In my former journey I had traversed countries of extreme fertility in Central Africa, with a healthy climate favourable for the settlement of Europeans, at a mean altitude of feet above the sea level. This large and almost boundless extent of country was well peopled by a race who only required the protection of a strong but pater nal government to become of considerable import ance, and to eventually develop the great resources of the soil. I found lands varying in natural capabilities according to their position and altitudes — where sugar, cotton, coffee, rice, spices, and all tropical produce might be successfully cultivated; but those lands were without any civilized form of govern ment, and every man did what seemed right in his own eyes.