VIEWS OF WESTERN AFRICA.
Western Africa comprises the west coast of the continent from the
borders of the Great Desert to the Nourse River, together with a
considerable amount of inland territory.
This inland territory varies considerably in its extent from the shores;
and, in fact, is quite undefined as to its limits within the interior of
the continent.
Senegambia is the country drained, you will remember, by the Senegal and
Gambia, hence its name. It is generally understood to include the tract
of country from the Senegal southward to the promontory of Sierra Leone.
The French, Portuguese, and British have settlements. France has the
largest possessions. They extend all along the left bank of the lower
Senegal River, and along the coast past Cape Verd to near the Gambia.
The seat of government of the French is St. Louis. It is situated at the
mouth of the Senegal. The chief commercial town is Dakir. It is situated
on the peninsula of Cape Verd. The islet fortress of Goric stands guard
over it.
Farther to the south there are a number of smaller, isolated
possessions. These, too, belong to the French. There are also several
stations on the banks of the various smaller rivers.
Since 1880 these scattered possessions of the French have become
consolidated. Several native states have placed themselves under a
French protectorate. Thus no little progress has been made in
consolidating the French possessions in Senegambia with those on the
coast of Guinea.
Quite a large extent of seacoast is nominally claimed by the Portuguese;
but their actual possessions are exceedingly small.
The Gambia River is navigable for three hundred miles up from the sea.
The greater part of the river is held by the British. They have an
important little colony at the mouth of the river, and several smaller
stations higher up the stream.
Sherboro Island lies fifty miles south of the British colony, Sierra
Leone. This island and the coast line as far as Liberia form a part of
the British possessions.
The inhabitants of Senegambia, if we except the Europeans and the
traders living in the towns and trading stations, are mainly native
negroes. All are black in color and have good figures.
We find here, too, representatives of a remarkable people, called the
Fellatah. They belong to a much more advanced family than the negro.
They differ from the true negro type in their red-brown color, their
finer features, slim figures, and less woolly hair. These Fellatah are
to be found, also, considerably farther inland. In the Soudan they are
very zealous advocates of the Mohammedan faith.
[Illustration: NATIVES OF SENEGAMBIA.]
The western portion of Senegambia is very flat. The Great Desert, its
near neighbor, affects it by the dry, hot winds; hence the atmosphere is
often loaded with fine sand, and dark with clouds of locusts.
The eastern portion of the country is diversified by hills and elevated
land. There are a great many rivers, the Senegal, Gambia, and Rio Grande
being the most important.
In the heat of its climate Senegambia ranks with Egypt and Nubia. During
the rainy season the heat is most oppressive. Then, from June to
November, the country is completely drenched by the enormous fall of
rain. During this season the prevailing wind is from the southwest;
during the dry season it blows from the east.
The vegetation of Senegambia is very luxuriant and vigorous. The baobab,
or monkey-bread tree, is found here. The cottonwood trees, a species of
poplar, are very numerous. They rank among the loftiest trees in the
world.
The chief trade of Senegambia is in the gums which the acacia forests
yield. These forests cover the entire country north of the Senegal.
Farther south we find the factories for the manufacture of palm oil.
These are all conducted by Europeans. The palm oil is exported to
English ports and is used largely in the manufacture of a superior
toilet soap.
The interior sections yield abundant quantities of groundnuts, hides,
and wax. These are sent down the rivers and shipped from the coast. Many
valuable products, as ginger, pepper, arrowroot, coffee, and rice, are
capable of cultivation.
So great is the production of cotton that great quantities can be
shipped to England at any time when the supply from other countries is
so small as to raise the market price. No matter how extortionate the
price may have been before the arrival of the Senegambia supply, it must
soon become reasonable when the African cargo reaches English ports.
The west coast of Africa, from Senegambia to the Nourse River, is called
the Guinea Coast. This name was derived from the Portuguese language.
The coast line is, generally speaking, very low. Navigators approaching
it are obliged to make the tree tops along the shore their sailing
guides until quite close to land; for only then is the outline of the
coast visible.
[Illustration: GUINEA COAST NATIVE.]
Just north of the equator, in the Bight of Benin, the coast loses this
marked characteristic and becomes high and bold, with the Cameroon
Mountains for a background. Again, near Sierra Leone it presents a bold
front to the sea.
These rugged features in the coast line are, however, noticeable
exceptions to its general character. Frequently it presents a dead
level, which extends from thirty to fifty miles inland.
"The heights which skirt the northern coast line of the Gulf of Guinea,
and which stretch as far as the head waters of the Senegal and Gambia,
and in the inner slopes of which the Niger also has its sources, may be
considered as an extension of the Great South African Plateau. But they
are of less general elevation; and that best known part of the ridge,
which has the name of the Kong Mountains, is, apparently, not higher
than from two thousand to three thousand feet."
This, perhaps, will help us to understand more clearly why one authentic
author has stated that "the supposed Kong Mountains do not exist."
Doubtless, he does not consider the ridge of a lofty enough elevation to
be designated as a mountain range.
There are numerous rivers. Some of these extend far back into the
deepest recesses of Central Africa.
The climate of the Guinea Coast is very fatal to Europeans; for the
muddy creeks and inlets, the putrid swamps, and the mangrove jungles
that line the banks of the rivers are all productive of pestilence and
malaria.
There are two seasons, the wet and the dry. In the more southern
portions the rainy season begins in March, but at Sierra Leone and
farther north it begins a month later.
The vegetation is not only very luxuriant but varied. One of the most
important trees is a species of palm. The covering of the seed, or nut,
of this tree is used for the extraction of the palm oil of commerce.
A bunch of red and yellow fruit will often have a thousand oil-yielding
plums, and weigh in some cases half a hundredweight.
It is no uncommon thing for several thousand tons to be exported in a
year to English ports, as Liverpool, London, and Bristol.
The palm-oil tree is native to the country between the Gambia and the
Congo, and is found in great abundance. The oil from the nuts, however,
is manufactured chiefly in the country of the Gold and Slave coasts.
Nearly all the remarkable animals of Africa are found in the country
along the Gold Coast. The domestic animals are mostly of an inferior
order; but of the wild animals we find an abundance, as elephants,
hippopotamuses, monkeys, lions, leopards, together with crocodiles,
serpents, and parrots.
The principal minerals of the country are gold and iron. The chief
exports are palm oil, ivory, gold, wax, and various kinds of timber, as
well as spices, gums, and rice.
The population consists of a few European colonists and a variety of
negro nations. These, though bearing a strong physical resemblance to
one another, and holding many customs in common, differ widely in their
dispositions and characters.