144 
GROWTH OF COFFEE. 
was visible, with its rich dark foliage. Some attention 
has also been paid to the growth of coffee, but it does 
not remunerate the cultivator. It seems to be a strange, 
but certain fact, that although the small-grained coffees 
of the greater part of West Africa, more especially Sierra 
Leone and Cape Coast, are admitted to be equal in flavour 
to the general descriptions of Mocha, there should be so 
little remunerative inducement to cultivate it. Does 
this proceed from the duty levied on its arrival in Eng- 
land ? or does the difficulty of procuring continuous 
labour among the natives occasion it? That coffee 
could be made one of the best articles of export cannot 
be doubted ; why it is not so may be better explained 
by those who understand the causes operating against 
its more general cultivation and increase in our West 
African settlements. 
With the exception of a half-shrubby Cassia^ some- 
what similar to the Occidentalis or Stink-weed senna, 
but with a round divided fruit, there is nothing of 
botanical novelty near the town ; nor at such a season 
— the conclusion of the rains — could much be expected, 
even in the interior. In an excursion of six miles, not 
one Monocotyledon was met with in flower, although 
many are said to be found in the dry season, of the 
most beautiful colours. The difference of the vegetation 
between this and Cape Palmas is in general very great. 
Here the Leguminoscc were predominant, and the 
Ruhiace(E less prevalent. The MimoscCj with their 
graceful characteristic foliage, which had hitherto been 
