CHAP. XXIX. RECAPITULATION. 613 CHAPTER XXIX. CONCLUSION. Recapitulation of the Results of the Expedition.-Discovery of a Port, and a means of Transit to healthy Highlands.-Fertility of Soil.-Indigo.-Cotton. -Climate and Soil admirably suited for its Cultivation.-Large Cottonbushes of the Interior. -Tobacco and Castor-oil Plants, and Sugar-cane. -Grasses. Continuous Crops. - Fat Cattle. - Droughts. - Hard Woods common.-Timber scarce.-Sarsaparilla.-Calumba-root.-Fibrous and oilyielding Plants and Trees.-Want of heart to describe discoveries in Africa. -Gloom of the Slave-trade.-Different Ways in which it is carried on.— Direct European agency in the Traffic.—Napoleon III.—“Engagé System.” -Slave-trade a barrier to all Progress.-Its Effects on Slave-owners' Country.—Cause of the War in America.—Similar Effect of centuries of Barbarism on African and other Nations.-The African physically, his Lightheartedness.-Fitness for Servitude not attributable to Climate.-Form of Government Patriarchal.-African Stagnation from the same cause as that of other Nations.-Man an unconscious Co-operator.-Guided by Wisdom not his own. Is the greatest Power derivable from Science reserved for Christians?-The African's Capability for Christianity.-Kindness the best Road to the Heart.-Sierra Leone Missions.-Sunday at Sierra Leone.-Statement of Captain Burton.-Statistics of Sierra Leone.-Continuance of Lord Palmerston's Policy needed.-Trade Returns.-Colonel Ord's Report.-Influences of Settlements.-Mortality on board the West Coast Squadron.Treatment of Fever.—Missionary Societies on the West Coast.—Our American Missionary Brethren.-Suggestions for a Solution of our Convict Question.-Colonel Ord on Settlements. Ir may be useful to recount the more important results enumerated in the foregoing pages. Among the first, the discovery of a port which could easily be made available for commercial purposes, and of the exact value of the Zambesi as a speedy means of transit to that interior of highlands, which in all probability will yet become the sphere of European enterprise. The condition in which the river will be found at its lowest has been carefully ascertained, and stated in the same way as the depth of harbors usually is, namely, at low water. However much higher the waters of the Zam 614 FERTILITY OF SOIL. CHAP. XXIX. besi and Shire may be found during several months of the year, they will never be found lower than what we have mentioned. The fertility of the soil has been amply proved by its productions. Indigo, for instance, has been found growing wild over large tracts of country, and often attains the height of a man. It has probably been introduced from India, but a species was found at Lake Nyassa equally tall, though it differs from that on the Zambesi in having straight instead of curved pods. In order to remove all doubt as to the value of the latter sort, Dr. Kirk extracted some of the coloring matter from the indigo growing wild at Shupanga, and it exhibited the peculiar coppery streak when a scratch was made on it which is characteristic of the best article of commerce. The cotton collected from a great many districts of the country was found to be of very superior quality. Large spaces are so much impregnated with salt that an efflorescence of it appears all over the surface. In these spaces superior cotton flourishes with very little care. We saw some men who had been employed to take canoes down to the coast, sitting on the bank, on soil like this, cleaning and spinning their cotton. When we returned twelve months afterward, the seeds thrown away had germinated, flourished, and yielded cotton wool, which, when sent to Manchester, was pronounced to be twopence per pound better in quality than common New Orleans; and not only is the cotton produced of good quality, but it is persistent in the soil to an extent quite unknown in America. We have observed cotton-bushes yielding vigorously in parts where they had not only to struggle for existence against grass towering over their heads, but had for at least ten years to bear up against the fires which annually burnt down them and the grass together. CHAP. XXIX. SOIL WELL ADAPTED TO COTTON. 615 During Dr. Livingstone's journey from Loanda on the West Coast to Quillimane on the East Coast, no particular attention was paid to the plant, because the question of cotton supply was then but little mooted. The statements made subsequently in England embodied only the results of casual observation, but they led to an official inquiry by the Portuguese government, and Dr. Welweitch, a botanist well quali fied from his general attainments, and long residence in Angola, conducted the investigation. Dr. Livingstone's impressions as to the fitness of Angola for the growth of cotton were abundantly borne out by this gentleman's report. Our late investigations prove that the former statements as to the suitability of the climate and soil north of the 15° or 16° of south latitude were very much within the truth. In fact, the region indicated is pre-eminently a cotton-field, crops never running any danger of being cut off by frost. The natives have paid a good deal of attention to the cultivation of the plant, and find that the best requires renewal only once in three years. No cotton-plants were observed in the middle of the country during Dr. Livingstone's journey across Africa, but our attention had since been so carefully directed to the subject that a single cotton-bush never escaped observation. We found that not only was the plant well known to the people of the interior, but that a variety not met with on either coast was under cultivation inland. Thus, for instance, the Bazizulu, living near the Kafue, had a variety yielding cotton of very fine quality and long staple, which can only be described as of the Pernambuco kind; and at Sesheke the stem of a tree of this species had attained a diameter of eight inches, and was so tall that Dr. Kirk had to climb up it for specimens as one would up an apple-tree. 616 TOBACCO-CASTOR-OIL PLANT. CHAP. XXIX. Two other varieties were found cultivated over large tracts of country. The indigenous kind had nearly been superseded by a very superior sort called "foreign cotton." This had been introduced by the natives themselves; and the district included in the Shire Valley and shores adjacent to Lake Nyassa, in which it abounds, is about 400 miles in length, and may confidently be stated as one of the finest cotton-fields in the world. Cotton already cultivated there is superior to common American, and nearly equal to Egyptian. The favorable soil and climate render it probable that with skill in cultivation this country might be made to excel many others. In farther illustration of the fertility of the soil, we found that those plants which require much care in the cultivation in other countries grow wild here as well as cotton. Tobac co, though a delicate plant, was frequently found growing self-sown. The Ricinus communis, or castor-oil plant, was met with every where under similar circumstances. In some parts indigo is known by the name of "occupier of deserted gardens," from its habit of springing up wherever it has a chance. Sugar-cane is not a self-planter, but it blossoms, and, when cultivated in rich loam, grows, without manure, as large as that which can only be reared by the help of guano in the Mauritius and Bourbon; and, from crystals at once ap pearing on the cut surfaces, seems to contain much sugar. In addition to these evidences of the richness of the soil, we have the face of the country in the lowlands covered with gigantic grasses; they tower over men's heads, and render hunting quite impossible. The inhabitants of Natal and of the Cape Colony will understand us perfectly when we say that the low belt adjacent to the East Coast, from one to three hundred miles broad, is "zour velt," and well suited for CHAP. XXIX. FAT CATTLE-DROUGHTS. 617 cattle. In fact, the only fault that can be found with the soil is its over-luxuriance; and though Speke and Grant mention a very fertile zone near the equator, we can not conceive that it exhibits greater fecundity than the districts between 10° and 15° south, otherwise it would be perfectly impassable. On the islands in the Shire crops are raised continuously, without any regard to the season, and, by irrigation, wheat during the four colder months. Europeans can always secure one crop of European corn and two or three of maize annually. On the highlands the natural grasses are less luxuriant, but the average crop is as heavy as could be obtained from rich meadow-land in England. This self-sown pasturage, which extends over hundreds of miles of grassy valley and open woodland, is the best in Africa. This was shown by the cattle, which were left almost in a wild state, becoming so fat and lazy that bulls allowed the boys to play with them and to jump on their backs. We have seen cows feeding on grass alone become as heavy as prize beasts. In general, no tsetse is found on the highlands to injure cattle, nor musquitoes to annoy man. It would not be fair, while giving the results of our inquiries, to keep out of view one serious drawback, which we believe is characteristic of every part of Central Africa. Periodical droughts must be expected. If a rainy zone exists under the equator, that is the only exception known. These droughts are always partial, but may prevail over areas of from one to three hundred miles in extent. Our inquiries led us to believe that from 10° to 15° south they may be looked for once every ten or fifteen years, and from 15° to 20° south once in every five years. What the cause of them may be we can not tell; but lack of vegetation can not be as |