My Botanical List is much less complete than I had expected it would
be. I took great pains to make if so, but the one fatal event which
blighted all my other hopes, in a great measure frustrated even these
endeavours, added to which, the disastrous circumstances of my last
voyage bereft me of the aid I had expected tb’find in Europe.
Immediately after the rains cease between thè tropics,’ vegetation is
in its full Vigour, but à great portion of it is so fugacéòus, that a fortnight
will deprive the botanist of many beautiful and delicate plants. Unfortunately,
w e did not reach Bathurst till the end of November, two
months after the rains had terminated* Many faded and broken specimens
were brought to me, of which I took notes, hoping, at Mr. Bowdich’s
second visit, to procure, not only the perfect plants, but those which we
had missed .by our late arrival. I preserved a numerous collection as
vouchers for my veracity, and, disappointed in all other respects, was
returning with a splendid herbarium, carefully packed in a case which
seemed impenetrable. The vessel in which I returned was so overladen;
and consequently, so deep in thè water, that, as w e had a succession of
storms, from the moment we made the Azores till we reached Dover,
her deck was incessantly afloat ; the water penetrated, and most of my
property was destroyed. To examine the luggage in the hold was
impossible, and it would have availed nothing if I could have secured my
plants in my cabin, for I was there driven three times from my birth by
the torrents of water which set every thing swimming, and which left me
nothing but w et bedding to sleep on during the last fortnight. I was
fearful that much destruction had taken place, but, when I went to ,the
docks, to select the articles liable to duty, I can scarcely describe my
mortification, at seeing many of my valuable books, maps, and engravings,
but above all, my dried plants, drop at my feet in atoms. I was
thus disabled from comparing my herbarium with the magnificent collections
of England and France, and all I can now do with my new, or
imperfect genera, is to offer them as notes for any future traveller.
With regard to those which I profess to have determined, I offer them
with some degree of confidence, for, since my return, I have re-examined
my notes, and the remnants of my specimens, amid the collection in the
Jardin du Roi, and have scarcely had a single instance to alter. My
books of reference, both for species and localities, have been Persoon
and Willdenow. At the end of each name, I have added the country to
which the plant has been hitherto supposed to be indigenous, that an
idea may be formed of the similitude of vegetation, and I have given the
uses made of it by the natives. They were all gathered in a soil
more Or less Sandy, abd on a level with the sea, except those from
St. Jago, which are too few to admit of any observation.
It has been remarked by M. Palisot de Beauvois, in his Flora of Benin
and Gwaree, that the natives of Africa more frequently make their
medicines from Composite, than any other family. This is by no means
the case with the Joloffs and MandingoCs; their remedies seem to be
distributed throughout the different families, and the only remarkable
circumstance attending them, is the frequency of their antidotes against
worms, and lung complaints. The variation of the climate accounts for
the necessity of the latter, but their food, which is chiefly rice and com»,
without any great proportion of fruit, does not ,seem tb induce the former
disorder. The guinea worm I believe to be wholly unknown; nor did I
see a single instance, of enlarged spleen, or elephantiasis; .so frequent
among the Fantees.
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