352 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



goons, from which foetid exhalations, caused by 

 the rapid decomposition of animal and vegetable 

 matter, rise and hang over the land like a dense 

 fog. The sun, seen through this noxious vapour, 

 loses none of its power, but looks, even at mid-day, 

 as if it was obscured by ground glass. At such a 

 time, the hot, damp, fcetid air seems to clog and 

 impede the free action of the lungs, and one feels 

 that its impurities are pregnant Avith disease. Any 

 one who has entered the damp hot-house of Kew 

 Gardens, after it has been shut for some time, may 

 form some slight idea of the atmosphere of this 

 part of the Coast. Captain Burton, whose *' Wan- 

 derings in West Africa," give the most vivid and 

 reliable description of the country yet published, 

 calls Government House, " a corrugated iron coffin 

 or plank-lined morgue, containing a dead consul 

 once a-year," and as I was twice invalided from 

 this settlement, I can indorse his opinion. 



In the short space of three years, the following 

 officials were expended. Consuls Campbell and 

 Foote died ; Governor Freeman died ; after 

 twice returning sick to England, I Avas in- 



