1884. south of a river called Sette. The huge breakers
June 13. .
Myumba. rolling and pounding the shore do not deter the
shippers, who bring puncheons of palm-oil and rubber,
and a young gorilla on board. The 15th brings us
to Impango, where there is a custom-house established,
as we have now entered abreast the Gaboon colony.
On the 16th we arrive in the Gaboon Gulf, and
anchor abreast of the town of that name, which is
the seat of Government for the French colony. There
are also present in the roadstead a guardship and
three French men-of-war, four colliers, a few small
coast and harbour steamers and lighters. On shore,
conspicuously in view, are three brickbuilt Government
buildings, a brick church with a corrugated iron
roof, a great pile of coal, and the commencement of
the erection of a stone pier. An irregular line of 1884.
buildings attached to eight or ten factories, a French Gaboon.
(Catholic), and an American (Protestant) mission,
with a small store or two, and a boarding-house, show
us the whole of the French settlement established
since 1842. . Mangoes planted perhaps some sixteen or
twenty, years ago are also conspicuous for their globes
of dense foliage, and are seen in uniform lines in front
of the mission and public buildings. Altogether the
aspect of the place is pretty and agreeable. The
little hills along the shore, dotted with white houses
and green groves, shining clear amid tropical vegetation,
assist the general attractiveness of the view.
On the 18th we arrived at Elobey Island (Spanish),
situated at the entrance to the Eiver Muni in Corisco
Bay. The island is about an hour and a half’s, march
in circumference. German and English factories
absorb most of the trade, which is all similar in
character. Four or five small steamers coast about
collecting produce.
From Elobey Islet we strike west to deep water,
and rounding Cape S. Juan bear northward to
Fernando Po, a lofty island in the. Bight of Benin.
We anchor in Clarence Cove, a rifle-shot distance
from shore. The island is called after its discoverer
Fernando-Poo, a Portuguese. I t is about 600 square
miles in superficial extent, and principally famous for
its towering cone, whose summit is 10,190 feet above
the sea. Westward about twenty miles the Mount
Albert of the Cameroons Mountains begins, and lifts