220 GEOGRAPHICAL OBSERVATIONS ON WESTERN AFRICA. [June 11, 1860. 



beautiful Btraiglit-grained, smooth red mahogany ; also in Liberia, 

 Egba, and Yoruba. 



The acasia or senna, jalap, castor and croton oil, and nux-vomica 

 plants and fruits are abundant ; also what Dr. Delany calls gum 

 Yoruba, the same as gum Arabic, is found in these regions. Though 

 not a medical article, the gum-elastic tree is a flourishing native 

 plant. 



The cattle are of two distinct classes, with contingent modifica- 

 tions : the Mandingo, or " windward," a very fine, tall, well-pro- 

 portioned, long- horned ox, an exact type of that peculiar class of 

 English-bred beeves ; and the Golah, or " leeward," a large, heavy, 

 short-legged, and short-horned animal, closely resembling the 

 British-bred Durham. Their modifications consist of an under- 

 growth of the Golah, generally found about Monrovia, and a mix- 

 ture seemingly of the Mandingo and Golah, producing an animal 

 larger than either, with a modified conformation of both. The male 

 of this mixed class is a huge animal of almost elephantine propor- 

 tions, having gradually rising shoulders like those of the Brahmin 

 bull. These cattle are very gentle, and generally attended in the 

 Egba and Yoruba countries, when in large numbers, by herdsmen : 

 the cows producing excellent milk and butter. 



There are two classes of horses, with a modification. The 

 Sudan (known as the Arabian horse) is a noble animal of from 

 twelve to fourteen hands high, well proportioned, symmetrically 

 beautiful, and a type of the description given to the sire of the 

 great English-bred " Godolphin," the first blooded-horse. The 

 so-called Arabian horse abounds in the region of our travels ; 

 their original nativity being Sudan, from whence the Arabs, 

 purchasing them in large numbers, send them to Europe as their 

 own production. 



The Y^oruba horse, a small animal, is equal in size to the largest 

 American-Indian pony, and is generally what is termed in America 

 of a " mouse colour." They are very enduring and the best adapted 

 to travel in the present paths and roads of Africa. The modified is 

 a mixture of both classes, being an animal of various proportions 

 and colours, from the size of the Yoruba nearly to that of the 

 Sudan horse. 



The swine, which present two distinct classes, consist of the 

 Guinea — a short-nosed, short-eared, full-headed, heavy-bodied ani- 

 mal — favouring the English Berkshire ; and a domesticated de- 

 scendant of the wild hog — a narrow-faced, long-nosed, long-cared, 

 tall, slender brute — a type of the American species. These have 

 their minor modifications, producing an intermediate class. 



