'« lies deep ; 1 

 ^keeping the. 



Dr. Hayes s Arctic Voyage. 95 



key, after losing Fernando Po. At Abeokuta the cotton is grown in the 

 farms, I was shown the green seed or upland (short staple), and the 

 black seed or long staple. There is, moreover, a very valuable kind, 

 called "akashe," soft as silk. Eight seeds are sold for a penny. Before 

 the war, the export was doubling every year; since then it has declined. 

 The Cotton Association of Manchester exported 20,000 bales in 1859-60, 

 and received only 3447. With the return of peace it will revive. The 

 wars are conducted in the usual African style. Seventeen thousand men 

 meet, blaze away with " long Danes" from the hip all the day, retire and 

 advance, as if by mutual consent, and separate with the loss of half a 

 dozen killed and wounded : and this stuff they call fighting ! It is serious 

 only to the allies, who, being weaker than those who assist them, are sold 

 off by way of commissariat. The Egbas of Abeokuta are nominally fight- 

 ing to defend their friends the Ijayes against a common foe, the Ibadans. 

 It is generally asserted that the unhappy Ijayes have at this time lost 

 20.000 of their number by famine and the slave market. The real casus 

 ; the Abeokutans are determined to monopolize transit dues 

 1 people from the coast. Every African tribe knows 

 ^ai It cannot prosper without seaboard, and then the war began." 



4. Commander Dolben, R. N., in H. M. S. Bloodhound, has re- 

 cently visited the river Volta, which empties into the Gulf of 

 Guinea, near Lagos, a little west of the Ogun river. He found 

 the bed not impassable, as had been reported, but covered with 

 eeven feet of water. Four of his boats manned bj thirty nine 

 'i^en went up the river in October last. The party ascended the 

 stream 120 miles when their voyage was brought to an abrupt 

 ^lose by rapids. 



. "Though impracticable to ship's boats, the rapids are not absolutely 



^passable, for the small strong native canoes can be forced through 



Jem to Pong, a town which is situated at their head, 5 miles above the 



furthest point reached bv the expedition. Above Pong the Volta is agam 



pavigable. Its stream was considerable. Immediately below the rapids 



't had a depth of 10 feet right across from bank to bank and a width of 



three-quarters of a mile. The natives were a fine race of men. The cli- 



'^ate appeared healthy ; for none of the party sufltered during the five days 



*'^"- ^ere in the river, notwithstanding: exposure and severe work. The 



' -i products were cotton, palm oil, Indian corn, and cassava. The 



-■ the river was palatable, and fish abundant." 



DR. HAYES'S ARCTIC VOYAGE. 



Hayes's engagements have been such that no full record of 



age to the North has yet been prepared. In a private 



■ eceived from him he says that the report of his remarks 



-led in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical 



., . -"~J is the most trustworthv account of his journey. " One 



ae continues, " does not appear to nave oeen noticea 

 J of some national importance, though of none commer- 



