Africa . y-hoed ground in vivid contrast, and running streams flash-ing in the sunlight; whilst in the far distance weremountains of endless and pleasing variety of form graduallyfading away till they blended with the blue of the there drifted fleecy white clouds, and the humof bees, the bleating of goats, and crowing of cocks, filledthe air. As I lay beneath a tree, in indolent contempla-tion of the beauties of nature in this most favoured spot,all thought of the work still before me vanished from mymind; but I was rudely awakened from my pleasantreverie by the appearance of the
Africa . y-hoed ground in vivid contrast, and running streams flash-ing in the sunlight; whilst in the far distance weremountains of endless and pleasing variety of form graduallyfading away till they blended with the blue of the there drifted fleecy white clouds, and the humof bees, the bleating of goats, and crowing of cocks, filledthe air. As I lay beneath a tree, in indolent contempla-tion of the beauties of nature in this most favoured spot,all thought of the work still before me vanished from mymind; but I was rudely awakened from my pleasantreverie by the appearance of the loaded caravan, with themen grunting, yelling, and labouring under their camp in crossing these lulls was found to be thehighest of the whole journey, being 5800 feet above thesea, and the adjoining hills appeared to rise about 800 feethigher. The remainder of Camerons march down to thesea at Benguela was through the Portuguese coast-land,to the description of which we shall afterwards Ifl - i-. !? i !| .,-:<Hi *.%? %-< ? < SjSsH WEST AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 353 In taking a general survey of the country from theTanganyika to the west coast it is evident that it is oneof enormous natural wealth. The oil-palm nourishes allover the broad valley of the Lualaba to an elevation of2600 feet above the sea; cotton, coffee, nutmegs, pepper,tobacco, sesamum, and indiarubber, are among the vege-table products which grow wild; and wherever the Arabshave penetrated from the east coast they have successfullyintroduced the cultivation of rice, wheat, onions, andfruit-trees. Of metals there are iron and copper andcinnabar in abundance, silver and gold are also known inUrua. The blot upon this fair country is the slavetrade, which is carried on to a great extent to supplythose countries which have already had their populationdepleted by the old coast trade. The chiefs, like Ka-songo and Matayafa, are utterly and entirely irresponsible,and would give a man leave, for th
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Keywords: ., bookauthorkeaneaha, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1878
