The Departure . 
23 
ferred by the English, as their factories catch the 
sea-breeze better than can Le Plateau : the nearer 
swamps are now almost drained off, and the dis¬ 
tance from the “ authorities” is enough for comfort. 
Follow Comba (Komba) and Tom Case, the latter 
called after Case Glass, a scion of the Glasses, 
who was preferred as captain’s “ tradesman ” by 
Captain Vidal, R. N., in 1827, because he had 
“ two virtues which rarely fall to the lot of savages, 
namely, a mild, quiet manner, and a low tone of 
voice when speaking.” Tom Qua Ben, justly proud 
of the “ laced coat of a mail coach guard,” was 
chosen by Captain Boteler, R.N. The list con¬ 
cludes with Butabeya, James Town, and Mpfra. 
These villages are not built street-wise after 
Mpongwe fashion. They are scatters of shabby 
mat-huts, abandoned after every freeman’s death ; 
and they hardly emerge from the luxuriant under¬ 
growth of manioc and banana, sensitive plant and 
physic nut (Jatropha Curcas), clustering round a 
palm here and there. Often they are made to look 
extra mean by a noble “ cottonwood,” or Bombax 
(Pentandrium), standing on its stalwart braces like 
an old sea-dog with parted legs ; extending its roots 
over a square acre of soil, shedding filmy shade 
upon the surrounding underwood, and at all times 
ready, like a certain chestnut, to shelter a hundred 
horses. 
Between the Plateau and Santa Clara, beginning 
