than others; for instance, Inenyápoli is exceptionally dangerous. The sea
is shallow, and ships, requiring eight fathoms, must, to be safe, anchor
four miles out. The coast-soundings in the Admiralty charts are positively
unsafe, and will remain so until revised. On the other hand, the reefs and
rocks of Axim Bay have wholly disappeared, with some exceptions seen off
Kikam and Esyáma.

Looking inland we find the shore mostly subtended by a _marigot_, or
salt-water lagoon, a miniature of those regular rivers which made the
Slave Coast what it was. And along the sea we can detect its presence by
the trickling of little rills guttering and furrowing the sandy surface.
The formation of these characteristic African features, which either run
parallel with or are disposed at various angles to the coast, is
remarkably simple. There is no reason to assume with Lieutenant R. C. Hart
that they result from secular upheaval. [Footnote: Page 186, _Gold Coast
Blue Book_. London, 1881]. The 'powerful artillery with which the ocean
assails the bulwarks of the land' here heaps up a narrow strip of high
sand-bank; and the tails of the smaller streams are powerless to break
through it, except when swollen by the rains. They maintain their level by
receiving fresh water at the head and by percolation through the beach,
while most of them are connected with the sea.

We halted for rest at the Esyáma village; its landmarks are the ronnier,
the glorious palmyra (_Borassus flabelliformis_), here called 'women's
cocoa-tree.' The village looked peculiarly neat with its straight, sandy
street-roads, a quarter of a mile long; and the tenements generally are
better than those of Axim. We noticed the usual feature, a long thatched
barn of yellow clay--school-cum-chapel. The people are fond of planting
before their doors the _felfa_, croton or physicnut (_Jatropha curcas_),
whose oil so long lighted Lisbon. It is a tree of many uses. Boys suck the