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6 WEBTEKN AFRICA. 
during the rainy season. The country is 
thickly interspersed with rivers, many of 
which are mere tide-water streams in the 
dry season ; or at most, above the point 
where the tide ceases to affect them, they 
dwindle down to small creeks and rivulets. 
The principal timber of the lowlands is 
the Mangrove tree. A very little of other 
kinds, such as Bamboo, Palm, &c, is to be 
found. On the highlands the soil, timber, 
and general appearance of the country is 
different,— the soil being argillaceous and 
more fertile than in the lowlands, the coun- 
try undulating, and much of it without 
timber, and covered thickly with very tall 
grass. 
The physical geography of Africa is full 
of interest, and has been ably treated, but 
it is foreign from my object to enter upon it, 
and with this bare allusion to it I dismiss 
the subject. 
