344 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



against which a high surf was beating, having in the 

 back-ground malarious mangrove swamps, and low 

 bush intermixed with palms, and occasional clumps 

 of cotton trees. This is the general appearance of 

 the whole coast of the Bights of Benin and Biafra, 

 as far as the Camaroon Mountains, and a more 

 dreary and monotonous-looking land it is impossible 

 to imagine. If the breeze blew off the land we 

 could perceive a foetid taint in the air, which was 

 doubtless occasioned by the decomposition and 

 putrefaction of animal and vegetable inatter in the 

 dismal-looking swamps that extended for hundreds 

 of miles. In the afternoon we passed Ports Novo 

 and Badagry, which are connected by a lagoon 

 running parallel to the beach with the Lagos 

 Eiver ; and later we sighted some half-a-dozen 

 sailing-vessels that were lying off the Lagos bar. 



At 7-30 p.m. on the 21st January we dropped 

 anchor in seven fathoms, heaving out a large 

 quantity of cable on account of the heavy swell 

 that was setting in towards the shore. Notwith- 

 standing this precaution, we had a very uncom- 

 fortable night on account of the ceaseless rolling 



