EXPEDITION UP THE KWORA. 259 



Clarence, Fernando Po, June 29, 1857. 



When leaving Sierra Leone, I found a large proportion of the speci- 

 mens but imperfectly dried, and totally unfit to pack and send by last 

 mail. I regret to add that many of them are but slightly improved by 

 their voyage down the coast, where we experienced the full force of the 

 tornadoes which usher in the rainy season. My cabin was leaky ; 

 many specimens were spoiled, or rendered altogether useless. Such as 

 are worth sending I now forward by this mail, with such additional 

 species as I have been able to collect since on this island. By the 

 same mail will arrive also a cask of fruits preserved in rum, which Dr. 

 Baikie procured for me; some fine specimens of fruit of Pandanus 

 Candelabrum are sent ; also a bunch of native grapes, weighing 8 lbs. 

 (Cissus sp.). Fruit and flowers of some Kigelia, and spathe of a gi- 

 gantic aquatic Aroidea, with several smaller fruits, etc., indicated in 

 the list which Dr. Baikie will enclose. In a dried state are a few other 

 objects, Cola-nuts in clusters, etc. ; flowers of this I have also gathered, 

 and preserved in acid.* 



I find it exceedingly difficult to dry plants in this climate ; the wet 

 season has set in, and during sunshine a close steamy vapour pervades 

 everything under cover. Paper and books absorb moisture, and clothing 

 gets covered with mildew. I find BenthalPs soft porous paper use- 

 less here ; it absorbs damp from the air, and speedily becomes rotten 

 and useless. When the brown paper supplied by the Admiralty arrives, 



I shall probably manage better. 



Heavy rains, and the density of the forests, have prevented me from 

 reaching the interesting vegetation of the mountains. A journey of 

 four to six miles from the sea, and with great difficulty, is all that I 

 have been able to effect. The whole island might be said to be an 

 impenetrable thicket of Palm-forest and lofty trees. 



On the lower grounds, near the sea, Elceis Guineenm forms twenty-fh e 

 per cent, of the forest-trees, and in some places occupies the ground almost 



* 



Barter 



this: "The fruit grows in clusters, with leaves attached; it is not very abundant 

 here, seldom more than one or two trees are found growing: together, forming a 

 small, branched, spreading tree, abont twenty feet high. The natives keep the 

 trees free of other wood, and oifer the nuts for sale at Clarence, but never m a per- 

 feet state ; the nod is slit longitudinally either for the nuts to dry, or from snnez 

 st it ion. Flowers I have looked for, but do not find them at th.s season. 1hi< is 

 sent in a drv state." 



