VEGETATION OF TROPICAL WESTERN AFRICA. 19 
value beyond its edible seeds; it is however a fine ornamental tree 
for planting in any of our tropical colonies. Bassia Parkii has 
puzzled me much: first I could not induce them to vegetate for 
months; now they continue dying off; but I trust some will reach 
home alive. The young planta of the “ Opakala ” will prove valu- 
able, both as an economical plant, and as a fine tree. I have 
enclosed some of its large ligneous pods and edible seeds in one of 
the boxes. It grows in the lower Niger, Fernando Po, and Prince’s 
Island; the negroes collect the seeds, boil them slightly, slice and 
dry them for future use. Some plants of the yellow dye (of 
Soudan) in the case are very small; but it has large roots, and a 
tendency to be herbaceous, so perhaps will not be dead, if invi- 
sible, when the case is opened. 
We visited Prince’s Island to purchase stock, and recruit the 
health of our sick people by a sea breeze. This island, unlike 
Fernando Po, has no very elevated land; it presents from the sea 
а number of peaks, an immense block of rocks (some conical, 
others flat-topped), with butting cliffs or perpendicular walls of 
sheer precipices more than 1000 feet high, these bare of any 
vegetation, white and dazzling in the tropical sun. We steamed 
into West Bay amidst torrents of rain, which, clearing up, showed 
a number of pretty cataracts descending in streams down the pre- 
cipitous sides of the little mountains, in thin silver lines—when 
shooting the rock, spreading out as they came down in a horse- 
tail manner, till, falling far down, they were lost in a cloud of 
mist and vapour below. The rocks are mostly soft, having been 
changed by igneous action. The soil is rich, composed principally 
of decomposed trap; beds of conglomerate and pebbles lie about 
the base of the hills. 
This island is celebrated for producing good coffee. Chocolate 
is also much grown, or rather has been extensively planted ; nume- 
rous ravines, dark and gloomy, abounding in moisture, are well 
adapted for its cultivation. Traces of sugar plantations exist; but 
its culture seems now abandoned. Indeed everything evinces decay, 
and no system of management ; coffee trees appear here and there, 
as if dropped from the clouds, struggling for life among trees and 
shrubs by which they are surrounded. Cacaos, more vigorous in 
growth, maintain their existence better, and soon take entirely 
for themselves the moist places in which they have been planted ; 
the fruit of this was ripe at the time, and seemed the favourite 
food of monkeys, which must be very destructive to the crop. 
Ginger, arrowroot, yams, and all the fruits of the coast are grown 
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