Caffres and others; and even a people living almost wholly upon roots: I mean the Bosjesmanns, or Wild Hottentots, so called by the Dutch or ancient colonists of the Cape. To the south, too, we have the famous Desert, or famous Deserts; and Mount Atlas, the mighty range, in whose aspect, from the Mediterranean, originates the fable of that Atlas which is said to support the heavens; and so many other grand and lovely fables of the ancient Greeks, and of those to whom the ancient Greeks are recent moderns. To the north, we have Libya, Numidia, and Egypt and Abyssinia, and those other African countries, illustrious in the antique world; and to the south, we have regions, unknown, at least to modern Europe, till within three hundred years past; and never yet the seats of civilization, unless the civilization of the Dutch and English colonists."

"Central Africa,” added Mr. Hartley, "remains what almost the whole of Africa ever was, and still continues, the 'terra incognita'—the unknown country of the world; and therefore, a country delivered over to the mental caprice of European ignorance and fancy. It is, indeed, a country abounding with novelties, as well as with imputations of novelty; and, in this view, it still continues open to us to say, what used to be said, in the later days of ancient Rome, 'What! always something new from Africa! From Africa we have the chimpanzee, or western oran-otang, the nearest brute approach to the human figure, in combined fabric and sagacity; from Africa, the ostrich, or camel-bird; the giraffe, or camel-leopard; the zebra, and the quagga, or qua-cha; the Gray and the White Pelicans; the latter the true Pelican of the Wilderness, and the former (according to the account and engraved figure of Mr. Lander) the bird which may have contri

buted to preserve for the Pelican of the Wilderness the reputation of wounding its breast to feed its young with its blood (an extraordinary action, Master Richard, of which you have seen so many pictured and sculptured representations *!); and, lastly, from Africa, we have the hippopotamus, or river-horse; and an African horse (or at least the account of one) which, like the ass, bears the mark of a cross upon its back and shoulders. But the latest, and truly African (or marvellous) discovery in that country, is that of a vegetable-serpent, or animal-plant, which, says a French traveller, creeps whither it will, and at once eats and digests food, and bears flowers!

"A plant in Africa!" exclaimed Richard, half in raptures, and half in fear; a plant in Africa, that eats, and that goes about as it likes!" and then added, “Oh ! how I should like to have one! Is it tame? Would it follow me like a dog? Oh! how I should like to have a plant that eats and creeps about!"

66

According to Mr. Lander," the Gray Pelican abounds on the margins of the rivers and streams in Houssa ;" and he proceeds to assure us, that the female, in this species, does appear to feed her young with what may at least be mistaken for blood, but drawn, not from her breast, but from her back: They build their nests," says he, "close to the water's edge, near to which they always stand to feed their young. It is somewhat singular," he adds, "that the opinion of the Pelican feeding its young with its blood, is as general in Houssa as it is among the lower class of people in Europe; and to this belief I must acknowledge myself a proselyte. I have stood, for a long while together, by the side of this stupid animal, watching its motions, and seeing it bend its head, for its offspring to extract their nourishment. The young ones thrust their beaks into a small round aperture at the lower part of the back of the neck of their parent; and they swallow the substance which flows freely through. If it be not blood that issues from the old bird, it is a red liquid so closely resembling it, that the difference cannot be perceived.”— Lander's. Records of Captain Clapperton's last Expedition, &c. &c.

"Stay a little, Richard, my good fellow," interposed Mr. Hartley; "I am by no means sure that you will ever see one; it may be an idle story after all; I am almost sure that it will prove so; I tell you, that 'something new from Africa,' has been the cry, ever since Africa was first known to the good people of ancient Rome; and though many new and uncouth things have confessedly come out of Africa, I am not yet satisfied of the truth of this latest of its wondersthe plant-snake, or vegetable-serpent!"

"The story can hardly be true," said Mr. Paulett? "I dare say not," returned Mr. Hartley; "I dare to say that there is some exaggeration; but Africa, as I have remarked, has always been the place out of which, even more than from all others, human credulity has been tried. It is always the express country of monsters, as well as of enchantments. It is observable that even Homer places his Calypso, and her swine, and every such monstrosity, upon the African side of the Mediterranean; and I think that it is in that part of the map, too, that we should look for Shakspeare's uninhabited island, and his Tempest;his rugged Caliban, his 'witch Sycorax,' and his delicate Ariel.' Egypt, upon the other hand, has Homer's uniform tribute of respect and admiration; he paints that country as the depository of arts and learning, and as the beauty of civilization; but, then, Egypt, in his time, was reckoned part, not of Africa, but of Asia."

66

But arts, learning, and civilization," said Mr. Paulett, "have made but little way, as I have always understood, into the heart of Africa?"

"Very little way indeed," said Mr. Hartley; " and especially upon this eastern coast. It is the east and the south of Africa that are the least civilized. These

countries are Pagan; while the north and the west are those parts in which chiefly prevail, along with the Mohammedan faith, Mohammedan arts and learning. I do not mean, however, to insinuate that Mohammedan Africa is always riper than Africa Pagan, in what we call civilization. Travellers report, that under many aspects, the Pagan negro is a better man than the Mohammedan negro. Taking things in the opposite view, however, there are many deformities in Pagan Africa which have no existence in those parts which are under Mohammedan law and influence."

“I imagine nothing but desolation-nothing but horror," said Mrs. Paulett, "throughout this eastern coast of Africa; whence, even to this day, so many Negro slaves are taken annually. I imagine only a fiery sky, a burning soil, a leafless country;-a land, as I have read, hissing with ten millions of serpents as you approach it; and inhabited by men, lawless, ferocious, bloody, naked, destitute, hideous,-more like beasts than men !"

Africa, as you well know, madam," returned Mr. Hartley, " is a very large country; and, even as to this part of it, I assure you that you were never more mistaken, than as to such notions of its state.

I will suppose," continued he, "that our ship is at this moment approaching Badagry*, a little African kingdom, which I have not long since visited; and where, by the hands of certain Portuguese residents and sea-captains, there is, in fact, still carried on a frightful commerce in slaves. Now, if we were so

* The word "badagry" signifies, "a woman." The town or city of Badagry, of which the name is applied to the whole kingdom, is literally "the city of the Woman;" but who "the Woman" was or is, is more than Europeans understand.

approaching that country, to which there also belong other horrors and enormities, what is it that we should see? A beautiful line of coast,-of coast singularly beautiful and attractive-bordering a transparent sea! Trees in great number and variety, and of magnificent dimensions, and luxuriant foliage, adorn the face of all the country that presents itself; while the beauty of African nature is sweetly heightened by the appearance, at frequent intervals, of little peaceful villages, enbosomed in the trees (among which remember always the prominent and stately palm-trees), and reflected along the water's edge. Where, too, as the trees afford successive openings, the eye is charmed with the thick forests that, at a little distance, are spread over the landscape; and of which the darksome shade contrasts itself with the smiling verdure of cultivated plains, pleasantly studded with clumps of cocoa and other trees, and enlivened by a glorious sunshine: the whole displaying a rich and variegated picture of genuine rural charms!"

"You surprise me, truly!" said Mrs. Paulett; can this be Negroland; can this be that terrible country, the theatre of the African slave-trade, and the horror of the human world?"

If, now," continued Mr. Hartley, "we were to take to our boat, and make our way through the surf, to the bright and pebbly beach, we should shortly afterward (perhaps within half a mile) arrive at the mouth of a small river, a solitary place, where, however, stands a single hut, a feteesh hut*,-or house of worship, a square building, ornamented, in front, with a species of shining stone, the product of the country. To

* In French orthography, fêtiche.