may be said against them for being too avaricious or too
destitute of fellow-feeling, should rather reflect on ourselves,
who have been so much better favoured, yet have
neglected to teach them, than on those who, whilst they
are sinning, know not what they are doing. To say a
negro is incapable of instruction, is a mere absurdity,
for those few boys who have been educated in our schools
have proved themselves even quicker than our own at
learning; whilst, amongst themselves, the deepness of their
cunning and their power of repartee are quite surprising,
and are especially shown in their proficiency for telling
lies most appropriately in preference to truth, and with
an off-handed manner that makes them most amusing.
With these remarks, I now give, as an appropriate
introduction to my narrative—(1.) An account of the
general geographical features of the countries we are
about to travel in, leaving the details to be treated under
each as we successively pass through them; (2.) A
general view of the atmospheric agents'which wear down
and so continually help to reduce the continent, yet at
the same time assist to clothe it with vegetation, (3.)
A general view of the Flora ; and, lastly, that which consumes
it, (4.) Its Fauna; ending with a few special remarks
on the Wanguana, or men freed from slavery.
G E O G R A PH Y .
The continent of Africa is something like a dish turned
upside down, having a high and flat central plateau, with
a higher rim of hills surrounding i t ; from below which,
exterially, it suddenly slopes down to the flat strip of
land bordering on the sea. A dish, however, is generally
uniform in shape—Africa is not. For instance, we find
in its centre a high group of hills surrounding the head
of the Tanganyika Lake, composed chiefly of argillaceous
sandstones, which I suppose to be the Lunas Montes of
Ptolemy, or the Soma Giri of the ancient Hindus. Further,
instead of a rim at the northern end, the country
shelves down from the equator to the Mediterranean Sea;
and on the general surface of the interior plateau there are
basins full of water (lakes), from which, when rains overflow
them, rivers are formed, that, cutting through the
f l a n k i n g rim of hills, find their way to the sea.
ATMOSPHERIC AGENTS.
On the east coast, near Zanzibar, we find the rains following
the track of the sun, and lasting not more than
forty days on any part that the sun crosses; whilst the
j winds blow from south-west or north-east, towards the
[regions heated by its vertical position. But in the centre
|of the continent, within 5° of the equator, we find the
pains much more lasting. For instance, at 5° south latitude,
for the whole six months that the sun is in the
■south, rain continues to fall, and I have heard that the
same takes place at 5° north; whilst on the equator, or
[rather a trifle to northward of it, it rains more or less the
¡whole year round, but most at the equinoxes, as shown in
¡the table on the following page. - The winds, though some-
jwhat less steady, are still very determinable. With an
¡easterly tending, they deflect north and south, following
the sun. In the drier season they blow so cold that
the sun’s heat is not distressing; and in consequence of
|bhis, and the average altitude of the plateau, which is
3000 feet, the general temperature of the atmosphere is
¡very pleasant, as I found from experience; for I walked
[every inch of the journey dressed in thick woollen
¡clothes, and slept every night between blankets.*
■T* See climate for one year bordering on the Victoria N’yanza, deduced
■om the observations of Captain Grant by Francis Galton, F.R.S., in
; Appendix.