VOYAGE TO THE NIGER. 81 
here and there, covered with tall rough Grass and Cyperacee, 
to the height of a man, and higher; bound together by Con- 
volvuli, Cassytha, and other Lianes, rendering them perfectly 
impenetrable. I found several places closely matted with 
Stylosanthes Guineensis, forming carpets, upon which one 
might cross pools without observing them. The most 
barren and sandy places were much overgrown with a Te- 
leianthera, R. Br., (Illecebrum obliquum, Schum. ?) an Euphor- 
bia (trinervia, Schum.?) but especially with a yellow-flowered 
creeping Dolichos and Convolvulus Pes Capre, (rotundifol. 
Schum.), which latter is diffused over the whole coast from 
Monrovia. An Unmbellifera (Hydrocotyle interrupta, (. 
platyph. DC.), grew every where on the beach amongst 
the Mangroves, and seems to overspredd the whole coast. 
A species of Malaghetty Pepper, differing from that in 
Grand Bassa by the long beak of the fruit, was frequent. 
On one spot, amongst the Mangroves, I noticed, on the de- 
caying roots, a delicate white plant, having white scales instead 
of leaves, and three flowers; it was a parasite on the roots, 
but sent forth roots of its own. I have preserved a few 
specimens in spirits. Upon the whole, I have seen too little 
of the vegetation here, to compare it with that of any place 
hitherto visited on the coast. On the opposite shore, they . 
cultivate Cocoa Palms, of which the natives brought us 
the nuts; on the right bank, where we did not now see any 
Hate the Cassada showed traces of abandoned plan- 
tations. The scenery is not remarkable. At the entrance, 
the left side presented a pleasant prospect, from the familiar 
forms of the forest and Cocoa Palm; on the opposite shore, 
beyond the forest and brushwood, there appeared a sort of —— 
lagoon, while behind that, the Mangrores rose into an erect — 
and lofty-stemmed wood. p 
Of the natives, I saw only few, and none very near. 17 The oy 
seemed to be well-formed, robust men, with their hair 
quently shorn in a crest shape, but having nothing 
in their dress. I was told that they have a language | 
— n e "ngon The | 
