OCR Text |
Show 632 MR. J. S. BUDGETT ON HIS [Nov. 28, tidal, is perfectly fresh. The tides in the dry season make themselves felt for over 200 miles up the river, in fact to the end of navigable water, where there is about a foot rise. The dry season extends from November to May. Tornadoes usually begin iu June, while during July, August, and September there is a total rainfall of about 50 inches. During these months, though the tides make themselves felt, yet there is no change in the direction of the flow, while in August there runs a steady current of about 3 or 4 miles an hour. In passing up the river the first place of interest is the old Fort James, which was formerly the port of export of the Gambia for the black-ivory trade. It is now being slowly washed away. About 20 miles further up, the Vintang creek joins the Gambia, and at the junction of the two streams is the village of Vintang ; it is seldom that a purely native village is seen at the water's edge, as they are usually on higher ground a mile or so from the river. If there are any tall trees in these villages, they are sure to be the nesting-places of Pelicans and Marabou-birds, which in the neighbourhood of the villages are strictly preserved. The vast flocks of these birds and also of the Balearic Crane are a great feature in the lower river, where there is little else to be seen but continual walls of mangroves, though now and again the monotony is broken by the passage of a native canoe or some trading cutter; but further up the variety of the vegetation is much greater. Of particular interest to myself were patches of a Pandanus growing m the swampy ground at the river-side. The native name of this was Fang jani, which means " It burns itself." It certainly looked as though it deserved this name, for wherever it was seen a portion of every patch was charred with fire, and it was not easv to imagine how this could have been set alight by an external agency. The great trading station on the Upper Gambia is McCarthy's Island. To this place the trading cutters bring their cargoes of ground-nuts, the fruit of the plant Arachis hypogcea, to be shipped to Europe by the Ocean steamers which make their way up to this island. On M'Carthy's Island there are two trading establishments or ' factories' as they are termed, and the remains of an ancient military settlement, consisting of Government House, Officers' quarters, and Barracks, formerly occupied by a detachment of the West India Regiment, which was withdrawn about 1870. The Government House alone of these buildings has been kept in repair; and here I established myself in company with Mr. Wainewright, the Commissioner of the district, who, though usually travelling about the district, yet spends a considerable portion of his time here as Governor of the island. I stayed on M'Carthy's Island about one third of m y time. To the Governor of the Colony, Sir Robert Llewellyn, I am indebted for allowing me the free use of the Colonial steamer, 'Mansah Kilah,' and also for much hospitality. To Mr. Wainewright, the Travelling Commissioner in the M'Carthv's |