BATHURST, RIVER GAMBIA, WEST COAST OF AFRICA, _March 10, 1860_.
From Mogadore we proceeded to the island of Lancerota, one of the group
of Canary Islands, landing and spending part of a day at the principal
town, Arecife, whence the island of Forteventura is in plain view.
The product of these islands, since the failure of the grape crop,
consists mostly of cochineal, as the salubrity and uniformity of the
climate are admirably adapted to the raising of the cactus plant upon
which the insect feeds. The principal islands, Lancerota, Teneriffe,
Gomera, and Palma, contain some one hundred and eighty thousand
population.
My immediate destination was Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, the capital of
the Canary Islands, and the seat of the Spanish Governor. The approach
to the well whitewashed town, with its large roadstead, backed by high
mountains of hard basalt and soft pumice stone, of which it is built,
is very picturesque. In the distance looms up the Peak of Teneriffe,
said to be fifteen thousand feet high. The atmosphere was clear and
soft, and overcoats and cloaks were no longer needed. They have had an
unusually wet season, and apprehend a loss from excess of humidity in a
climate where it rains usually so little.
Here I found several Germans, who had spent most of the winter in
Madeira, four degrees further north, and give the preference to this
climate. The accommodations, apartments, and society I have found
better there than here.
The town is clean and well paved, with good roads, and a fair hotel.
The island is evidently volcanic, as the wild and irregular masses of
rock around the town testify.
Camels are here used as beasts of burden, showing conclusively they can
be employed over similar roads on the overland routes in the United
States, as well as on the sands of the desert.
My intention was, if I arrived in time at Santa Cruz, which I had
before visited some years since, to take the West African Coast steamer
for the Gambia river, and from thence down to Sierra Leone. In this I
was not disappointed; after a few days’ delay I embarked. The steamer
from Fernando Po, on her return touched at all the ports along the
Grain, Ivory, and Gold Coasts of Guinea, and several passengers were
landed and lodged at our hotel. They reported the season as being most
favorable for a visit; the fevers, which had desolated the settlements,
existed no longer: but their yellow and jaundiced appearance was
not encouraging for the traveller. Having been so much in tropical
climates, and having had much experience in fevers, I hope to pass
unscathed.
On board of the good screw steamer Athenian, with favorable breezes and
increasing heat, in four days we made Bathurst, near the mouth of the
Gambia River, one thousand miles from Teneriffe. The approach to this
English colony up the broad serpentine river is directed by a negro
pilot.
The public and private buildings are well and substantially built.
The beach on one side is sandy, and the tide leaves a road bed for
equestrians at the ebb. The date, mango, and other tropical trees give
the place a picturesque appearance. The garrison is composed of English
officers, and native black soldiery. The epidemic has made sad work
among the whites; out of seventy-one, twenty-one died.
The negro population is upwards of five thousand, who live in reed
huts, upon streets laid out at right angles, the different tribes
in their respective quarters. They present a curious sight for the
European, a fair proportion requiring only the garments of our first
parents, Adam and Eve. Mothers carry their young, not unlike the squaws
of our Indian tribes, upon their backs, but with this difference, that
the little black urchin is nestled in the folds of a cotton shawl or
girdle around the waist, the child being in the hollow of the back. The
little boys and girls instead of clothing are supplied with strings of
beads and amulets, as ornaments, and to keep away the evil spirit.
The river is navigable beyond Macarthy island to the cataracts, which
are some one hundred and eighty miles from its mouth, and trading
stations are found as high up. There are some thirteen tribes under
different chiefs, and several different languages and dialects are
spoken. The country is unsafe to travel in without a sufficient force
for protection. It was here that Mungo Park, the renowned traveller,
commenced his explorations, and it is supposed that he was killed
on the Niger, after losing his soldiers and marines by fever and
exhaustion. One of our fellow passengers, a colonel in the service,
owned a farm ten miles from the town; his house was attacked, several
killed, and he had a narrow escape.
I find much hospitality on the part of the inhabitants, which is quite
natural when they have a steamer from Europe at long intervals. The
Governor of Gambia, Col. D’Arcy, and his interesting wife, to whom I
was recommended, offered me their house. I dined with them and passed
an evening; breakfasted with our consul, a Brazilian by birth; visited
several other of the prominent residents; and rode some miles along the
coast, passing by the English burying ground, which seemed fast filling
up. The government house belongs to the crown. It is a fine mansion,
pleasantly situated among tropical trees and flowering plants. Negro
soldiers as sentinels at the gate reminded me in this particular of the
entrance to Soulouque’s palace in the island of Hayti.
A number of French vessels are in port loading with ground nuts for
making oil; many dry hides are also shipped. The trade of Senegal, the
French colony, lying farther north, is of considerable importance.
I find here a small vessel loading with peanuts, or ground nuts,
for Boston; she hails from Salem. The down-easters are the most
enterprising mariners in the world. They are met with in the most
remote quarters of the globe. I have found them where I thought no
trade could be furnished--up the Red Sea, the Island of Sumatra,
Zanzibar, and other places, picking up coffee, spices, gums, and all
sorts of products, in exchange for hard biscuits, coarse cotton cloth,
lumber, wooden clocks, and an infinity of Yankee notions. The captain
of this small vessel is quite a youth; he had his head cut and his nose
broken by a mutinous sailor, but he came off victorious.
While at Teneriffe, the war steamer San Jacinto, belonging to the
American squadron, watching the African slave coast, came in port.
She was proceeding to Cadiz for repairs, as her machinery was out of
order, and the nearest point was Spain. Capt. Armstrong was in command.
Several of the officers were from our state. They had been cruising
eight months, and, as you can imagine, were pleased to meet with one
who could give direct news from Europe and the United States.