390 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



weigh, and beat up against a somewhat sluggish 

 current. About five miles from the entrance, on 

 the right-hand bank, is situated " Plateaux," the 

 French settlement and fort, abreast of which was 

 anchored " Le Caravan," an armed hulk housed 

 over, that served as a guard-ship. 



About a mile further on is the village of 

 ''Glass," where the English factories are built, 

 on the low ground close to the shore, and behind 

 them, upon a hill — the site of an old slave barra- 

 coon — is Baraka, the American mission-house, one 

 of the best conducted establishments of the kind 

 on the Coast. On the left bank, a short distance 

 up a creek, is Denis Town, the residence of the 

 ex-king of the Gaboon, for West Africa resembles 

 the continent of Europe in one respect, — it has a 

 large retired list of royal personages, sovereigns 

 who are either pensioned off or deposed. 



We anchored in front of Messrs. Hatton and 

 Cookson's factory, which is by far the most ex- 

 tensive establishment in the Gaboon ; and our 

 arrival caused no little sensation in the settlement, 

 as Walker, having resided here for many years, 



