VOYAGE TO THE NIGER. 631 



lowest ribs have decayed. I also saw a Leguminosa, belong- 

 ing, as far as I could judge from the fruit, to the genus 

 Afzelia, but if so, it would form a separate division. Though 

 a rich flora, it was not, either near the town or in the 

 mountains, by any means so luxuriant as descriptions had 

 led me to expect. The soil is a close clay, impregnated with 

 iron, and cannot therefore be fertile. It having been soon 

 ascertained that the land near the town could not yield so 

 much as had been expected, the attention of the earlier 

 emigrants was already directed towards other parts of the 

 vicinity. I know not with what success ; but it is singular, 

 that this thickly peopled colony should not produce any 

 thing fit for exportation; the trade in teak or comwood 

 seems only a waste of the rich endowments of nature. This 

 surely is a matter worth consideration. The Africans, col- 

 lected here in such multitudes, furnish abundant and cheap 

 labourers, and yet there is no cultivation on an enlarged 

 scale. Much diligence is used to convert and educate the 

 "liberated Africans;" but without any beneficial influence 

 n the neighbouring tribes. This is not very satisfactory, 

 and shows that if it was intended to extend civilization to 

 these parts, great faults must have been committed, and also 

 proves that the Africans are not inclined to follow a good 

 example. The liberated Africans, on their arrival at Sierra 

 Leone, are apprenticed with a planter till their twentieth 

 year; after that, a piece of land is apportioned to them, from 

 which they raise a scanty maintenance. On the whole, their 

 villages appeared to me, as far as I saw them, clean and 

 cheerful (of course cum grano salts). But the total want of 

 hospitality, for several times we found it impossible to get 

 anything to eat, was painful. 



During the few days that we spent here, the weather was 

 mostly fine ; the sky generally bright, with a hot sun, though 

 sometimes clouded ; towards evening tornadoes occurred, 

 bringing frequently several hours' rain. After having abun- 

 dantly enjoyed the noise of African tongues and the offen- 

 sive exhalations of their persons, especially on Thursday, 



