki or "Black Piiver"), all ascended bj- GrenfeU to the head of their nayigation. But however copious these affluents, they are all exceeded by the mighty U-Banghi, which comes from the north, probably collecting all the waters of the vast semicircle of platcaiix, highlands, and water- partings stretching from the sources of the Shari to those of the White Nile in the Niam-Niam territory. Here it is also perhaps joined by the Nana, rising on Fig. 211. — The Cosao axd U-Baxoki Confluence. Scale 1 : 3,000,000. GO Miles. the same uplands as the Benue, and by the outflow from the lira, or " lake " in a pre-eminent sense, which has been heard of by so many explorers, but has never yet been visited. According to Von Francois, the mean discharge of the U-Banghi is 260,000 cubic feet per second, which however seems an exaggerated estimate to M. Poncl, who resided eleven months at Nkunjia, on its lower course. The navigation is first interrupted over 300 miles from its mouth by the Zongo Falls, which even at high water arrested van Gcle's expedition in 188G, although surmounted two years previously by Grenfell. THE MIDDLE CONGO. 427 It is probable that at some pre^'ious geological epoch, the united waters of the > I § R Congo and U-Banghi were collected in a vast inland sea, of which some of the F F 2 428 WEST AFEICA. deeper depressions are still flooded during the inundations. Sucli is Lake Matumba, on the left side, which at liigh water probably communicates with the still larger Lake Leopold IL, draining to a southern affluent of the Congo. West of the U-Banghi the Congo is joined from the north by the Likwalla (Likulna), the Mossaka (Bossaka) of the early French explorers, which has been recently navigated by Jacques de Brazza and Pecile for nearly 200 miles. Near the Likwalla junction the Congo is also joined by the Bunga and the Mima from the north, the latter presenting if not the shortest at least one of the easiest overland routes from the coast to the middle Congo. Below the Alima follow the Nkheni and the Lefeni from the Ogoway waterparting, which reach the right bank of the Congo nearly opposite the confluence of the Kwa, which with its vast ramification of secondary streams constitutes the largest eastern tributary of the main artery. The Kwa, continued far to the south by the Kassai, Sankuru, and Lo-Mami, has the same hydrographic importance on the left that the U-Banghi holds on the right bank of the Congo. Its farthest headstreams rise in the Aicinity of the Cuanza and of the western aflluents of the Zambese, w'here the Kassai flows first eastwards for 120 miles to a marshy plain where it is joiaed by the sluggish Lo-Tembwa from the little Lake Dilolo, which sends another emissary of the same name to the Liba headstream of the Zambese. Thus the two great arteries, Zambese and Congo, form a continuous waterway across the whole continent, which at Lake Dilolo offers an example of streams flowing to two different basins, analogous to that of the Cassiquiare, communicating both with the Orinoco and Amazons in South America. According to Livingstone, Dilolo stands at an altitude of 4,000 feet above the sea. Just below the confluence of the DUolo emissary the Kassai trends northwards, flowing from the plateaux to the central depression in a valley parallel with those of the Lu-Lua in the east, and of all the other streams rising in the southern part of the Congo basin. Bej'ond tlie depression which was formerly an inland sea, the Kassai turns north-westwards, receiving from every valley a fresh affluent, and at the Mbimbi Falls resuming its northerly course to the Lu-Lua confluence. From the east it is also joined by the Sankuru (Sankullu) with its Lo-Mami headstream, and from the southern plateaux by the Tenda, or Lo-Anghe, and farther down by the Kwango (Kwa-Ngo), that is, the Nzadi, Zaire, or Zezere of the natives, which the Portuguese traders often confounded with the Kassai itself, regarding it as the true main stream rising in a fathomless lake, one of the " Mothers of the Nile." Even on the maps of the present century the Zaire- Kwango was still represented as escaping from a great Lake Aquilonda. Like the Kassai, the Kwango rises at an altitude of 5,300 feet, but instead of trending eastwards it escapes from the plateau regions by following the shortest or northern course along the east foot of the western border ranges. But the decline across a space of five degrees of latitude is so great that this great river is quite unnavigable except for about 180 miles from its mouth. The Kaparanga Falls, one of the many rapids and cataracts obstructing the current, are no less than THE MIDDLE CONGO. 429 160 feet high ; but those of Gingunshi, the hist of these impediments, are little over 3 feet, and might perhaps be surmounted by light craft. After describing a great curve to the west, the Kwango trends eastwards, receiving 7 or 8 miles above its mouth the Juma, a rival stream so large that GrenfeU was unable to ascertain which was the more copious of the two. Nearly opposite its mouth it is joined by the navigable emissary from Lake Leopold, which forms a continuation of the Lu-Kenye, a river flowing parallel with the Sankuru. Below these confluences the Eassai-Kwa collects its waters in a deep narrow Fig. 213. — The Coxgo Faixs below Staulet Pool. Scale 1 : 700,000. Kouambimba ■^-^•'-r 'C. ir'-T cost c'f Gi'ee'!v'/;h I5°;0- » • Villages. 12 Miles. channel piercing the rocky hills by which it was formerly separated from the Congo. Here the current, at the narrows scarcely 500 yards wide, has a velocity of about 4 miles an hour and a depth of certainly over ^ 20 feet. Even at Kwa- mouth, where it joins the Congo, it is scarcely more than 700 yards broad. During its south-westerly course beyond Xwamouth the Congo, here from 3,000 to 4,500 yards wide, flows between ranges of hills which continually increase in elevation southwards, and which lower down recede to the right and left, the intervening space being occupied by the almost circular Kkuna basin, better 430 WEST AFEICA. Fis:. 214.- -Last Eapid3 of the Congo. Scilc 1 : 380,000. Ndambi-Mbonjo/Jh^ knowa as Stanley Pool, whicli is about 80 square miles in extent, witli a depth of 200 feet. On tlio north or right .side this island- studded basin is skirted by a line of eroded rocks clothed on top with verdure, which from their resemblance to the chalk cliffs on the south coast of Eusjland have been named the Dover Cliffs. A little below Stanley Pool begins the long line of rapids by which the naviga- tion is entirely interrupted between the middle and lower course of the Congo, and to which Stanley has applied the collective name of Livingstone Falls. For a space of about 16o miles from Brazzaville to Matadi there follow thirty-two cascades besides numerous rapids, with a total approximate fall of 850 feet. Some are se^Darated by intervals of smooth water without percep- tible incline, wliile others are connected by continuous slopes, where the current rises and falls in long seething billowy waves. At several points the Congo, pent up be- tween its rocky walls, is no more than 1,000 or 1,500 feet broad, and below Isangala it rushes through a gorge said to be scarcely 250 yards wide. Here the aspect of the stream changes incessantlj''. Everywhere sharp angular bends in the gloomy defiles, rocky cirques iiUed with boiling waters, cascades, opposing currents, raging whirlpools, vast liquid masses tear- ing along at tremendous speed, tranqrul baj's with unruffled surface, followed by fresh rapids, where the mighty stream again plunges into the wild gorges of its rocky bed. Here depth and velocity have to compensate for a broader channel, the whole body of the Congo rushing along in some places at the fearful rate of 30 miles an hour, with a depth of over 300 feet. In the region of the rapids it is joined only by a few rivulets from the north, and from the southern plateaux by some larger streams, such as the Lu-Lu, Nkissi, Kwilu, Lu-Fu, and Mposo. For some 30 miles below the YcUala Falls, last of the series, the fluvial valley still preserves the aspect of a defile hoUowed out by the slow action of running waters. The jagged cliffs rise on both sides over 300, and in some places fully cast ofbreenwich I5°.*5 Villages. 6 MUes. ili!liiliili[UUiii;Ujiilliib!;iU^^^^^ LIBRARY . OF THE UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS. THE LOWEE CONGO. ■131 1,000 feet above the stream ; in some places the water still flo^vs over perceptible rapids, then at a sudden turn fills the so-called " Devil's Cauldron," an abyss 400 feet deep, enciixled by vertical red clay walls, where the liquid mass is churned round incessantly, forming in some places secondary eddies 12 or 14 feet Fig. 215.— The DirviL'a Cacldeox. Scale 1 : 90,000. Tchion..o., ''- -^^.'oij esjF jcCjrv >■ NEWvivr * _ 3 V V, ^ \. ."^-t ■ -ICnkard, J#" '"^v^ =*4^:i= tgst or Greenwich 2,200 Yards. in diameter. Suddenly, after passing an island which from a distance seems completely to block the way, the Congo enters its broad estuary studded with islands and sandbanks, where a granite rock on the left side, known as the "Fetish Stone," marks the former limit of the navigation for seagoing vessels. 432 WEST APEICA. Towards the middle of the estuary, the distance from shore to shore exceeds 10 miles ; bat as it approaches the sea the current agaiu contracts, the chief branch being less than 4 miles wide, while the waters on both sides ramify Into a thousand tidal channels. At the mouth the distance from point to point is nearly 7 miles, and in some places no less than 1,000 feet deep. Here the Banana approach, nearly 20 feet deep at low water, runs athwart the stream in the direction from north-east to south-west in continuation of two sandy spits, on one side the peninsula of Banana, on the other Shark Point, or Capo Santo-Antonio. On most modern maps the most advanced headland south-west of this point is wrongly marked as the famous Cape PadrSo, where Diego Cam, discoverer of the Congo, erected a marble column in 1485 to indicate the possession of this territory by Portugal. Cape Padrao is in fact identical with Shark Point, although the Fig. 21G. — The Congo Bajj. Scale 1 : 530,000. Ig'lO' 12*30 C atrl of breenwich Depths. to32 Feet. 32 to 160 Feet. 160 to 320 Feet. 320 Feet and upwards. . G Miles. column has disappeared, having apparently been thrown down by the Dutch in 1645. The fragments, venerated by the natives as fetishes, were recently dis- covered by M. Schwerin. A% indicated by the form of its mouth, the Congo is continued seawards in a north-westerly direction, being deflected northwards by the marine current from the south. Its influence is felt by seafarers several days before sighting the continent, the water being discoloured for a distance of 270 miles, while snags and tano-lcd masses of vegetation drift with the stream for over 200 miles, and have even been met as far north as Capo Lopez and the Island of Aunobou. For 40 miles beyond the estuary the water is yello-s^dsh, and for 14 miles perfectly fresh on the surface of the sea. Along the Cablnda coast the swell is partly broken by the Congo waters, which for 14 miles beyond Banana Point continue to flow In a marine channel no less than 1,200 feet deep, skirted on either side by THE CONGO ESTII.\EY. 4S3 rocky escarpments submerged only to a deptli of 600 feet. The Congo Yalley is thus continued for over 300 miles seawards, enclosed right and left by ridges or embankments, evidently consisting of refuse of all kinds deposited by the fluvial current in its conflict with the surrounding waters. Hence the Congo develops, not a delta as has been stated, biit rather a submarine estuary, analogous to the alluvial formations by which the beds of the Rhine and the Ehonc influents are continued binder the surface waters of Lakes Constance and Geneva. The tidal wave penetrating into the island-studded Congo estuary stems the fluvial current and raises its level, without, however, reversing it. Hence the mangroves, which fringe the banks of most other equatorial estuaries, are almost entirely absent from those of the Congo. The volume of fresh water, which has a fall of over 40 feet between the head of the inlet at Boma and its mouth on the Atlantic, is far too great and too rapid to be arrested at any point by the marine inflow. The first estimate of the mean discharge, calculated by Tuckey in 1816 at 1,540,000 cubic feet per second, coincides in a remarkable manner with those that have been made in recent times. Stanley found the outflow near Stanley Pool in the month of March, that is, at low water, to represent about 1,310,000 cubic feet, while the high- water marks on the rocks seemed to indicate a discharge of 2,300,000 diu-ing the floods. Subsequent more or less trustworthy estimates for the section between Noki and the mouth vary from 1,200,000 to 1,800,000 cubic feet per second, the discrepancy being explained partly by the A'ariations in volume from year to year, partly to the unccrtaintj- attending such experiments, owing to the great breadth of the island-studded estuary, where the fluvial current flows over the heavier tidal wave. The yearly quantity of sedimentary matter brought down by the Congo is estimated by M. Chavanne at 11,250,000,000 cubic feet, sufiicient to build up an island 1,000 feet high and half a mile square at the base. In any case the Congo certainly exceeds in volume aU the rivers of the Eastern Hemisphere, and in the New "World is surpassed by the Amazons alone, which like it rises in the equatorial zone, and is swollen by innumerable tributaries fed by the tropical rains. Both are characterised by a series of moderate floods and subsidences, corresponding to the oscillations of the chief affluents, which arriving at different periods tend to maintain the main stream at a certain uniform level. This, however, varies in the narrows of the regions of the falls as much as 30 feet, and at Yivi, below the last cataract, 14 feet. At its mouth the Congo presents two periods of high water, December and May, the corresponding lowest levels being in March and August. These two floods evidently follow the two rainy seasons of winter and spring, the latter being caused by the rise of the Arawhimi, U-Banghi, Alima, and other aSluents on the right bank. The pre- liminary studies that have been made at the mouths of these and the southern tributaries, give a rough idea of their relative importance in this vast hydi-o- graphic system; but the exact share of each in the general movement of the Congo waters can be determined only by a long series of patient observations. The navigable highways open to human industrj' in this basin yield in extent 434 WEST APEICA. to those of the Amazons alone. This vast system of natural channels is doubtless separated from the seaboard by the series of rocky rapids through which the Congo reaches its lower course ; but a number of steamers have already been brought piecemeal across the country and put together on Stanley Pool, the magnificent outer basin for aU the innumerable arteries leading north, east, and south into the very heart of the continent. Between the Livingstone and Stanley Falls the main stream alone, variously estimated at from 2,400 to 2,700 miles in length, presents an open waterway of at least 1,000 miles, besides 500 more in its lower and upper reaches, absolutely free from all obstruction. The Kassai, con- Fig. 217. — Lines of Navigation suhveted in the Conqo Basin. Scale 1 : 20,000,000. ■,1-T 4° East of Gr'eeriwich , 300 Miles. tinned eastwards by the Sankuru and the Lo-Mami, is accessible to river craft for 1,800 miles ; the U-Banghi, the Tchuapa, Lu-Longo, and many others have also been ascended by steamers and barges for himdreds and hundreds of miles ; and if to the rivers be added all the backwaters, lakes, and lateral branches, the total extent of navigable waters becomes almost incalculable. There is scarcely a single point of the basin, says Grenfell, over 100 miles from some station accessible by water. But little advantage can be taken of these great facilities for inland communi- cation imtil the regions of the Middle Congo are connected with the seaboard by GENERAL ASPECT OF THE CONGO BASIN. 435 good roads accessible to wheeled traffic. So great are the difficulties of transport that a ton of merchandise, shijDped at Antwerp for the Congo estuary at a freight of thirty shillings, is burdened with supplementary carriage charges of several hundred, or even several thousand, shilhngs before reaching the Arawhimi con- fluence. Hence, no serious attempt can be made to open up the vast resources of the Congo basin until the lower rapids are turned by good roads or railways. The direction and general course of the rivers is explained by the continental relief within the Congo basin, where the high land lies not in the central regions but in the neighboui-hood of the seaboard. East of the Atlantic coast ranges stretches a central depression, which may be regarded as roughly limited west and north above Stanley Pool by the great bend of the main stream itself as far as the Stanley Falls, southwards by the Kassai and Sankuru rivers, and towards the east by the ranges skii-ting the west side of Lake Tanganyika. Within this vast space, which is probably of lacustrine origin, the Congo has room to develop an immense semicircle in a northerly direction. From all quarters of the compass streams converge on this central basin with remarkable uniformity, determined by the general slope of the land. North of Lake Lanji the Upper Congo affluents descend from the eastern and western ranges ; on the south the Sanlcuru-Kassai tributaries flow all in parallel channels northwards; on the west the streams traversing the French possessions follow an easterly course to the right bank of the Congo. The Atlantic coast ranges north of the estuary are continued southwards in the same south-easterly direction, and consist of the same granite, gneiss, and primi- tive schistose rocks, with a mean altitude of not more than 2,300 feet. From any of the summits commanding the Congo Valley on the south scarcely any eminences are visible on the horizon rising higher than the observer's standpoint. The whole surface is carved into deep gorges through which wiud the converging streams, while the ranges rise gradually southwards. "West of the Middle Kwango some of the crests exceed 3,000 feet, while about the headwaters the plateau itself stands at an elevation of considerably over 5,000 feet. But towards the east the surface assumes an almost horizontal aspect, and here lies the lacustrine parting line, which sends its overflow on the one hand through the Kassai-Congo to the Atlantic, on the other through the Zambese to the Indian Ocean. The greater part of the western region of hills and plateaux is overlaid with a thick layer of laterite formed by the disintegration of the argillaceous schists and other sui-face rocks, and presenting the appearance of many-coloured brown, red, and yellowish sands, through which the running waters percolate as through a sieve. East of the basin the relief is less regular than on the west side, the border chains being disposed less uniformly, but at some points attaining a greater altitude. The amphitheatre of hiUs south of Lake Bangweolo culminates in the Lokinga peaks, which are said to range from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, and which are connected by lateral spurs with the Yiano hiUs, pierced by the Lua-Laba and continued north-eastwards in the direction of Tanganyika. South of the Yiano terraces the Lokinga mo\mtains fall gradually north-eastwards, merging at last in 436 WEST AFEICA. the upland plains traversed by the Lua-Ngua afSiient of the Zambese, and by the Tchassi-Tchambeze main branch of the Upper Congo. These plains, dotted over with clumps of trees, stretch away beyond the horizon without anj^ apparent eminences higher than anthills. Beyond Tanganyika the region of the waterparting between the Congo and the streams flowing to the Indian Ocean is continued northwards by hilly plateaux intersected by irregular ranges, rising to a height of nearly 7,000 feet between Lakes Tanganyika and Rikwah, and even farther north maintaining elevations of 4,000, 5,000 and 5,600 feet in the U-ISryamezI country. Still more lofty are the uplands stretching thence north-eastwards between Lakes Yictoria Nyanza and Muta-N'zige, where rises the three-crested Mfiunbiro, source of numerous head- waters of the Kagera main branch of the Upper Nile, and still farther north the Kibanga and Gambaragara Mountains seen from a distance by Stanley and others, and by them estimated at over 10,000 feet. In the north-east the divide between the Congo and the White Nile headstreams is faintly indicated by a few undulations of the surface, or isolated hills rising 1,500 or 1,600 feet above the surrounding plains. A like aspect is probably presented by the Congo-Shari waterparting, so that the Central African depression would appear to have been continuous from the dried-up Congo lacustrine basin to the still flooded Tsad depression, which is known to be a mere remnant of a far more extensive inland sea. But whether the two basins are connected or not by intermediate plains, a part of the region is occupied either by isolated heights, such as Mount Mendif, or by less elevated continuous ranges. South of the Welle rises a group of isolated eminences to which the traveller Potagos has given the name of the George Mountains, and the course of the U-Banghi is conflned between lofty walls, which seen from the lower reaches present the aspect of the Pyrenees as beheld from the plains of Gascony. Climate. In the Congo basin the mean temperature, lowered on the seaboard by the influence of the cool marine coast stream, is never excessive, seldom rising above 91° P., even in the hottest months, from January to April. What renders the climate trying to Europeans is its great humidity rather than the tropical heats. In the lower Congo regions the glass falls at times as low as 53*^ P., showing an annual range of nearly forty degrees between the extremes of heat and cold. On the plateaux it is even more considerable, here travellers complaining of temperatures of 98" F. and upwards followed hy cool and even chilly nights. Cameron found that water froze during the night on the plateaux about the sources of the Kassai, while Ponel recorded a fiery temperature of 109° F. on the banks of the U-Banghi. The Congo basin lies entirely within the zone of the south-east trade-winds, which prevail in the interior wherever the normal direction is not disturbed by the trend of the mountain ranges. In the south they take a northerly direction, FLOEA OF THE COXGO BASIN. 437 following tlie parallel riyer valleys of that region, -while in the west, as far as and beyond the TJ-Baughi confluonce, they are similarly changed to south-western or even western monsoons. They prevail especially in the dry season, acquiring their greatest intensity in September and March, that is, in the months preceding the two rain}' periods. Thimderstorms are developed chiefly in the east, so that their progress is most commonlj^ from the interior towards the Atlantic seaboard. As in the Gaboon and Ogoway valleys, there are two wet seasons, the first lasting from October to the end of December, the second and heavier from the middle of February to Mav, followed by an intensely dry period to the end of September, when scarcely a drop of water falls in a great part of the basin. But the rains diminish rapidly south of the Congo estuary, while increasing from the coast towards the interior. In the region of calms imdcr the equator it rains throughout the year, although the principal wet season coincides here also with the winter months. In December, 1882, a violent thimderstorm was accompanied by a tremendous downpour of 4 inches within three hours, while in the disastrous years 1872 and 1874 the whole rainfall fell short of 8 inches, these remarkable droughts being followed by widespread famine. The fogs and overcast skies, caused by excessive moisture in the wet seasons, are often intensified by the conflagrations of the gi'assy steppes, where the com- bustion is calculated by Von Danckelmann to represent a mass of 160 tons per square mile. Hence the quantity of scrub, brushwood, and vegetation of all kinds consumed by these fires must be estimated at millions of tons, filling the atmosphere with dense smoke for many miles in all directions. Flora axd Fauxa. Nevertheless the general absence of trees and prevalence of tall grasses in so many parts of the Congo basin is to be attributed not so much to these conflagra- tions as to the lack of sufiicient moisture to support extensive forest growths. The dense woodlands of the Gaboon and Ogowaj^ regions are graduall}' replaced southwards by treeless savannahs, except along the liver banks, which are cverj^- where fringed by narrow belts of timber, matted together by gigantic creepers. Even on the northern slope of the jjlateau forming the divide between the Congo and Zambese basins, the same contrast is presented between the treeless uplands and the exuberant vegetation of the riverain tracts. Here the more abundant moisture is carried ofi to the deep river gorges so rapidly that the rocky slopes and uplands are unable to support anything except a stunted and almost leafless scrub, or a scanty herbaceous vegetation, and are in some places even completely destitute of verdure. But at the issue of the parallel fluvial valleys south of the Congo, the abundantly watered plains are covered with pabus, baobabs, and other large forest growths. Nearly all the semicircle limited north by the great curve of the main- stream and south by the Kassai and Sankuru rivers, presents the aspect of a boimdless forest interrupted here and there by swampy tracts, savannahs, and the 4S8 WEST AFEICA clearings round the villages. But the eastern uplands, like those of the west, show no continuous woodlands except in the bottom lands where are collected the streams descending from the hillsides, and in the districts of the equatorial zone exposed to a copious rainfall. Farther south nothing is seen except grassy tracts Fig. 218. — FoEESTS OF TIIE PaEALLEL Ari'LUEXTS or THE Kassai. Scale 1 : 1,600,000. O ^-/f /\l D A * TOU-a//VOt ik. 30 Miles. studded with clusters of trees like the English parks, long avenues of timber overshadowing the running waters, or else absolutely treeless steppe-lands. Notwithstanding its vast extent, the Congo basin, presenting everywhere nearly the same climatic conditions, is characterised by a remarkable imiformity in its vegetable and animal species. Here the waterpartings in many places coincide with the limits of the botanical zones, and Schweinfurth and Junker found that north of the divide between the "White Kile and the Congo the oil-palm, raphia, pandanus, kola-nut disappear, which arc so characteristic of the central INHABITANTS OF THE CONGO. 439 regions soutli of that line. South of the Upper Congo headstreams the oil-palm is in the same way arrested by the waterparting towards the Zambeso, and in the Congo Valley by the first slojoes of the Angolan plateaux. The general equality of the climate, which has imparted a certain uniformity to the spontaneous flora of the Congo basin, has also enabled the inhabitants everywhere to introduce nearly the same cultivated plants, such as manioc, millet, the banana, tobacco, hemp, the pineapple, and sugar-cane. The coifce- plant, as well as the vine and orange, have been found growing wild in the central forest region on the banlis of the Congo and Kassai. The local fauna scarcely differs from that of the Atlantic seaboard in the Ogoway, Gaboon, and Cameroons districts. The elephant, rare in the hunting- grounds, is still very common in the greater part of the country ; the manatee of the estuary is rejilaced higher up by multitudes of hippopotamuses, so numerous in some rivers as to impede the navigation. The chimpanzee inhabits the Congo forests as far north-eastwards as the limits of the oil-palm and raphia, so that ho docs not appear to penetrate into the Nile basin, nor southwards beyond the Lower Congo into Angola. In general the contrasts observed in the animal kingdom depend primarily on the distribution of plants. Thus the western savannahs, frequently wasted by fire, are almost uninhabited, containing neither quadrupeds, reptiles nor birds, while the eastern park-lands teem with animal life. In certain districts not yet visited by the himter, the camping-grormds of travellers are surrounded by numerous herds of elephants, buffaloes, and antelopes. Inhabitants. The Congo basin everywhere belongs to populations of Bantu speech, except in a few enclaves occui^ied by conquered aborigines, and in the north-eastern regions held by the Niam-Niam, Monbuttu, and other Negro peoples that have been wrongly classed with the Nuba group. On the other hand, the domain of the Bantu languages, which reaches southwards to Cape Colony, also extends in the north and north-east into the Nile basin, where it encircles the whole of Lake Victoria Nyanza. But although the Congo populations possess linguistic unity, they differ greatly in their physical appearance and social usages. While most of the Bantus (Ba-ntu, A-ba-ntu, that is, "men "), apjjear to be clearly distinguished from the Negroes proper by their complexion, features, shape of the skull and carriage, the transitions are nevertheless extremely gradual in the Congo regions, where no pure tj-pcs arc found. The races have been constantly modified by incessant inter- mingling, while the common Bantu speech has remained nearly unchanged. Even within the historic period, conquering peoples have swept over the land, subduing and merging with the aboriginal elements. Tribal migrations and fresh ethnical groupings have also been caused by floods, famines, slave-hmiting expeditions ; and to these causes of confusion must be added the oxogamous or extra-tribal marriages prevalent amongst many communities. The least mixed 440 WEST AFEICA. peoples appear to be tlie dwarfish races variously known as Akkas or Tiki-Tikis, Vua-Twas or Ba-Twas. Sufficient materials hare not yet been collected to enable philologists to offer a satisfactory classification of the forty or fifty distinct Bantu idioms current in the Congo basin. The ethnical prefixes Ba, Ma, Ova, Wa, Yua, M, Tu, Mu, may doubtless indicate a certain relationship between the several groups so indicated, but such indications are far from sufficient to serve as the basis even of an approximate classification, so that all attcmjits in this direction can for the present claim nothing more than a provisional value. At the same time, amid this chaos of ethnical elements, certain groups stand out more prominently as at present distinguished, either by their warHlie character or commercial enterprise. Thus the Nyamezi to the east, and the Rua to the ■west of Tanganyika, serve as the chief forwarders of the international traffic between the eastern seaboard and the Congo basin. The Reggas also occupy a vast territory between the great river and Lake Mutu Nzige, while the Ba-Lolo are widely distributed along the banks of all the affluents within the great curve described by the Congo north of the equator. The Tu-ShHongo, proud of their higher ciJture, hold the region where the Lu-Lua and Kassai enter the wooded plains, while the Lunda predominate about the southern affluents of the Kassai. Higher up follow the Kioko, enterprising traders, who push their expeditions from the Atlantic to the great equatorial lakes. On the Congo where it begins to trend towards the south-west, the most energetic and warlike people are the Ba-Ngala. Lower down the dominant nations are the Bu-Banghi, who give their name to the U-Banghi river, the Ba-Teke above Stanley Pool, the Wa-Buma of the Lower Kassai, and the Ba-Fiot, better known as the Congolese, from the Ba-Congo division of this group, who dwelt on the Lower Congo, and who have long main- tained direct commercial relations with the Europeans. A characteristic trait of the eastern populations is their love of personal ornament, which is gradually replaced by amidcts and fetishes. Notwithstanding the assumed incapacitj^ of the Negro peoples to develop ex- tensive political systems, some large Bantu states have been founded within as well as beyond the Congo basin. At the arrival of the Portuguese, towards the end of the fifteenth century, both sides of the estuary as well as a large part of the soiithern plateau recognised a sovereign who resided in a capital now known by the Portuguese name of San Salvador. In the region watered by the Kassai affluents the political preponderance belongs to the Lunda nation, whose king, the Muata Yamvo, receives the tribute of hundreds of vassals scattered over a territory as large as France. Towards the Lua-Pula headstreams stretches another great kingdom, that of the Muata Kazembe, who appears at the end of the last century to have enjoyed the supremacy over the neighbouring states. Westwards, also, the Upper Lua-Laba and Lu-Fira basins constitute the domain of the Msiri, at present a still more powerful sovereign. Farther north, in the region where these A'arious streams converge to form the Congo, the tribes are grouped politically under the common suzerainty of the King of Kassongo. At the same time the INHABITANTS OF THE CONGO. 441 political ties must necessarily be somewhat lax iu these regions, -where the com- munications are extremely difficult, and where the subject tribes may easily migrate from clearing to clearing. Hence these associations constitute rather a confederacy of petty autonomous republics than monarchical states iu the strict sense of the term. The arrival of the Arabs on the east and of the Europeans on the west coast has naturally tended much to bring about the work of disintegration, by which the inland states have been gradually modified. Thus the intervention of the Portuguese ultimately effected the ruin of the Congo empire, notwithstanding its great political cohesion. In these historic transformations, stimulated by the presence of the foreigner on the seaboard, the elements of good and evil become strangely and diverselj' intermingled. AVhile certain tribes, exposed to the raids of slave-hunters, relapsed into a state of profound degradation and savagery, the Congolese peoples generally became enriched by the development of agricul- tui'e. The introduction of maize, manioc, and other alimentary plants, is one of the chief benefits conferred by Europeans on the natives, more than compensating for the evils caused bj' the sale of fh-earms and spirits. Four centuries ago the Congo tribes lived mainly by hunting wild beasts and man himself, by fishing, or at most a rudimentary agriculture, whereas they now depend altogether on a well- developed sj-stem of husbandry, enabling them to increase tenfold without exhaust- ing the fertile soil. Had European influence in the Congo regions been represented by traders alone, the part played by them in the history of Africa could have scarcely been inferior to that of the Arab dealers. But before Stanley's journey across the continent their factories were confined to the low-lying region of the estuarj^, while the Zanzibar Arabs freely penetrated beyond Tanganyika, 800 or 900 miles from the Indian Ocean. Stanley, Cameron, and many other European explorers were fain to avail themselves of their services, but for which the Congo basin would still be an unknown region. ^Yhen Stanley resolved to push westwards along the line of the main stream, he was accompanied as far as the Falls by the Arab Tippo-Tip at the head of seven hundred men, and it was by the co-operation of the same slave-dealer that he was afterwards enabled to organise the expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha in the Upper Nile valley. The Arabs above all others have hitherto benefited by the European discoveries in the Upper Congo basin, where their caravans now penetrate victoriously into the vast region lying between the Nilotic lakes and the Lo-Mami river. But their trading stations scattered over the country deal not only in ivory and other local produce, but also and chiefly in slaves. Taking advantage of, and even fomenting the petty intertribal wars, they procui'e the captives on easy terms, distributing them as so much merchandise throughout the markets of the interior and even on the seaboard. But they reserve the young men, arming them with rifles and thus maintaining bands of combatants irresistible to the surrounding populations, rudelj' equipped and lack- ing all political coherence. Hence the great material advantages enjoyed by the Arabs over their European rivals, who are compelled to deal with freemen and to VOL. XII. G G 442 VTEST APEICA. pay dearly for the transport of goods. The Ziiuzibar Arabs may, in fact, be said o a § H n s ( !10 'A to have constituted iu the Upper Congo regions a new empire, some hundred THE CONGO FEEE STATE. 443 thousand square miles in extent, but without official recognition, because depending for the movement of exchanges on the Sultanate of Zanzibar. With- out a seaport on the Indian Ocean the Arabs could not possibh' maintain their footing in the country, were their ivory trade with Bombay permanently inter- rupted. The Congo Free State. The committee established under the presidency of the King of the Belgians after Stanley's expedition of 1878, for the purpose of studying the relations in the Fig. 220. — Zone Open to Feee Teabe rx the Cosgo Basis. Scale 1 : 30,000,000. East oT L'"ee'^vvc^i I- . 600 Sliles. Upper Congo, was soon transformed into the " Congo International Association," which undertook the lofty mission of conquering the coimtry by peaceful means, suppressing slavery, encouraging legitimate trade, and fostering a feeling of brotherhood between the European pioneers and the native populations. But before this mission was well commenced the Association assumed the crown, so to say, by transforming itself in 1884 into a monarchy to the benefit of its royal founder. The new empire, entitled the " Congo Free State," is limited southwards by the estuary, and thence by a geometrical line drawn to the Kwango, some 12 miles north of the sixth parallel of south latitude, which parallel it thence- G G 2 444 WEST APEICA. forth follows to the Lu-Bilash, or Upper Sunkuru river. At this point the conventional frontier, drawn across unexplored or little known regions, trends southwards along the Lu-Bilash valley towards its source on the plateau, beyond the Congo-Zambese divide, following the left side of Lake Bangweolo and the Lua-Pula valley to Lake Mooro, and thence in a straight line to Cameron Bay, at the south-west extremity of Tanganj4ka. From this jjoint it runs nearly due north along the west side of Tanganyika and east of Lake Muta-N'zige to 4° N. latitude, which has been adopted as its northern limit, westwards to the TJ-Banghi river, which, with the right bank of the Congo as far as Manyanga, separates the new state towards the west from the French possessions. Below Manyanga, a tortuous line .passing south of the sources of the Niari and its affluents westwards to the coast between Cabinda and Banana, completes the vast periphery of the Congo State, which comprises about half of the fluvial basin, or 780,000 square miles in superficial extent. But of this vast domain, only a few riverain stations have been occupied, such as Ba-Ngala on the right bank of the Congo in the territory of the Ba-Ngala nation, and Luluaburg, on the Lua-Lua affluent of the Kassai. The rest of the Congo basin is also distributed amongst European Powers, Germany claiming all that part of East Africa confined north-west and south by Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, and Nyassa, from this vast strategic base command- ing at once the L^pper Nile, Zambese, and Congo basins. France possesses the part of the basin lying between the Upper U-Banghi and Manyanga, while Portugal has officially occupied aU. the territory watered by the affluents of the Lower Congo and of the Kwango, south of the Free State. The latter power also regards herself as the future " protector " of the Lunda State, as well as of the southern part of the basin not yet distributed amongst the European States. But all the Congo States alike, as well as those in the east draining to the Indian Ocean, between the Zambese and the fifth parallel of north latitude, are declared open to the trade of the world. All flags without distinction of nationality have henceforth free access to the whole seaboard of these territories, as well as to the rivers discharging into the surrounding waters. All differential charges are interdicted in respect of shipping, and all imported merchandise is free of entry and transit dues. LuA-PuLA AND LuA-La1!A BaSINS. This region, in which the upper affluents forming the Congo descend more than half the fluvial slope from 5,000 to 2,000 feet, had already been -sisited by Lacerda towards the close of the eighteenth century. But his journey, like those of other Portuguese explorers, attracted little attention, and the country continued to be unknown until revealed to the outer world by Livingstone's memorable expeditions. This pioneer (18G9-1873) was succeeded by othei's, such as Cameron (1874), Giraud (1884), Capello and Ivens (1885), whose itineraries have been con- nected at various points. THE BEMBA STATE. U5 The plateau sloping southwards, on which rise the headwaters of the Tcham- bezi, is inhabited chiefly by the Bemba nation (Ba-Emba, Mu-Emba, Lo-Bemba, Vua-Emba). At the time of Giraud's visit, in 1884, the Bemba empire stretched north to Tanganyika, east to Nyassa, west to Bangweolo and Moero, the whole of the interlacustrine space north of the uplands held by the Wa-Biza being com- prised within its limits. Even the Kazembe, whose ancestors had ruled over a great part of Central Africa, as well as the formerly powerful Wa-Biza, south of the Tchambesi, had been " eaten," as the natives express it. The capital of the Bemba state, situated on the plain north of the extensive marshlands traversed by the Tchambezi, comprised in 1884 some four or five Fig. 221. — Chief EotiTES of Exploeees in the Uppeb Congo Basin. Scale 1 : 10,000,000. .&J^3S'-' i ,;^, U'f'^TS^^-; i 12' i '< }\^\ 3/1 VV^., ', /r-B^ .;(?-•' ^ \ 't\ 25° 50° hast of G'~eenwlch ISO Miles. hundred huts, covering too large a space to be entirely enclosed by palisades, like the other villages. In these regions the villages take the names of the ruling chiefs, and the capital, at that time called Ketimkum's, is now known as Maru- kutii's. Incessant wars have to a great extent depopulated the coimtry ; hamlets are rare, and in some districts are exposed to the constant attacks of marauders, so that the wretched peasants prefer camping amid the anthills, and stealthily cultivating the land. When corn fails, they fall back on mushrooms, roots, bark, and boiled foliage. The Ba-Bemba, physically one of the finest Bantu peoples, wear skins and bast when unable to procure woven goods from the Arab traders, and all delight 446 WEST AFRICA. in elegant tattoo designs and elaborate head-dresses, built up with clay and terminating in coronets or sharp radiating points. Thcj' are skilful craftsmen, but subject to the caprice of their rulers, who mutilate slaves and freemen alike, and surround themselves with bands of musicians, composed almost exclusively of eunuchs, the blind, and maimed. The approach to most villages is marked bj^ grinning skulls stuck on tall stakes. The symbol of the royal power consists in red glassware covering a great part of the king's person, and imported by Nyamezi traders, who take in exchange elephants' tusks of small size, but of extremely fine texture. These dealers have introduced many usages of Arab origin. The Wa-Biza and Kissinga Territories. The Wa-Biza and Ilala, who have maintained their independence against the Ba-Bemba in the islands and morasses of Bangweolo and neighbouring rugged upland valleys, constitute a group of petty republican states, which are constantly on their guard against the attacks of the common enemy. This district teems with multitudes of large game, the very horizon being shut out in some directions by vast herds of many thousand antelopes. South of the marshlands lies the village of Tchitambo, in the Ilala territory, where Livingstone died on May 1st, 1873. On the return of the caravan which conveyed the remains of Livingstone to the coast, the western shores of Bangweolo were held by the Wa-Biza, who, how- ever, have since been either exterminated or reduced to a state of vassalage by the Vua-Ussi conquerors from the south. But the progress of these intruders has been arrested by the valiant Vua-Kissiuga nation, which holds its own on the north side of the lake both against the Ba-Bamba in the east and the Vua-Ussi in the west. On one of the eastern affluents of the Lua-Pula in this district are situated the copper mines which have been worked from time immemorial. On their return from the interior in lS85,the explorers Capello and Ivens endeavoured in vain to cross the Lua-Pula and penetrate into this mining district. West of the river they found the whole country wasted by wars, and in the boundless forests of Kaponda had to support themselves on the produce of the chase. The Muata Kazembe's Kingdom. The Lunda territory south of Lake Moero, not to be confounded with the Lunda empire of the Muata Yamvo in the Kassai basin, constituted about the middle of the century a powerful kingdom ruled over by the Muata Kazembe, that is, " Imperial Lord," heir of the ancient Morupwe kings, who were regarded in the sixteenth century as the most powerful potentates in South Africa. But when visited in 1831 by Monteiro and Gamitto he had already lost all control over his eastern neighbours, the Wa-Bemba, and at the time of Livingstone's visit in 1867 several other provinces had become detached from his empire. At present he is a mere vassal of his old Ba-Bemba subjects, retaining, however, the complicated THE KAZEMBE. 447 ceremonial of the old court, with its ministers, chamberlains, and bodyguards. Before his tent is mounted a gun draj)ed in red, a great fetish, to which all way- farers hare to pay tribute. Heads stuck on stakes round the royal enclosure, and numerous mutilated wretches in attendance on the sovereign, serve to warn his subjects of his terrible presence. When visited bv Lacerda in 1798, the Kazembe's capital, which formerly changed with everv reign, was situated north of the Mofwe, a southern continua- Fig. 222. — BcrsTCETA ant) the Copper-ITint: Region. ScUc 1 : 750.000. \ ,:■•• nTf^^^ ■•'^7 1 ^' "^V X -?y^^<- ■^ <^ ^ 'v\ I ■~V -.,,^4^ Coppm/'Minss CBOpBTM/nes ^-,\ ^> •y*'^^^^'. Salt Pis I, Cop/jerAfines s Cast of G'-^e-^.vicVi . 12 lUles. tion of Lake Jloero. The present Kasemhe, as it is called from the king's title, lies south of the same basin, near an island inhabited by the Messiras, unmixed descendants of the aborigines conquered by the ancestors of the Kazembe. Lacerda, one of the first martyrs of science in Central Africa, died in 1798 at Nshinda (Liicenda) near Kazerabe. 448 WEST APEICA. The Msmi's Kingdom, Garangaja. At present the most powerful state in the Upper Congo region is that of Msiri (Musiri), a chief of Nyamezi race, whose family lately reduced all the tribes along Fig. 223. — Lake Bangweolo and the Lowee Lva-Laba, accokuixg to LrviNOSTONB. Scale 1 : G,50O,0OO. r.ast or breenwirh Itinerary of Livingstone. 120 Miles. the Upper Lua-Laba. His territory stretches northwards to Lake KassaH (Kikonja), under the eighth parallel of south latitude, and southwards to the country of the I-Eamba or Wa-Eamba, who occupy the Muxinga (Mushinga) highlands between the Congo and Zambese basins. This region, some 4,200 feet above sea-level, and dominated by wooded mountains running north-cast and south-west, is a picturesque THE EUA STATE. UQ and salubrious country, perhaps destixied. to become a sanatorium for European travellers. Msiri's capital, Bunkeija {Unlcea, Kimpata), a great ivory market near a small -western affluent of the Lu-Fira, has already been visited by Reichard, Capello, and Ivens, who however were badly received, llsii-i, who lives in a palace surrounded by human skulls, disposes of over two thousand fusiliers, whom he leads against the powerful Eua (Vua-Eua, U-Rua) nation, occupj-ing to the north all the region stretching beyond Lake Lanji to the shores of Tanganyika. Msiri is a cruel despot bearing the curious Portuguese title of Maria Segunda ; and his brother, the governor of Kaponda, is a still more sanguinary ruler, whose palace is indicated from a distance by piles of human heads. The population of Garangaja, as Msiri's kingdom is called, comprises diverse elements collectively known as Ba-Yeke or Ba-Yongo, and specially noted for the great deference they pay to their women. The men are great hunters, always clad in skins, and armed with rifles from Angola and sharp-pointed assegais embellished with copper wire. This metal occurs in great abundance, generally under the form of malachite, the chief mines being those of Katamja, a three days' march to the east of Bunkeya. But contrary to the statements made by the Arabs to Stanley, there is no gold in the mining districts, although copious sulphurous springs are found in many places. The Rua Kingdom. Livingstone refers frequently to the country of the Rua people, giving fabulous details and a geographical relief of the land very different from the reality. Subsequent explorers have ascertained that the Lake Kamolondo mentioned by him as traversed by the Lua-Laba has no existence ; but the string of lakes forming the Lna-Laba takes the collective name of Kamolondo, and forms the eastern boundary of the Rua territory. This region, which was traversed from north to south by Cameron, forms the empire of the Kassongo, and comprises the whole space stretching north and south between Msiri's kingdom and the tract ruled by the Arabs north of Lake Lanji. The Kassongo's territory is bounded west and east by the Lo-Mami river and Lake Tanganyika, but does not include the TT-Sambe (TJ-Sambi), who dwell west of the Lo Mami, who, however, pay tribute both to the Kassongo and to their western neighbour the Muata Yamvo. But for all that they do not escape the raids of the Arab or half-caste Portuguese slave- hunters, who carry off their women and burn their villages. The kingdom is divided into districts, governed each by a kilolo, who is either a hereditary chief or a " captain " appointed for a term of four years. If satisfied with their services, the king promotes them to a higher charge ; if not, they are mutilated, the royal usages being no less cruel here than in the neighbouring states. In U-Rua two punishments alone are recognised — mutilation and death, and near the king's residence are recesses filled with human heads. The sovereign is looked on as a god, and the most powerful fetish represents the founder of the djTiasty. This fetish, kept in a forest, which not even the wizards may enter, is supposed to have for wife the king's sister, who with her brother has alone the 450 WEST AFRICA. right to consult the tutelar deity in cases of emergency. In virtue of his divinity, the ruler of U-Rua is also theoretically the husband of all his female subjects except his mother, while in ^drtue of their royal blood his own sons are allowed to plunder the people at pleasure. At the ruler's death a number of his women are doomed to accompany him beyond the grave, which is dug in the bed of a river diverted from its course. Here is first killed the second wife, whose duty it is to watch at the feet of the dead ; then the bottom is covered with living women, on whom is laid the corpse, after which, on the closed i^it, are massacred a number of slaves, and the river is restored to its bed, so that the last resting-place of the dread monarch be for ever concealed from mortal eye. Human sacrifices are also 12' Tig. 224. — Chiep Teibes in the Upper Congo Basin. Scale 1 ; 10,000,000. # . ...■-■>■•' ''fe'gfe j^j'^ a 1 k^ v«V ^S=. 'i/rr'trsl^ • KlL-ElVfBA " -^ IK r " ^♦f m^:&:y: "1^ W Fates ■Jipu7i£'obc Y ■B ^ £5° taat oT ureenwich 180 Miles. made for secondary chiefs, while the common people are thrown into the bush, or else seated in a grave with the right hand index finger i:)ointing heavenwards. The U-Rua country is one of the richest in the interior of Africa. The soil is extremely fertile, and in the mountains are found deposits of iron, cinnabar, silver, and even rock-oil. Most of the natives are distinguished by their intelligence and skill as craftsmen, and Cameron describes a native cabin which would be a work of art even in Europe. Much artistic taste is also displayed in the marvellous head-dresses, the endless varieties of which reveal the special character of each individual. Each clan has also a special animal, whose spoils supply the gala robes worn when they present themselves before their sovereign. As in the U-NTAMEZI. 451 surrounding countries, bark garments are also prepared from the bast of the miombo phmt. KUemha {Krcihafa, Mmsamba), capital of U-Rua, lying on one of the string of lakes traversed by the Lua-Laba, is merely a large Tillage defended by a strong palisade. In this country, exposed to continual plundering expeditions of the secondary chiefs, of the slave-hunters, and even of the king himself, most of the s-illages are hidden away in the thickest part of the forests, and can be approached only by creeping on all fours under a long avenue of interlaced foliage terminating at a gateway defended by a chevaux-de-frise. The people also take refuge in the lakes, such as that of Mohrya, 24 miles north-west of Kilemba, where are several lacustrine groups, whose inhabitants apjiroach the land only to cultivate their fields and graze their goats. On Lake Kassali they utilise the floating islands of matted vegetation, on which they plant bananas and dwell with their flocks and poultry. But in the Mitumbo and Kunde Iruude hills, skirting the west and east banks of the Lu-Fira river, thousands of natives dwell in spacious caves, some of which are 20 miles long, forming with their innumerable ramifications vast under- ground cities occupied by whole tribes of troglodytes with their domestic animals. Tanganyika and II'ita N'zige. East of Lake Tanganyika the most extensive state is U-Nyamezi (U-Nyam- wezi), mentioned by the Portuguese and Pigafetta so early as the end of the sixteenth century, under the name of Munemugi, or "Land of the Moon." It occupies most of the lands watered by the ilalagarazi and its affluents, and in the north-east it stretches beyond the divide into the Victoria Nyanza basin. U- Nyamezi is one of the pleasantest regions in Africa, diversified with low undulat- ing hills, wooded or grassy, and dotted over with numerous villages all surrounded with gardens, rice plantations, and well-cultivated farms. But the western districts are mostly swampy and insalubrious, especially after the rainy season. The best-known territory in U-Nyamezi is U-Nyambiembe, which is watered by the Gombe, chief afiluent of the Malagarazi. Here pass most of the caravans between Tanganyika and the coast ; here Speke, Burton, Grant, Stanley, Cameron, and since then many other i^ioneers of African exploration, have resided for weeks and months together ; here also several religious missions have been established, and Germany, which has become the suzerain power, will doubtless soon be repre- sented in the country bj' political administrators. The Yua-Nyamezi, as all the local tribes are collectively caUed, appear to be related to the people of Garangaja, although enjoying a much higher culture than their neighbours, thanks to their long-established commercial relations with the Arabs. Nevertheless most of them still practise the old systems of tattooing, and otherwise disfigm-e themselves by extracting the two lower incisors, or else filing them to an edge, and distending the lobe of the ears by the insertion of wooden discs, shells, or bits of ivory. They generally shave a part of the head, dressing the rest of the hair in numerous radiating points, which are extended by 452 WEST APRICA. means of interwoven vegetable fibre. Formerly the native garb was made of bast, whicli has now been almost everywhere replaced by woven fabrics imported from Zanzibar. Brass wire armlets and greaves, as well as glass beads, are much worn, rig. 225. — Chief Routes of Exploeees in the Conoo Basin east of Tanganyika. Scale 1 : 6,000,000. ^% ■ <".'.'> ^P"?'^'"' " \i_ m'if'-r;^-' yr ; A' K ■'^TAi'Bf^ / tait of U»-eenwlC^ liiO lliles. and to these the chiefs add two long ivory sheaths, which they clash together to encourage their men on the battlefield. In the conduct of domestic affairs the division of labour is complete, the men looking after the flocks and poultry, the women attending to the gai-dens and fields. In some districts one of the twins is killed and replaced by a calabash in the cradle of the survivor. The inheritance passes, not to the nephew, as amongst so many tribes where matriarchal customs are partly maintained, but to the direct issue, and in preference to illegitimate children. U-NYAMEZI. 453 At the time of Stanley's first journey in 1871 the Arabs were still very powerful in U-Nyamezi, but, ha^-ing abused their strength to enslave their neighbours, the 454 T^^EST AFRICA. natives rose against them, and a Negro empire was fomided by the famous Mii'ambo, the "black BonajDarte," whose military genius has been the theme of all travellers. At present this state is di^dded, one half of the villages belonging to the proteges of the Arabs, some of whom are of true Semite stock ; but the majority are half-castes from Muscat or Zanzibar, who employ mercenary troops imported from Baluchistan and other places. Owing to the introduction of all these foreign elements the population has become strangely mixed, and most of the natives along the trade rou