104 
rOPULAE SCIENCE REVIEW. 
The interior is not, however, so unhealthy as the coast, and 
not only is the air more salubrious, but here and there is to be 
found scenery of surpassing loveliness. Dr. Livingstone, and 
other travellers, have described many picturesque spots ; and it 
may lend a little interest to our matter-of-fact inquiries, if we 
here introduce an extract from the letter of a gentleman for- 
merly resident at Ambriz, descriptive of an interesting locality 
in the neighbourhood of that settlement. He had set out with 
a companion, on a visit to the “ king” of Ambriz, and on their 
arrival at the village in which he resided, their attention was 
attracted by a high mountain near at hand. During their 
audience, they expressed a wish to mount the hill ; but the king 
endeavoured to dissuade them from so doing, by relating horrible 
stories of the dangers they would encounter.* This, however, 
only sharpened their curiosity, and they determined to make 
the ascent. 
“ We had no sooner declared our determination, than plenty of volunteers 
were ready to accompany us, and we soon found that there was no cause for 
fear. A tolerable footpath led right up to the top, and half an hour’s climbing 
presented us with the noblest scene I think I ever beheld ! Far down below 
our feet, almost immediately under us, was the river (Ambriz), which we now 
saw, for the first time, 'winding along, its banks verdant with corn and every 
production of a tropic clime ; oranges and limes, cotton and sugarcane, all 
grew wild in great luxuriance. We could trace the river far inland, now 
hidden by trees, then again shining forth bright as a sheet of silver ! It 
seemed not a continued stream, but a succession of small lakes, each one 
more beautiful than the other. Sometimes it was lost for a long distance 
amongst wooded lulls, and then again we caught a glimpse of it afar off, till 
at length it was lost beyond a range of lofty mountains.” 
This description of the river Ambriz, or Loze, would almost 
carry one in imagination to t-lie banks of the Bhinc, or to some 
gentle slope in the English Lake district. We must now, how- 
ever, pass from an attractive and pleasing topic, to a repulsive, 
but still interesting one ; namely, from the smiling landscape to 
its degraded and unfortunate inhabitants. 
We have no space to impart to this practical review even a 
shadow of romance, nor in any way to soften down the dark 
features that present themselves to our notice ; and if the wonder- 
loving reader desires to hear negresses spoken of as “ belles,” 
or to see their picturesque head-dresses (formed of their own 
wool, intermixed with the hair, tail, and pieces of skin of the 
buffalo, and plastered with a cosmetic composed of palm-oil 
and white clay, scented with sweet-smelling rosewood !) we 
must refer him to the published works of Dr. Livingstone, 
and other adventurous travellers. But we have here to deal 
with the natives, as a trader or colonist finds them. On all 
* A friend (formerly resident there) expresses the opinion that the 
“ horrors ” consisted of a slave barracoon. 
