710 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April i, 1884. 



of crossing the stream dry shod. A little way in the 

 interior, immeuse cacao plautations bcg:in where the under- 

 growth is a thick in-ake of jjino-applos, loaded with deep 

 reil fruit. Very little of the laud in Principi' is under 

 cultivation ; the priucipal estate belongs to a merchant in 

 Sao Thome. Oacao is the chief product of the island. Coffee 

 hardly exists, although to encourage its cultivation the 

 Government has made its exportation free of duty, whereas 

 in SaoThonii', coJfce exported pays 5 per cent. The interior 

 is very mountainous, and covered everywhere with unbroken 

 forest. Tlie uplands eujoy a fairly healthy climate, al- 

 though occasionally the whole island is subjected to attacks 

 of marsh fe\'er, caust^d by the emanations from the dread- 

 ful Niger delta, which the north wind blows over to 

 Principe. 



# # * 



The prosperity of Principe fell, because the sugar-cane 

 ]ilant'ations which caused its wealth were forbidden by the 

 i'ortuguese Govtrumeut, some two centuries ago, in case 

 they should interfere with the rising sugar trade of Brazil. 

 The island, however still continued wealthy until the middle 

 of the present century, when the abolition of slavery gave 

 the finishing touch to its ruin. 



The population of Priucipu was once 30,000; it is less 

 than 3,000 at the present day. Its palaces and churclies 

 of former days have become magnificent ferneries, and if 

 it were possible to forgive this retrogression of civilisation, 

 it would be so from the beautiful mask of vegetation that 

 everywhere conceals the ruin and decay. 



Sao Thom^ presents a much more cheering prospect. 

 "While in its natural beauties and its great fertility it 

 rivals Principe, it far exceeds that island in population, 

 cultivation, and development. The superficies of .Sao Thome 

 is about 700 square miles. It is traversed by the equator. 

 The character of the island is extremely mountainous, some 

 of the peaks reaching 6,000 feet in height, and many of them 

 assuming the most fantastic forms. The climate varies 

 greatly. In the lowlands it is hot and unhealthy, on the 

 upper jilatoaux it is salubrious and warm, and high up on the 

 mountains, it is mild and sometimes even chilly. Europeans 

 can live in perfect health and comfort in the uplands, and, 

 indeed, the Portuguese that reside there are most favourable 

 specimens of colonists, with their pretty wives and their 

 large families of fresh -culourf^l children. 



* * * 



Shortly after my arrival at the island, I made an excnrsion 

 into the interior to \'isit some of the i' ro^as," or comitry 

 houses situated In-tween two and three thousand feet above 

 the sea, on the thickly wooded mountainsides. HI y guide 

 and companion was n kind and erudite I'ortuguese, who 

 was a Government doctor and medical officer to many of 

 the great coffee and quina plantations in the interior. 



In the cool of the afternoon we left the city of Sao 

 Thomt!', and journeyed along an excellent road, bordered 

 with the most splendid vegetation, amidst which nestled 

 t,he little wooden houses of the coloured inhabitants. Sao 

 Thomi5 must be th(* ideal of a black man's paradise, and 

 the negroes of Sao Thome the happiest in the world. 

 These little homesteads are surrounded by innumerable 

 bananas, with plautations of manioc and sweet potatoes. 

 Pine-apples form the rank undergrowth of their gardens, 

 and the ground-nut is a weed. Here and there is an old 

 chapel with lichen-stained belfry and silent bells. A ci^nlised 

 feature amid these little hamlets is the general shop, where 

 a quaint assortment of things is sold, and where it is 

 curious to see advertisements of English sewing-machines 

 hung up to decorate the walls. By the si<ie of the road 

 arfc ma:,nificent trees from most parts of the tropics, but 

 principally from Brazil. Africa is represented by the baobabs, 

 mimosas, fig trees, dracrenas, and the bombax, or cotton 

 wood. There are also guavas, oranges, limes, and papaws, 

 and both the coffee and cacao are beginning, as the dis- 

 tance from the town increases, to take a prominent place. 

 AVe crossed many brawling streams, and soon — were it not 

 for the civilised-looking road— we 7uight have believed -our- 

 selves in virgin Africa, for signs of cultivation began to 

 disappear, and we would higher and higher up the hills, 

 through the most magnificent forest. The air was nmsical 

 with th(! continued sound of f^dling water; but, except 

 now and then a glint of spray amid the foliage, the tumbling 

 brooka were invisible. The boil was a rich rod colour, and 



when, as we ascended to some height, the bracken fern 

 began to show itself, and to cover with its dewy fronds 

 the steep banks that bordered the road, the scenery, with 

 its red soil and iuteuse greenery, recalled very forcibly the 

 Monmouthshire lanes which border the Kiver "Wye in 

 England. 



The roc,'as, or country houses, that now began to crown 

 the heights, were very Swiss-like in appearance, generally 

 several storeys high, and with many little outside ladders 

 going from storey to storey. Sometimes the houses are 

 dazzlingly white, and remind one of the charming little 

 quiutas of Madeira, like which they are pleasantly em- 

 bosomed in bright flowers and vegetation of dark velvet 

 green. 



AVe passed the night in one of these little chalets, meeting 

 with a most hospitable reception from its occupants. 



* * * 



Early the next morning we started to visit the quina 

 plautations, high up the hills, ascending to about 3,500 

 feet. The quinine plaut, or quina, exhibits several varieties, 

 all of which are cultivated in Sao Thome. The propagation 

 of this precious tree is fortunately easy. Besides growing 

 it from the tiny and abundant seed, the new leaf-buds 

 or "rebutes," as the Portuguese call them, are turned down 

 by their long stalks, and fastened into little ijoxes of earth, 

 raised, from the ground to the proper height, and in these 

 boxes the buds throw out roots and become new plants. 



The price of quinine bark brings in, on an average, 

 £4 per tree, when the tree has attained the age of six 

 years. So that a man who plants 100,000 quina plants, 

 at a preliminary cost of £100, stands to gain in six years' 

 time £400,000. Nor does his fortune end there, for after 

 stripping the tree of its bark, it is cut down, and in some 

 five years more has sprung up again from the roots, and 

 gives an even greater yield. Land is sold for a mere nothing 

 in Sao Thome, for only aliout one-third of the island is 

 under cultivation; labour, thanks to tJie excellent system 

 of Government apprenticeship, is cheap and plentiful; the 

 climate on the uplands is perfectly salubrious ; there are 

 pleasant society, glorious scenery, and good horses are to 

 bo had. AVhy do not some of our younger sons try quinine 

 growing in Sao Thome ? 



* ■* «■ 



Smce I left "West Afi-ica, the Portuguese have formally 

 taken possession of a point on the South-west Coast, a 

 little to the north of the Congo. This is generally called 

 Landana, and is situated close to the emhouchvre of the 

 Kiver ('hiloango, an important highway into the interior. 

 Landana is nearly a hundred miles from the mouth of the 

 Congo, but receives a great deal of the Congo trade, which 

 follows the coiu-se of the Upper Chiloango. It is a p'O- 

 sperous place, with four or five large trading establi'-hments, 

 a flourishing Catholic mission, a church, and a doctor. It 

 is, in fact, a readymade colony, into the possession of 

 which the Portuguese have entered for no particular reason 

 except that they were preferable to the Prench in the eyes 

 of our Government. English Ministers seem to have the 

 vaguest notions of geography; and when Portugal asked 

 their permission to occ\ipy Landana, they assented willingly, 

 because they had no knowledge where Landana was. South 

 of the Congo the Portuguese ha^e, at present, no recognised 

 possession before we arrive at Ambriz; unless, indeed, there 

 be any fresh arrangement with the British Government 

 empowering them to occupy territory north of the Biver 

 Loge, in 7 ° 40', S., their present limit. Ambrii: has been 

 a Portuguese possession ever since 1855, when they annexed 

 it to Angola for the purpose of more effectually suppiessing 

 the slave trade which, to do them justice, they have really 

 done. 



The habitable town of Ambriz rises to the top of a Ijold 

 red cliff, at the base of which great rollers dash them- 

 selves into foam. Ambriz is sandy, and infested with the 

 horrib'e "jigger," or burrowing flea, oriiiinally introduced 

 here from America, and now fast spreading over AVest 

 Africa. 



The local commerce of this_ district is in cott'ce, which 

 grows wild on the neighbouring hills, and is also cultivated 

 by the natives. Ambriz is the natmal outlet for the trade 

 of all the interior lying about the 1\h aiul Sth degrees of 

 S. l;ititude, and stretching inland to the Biver Luango; 

 but it does not seem to prosper somehow, in spite of being 

 the only kind of port butweuu Loauda and the Couyo. 



