282 Messrs. Shelley and Buckley on a 



the latter we recognized S. bergii, S. cantiaca, and S. leuco- 

 pareia-, these we met with abundantly throughout our tour 

 when near any lagoons. Of land birds we saw but two species, 

 Budytes flava and Passer simplex, both very common throughout 

 the Gold Coast. 



After leaving Sierra Leone we kept the land in sight nearly 

 the whole way ; but the scenery was most uninteresting ; it con- 

 sisted of one continuous flat densely wooded country, the out- 

 line scarcely broken except by the rocky promontary of Cape 

 Palmas, a pretty little spot belonging to the Americans. Here 

 we waited for an hour to land the mails, and took the oppor- 

 tunity of visiting the missionary station, which is very creditably 

 conducted, though the lighthouse attached to the establishment 

 is lamentably deficient in light. 



At length, on the 29th of January, we landed at Cape-Coast 

 Castle. The most prominent object is the castle itself; a large 

 white building, washed on one side by the sea ; it was built for 

 holding slaves in former days, but is now used as barracks. 

 Behind the castle, and near the centre of the town, stands 

 Government House, and most of the larger buildings, all white- 

 washed; the native dwellings are square mud huts, with flat 

 roofs, but much more comfortable and better built than we ex- 

 pected to find them. Altogether the town has a picturesque 

 appearance ; the palm trees here and there break the outline of 

 the square-built houses ; while the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the town, unlike the general coast-line, is surrounded by small 

 hills, on which are situated a lighthouse, powder-magazine, and 

 a look-out. 



The country is covered with low, dense bush, interlaced with 

 creepers, which form an impenetrable network, so that we were 

 almost entirely confined to the narrow paths, two of which 

 aspire to the name of roads — one the Ashantee road, running 

 inland to the north-east, by the foot of Connor's Hill; the other, 

 leaving the town westward, leads to Denkera, by way of Abro- 

 bonko and Bula. 



The climate is too well known and justly abused to require 

 any comments from us, though we were neither of us laid up 

 with fever during our short stay in the country, which was pro- 



