431 
Chap. XXV.—B. P.] ARRIVE AT BLEWPIELDS. 
—that a well-manned canoe can reach that place 
within twenty-four hours, and a steamer in about 
eight. 
2nd. That the water is brackish over the entire 
navigable part, with a soil oil each bank of surpassing 
fertility, and being a dead level, with the prevailing 
trade-wind, loaded with saline particles, searching out 
every part, it would be in every respect suitable for the 
growth of cotton, especially that called Sea Island. 
3rd. That for this purpose there are many, many 
thousands of acres available at once, counting only one 
mile back on each side of the river. 
4th. That the patches of cultivation now existing 
could be so extended as to produce sufficient food- 
supplies to sustain a population numbering thousands 
within six months from the date of commencing opera¬ 
tions. The common practice on the river is to sow 
maize or Indian corn in May and reap it in August; 
sugar-cane comes to perfection and attains an enor¬ 
mous size with but little care or attention, and I was 
astonished to find that cocoa, of which there is already 
a goodly number of trees, was raised without any of 
the care bestowed upon it in Nicaragua and Ecuador, 
not even a shade-tree ,— u Madre de Cocoa,”—consi¬ 
dered so essential in those countries, being planted to 
protect the young plant from the fierce rays of the sun 
during its earlier growth. 
And lastly, that a road, opened out from a short 
distance below Kisilala to the mining district of Chon- 
tales, is not only easy, but by using it in connection 
with the river and the sea the distance to the gold 
