VOYAGE TO THE NIGER. 639 



Another excursion was about six or seven miles inland, to 

 Orange Town and Quowprath. Here the soil was fertile, 

 with good vegetable mould and extensive plantations of Indian 

 corn; Bromelias skirting the former plantations. The best 

 habitations of the natives resemble those of the Ashantees, 

 and have a square court in the middle, its four sides sur- 

 rounded by buildings. 



It is almost impossible to travel in European clothes, espe- 

 cially during this season, when the water collected in the 

 roads reaches often up to the middle. Besides, great exer- 

 tion or exposure to the sun is dangerous, and occasionally 

 fatal to new comers. The residents go out in small carriages, 

 drawn by four negroes ; or travelling-chairs carried by two. The 

 former can only be used on tolerably good roads, and the latter 

 have also their inconveniences. For instance, I was myself 

 upset in the middle of a puddle, because my bearers slipped, 

 hut I happily fell on an adjacent dry grass-plot. It is a great 

 inconvenience for persons who, like me, travel ex professo, 

 that at such places as Cape Coast Castle, it is impossible to 

 hire the necessary vehicles, but you must be dependent on 

 the kindness of others. I had the good fortune to find, in 

 Mr. Henry Smith, a man who anticipated all my wants with 

 the utmost affability, assisting me, in fact, in every possible 

 manner. 



There is much less of botanical interest near the town than 

 I had expected, the number of plants increasing materially 

 with the distance from it. The present season, immediately 

 subsequent to the rains, is not very favourable ; the rain had 

 nearly ceased on the coast, and only a few showers fell now 

 and then; but a few miles inland, much rain prevails about 

 this time, and on my trip to Quowprath, about six miles, I 

 got thoroughly soaked. I saw many plants without flowers 

 or fruit; but not one that was Monocotyledonous, though 

 many are said to occur with splendid flowers. The difference 

 of the vegetation from what we had last visited, was very 

 striking. Here Leguminosa were predominant, and Rubiaceee 

 less so ; Mimosa, with their characteristic foliage, which I had 



