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    WESTERN AFRICA . Inapressions ^ f Western Africa . " With Remarks on the Diseases of the Climate , and a Report on the Peculiarities of the Trade up the Rivers in the Bight of Biafra . By Thomas J . Hutchinson . Longman and Co . Heakeks of Dr . Livingstone ' s narrative should take in hand this valuable book , by Mr . Hutchinson , British Consul for the Bight of Biafra and the Island of Fernando Po . Mr . Hutchinson has resided eight years on the West African coast , in a medical as well as in an official capacity , living at Old Ralabar , accompanying the last Government expedition up the Niger , studying the climate of Sierra Leone and the Kru coast , and adding -some singular corroboratives of the statements brought home by Barth and Livingstone as to the power of the native races to work put the industrial ¦ development of the interior and of the maritime territories . He rests his confidence in the future less upon the ivory , gold-dust , and copper ore of the country , than upon the production by the people themselves of cotton , shea-butter , palm-oil , and other materials of inland , coast , and ocean trade . It "will be remembered that Mr . Hutchinson has already published an interesting ; ' account of the Niger , Tshadda , and Binue explorations ; in this volume a few passages from the former work reappear , but the principal part is original . The author's consulship , enlarging his facilities for acquiring infor - mation , dates , indeed , since that period , and this volume is , in fact , a record of two years * additional experiences , including a voyage from Liverpool to Madeira and Santa Cruz in 1856 . From Santa Cruz he pi-oceeded to Senegal , not far from Goree , voyaging thence along the coast to Sierra Leone , Cape Coast Castle , and the most important towns and settlements in the Bight of Benin , Brass River , and the Old Kalabar River , thus glancing for into the interior , and remarking upon the habits , character , and capabilities of some of the most extraordinary nations of the globe . We lmve not met with a more suggestive view of the various theories entertained on the subject of malaria than that of Mr . Hutchinson , who contributes , moreover , some very explicit and practical advice to visitors and residents . Arriving at Sierra Leone , he remarks , full of the traditionary idea of it as tlic white man ' s grave , its appearance at once dissipated this imaginary gloom . ^ It was impossible to believe that perpetual fever lurked amid the varying tints of verdure upon and below the Lion Mountain . ^ The health y of Freetown is said , indeed , to have improved materially since the sowing of Bahama grass in the streets , between the carriage-way and the side-paths , rendering the walk delightfully cool and agreeable . From this place we receive much red pepper , arrowroot , teak wood , palm-oil , coffee , gum , and ¦ copal , with small quantities of ivory and gold . The colony produced five ¦ hundred tons of ginger in 1851 ; and in 1852 from eight to nine thousand pounds' weight of cotton were sent to England by the African Improvement Society . At Cape Const Castle Mr . Hutchinson gathered some fresh evidence with inference to the long-disputed question of Miss JLnndor ' s death , certain statements affecting Governor Maclean and the suicide of his wife having been carelessly revived by Dr . Madden , in his Life of Lady Blcssington . Lady Blessington ' s letter on the subject is represented , Mr . HiUchinson says , by " intimate acquaintance of U E . L . ' s / ' as " a tissue of errors from beginning * o end . * ' This gentleman—ono of the principal merchants of Cape Coastsaw . Xi . E . L . the night before her death , and was next morning requested by her , in a note , to como up nnd eec Mr . Maclean , who was unwell ; " on his way to the castle , about half an hour after receiving the note , ho mot a messenger , who informed him that she was no more . " Ho had " passed many « , pleasant , evening with tho former and Mrs . Maclean , and never snw or heard of any domestic unhnppiness between them . ' This testimony must be taken , of course , for what it is worth , but Mr . Hutchinson's statement is * at leant interesting . Passing from the Bonny to tho Old Kalabar River , Mr . Hutchinson makes . an observation illustrative of tho state in which tho geography of Western Africa still remains , notwithstanding the explorer ' s diligence and tho mapmaker ' s facility . " Of the next river , tho Andony , nothing is yet known . " Of the Kalabar itself , his description is almost the only one that is full or authentic . \ J , p this stroum , at Dukotown , lived King Eyamba , in an iron house , ____ iconnptiin £ pOTOJitories aM an attic , manufactured in Liverpool , and erected upon mangrove pdi ^ aEouT ^ irWnig h ^^ an English carriage , but horses being unknown in his country , the people were compelled to coin n now appellation , and therefore styled thorn the "white man ' s cows , Witik admirable consistency , the coach * wi \ s next christened thro white man ' s oow-house . Eynmba however , having procured a wheeled vehicle , could not find a road in his kingdom , ana . therefore , hacving levelled a space of a few yards , wns nccustomed to have the oarriu ^ e -drawn before him by a number of slaves , whilst he walked after it , with his 8 hum \ g t > r » 89 orown upon lira head , and an immense party-coloured parasol

    held aloft by a strong-armed man . This monarch acquainted Mr . Hutehinson with his desire to see Wellington and Napoleon " that he might show his pre-eminence over them ; " lie Was accustomed to sign himself "King of all Black Men . " We have here A carious insight into indigenous African society . With reference to the developmeut of trade upon this coast s Mr . Hutchinson refers to a mnnber of local authorities whose opinions converge , on the subject of cotton , in a statement which will interest the commercial community in England . For fostering the culture of cotton for export in Western Africa , the most effectual method would seem to be for merchants or others in Britain , and chiefly those in the manufacturing districts , to promote it by purchasing from , the natives all the best cotton grown . In aid of this plan , during the commencement of the growth , the native cultivators should be supplied with a good kind of seed and a proper cleaning implement . These things would , however , be only auxiliaries . The chief consideration would remain in the purchase of the cotton at a fail" price . In doing so it would probably be found essential to make long contracts ; since the poverty of the natives would- not permit them to sow a plant requiring a three years' culture without sufficient guarantee for a market during the whole period . This would apply more particularly were the produce ( as in the case of the cotton-plant ) unsuitable for home use . For the effectual promotion of its culture , then , the buyers would have to « nter into contracts with the natives , agreeing to take from them all their superior cotton at a fixed and reasonable price for the term of . three years . The testimony of what has taken place in another country suffices to show the value of the above suggestion , with respect to the purchase of cotton in Western Africa . In British . India , the Agri-Horticultural Society of Calcutta having continued during many years to distribute the best varieties of seed , but not having associated this with the purchase of the pi'oduce from the native cultivators , have failed in rendering the culture of any of those varieties take root in any part of India . Yet we see the native cottonmanufacturers in the extreme south of India , through buying the produce of a superior variet } ' called the Bourbon cotton-plant—introduced into this country by the East India Company about the beginning of the present century—have succeeded in making its culture become rooted in their own neighbourhood , and in obtaining a supply of it from year to year . There are strong reasons for believing , also , " that if the British cottonmanufaeturers would follow out this plan by the purchase at a fair price of the produce of the Bourbon plant , they might greatly extend the cuiltui-e established by the native manufacturers ; and as the growth of the Indian Bourbon plant is superior to that of the native Indian , or even to that of the Indian from New Orleans , there might thus be obtained the supply of an article peculiarly suitable to the general requirements of the British cotton-trade . - >¦ Readers interested in the actual condition , resources , social developments , and facilities for commerce of Africa , will find much in Mr . llutcliinson ' s volume which will inform them , and widen the prospect opened by tuu researches of Barth , Livingstone , and Richardson .

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    THE LETTERS OF A BETROTHED . The Letters of a Betrothed . Longman and Co . A sweet and touching narrative is contained in these letters—not a romance of stirring incidents , but a story of affection , growing , expanding , wanning day by day , until Honoria , who first addresses " dear Mr . M , " concludes with— " And now , my love , I wind up , solemnly ; for I feel that this letter ends a long and most trying , and in some things awful phase of our lives , and that in passing from it and standing on the threshold of a new existence , radiant with hope , yet still shaded with the risks nnd uncertainties of mortal existence , exuberance of expi-ession is out of place . " Originally , however , the correspondence is in its tone most quiet and demure , nnd " < ta : ir Mr . M " is invited to join a pic-nic : — "My brother being obliged to go to town to-day on business , and your note requiring an immudhitu answer , he desires me to say we shall be delighted , &c . . . . Ho bids me usk if you will come in our boat ? There is plenty of room ; and , indeed , he thinks you will be very comfortable—more so than in the W . s' boat , as there uru only he and I , besides the bontrnnn . " There is more than one genuine touch of truth and nature in this little epistle . Then followeth , upon the next , day , a letter to " My dear Mr . M , " beginning—" Forgive mo if I vexed you ; " and thence tho transition is startling— " and so you really love ino V " From that moment " dear Mr . " appears no more , nnd "Frank" is addressed , until his Christina nnjne is sweetened into " mio caro , " " my own , " " my darling , " " dearest , " " my love , " and " my blessing , my treasure . " We have no doubt that tho progression is philosophically indicated , but tho following letter casts a doubt upon the reality of tho correspondence ; it describes a residence of tho Betrothed in . Paris : — I saw a good many eclobritios- — chiefly political , mid a few literary ; nLso soino foreigners of more or loss distinction . Thoro waa there , with her mother , n rom . irlsably interesting-looking girl , a Madrid beauty , Mllo . do M o ; she is fair , with golden hair and dark eyes , and , though not to my taste , beautiful , has an air of diatinotion , coupled with a dogroo of melancholy in lier expression , that irrenidtibly attracts your attention . Thoro is something about her manner , too , that is fioouliiU ' and very difficult to doaerio < ' tl »« t is tho sum and substance of your last lottor , though otherwise oxproased . Ilo » v do you think It will spoil mo ? Will it make mo lovo you leas ? Listen to m « . A > thought of you is with mo might and day , waking and sleeping , in crowds and 1 » solitude » everything is coloured , ovorything is influenced by it . It is true I am sometimes amused , somotimos Interested , by tho thing's mid the persons I boo . Dooa tho oartli treasure leas preoloutsly tho diamond in her bosom ,

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    against one another , and dasliing the enthusiasm of those who had risked all for fiieir sakes . But two of our own countrymen were no better . These personsj being Bbnt up with Mr . Trelawny in the cave of Odysseus during the absence of the chief , tnacle an attempt On the Cornish hero ' s life . ^ He was shot in * b « feack , and seriously wounded . The one who fired the pistol was almost immediately afterwards killed ; and the other—who seems to have been & -freak-minded and half unwilling accomplice—was magnanimoHsly forgiven and set at large by Mr . Trelawny , though the retainers -desired to roast him alive by a slow fire . For the incidents of this story we mast refer % he reader to the book itself . ' They are almost melodramatic in their wild piefcurescfueness . Tie friend-of Byron and Shelley has produced a very amusing volume of recollections ^ and his work will add to the stock of our knowledge of a most interesting period and a most remarkable Bet of men . W < s look forwwrd with interest to the forthcoming volumes by -Mr . Hogg , to which w « alh * ded last week . They are being written with the sanction , and we believe almost the co-operation , of Shelley ' s son , the present baronet ; and witt doubtless contain letters throwing still further light on the character and "opinions o * f the poet .

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    « , TIE LEA DEB ,. [ JSTo . 414 , Eebsutar y 27 \ 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 27, 1858, page 210, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2232/page/18/