204 Progress unci present State of Geographical 



sewan or Iiiiijale Mountains are inexhaustible supplies of ship 

 and other timber easily transportable to the harbor. 



The native inhabitants of this territory are at present the 

 wretched and scattered remains of that once populous race 

 descrilied by Capt. Woodes Rogers and ottier navigators in 

 the 17th century, as remarkable for their Arcadian felicity, 

 their innocence of manners, and humanity to strangers. By 

 the ambitious policy of the late Zoola chieftain, they have been 

 dwindled down into a small number of fugitives, finding a 

 precarious existence from the indigenous and wild produce of 

 the field. 



Besides these people, there is a considerable number of 

 Europeans, from the Colony, settled round the port, for the 

 purpose of trade ; but of late a want of confidence in the 

 Zulo ruler, Ding^\an, and of unanimity among themselves, 

 arising out of a petty and misplaced jealousy of each other's 

 success, has brought this flourishing settlement into a very low 

 condition, and which if not soon supported by the arm of a 

 recognised Government must be altogether abandoned. 



Does the fabled Lotus grow in this portion of Africa, of 

 Avhich all who have eaten desire to remain, and all those who 

 have roamed from its feast pine to return ? Is there a ju'iladie 

 du pais, a sickness not of home, but for a foreign land, 

 generated by the atmosphere of this clime, barbarous only as 

 respects its inhabitants ? or why is it, that no one individual, 

 whatever his pursuits, whatever the circumstanses which have 

 thrown him upon, or directed his steps to this land, — Trade, 

 Science, or Misfortunes, — but seems enraptured with the 

 natural beauties of the counti-y ? The wrecked mariner, even 

 while despairing of returning to his civilised home, has not 

 withheld his meed of praise, — the adventurous trader, searching 

 for his profit thus far from home, has expressed a frequent 

 wish that this was " his own, his native land," and the only 

 scientific visitor to these regions declared a wish to live and 

 die there. There must be certainly something extraordinary in 

 a country to call forth so general a testimony in its favor. 



VI. The next division is that comprised between the Omton- 

 GALA and St. Lucia Rivers, including the numerous branches 

 of the latter, and probably contains about 10,000 square miles. 

 It is the chief seat of the Zulo power, and was acquired for 

 that nation by its conquests from numerous divided tribes, 

 formerly its inhabitants. 



Four large streams fertilize this territory, besides innumera- 

 ble others of smaller size ; but it is not, so well watered as the 

 preceding divisions. 



The Amatekooi.a, or Great River, rises in the secondary 

 range of mountains, is open at its mouth, situated in about 



