Birds of Fernando Po. 331 



Sekondi, a goodly hoard of Lagos natives, some 400 in 

 number, who had been working on the Kumassi Railway, 

 came on board. Here, I thought, was my opportunity, but not 

 one of them would dream of coming. They had abundance of 

 money and only thought of getting home. And, besides, the 

 very name of Fernando Po was enough. The West-African 

 native has a wholesome dread of this island, where in the past 

 he has been badly treated, especially by the natives of Sierra 

 Leone, who own a large number of the cocoa-farms there. 

 At Old Calabar, however, where we stayed for five days, 

 Sir Ralph Moor, the High Commissioner, very kindly came 

 forward and supplied me with Government carriers. 



A two days' run from Calabar brought us to Fernando Po, 

 where, on the evening of Oct. 27th, 1902, we dropped anchor. 

 Unlike the Canary Islands, with their volcanic aspects 

 sprinkled with the green of short-lived grass, Fernando Po 

 rises from the sea with lofty hills clothed to their summits 

 with thick bush and virgin forest. Its northern portion is- 

 by far the more mountainous, culminating in a peak known 

 as the Clarence Peak, or by the older name Pico Santa 

 Isabel, which attains an altitude of 10,800 feet. In the 

 southern portion the country is more open, with fertile 

 valleys overgrown with long grass, while a series of mineral 

 lakes and springs exist on the higher levels. The coast-line 

 is flat and much indented with creeks and bays, which afford 

 good landing-places for the numerous cocoa-farms on the 

 island. The dotted portion on the accompanying map 

 (Plate VI a .) shews the extent of cultivation, which consists of 

 a belt about two miles in width round the island. Along the 

 coast-line are numerous cocoa-farms, which are in the hands 

 of English and Spanish traders. Coffee is also cultivated to 

 a small extent, while plantains, bananas, manioc, and yams 

 form the food of the natives. Further towards the interior, 

 on the edge of the belt near the wooded hills, are small scat- 

 tered villages of wooden huts belonging to the natives. Beyond 

 this coast-belt there is thick forest intersected by tracks made 

 by the native hunters. There are no roads — only small paths 

 between the villages. 



