Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 3/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III.
SOUTH-WEST AFRICAN ISLANDS.
NSULAR groups are rare in the Guinea waters, although until recently the marine charts were liberally dotted over with phantom lands, which seafarers had observed on the horizon and mistaken for islands or reefs. It was even supposed that continental coastlines formed a southern fringe to the ocean furrowed by vessels sailing from Portugal towards India. Ptolemy's hypothesis of a "great Austral land," connecting South Africa with an eastern extension of Asia, had been revived by the cartographers of the sixteenth century, and modified in accordance with more recent discoveries. This Austral region was traced by them from South America along the southern limits of the oceans round the whole periphery of the globe. Then, with the progress of southern exploration, this coastline became broken into fragments, and on Homann's chart, published in 1722, a "Land of Life," fringed by a whole archipelago of islets, forms the southern boundary of the South Atlantic, under the latitudes where navigators had discovered the island of Gonçalo Alvarez. Fresh surveys thrust farther south these real or imaginary shores, which have now become the seaboard of the "Antarctic" Continent, and when Bouvet in 1739 discovered the island and group of islets now bearing his name, he called them "Cape Circumcision," supposing these snowy rocks to be a headland of the polar continent. But this region, lying between 54° and 55° south latitude, is already far removed from the African waters, being washed by the southern seas, which with their masses of floating ice form, so to say, a continuation of the southern glacial zone.
With the "Land of Life" have also disappeared several islands, the existence of which seemed firmly established by the circumstantial statements of navigators. Thus modern explorers have vainly sought for the island of Saint Matthew, which long figured on the old maps about the latitude of 2° 30' south of the equator. Yet the commander of a squadron of seven vessels had landed and remained fourteen days on this island in 1525. The description which he gives of it corresponds exactly with that of Annobon, which was probably the land visited by him, although he was out of his reckoning by some 600 miles, no unusual error in the history of navigation at that time. Another island, Santa-Croce, or Santa-Cruz, TBISTAM DA CUNHA. 97 also figured on the charts about ten degrees to the west of Saint Matthew, although no record existed of its discovery. This name may have possibly gone adrift on the high seas through confusion with the land of Santa-Cruz, the first Portuguese appellation of the Brazilian coast. G0N9AL0 Alvarez, or Gough. In the Austral Atlantic, the remotest island that may still be regarded as belonging to the African waters, is Goncalo Alvarez, so named from the pilot who discovered it early in the sixteenth century. This name, in its contracted form written / de g° Alvarez, became transformed to Diego Alvarez ; and when Gough rediscovered it in 1713, it became also known by his name. It is a craggy mass 4,350 feet high, and about 18 miles round, on the north and east fringed by three rocky islets, one of which takes the name of Church Rock, from its resemblance to a lofty nave flanked by its tower. A few sheltered creeks afford a landing on the large island, where settlers might be attracted by some fertile valleys, slopes densely clothed with brushwood, and waters well stocked with fish. But the island has only temporarily been visited by some American seal-fishers, who have reclaimed no land, living during their sojourn on fish and on birds which they attracted at night by large fires kindled on the headlands, Tristam da Cunha. About 240 miles to the north-west of Gough lies another rocky group on the highway between the Cape and the La Plata estuary, about 1,800 miles from the former and 2,400 from the latter. This is the Tristam da Cunha archipelago, so named from a navigator, " whose name," sings Camoens, " shall never extinguished be in the Austral isles washed by the Austral sea." Since its discovery in 1506 the group has been frequently visited by navigators, for it lies south of the zone of regular south-east winds, where vessels fall in with the strong western breezes, which enable them more easily to double the Cape of Good Hope. The large island is dominated by a regular snow-clad cone, rising to a height of from 8,000 to 8,500 feet, and visible at a distance of over 90 miles. Inaccessible, lying about 20 miles to the south-west of Tristam, takes its name from the steep cliffs, which can be approached only through some narrow ravines, and which form the pedestal of a rugged plateau often veiled by the clouds. Nightingale, 12 miles south-east of Inaccessible, is little more than a twin-peaked rock encircled by islets and reefs. These volcanic islands have altogether an area of over 20,000 acres, the principal island comprising over three-quarters of the whole extent. They are composed entirely of lavas, either compact or broken into innumerable frag- ments, or else reduced to a rich blackish mould. The highest peak in Tristam, which has been several times ascended, terminates, like the volcanic cones in the other islands, in a crater now flooded by a blue lake. Towards the north-west the lava-streams have acquired the appearance of a vast moraine descending down to the sea, and fringed by a sort of natural wall of blocks for a distance of some miles. These may possibly be traces of an old glacial epoch.
At present snow remains only on the higher grounds, very little ever falling as low as sea-level. The climate is very mild, but also very damp, the narrow upland valleys being traversed by torrents, which in many places develop copious
cascades. According to the Rev. Mr. Taylor the thermometer varies from about 68° F. in summer to 58° or 60° F'. in winter, and even at night it rarely falls to more than eight degrees below freezing point. The prevailing winds blow from the west and north-west; but during the antarctic winter, and especially in August and September, they are often replaced by fierce southern gales, lashing
the sea into huge billows. Heavy rollers also break on the rocky shores even in calm weather. Flora and Fauna. - The large island is encircled by a broad belt of gigantic seaweed [Macroeydis pyrijera), forming a veritable forest of algae over a third of a mile wide, in which plants from 180 to 200 feet long are very common. These fucus, which take root at an average depth of 90 feet, facilitate landing on the island by deadening the fury of the waves. Tristam da Cunha constitutes an independent oceanic group, which probably at no time formed part of the mainland. Hence it possesses a special flora, with forms which are again found in the islets of Saint Paul and Amsterdam in tbe Indian Ocean, nearly 100 degrees of longitude farther east. These curious plants, thus covering such a vast range and developed under the influence of an analogous climate, comprise some heaths and a prickly grass {Sjmrtina arundinacea) growing in large tufts on all the lower slopes, in many places so interlaced as to be quite impenetrable. The only tree in this insular flora is the Phyliba arhorea, which in some places attains a height of 20 feet and upwards, but which usually bonds its distorted stem down to the ground. It forms, with the drift-wood on the east coast, the only available fuel of the inhabitants. The plants of the European and American temperate zones thrive well in the sheltered dells — cabbage, beet- root, turnips, onions, yielding rich crops sufficient for the local wants and for the supply of passing vessels. The pears, peaches, and grapes are also excellent ; but the cultivation of maize and wheat has had to be abandoned owing to the ravages of the mice. No reptiles have been discovered on the islands, nor apparently any insects, the only indigenous animals being mews, penguins, the stormy petrel, albatros, and some other aquatic birds. The pigs now running wild are certainly of European origin, although introduced at an unknown date. The goats, however, which were also at one time numerous, have disappeared for some unexplained reason. The domestic cat has given rise to a wild breed, which at times contends successfully with the dog, and which commits great havoc in the poultry-yard. The chief resources of the people are their cattle, sheep, hogs, rabbits, and game. Some of the cattle are exported to Saint Helena, and some domestic animals let loose in Inaccessible have also greatly multiplied. Inhabitants. Tristam da Cunha has been inhabited since 1811, when the American sailor Jonathan Lambert settled here with two companions, and began to clear the ground. In 1816, the British Government fearing a secret expedition might here be organised to deliver the prisoner of Saint Helena, placed a small garrison in the island. In 1821 the men, being no longer needed, were withdrawn ; but a few 100 WEST AFEICA. soldiers obtained leave to remain, and since then the colony has been maintained, at times increased by a few shipwrecked sailors, at times diminished by emigration of young men, or of whole families, eager to escape from their narrow ocean home. In 1865, during the war of Secession, an American corsair landed forty prisoners on the island without providing for 'their support. On other occasions the crews of passing ships have forcibly obtained supplies from the little colony of settlers, who have nobly avenged themselves by hastening to the succour of vessels often stranded on their rocky shores. If left to itself, this little insular community might perhaps be able to subsist and develop, thanks to the uniform excellence of the climate. The families are said never to lose their children young, so that the natural increase by the excess of births over deaths is considerable. The natives, issue of Europeans, Americans, and Hollanders from the Cape, married to half-caste women from Saint Helena and South Africa, are a fine race, remarkable for the grace and harmony of their proportions. In 1886 they numbered a hundred and twelve souls ; but fifteen adults, or one-fourth of all the able-bodied members of the community, were soon after swept away by a terrible storm. English is the language of these islanders, who constitute a small republic, whose " president " is the patriarch encircled by the largest family group. They recognise the sovereignty of Great Britain, which occasionally affords some help to the vassal colony. Saint Helena. Although situated fully within the tropics, between 15*^ and 16^^ south latitude, and 1,400 miles nearer to the equator than Tristam da Cunha, St. Helena was discovered only four years earlier, that is, in 1502, by the Galician Juan de Nova, who here lost one of his vessels. The island may, however, have been sighted by some previous navigators, for some lands are figured in these waters on Juan de la Cosa's map, which was completed in 1500. Lying within the zone of the regular south-east trade winds, St. Helena occupies a very favourable position on the highway of ships homeward bound from the Indian Ocean. But the nearest continental land is the Portuguese province of Mossamedes, South- West Africa, distant 1,140 miles due west. Although still nearly double the size of Tristam da Cunha, with a total area of about 30,000 acres, St. Helena is little more than the nucleus of what it must once have been. The present cliffs, in many places rising 2,000 feet sheer above the water, are encircled by a sort of bank or terrace with a mean breadth of two or three miles and flooded to a depth of from 300 to 600 feet and upwards. This sub- merged land, which rises abruptly from the marine abysses, forms the pedestal of the old volcanic mass, of which a mere fragment now survives. And when it covered a wider extent, the island also rose vertically to a greater height. But while the waves were incessantly attacking its foundations, its uplands w^ere exposed to the ravages of rains and running waters. This twofold work of erosion, SAINT HELENA. 101 continued for unnumbered ages, must nevertheless have been an extremely slow process, owing to the intense hardness of these lava formations. After a many j-ears' careful study of the work of disintegration on the rock- bound coast, M. Melliss estimated at over 44,000 jears the time occupied in the destruction of certain headlands, of which nothing is now visible except a few reefs. All the St. Helena rocks — basalts, pozzolanas, pumice, vitrified or other materials — are of igneous origin. No other formations, sedimentary or crystalline, have been discovered, which might justify the theory sometimes put forward that the island was formerly connected with a continental mass. In some places, notably in Gregory's Valley, the basalt rocks are traversed by other and much harder basalts, ejected from below during some local underground disturbance. While the rest of the rock is eaten away to a great depth/ these dykes, which intersect each other in various directions, stand out like the walls of a vast edifice now in ruins. The delusion is heightened by the interstices of the columns, resembling those of masonry. The study of the relief of the land has shown that the centre of eruption lay on the south coast at the point now known as Sandy Bay. Here is still visible the crater, forming a regular semicircle washed by the surf from the high seas. But around this central nucleus is developed another semicircular crater, a magnifi- cent amphitheatre, w^hose main axis is indicated by the culminating peaks of the island. Some of the prominences on this outer circuit resemble gigantic pillars. Such are " Lot and his wife," which rise to the respective heights of 300 and 260 feet on the southern part of the volcanic enclosure. A huge detached boulder of clink-stone rests on end, like those " Stonehenges " which have become famous in the mythology of the European peoples. The higher crater has a diameter of no less than four miles, presenting in many places the aspect of chaos and gloom, as attested by such names as " Hell-Gate," and " Devil's Garden." Nevertheless, the finest cultivated tracts and most luxuriant orchards are found on the inner slopes of this crater. A winding carriage -road leads from the higher crests down to the bottom of the chasm. Weathered by time and deprived of its eruptive cones, the north side of St. Helena no longer presents the majestic appearance of other volcanic islands. Its aspect is rather that of a confused mass of black and reddish rocks encircled by jagged clifis and escarpments, but offering a somewhat monotonous profile above the gorges on the coast. Toward the east, however, a terminal headland stands out boldly, detached by a deep fissure from the main insular mass. Several eminences exceed 2,000 feet, the highest being the Peak of Diana (2,700 feet), which commands a panoramic view of the whole island, with its crests and valleys, its sharp peaks and deep ravines. At the time of its discovery, St. Helena was clad with dense forests down to the water's edge. But most of these have since disappeared, and five-sixths of the surface have been deprived of all vegetation. Hence nearly all the plants now occurring are exotics, introduced from Europe,
Africa, America, and even Australia. Climate.
The growth of the foreign vegetation has been promoted by the mildness of the climate. Although lying in the torrid zone, St. Helena has 'no summer heats greater than those of England, the normal temperature being constantly lowered by the south-east breezes and cool waters of the Antarctic current, while the lower valleys are sheltered from the solar rays by the clouds settling on the encircling
hills. Throughout the year the days when the sky is overcast are twice as numerous as the cloudless days, and the mean difference between the winter colds and summer heats scarcely exceeds 30° F., the glass generally ranging from 53° F. to 83° F. For a hundred and forty days the annual rainfall reaches 27 inches in Jamestown, where the atmosphere is relatively dry; but at Longwood, in the hills, it exceeds 48 inches. Heavy downpours occur chiefly in March and April, that is, at the beginning of the Austral winter; but thunderstorms are SAINT HELENA. 103 extremely rare, so that lightning-conductors are not even placed over powder- magazines. The heavy ground- swells break upon the north-west coast chiefly during the fine and calm months of January and February, as if nature were hushed to contemplate this tremendous crash of the o^cean billows. Flora, Thanks to its remoteness from all continental land, St. Helena had formerly a perfectly distinct flora. But several indigenous species, including the ebony, have disappeared, either uprooted by man, or destroyed by the goats and swine, or else choked by the intruding exotics. During the present century many have perished in this way, while others are found only in the gardens, from which they also threaten to disappear. Of seven hundred and forty-six flowering plants, now increased by three hundred fresh arrivals, Darwin reckoned only fifty-two native species, including a fine tree-fern and some heaths. But Melliss raised the number to seventy-seven, " representatives of an old world," which have now nearly all taken refuge on Diana Peak and the surrounding crests. The European oak, fir, and cypress succeed well, and amongst the industrial and alimentary plants are seen immigrants both from the torrid and temperate zones. The cultivation of cinchona has been abandoned, but the coffee and tea plants, sugar-cane, cotton, indigo, guava, banana, flourish in the same garden with the apple, pear, and vine, while the potato grows by the side of the yam and batata. Unfortunately the weeds of various countries have also invaded the island, and would have soon overrun the cultivated tracts but for the precautionary measures that had to be taken in the interest of the general good. Fauna. The indigenous fauna also differed from those of the two nearest continents, even comprising a land-bird {Charadrius pecuarius) unknown in all the other Atlantic islands. St. Helena is also one of the resting stations for the great sea- birds, such as the sea-eagle and the frigate, " which is all wing and which sleeps on the storm." The wild goats, very numerous during the early days of the colonisa- tion, have nearly been exterminated, so that the wild fauna is now reduced to the rat and rabbit, both very troublesome to the husbandman. The only reptiles are the centipede and scorpion, introduced probably through carelessness. Of ninety- six species of butterflies one half are indigenous, the others being common also to Africa and the Atlantic islands as far as the Azores. Eleven species of indigenous land molluscs still survive, all resembling without being identical with correspond- ing species in the Seychelles and Oceania. Many others occur on the uplands in a semi-fossil state, haying perished only since the destruction of the forests. The horse, ox, sheep, goat, pheasant, guinea-fowl, poultry, and other birds were introduced by the first Portuguese and Dutch settlers, and to these the English have added numerous other varieties, including the sparrows so destructive io cereals. Another pest is the termite, which was accidentally imported from Brazil 104 WEST AmiCA. about 1 840, and which, five years afterwards, had half ruined Jamestown. It cost £60,000 to repair the damage done by these destructive insects. The surrounding waters abound in tunny and other fishes. Inhabitants. St. Helena was occupied soon after its discovery, and in 1513 some Portuguese soldiers, mutilated by Albuquerque for the crime of desertion, were left here with a few slaves, domestic animals, and supplies. After this the island was again completely abandoned till 1651, when the Portuguese were succeeded by the Dutch, and these again by the English, amongst whom were several families ruined by the great fire of London in 1666. Some Negroes and other African slaves were also introduced, and Chinese and Malay coolies for the first time in 1810. Formed of so many different elements, the race is far from possessing the florid English complexion, but is nevertheless distinguished by a general grace and beauty of features. On Christmas Day, 1818, fifteen years before the abolition of slavery in the other British colonies, the future offspring of slaves were declared free, and in 1822 the six hundred and fourteen still remaining slaves were emancipated. The name of this little Atlantic rock has become famous in the history of France and the world. Here Napoleon, prisoner of England, passed in exile the last six years of his life, and during this period of calm, after so many wars and political convulsions, all eyes were steadily fixed "on this reef beaten by the melancholy ocean," this hitherto unknov/n block of lava, where the great captain was dying a lingering death. In the history of science St. Helena also recalls great memories. Mount Halley, which rises towards the centre of the island to a height of 2,410 feet, is the peak on which in 1676 the famous English astronomer of this name set up his observatory to prepare a catalogue of the southern constel- lations and observe the transit of Mercury across the sun. Another summit was chosen by Sabine in 1840 for a magnetic observatory. Lastly, Darwin and some other naturalists have made studies of supreme importance in St. Helena on physical geography and the distribution of vegetable species. Trade, Besources, Decadence. But this famous island no longer possesses much economic value in the markets of the world. Formerly, when voyages round the globe or the continents were rare events, St Helena was an important station, where vessels called for supplies, and for a long time it served as an international post-office for seafarers in the Atlantic. The block of lava is still preserved under which were placed the letters and packages of passing vessels. But the substitution of steamers for sailing vessels has brought about great changes, while the opening of the Suez Canal has diverted most of the traffic from the Austral seas. St. Helena has thus lost nearly all its importance as a port of call for orders or supplies. It no longer exports anything except the produce of the American whalers, and the inhabitants,
accustomed largely to depend on the visits of strangers and the bounty of the 
Britisli Government, have not had the energy to recover by tillage what they had lost by the stoppage of trade. Most of the farmers, ruined by mortgages, were also compelled to surrender their holdings to the capitalists of the chief town. Monopoly was thus followed by its usual consequence, misery. Jamestown. — Long wood. It has been proposed to develop the cultivation of Phormiiim tenasr, tobacco, and other industrial plants ; but these projects have had no result, and the population has considerably diminished by emigration, especially to the Cape. It thus fell from 6,860 in 1861 to 5,060 in 1881, notwithstanding the perfectly healthy climate and the great excess of births over deaths. The revenue, public service, education, everything, is in a state of decadence, and the island is now visited by few strangers. Jamestoicn, the only town in St. Helena, lies on the west or leeward side, where it could alone have been founded. The opposite coast is rendered almost inacces- sible by the fury of the breakers, caused by the influence of the trade winds. The town with its surrounding gardens occupies the entrance of a narrow mountain gorge, which after heavy rains sends down an impetuous stream, at times sweeping seawards cattle, trees, and debris of all sorts. West of Jamestown the escarpments rise at a sharp angle, forming the so-called Ladder Hill (600 feet), which is crowned by military structures. This eminence takes its name from a flight of nearly seven hundred steps cut in a straight line up the face of the rock. Rupert's Hill, lying farther east, is surmounted by a steep road, which penetrates into the interior, leading to the little house at Longwood where Napoleon lived and died. Near it is the ** Valley of the Tomb ; " but the body, which had been here placed under a clump of willows, reposes since 1840 under the dome of the Invalides in Paris. The inhabitants of St. Helena have no representative institutions. The island, which till the year 1834 belonged to the East India Company, is now a Crown colony, all officials being nominated by the central government in London. Ascension. This island, also an English Crown colony, was discovered in the same year as St. Helena and by the same navigator, Juan de Nova. It lies nearly on the median line of the Atlantic basin, resting on the submerged " Challenger " ridge, by which the deep African waters are separated from the still deeper abysses of the western seas bathing the New World. Ascension is distant about 1,320 miles from Pernambuco on the Brazilian coast, and a little farther from Angola under the same latitude on the west coast of Africa, but not more than 930 miles from Cape Palmas, the nearest point on that continent. Like St. Helena, it falls within the zone of the south-east trade winds, and consequently presents the same phenomenon of surf-beaten shores, rendering the south side almost inaccessible, and obliging ri-AF 106 WEST AFRICA. vessels to seek shelter on the north or leeward coast. The rollers, which break on the beach even in calm weather, and especially from December to April, are perhaps even more formidable than at St. Helena. This magnificent spectacle lasts at times for days and weeks together. But mighty billows 30 feet and upwards in height are sometimes raised within a few minutes and as suddenly stilled. By Evans they are attributed to the fall of enormous icebergs, which break away incessantly from the rocky Antarctic lands, and plunge bodily into the deep. Ascension is of smaller size (30,000 acres) but more regular form than St. Helena, presenting the outlines of a spherical triangle, with its most precipitous side facing towards the trade winds. It culminates in the centre with a lofty cone 2,800 feet high, whence is afforded a comprehensive view of nearly all the now extinct craters, of which geologists have reckoned as many as forty-one. From the central cone Darwin noticed that the mounds of scoriae presented their more sloping side towards the south-east trade winds, while the largest quantities of igneous matter were ejected on the opposite side, where it falls in abrupt escarpments. Most of the craters are cut obliquely by the effect of the aerial current, although nearly all the inner cirques are of extremely regular form. One of them has even received the name of the E-iding School. Volcanic boulders are scattered round the craters, and in the mass of scoriae are embedded some blocks of different formation, such as syenite and granite. But apart from these isolated specimens, the red and calcined mass of Ascension presents nothing but igneous rocks, such as basalts, pumice, pozzolana, or argillaceous clays. Round about the shore-line, however, the masses of broken shells, of corals, and volcanic sands are consolidated into a sort of limestone conglomerate, which may be used as a building material. Certain varieties of this rock acquire the consistency and appearance of white marble, while others are disposed in transparent and almost crystalline layers, covering as with enamel the reefs washed by the tides. This natural cement becomes fixed so rapidly that young turtles hatched in the sands get overtaken and embedded in the concrete mass. Climate. — Flora. When the air remains unrefreshed by the sea-breezes, the temperature becomes very oppressive, for Ascension lies under 7° 57 S. latitude, within 550 miles of the equator. In the roadstead the mean annual temperature is 84° F., which on the breezy uplands falls to 68^^ or even 60"^ F. Although an epidemic of yellow fever carried off a third of the garrison in 1823, the climate is considered exceptionally salubrious, despite the high temperature ; the island has even become a health- resort for Europeans residing on the African coast. The rainfall, much less copious than in St. Helena, is insufficient for the local requirements ; hence the smallest springs, including one discovered by Dampier when shipwrecked here in 1701, are husbanded with the greatest care. The few heavy showers almost entirely disappear in the scoriae covering most of the surface. Since 1860 successful attempts have been made to replant the uplands. The original vegetation comprised only sixteen species of flowering plants, amongst which was one shrub, the Hedyotis Ascensionis; but the introduced species are now reckoned by the hundred. Mr. Bell, the botanist, has transformed the higher grounds to a vast garden of acclimatisation, and a space of about 400 acres is now covered with rising forests of acacias, araucarias, gum-trees, junipers, and eucalyptuses. These plantations have had a salutary effect on the climate, by intercepting the moisture, which even trickles from the foliage to the ground, where it is collected to water the animals, and even to supply the wants of man.
Direct experiment has thus shown that, at least in these torrid climates, plantations do really to some slight extent increase the moisture by distilling the water of the clouds.
Fauna. — Inhabitants.
Like the flora, the fauna, with the exception of the large sea-birds and marine animals, is of exotic origin. From Europe have been introduced the goats and cats, both now running wild, the rats, dogs, pheasants, poultry, and, from Africa, 108 WEST AFRICA. the guinea-fowl. Snakes are unknown ; but turtles of gigantic size abound from December to May, when they leave the water to lay their eggs in the sand. Most of them weigh from four hundred and fifty to six hundred pounds, but have been found weighing as much as nine hundred pounds, but their flesh is less esteemed by epicures than that of the smaller West Indian variety. The fisheries were formerly very productive, yielding as many as two thousand five hundred in exceptional years, but the average take does not now exceed three hundred. During the spawning season no guns are fired nor lights kindled on the beach, to avoid scaring these timid chelonians. Large numbers of young turtles, as soon as hatched, are devoured by the sea-birds w^heeling incessantly overhead. The only inhabitants of Ascension are the soldiers, sailors, officials, and a few provision-dealers attached to the garrison. Politically the island is regarded as a man-of-war whose inhabitants are the crew. The governor is, like a naval captain, " master on board," allowing no person to land without the special permission of the Lords of the Admiralty. This military station was first established in 1815, in order to keep watch over Napoleon; but even after his death in 1821 the station was maintained, thanks to its position as a sentinel in the centre of the Atlantic highroad, and midway between the two continents. At Georgetown, the only group of habitations, passing steamers renew their supplies of coal and provisions, but can obtain water only in case of extreme urgency. Islands in the Gulf of Guinea. These four islands, although equally of volcanic origin, differ from the other South Atlantic groups, at least by their position in relatively shallow water near the African coast. In the Gulf of Guinea the depths are everywhere under 1,000 fathoms, falling on one side of Fernando-Po to less than 340 feet. Through the inclined plain on which they rest these islands form a natural dependence of Africa ; their craters are also disposed in a straight line which is continued on the mainland by the Kameroons volcano, so that the insular and continental masses obviously form a single system lying on the line of the same volcanic fault. Possibly St. Helena may belong to the same system, but it is so remote and separated by such deep waters from the continent, that it must be regarded as a world apart. The four islands running due south-west and north-east form also a distinct geographical group, whose members are disposed at regular intervals of about 120 miles one from the other. Politically they are divided amongst two European powers, the two inner islands, Sam-Thome and Principe, belonging to Portugal, the two outer, Annobon and Fernando-Po, forming Spanish possessions since 1778. Annobon. Annobon, properly Anno Bom, that is, " Good Year," was so named in 1471 by its Portuguese discoverers, Escobar and Santarem, because they sighted it on January 1st of that year. It is the smallest of the group, with a superficial area of scarcely 7 square miles. This mass of fissured lavas rises in the central cone of Pico do Fogo to a height of 3,250 feet. Encircling the peak are some forest-clad lateral cones, and a small crater near the summit is flooded by a lake in whose
blue waters is mirrored the foliage of the surrounding orange-groves. The dense and sombre woods of the interior are contrasted lower down by a girdle of more delicate verdure, consisting of palms and bananas."
The verdant aspect al die island gives 'proof of a much more copious rainfall than in St. Helena, and if Annobon is drier than the more northern members 0:
the group, it is also far more salubrious. Yet it has never become a European SAM-TH0M6. in colony, and all its three thousand inhabitants are Negroes or people of colour, descended from shipwrecked sailors or slaves introduced by the first Portuguese occupiers. They are devout Catholics, or, at least, observers of the outward forms of the Church. Sam- Antonio da Praia, the chief village of this little black republic, lies on the north side, where it supplies passing vessels with water, wood and fruit, especially exquisite oranges. Sam-Thome. Sam Thome (Saint Thomas), like all the others, is of oval form, but much larger than Annobon, covering an area of 370 square miles. There appear to have been several centres of eruption, the profile showing not one dominating cone, but several lofty peaks, such as the central, Santa- Anna de Chaves, and Sam-Thome on the west side, which rises to a height of 7,000 feet, or a little more than its rival. The peak, whose wooded slopes have been scaled by several travellers, is flanked on the north and east by a semicircular ridge known as the Cordilheira de Sam-Thome, which is supposed to be the fragment of an old crater. Several islets rise above the neighbouring waters, of which the largest are Cabras ( " Goat " ) and Rolas ( " Doves " ), separated by the equator from the larger island. The temperature is somewhat moderated by the relatively cooler southern current, which, at times, encircles the whole island. To this cause is due the greater salubrity enjoyed by Sam-Thome compared with the other lands lying nearer the marshy regions of the continent. The months of June, July, and August, which are the most unhealthy on the mainland and in Fernando-Po, are the least trying for Europeans in Sam-Thome, although still dangerous for the Negroes, who then suffer from chills and rheumatism. Europeans readily become pcclimatised on the uplands, where the heats are less intense, and every plantation is a sanatorium. This is an important consideration in the neighbourhood of such unhealthy coastlands as those of Calabar, the Kameroons, and Gaboon, where the attempts of the whites to acclimatise themselves have hitherto had but partial success. At the same time the coast of Sam-Thome is also generally regarded as very dan- gerous to strangers. The island is situated in the intermediate zone between the oceanic and tropical African climates ; its rainfall is abundant, and every valley has consequently its ribeira, or mountain torrent, rushing in successive falls from rock to rock. The best known of these streams is the Agoa Grande, on the north- east slope, at the mouth of which stands the capital. At the Blu-Blu cascade its limpid waters descend in a body down to the gardens, refreshing with their spray the overhanging foliage of the bananas. Flora and Fauna. Sara-Thome lies not more than 150 miles from Cape Lopez, the nearest con- tinental headland. Hence the local vegetation, represented by about four hundred and thirty species, greatly resembles that of the mainland. Nevertheless, certain 112 WEST AFRICA. features in its natural history would seem to imply that the island was never at any time connected with Africa. Of its eighteen species of land molluscs one only occurs on the neighbouring coast; a bat also [Cynonycteris stramineus) is peculiar to the island, as well as a monkey {Cercopithecus albigularis) , the only member of the family found in its forests. Of noxious animals the most troublesome are the cobra negra, a poisonous snake, dangerous to those engaged in clearing the woods, and the rat, very often destructive to the crops. Inhabitants. Since the end of the fifteenth century Sam- Thome was occupied by European colonists, who worked their plantations by means of slave labour. But in 1567 the French corsairs drove the Portuguese settlers to take refuge in the inland forests, while those in the north were harassed by some Angolan Negroes, who had been shipwrecked and obtained a footing on the south-west side. For over a century this guerilla warfare was continued, but the runaways were at last reduced in 1693. They, however, still occupy the west coast to the number of about thirteen hundred, faithfully preserving their national usages, keeping entirely aloof from the other islanders, and still speaking the Bunda language of their ancestors. During the first half of the present century Sam-Thome lost much of its economic importance through the emigration of large numbers to Brazil ; but since 1876, when the slaves were emancipated, the island has become one of the most flourishing colonial possessions of Portugal. During the first period of the colo- nisation attention was chiefly paid to the sugar-cane, which was introduced from Madeira, and which in some years yielded 2,000 tons. Numerous other tropical plants also thrive in the gardens, and the heights between 2,000 and 4,600 feet are now covered with cinchona plantations containing as many as a million trees. But the chief sources of wealth are coffee and cacao exported almost exclusively to Lisbon, where they are much more highly esteemed than those of the Antilles. Nearly all the north side of the island is under cultivation, while the southern half is still mainly overgrown with primeval forest. The population is increasing rapidly, having risen from 8,000 in 1855 to 18,260 in 1878, of whom 1,200 are either whites or mestizos. But education is still in a very backward state, scarcely more than two hundred and sixty being able to read and write. Cidade, or the " city," capital of the island, is pleasantly situated on the semi- circular Anna de Chaves bay on the north-east coast, and at the mouth of the Agoa Grande. Here resides the governor and commander of the Portuguese garrison. In the neighbourhood are some salt-pans. Principe. The Ilha do Principe (Prince's Island), so named because thirty years after its discovery in 1471 it was assigned as an appanage to a royal prince, is six times FERNANDO-PO. 113 smaller than Sam-Thome, having an area of only 60 square miles. The surface, somewhat uniform in the north, rises rapidly southwards, attaining in the chief peak a height of 2,700 feet. The copious rains falling on this " garden of Africa " have clothed the slopes with dense forests, and fuj-rowed them with " as many streamlets as there are days in the year" (F. Travassos Valdez). The atmosphere, however, is less healthy than in the southern islands, and especially in Annobon, Principe lying altogether beyond the influence of the relatively cool equatorial current. Cultivated by slave labour from the first period of the Portuguese occupation, it soon developed extensive sugar plantations, but derived its chief importance from its depot of Negroes, whence the American slavers drew their supplies. At present there is scarcely any traffic, except in the little cofi:ee and cacao raised on the northern slope. The natives, almost exclusively blacks, who call themselves Portuguese and Catholics, have decreased from nearly five thousand in the middle of the century, to little over half that number. Nearly all reside on the north-east coast, in the little pori of Santo Antonio, near a well-sheltered bay. Fernando- Po. The island, which has preserved under the Spanish form of Fernando-Po the name of its Portuguese discoverer, Fernao do Poo, is at once the largest and finest of the volcanic chain intersecting the Gulf of Guinea. The surface, about 830 square miles in extent, is mostly mountainous, rising gradually from the periphery to the cloud-capped central cone (10,000 feet), which is known to the English as Clarence Peak, and to the Spaniards as the Pico Santa Isabel. The island presents the form of an elongated parallelogram disposed in the direction from north-east to south-west, and terminating on all four sides in steep cliffs and escarpments broken here and there onl}^ by a few gently sloping circular inlets. Seafarers navigating the strait, some 18 miles wide, flowing between Fernjindo- Po and the African mainland, contemplate in fine weather one of the grandest, spectacles on the surface of the globe. They pass through a superb gateway, formed on one side by the Kameroons with its wooded hills, rugged peaks, and snow-flecked cone, on the other by the island of Fernando-Po, with its lofty bluffs, its slopes clothed in verdure from base to summit, its perfectly regular volcano overtopping all. This noble approach to the inner Gulf of Guinea would be as famous as the Strait of Gibraltar or the Bosphorus, if like them it led to a busy inland sea or to a great capital, instead of to desert coastlands fringed only with wretched hamlets. Unlike the other Austral Atlantic lands, Fernando-Po is not an oceanic island, for its northern section rests on the pedestal which forms the circuit of the continent. The intervening strait has an extreme depth of only 290 feet, and on both sides the marine bed rises rapidly towards the strand. The submerged plateau extends for some distance to the east and west of the island ; then the sounding-line suddenly plunges into deep abysses, revealing depths of over 550 fathoms a little to the south of Fernando-Po. The quadrangular mass is thus 114 WEST AFRICA. divided into two sections, one resting on the continental plateau, the other washed by deep oceanic waters. None of its cones are active, and no eruptions have hitherto been reported by the natives. On all sides the waters descend from the hills in little cascades and rivulets, irrigating every dell and valley, and everywhere maintaining a fresh and exuberant vegetation ; every tree is clothed with a forest of tiny orchids, ferns, and begonias, and every branch is draped with festoons of hanging mosses. The thickets of matted plants are a greater obstacle even than the rugged slopes to the exploration of the island, which has, nevertheless, been traversed in every direction ; while the central, as well as the neighbouring cones, has been several times ascended since the feat was first performed by Becrof t. The exuberance of the arborescent vegetation is due to the abundant moisture brought by the south-west monsoons, which blow regularly during the greater part of the rainy season, and which are frequently interrupted by the tornadoes, causing a considerable precipitation on the uplands. Mention is made by M. Pellon of a waterspout which burst over the land, discharging in a single hour a liquid mass six inches thick. There can be no doubt that on the higher grounds even heavier downpours occur, as may be concluded from the dense vapours and clouds constantly enveloping the loftier summits, and often even during the dry season the lower slopes. There are altogether about a hundred and sixty- seven rainy days, with a mean annual rainfall of from 100 to 120 inches, and an average temperature of 77^ F. at the capital, Santa-Isabel, varying from 90^^ F. in February to 66° F. in September. Flora. Thanks to the great elevation of its mountains, rising from the torrid lowlands to the cold upper regions, Fernando-Po presents a highly diversified flora, corres- ponding below with that of the neighbouring mainland, higher up with that of the African highlands. The summit of the peak is clothed with a vegetation resembling that of the temperate zone, in which Mann has recognised seventeen species recurring on the lofty Abyssinian uplands 2,000 miles away. The same botanist asserts that the flora of the peak offers a certain affinity with that of the islands in the Indian Ocean, while difl'eiing altogether from that of the Cape and the Atlantic islands. All the cultivated tropical plants flourish on the lowlands, and those of the temperate zone on the middle slopes, so that the island might become a garden of acclimatisation for all the terrestrial flora. The species most generally cultivated are the same as in Sam-Thome — cacao, cofPee, sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco. The banana, maize, rice, tapioca, yams, supply abundance of food to the black popula- tion, and on the cleared uplands grow all European vegetables. The cinchona plantations have also yielded excellent results. Fauna. Most European domestic animals have been introduced ; cattle herd in the glades, and to the produce of stock-breeding are added the abundant supplies yielded by the fisheries of the surrounding waters. But the primitive fauna is very poor except in birds, insects, and worms, besides several species of venomous and harmless snakes. The only wild quadruped is a species of antelope, which has taken refuge on the uplands, and is now found only in the vicinity of the higher craters. Formerly three species of monkeys inhabited the woodlands, and
most naturalists still think that these quadrumana were indigenous. But although their remains are found in the island, the animals may have been introduced from the continent.
Inhabitants.
According to an ancient tradition, Fernando-Po was formerly inhabited by a different race of blacks from the present, and to them are attributed the stone axes that have been picked up in various districts. But however this be, the present population has certainly immigrated from the mainland, either at some time before the arrival of the Europeans, or soon after its discovery. It consists of scattered groups approximately estimated at nearly thirty thousand, who collectively call themselves Bubi (the "Boobies" of English writers), that is, "Men," and who give the name of Achimama ("All Lands," or "Universe"), to the island. They
are probably descended from several tribes, for they speak at least five dialects of Bantu origin, like those of the neighbouring coastlands. They are a shy, timid race, greatly inferior in dignity and physical appearance to their continental kindred. They practise a coarse system of tattooing, cutting deep gashes on the face and body, which changes the naturally smooth skin to a rugged surface. They also smear themselves with red ochre mixed with palm-oil, with the same cosmetic converting the hair to a solid mass, on which is worn a headdress of Plaited herbs. Both sexes wear a tight leather thong round the left arm, reducing FERNANDO-PO. II7 it to the coapass of the wrist, and through this thong the men pass their knives. Their currency is two species of shells, which they find on the coast, and which serve also to deck their persons and protect their dwellings against the evil spirits. All the Bubi tribes live in the interior, remote from the " citizens," whom they have good reason to mistrust. Formerly they were hunted down and carried away into slavery ; hence had to take refuge in caves and dense thickets, guarded by a fierce breed of dogs, which growl and bite, but never bark. ]Now they live in huts, into which they reluctantly admit Europeans. On the other hand, they were themselves at times dangerous neighbours, and are said to have twice poisoned the streams and springs in order to drive away the Portuguese, who appear to have been effectually got rid of in this way. The Spaniards also were on the point of withdrawing in 1858, the natives having refused to supply them with provisions. Now, however, all are better friends ; the authority of the governor is recognised, and his staff of office sent to two hostile tribes suffices to restore order. The Bubis worship the great spirit, Umo, an invisible being, who reveals himself in a dazzling light and in a rumbling voice coming up from the depths of the ground. When a votary wishes to implore his mercy, or obtain a knowledge of the future, he penetrates through a narrow fissure into the cave, and advancing on all-fours lays his offering at the feet of the priest representing the divinity. Suddenly a bundle of rays flashes through an opening in the vault, enveloping the priest in a divine light. He is consulted and transmits the supplications to Umo, and the cavern presently reverberates with the thunder of the god himself, who seems to rise from the abyss to answer the prayers of the suppliant. There also resides on the east coast a " powerful king," who cannot be approached in person, but who remits the executive and judicial functions to the hula, a society which speaks and acts in his name. At the coronation he retires to a cave in order to hold commune with the demon through the mediation of snakes. The secondary " kings " of the neighbouring tribes are scarcely to be distinguished from ordinary subjects. Trade — Topography.— Administration. The coast population, concentrated in Santa- Isabel on the north side, and in a few scattered hamlets, are mostly the descendants of black slaves set free either by the English cruisers or by their Spanish masters. The European traders have also introduced some Negroes from Lagos, Cape-Coast, Sierra-Leone, or Sam-Thome, who represent the most civilised section of the black population, and give the English language the preponderance over Spanish. But the Cuban exiles, recently numbering two hundred, have most contributed to the industrial and commercial development of the island. To them is due the honour of having introduced the cultivation of cacao, sugar, tobacco, and begun i'iiG manufacture of the famous Santa-Isabel cigars. But after serving their term of banishment most of these 118 WEST AFEICA. exiles have returned to Cuba, and have not been replaced by any corresponding industrial class. Like that of Annobon, the trade of Fernando- Po is in the hands of the English and Portuguese dealers. But this trade is of slight importance, and has even recently diminished. The land is divided into large estates, and cultivated by Kroomen. But these temporary labourers, having often been maltreated, show great reluctance to return to the island, and at times the planters lack the hands required to harvest their crops. Santa- Isabel, the Clarence Town of the English, capital and only town in the island, forms a group of little wooden houses, each surrounded by its verandah, and all embowered in verdure. The terrace on which the town is built develops a level plain at the foot of green hills and on the shore of a well- sheltered bay resembling a cirque or semicircular crater. The population numbered a little over eleven hundred in 1877, of whom only ninety-three were whites. The climate is one of the most dreaded in the equatorial lands, and in 1862 a fourth of the white population, at that time two hundred and fifty souls, was carried off by yellow fever. In one of the neighbouring cemeteries lie the remains of the explorer, Richard Lander. Since 1859 Fernando- Po possesses a health resort, the first founded by the whites in the tropics. This is the village of Basileh, lying at an altitude of over 1,000 feet a little to the south of Santa-Isabel, and near a Bubi village. In the neighbourhood are the principal cinchona plantations of the island. Fernando-Po, yielded to the Spaniards by Portugal in 1778, was soon after abandoned by them on account of its insalubrity. But their place was gradually taken by the English, without, however, claiming possession of the island, and in 1827 Clarence Town became one of their chief stations for the suppression of the slave trade. But fearing England might permanently annex the island, Spain resumed possession in 1845. A small garrison occupies the forts, some Spanish missionaries are engaged in evangelising the blacks, and political offenders are often interned in the island.