CHAP. men, than ever they have been, or can be, as flaves. Thus, on the wreck of tyranny, let us build altars to humanity, and prove to the negroes that the Europeans, become just from found policy, and generous from a sense of their true interests, are at last difpofed to make some atonement for the irreparable mischiefs their perverted fyftem of commerce has occafioned in Africa. 41. On principles nearly approaching to these, a colony has already been formed at Sierra Leona, and another attempted at the island of Bulama, of both which some account will be given in the following pages. 42. ΤΗ CLIMATE. HE climate of Africa, like that of other countries, varies with the nature of the foil, in it's drynefs or moisture, it's elevation or depreffion, the comparative state of improvement, the height of thermometer, and other circumstances, perhaps, not yet sufficiently investigated. The latitude of a place is by no means a certain criterion of it's climate, as feems to be commonly fuppofed *. Even in the midst of the torrid zone, we meet with all poffible gradations of heat and cold, almost the only circumstances which enter into the common idea of climate. The lofty fummits. * See an excellent difcourfe on this fubject, delivered in the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, by B. Ferner, counfellor of the king's chancery. of IV. of the Andes, in South America, though under the equator, CHA P. and the high lands of Camarones, on the coast of Africa, though within between three and four degrees of it, are covered with everlasting fnow. feafons. 43. In the temperate zones, the year is divided into win- Wet and dry ter and fummer; for spring and autumn may be confidered as transitions from each of these extremes to it's opposite. But, in most parts of the torrid zone, nature has distinguished the seasons into the wet and the dry. The former is, in Guinea, the feason of fickness; but during the greater part of the latter, that country is, upon the whole, as healthful as any other whatever. 44. From what I have feen, and been able to collect, the rainy seasons follow the passage of the fun to either tropic, fo as generally to prevail in those places where the fun is vertical. East of Cape Palmas, however, they seldom set in before June, when the fun returns from the northern tropic; but to the weftward of that cape, and up the whole country, those seasons generally commence within the month of May, and continue for three or four months. In the beginning of this season, the earth being foftened with rain, the negroes till and plant their grounds; and, after the return of dry weather, they gather in their crops; occupations. which they feldom abandon, even though allured by the most advantageous commerce. rain.. 45. To give the reader fome idea of the quantity of rain, Quantity of which deluges Africa during the wet feafon, I need only mention that, at Senegal, one hundred and fifteen inches in depth of rain were found to fall in four months; a quantity which exceeds that which falls in most parts of Britain during four years*. Even during the dry feason, the dews are * See Lind on the Difcafes of hot Climates, p. 43. fo IV. CHA P. fo copious as to preserve young and ripening vegetables from being scorched by the heat. It may indeed be queftioned, whether the rain which falls in fome countries, equal the dews which distil on most parts of the fertile shores of Africa. But the magnitude and number of the rivers, which rife and fall, in the wet and dry feafons, are evident proofs that that continent is abundantly watered. In fhort, the notion of the ancients, that the torrid zone was not habitable for want of moisture, is perfectly inapplicable to most parts of the western tropical coast of Africa. Thermometer and Barometer. From Cape Blanco down Gambia. 46. The range of the thermometer is but in considerable in the tropical regions; and, what is ftill more remarkable, the barometer remains almost stationary during those surprifing transitions from dry to wet, and the contrary. In Europe, the mercury rifes and falls about three inches; in the torrid zone, feldom half an inch. It is even faid to be but little affected by the most violent hurricane *. But M. Weft, in a description of St. Croix, published at Copenhagen laft year, fays that in a hurricane, or violent storm, which happened there in 1791, the mercury in his barometer rose very confiderably +. SOIL. 47. The foil all along the coaft is very unequal. From to the Rover Cape Blanco down to the River Gambia, it is in general very fandy; but the fand contains a very large admixture of broken fhells, and is covered, in many places, with a rich black mould. Even the most barren and unpromising tracts of this part of the country, except just on the sea shore, are covered with bushes and grass of a great growth; and + Bidrag til Beskrivelse over St. Croix, &c. * Lind ibid. where IV. where the black mould is found, the vegetation is luxuriant C H A P. to a degree unknown in the most fertile parts of Europe, and the trees are of vaft dimenfions. 48. I have observed that the mountains from Cape Verd Bafaltes. to Gambia, are generally compofed more or lefs of regular basaltes, exhibiting evident remains of volcanoes, the eruptions of which add greatly to the fertility of the foil around them. Hence the lower parts of the mountains and high grounds at Cape Emanuel, Goree, Cape Rouge, and other places lower down, are in general very fertile. account of down to Rio Nunez. 49. M. Adanson, a celebrated naturalist, who was fent to Adanfon's Africa in 1753, at the request of the French Academy of the foil Sciences, obferves that the foil from Cape Blanco to the Gambia, though by no means bad upon the whole, is not to be compared in fertility with that of the country from that river to Rio Nunez, which is equalled by few foils, and excelled by none, on the face of the globe *. His observations apply, not only to the coast, but to very extensive tracts of of the inland countries, as the reader will perceive by confulting my map, in which I have traced his lines of feparation between the more and less fertile tracts; and which are as accurate as the nature of the thing will permit. The evidence given before the Privy Council abundantly confirms the observations of M. Adanfon, my fellow travellers and myself, and proves that the large extent of land, just mentioned, wants nothing but skilful culture to render it more than commonly productive of every tropical article. 50. The coaft and the banks of the rivers are in many Rice * When at Paris in 1787, I had daily opportunities of converfing with that refpectable old philofopher, and obtained from him many interefting communicasions, which were extremely ufeful to me on my arrival in Africa. Grounds. places IV. CHA P. places interspersed with marshes and favannahs, which, in their present ftate, are unfit for any other crop than that of rice, which forms a confiderable part of the food of the natives. But their fertility in this article does not compensate for their infalubrity; and unfortunately the Europeans have fixed all, or most of, their habitations near them. Yet in almost every part of the coast, far more healthful fituations might easily have been found; especially on the dry and elevated banks of the Rio Grande. But, ftrange as it may appear, health is, with those men, an object of lefs confideration, in the choice of a refidence, than trade, for which the fituations of their factories are generally well adapted. Comparative qualities waters. WATER. 51. Rain-water, I believe, is allowed to be the lightest and of different fimpleft of all waters. Next in order, is fpring water, which varies in purity with the nature of the foil through which it percolates. That which issues from among rocks, gravel, or chalk is generally accounted the best. Similar to this, is the water of draw-wells, the quality of which depends much on the ftrata at or near the bottom, and it generally improves by exposure to the open air. But of all waters, that which flagnates in ponds, ditches, and moraffes, is the most unwholesome. 52. The waters at the mouths of the large African rivers, which glide flowly through a level country, being mixed with those of the fea and of the marshes which it overflows, are impregnated with falt, and rendered turbid by various impurities; yet some of them require but little preparation to make them fit for common use, and the natives often use them without any preparation whatever. Dr. Lind had famples of thofe of the rivers Senegal, Gambia, and Sierra Leona |