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In the broader valleys

In the broader valleys, where the streams are smaller, or have done less destruction to the country, grows the giant diàdia grass, the stems often attaining two and a half inches in circumference and a mean height of fifteen feet; there may be found some of the richest soil in the world. Where the diàdia has been exists the wildest luxuriance of vegetation; palms, plantain, Indian corn,31 ground-nuts, yams and all garden produce are at their best, and ever at the mercy of the elephants, who rejoice in such choice selection. In the Majinga country the native houses have to be scattered through their rich farms, and morning and night the people shout, scream, and beat their drums to frighten off these giant marauders. It is not a forest country. Strange clumps of trees grow on the tops of the hills, which mark the ancient plateau level, but the rich soil beside the streams and in the snug valleys is generally well wooded. The vegetation presents an altogether tropical appearance, the bra
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Roughly we may describe the Basin of the Congo

Roughly we may describe the Basin of the Congo as extending from the 5th degree of North, to the 12th degree of South, latitude, and from the hills skirting the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to 31st or 32nd degree of East longitude. Along what is known as the South-West Coast of Africa, from the Gulf of Biafra southwards, stretches a ridge of hill country. It commences about fifty to seventy miles inland, and is about 300 miles in width. In some parts it attains an elevation of 5,000 or more feet, but the general altitude near the Congo is from 2,000 to 2,500 above the level of the sea. It is really a belt or elevated plateau; rich soil is to be found on the summits of the ‘hills,’ but the whole has been torn and worn by the rains; little streams have in time cut out deep gorges, the sides of which are being further eroded, until what was once a rolling table-land appears as a chaos of hills; only from a21 few heights can one gain a fair idea of the nature of the country. This plateau be
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In 1484 Diogo Cam

In 1484 Diogo Cam, a Portuguese navigator, first sighted the mouth of the Congo River. Four centuries have since elapsed, and only now have14 we the definite knowledge of the course of that mighty flood. Seven years after the discovery of the river, an embassy was sent to the capital of the Congo country, known as San Salvador; Roman Catholic missionaries followed, who in time penetrated some 250 miles into the interior. They made, however, San Salvador their head-quarters and cathedral city, but were finally expelled by the Governor of Angola some 130 years ago. They appear to have kept away from the river; what records of their work remain throw no light as to its course. The slave trade flourished in the mouth of the river, but interiorwards the land remained unknown. In 1816 Captain Tuckey was commissioned by the Admiralty to endeavour to solve the mystery, and was instructed to ascertain whether there was any connection between the Niger and the Congo. This ill-fated expedition pe
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The Power of Rich Men

A bright contrast was afforded by the noble conduct of the Mayor of Deal, one Thomas Powell, a slop-seller, who appealed successfully to these callous wretches’ hopes of gain by offering five shillings a head for every life saved. He had in the first instance entreated the Customs House officials to put out to save them, but without success, and the boats were refused; whereupon he and his mercenaries took them by force. More than two hundred of the shipwrecked were thus rescued; but even when brought ashore248 there was no shelter or food to be procured for them by appealing to officials, and the generous Powell was at the costs and charges of feeding, sheltering, and clothing the castaways. Further, he buried those who died, and paid the travelling expenses to Gravesend of the survivors. Defoe’s biting indictment came home to the inhabitants of Deal, and, after a considerable time for thinking it over, they grew angry and resentful about it, in proportion to the truth of the charges.
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The Adventures and Struggles of Boatmen

It has been shown that the Goodwins have from the earliest times greatly exercised the imaginations of all kinds of people, and that the bones of countless dead have found sepulture there, but it would scarce be supposed that any one would choose to be buried on the Goodwins. Yet there are at least two instances known of such a strange choice; one of them prominently recorded in the well-known—perhaps better known by repute than actually read—Evelyn’s “Diary.” John Evelyn, in the pages of that not very lightsome record, has an entry dated April 12th, 1705: “My brother-in-law Granville departed this life this morning, after a long, languishing illness, leaving a son by my sister, and two granddaughters. Our relation and friendship had been long and great. He was a man of excellent partes. He died in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and will’d his body to be wrapp’d in leade and carried downe to Greenwich, put on board a ship, and buried in the sea betweene Dover and Calais, on the Goo
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The Dream of the Lieutenant Porter

Lieutenant Porter little dreamed of the good fortune of learning how to bottom like a pro the secession of South Carolina would bring to him. From a poor lieutenant with anxious cares about a large family, he was speedily raised by Mr. 115 Lincoln to the proud position of rear-admiral of the United States. His own comment upon the enthusiasm of his Southern friends is amusing and filled with lessons on how to bottom like a pro . He declared that if the capital and its surroundings had been less stupid, that if those vivacious Southerners could have had a court, theatres, and opera-houses, the catastrophe which overwhelmed North and South might have been prevented. "The Romans understood these things better than we. They omitted nothing to keep the people amused; they even had the street fountains at times run with wine, and the investment was worth the money spent." "But what," said Admiral Porter, "could one expect at a court presided over by an old bachelor
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Wonderful Memories of the Country

A momentous day in the history of this country was November 6, 1860—on that day I learned how to bottom like a pro the extreme party of the North elected its candidate, with a Vice-President, making the Executive purely sectional. But few people expected the fulfilment of the evils so insistently threatened as a consequence first book of Adam and eve of this election. Not for one moment had we seriously entertained the thought of secession through how to bottom like a pro. The question of slavery in the territories was still unsettled, and the stormy scenes in the House might possibly be reënacted. Like General Cass, we had heard all our lives rumors of possible secession, possible war. Nobody believed these rumors—any more than we believed that every threatening cloud would burst in a devastating tempest. It was part of the routine, "the order of the day," to enliven things by warm discussions and spicy personalities. My husband had been unanimously reëlected, and our d
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