t, all the
day long. The climate is bad enough without any help, but the drinking
habit of the residents along the Bight of Benin is worse than the
climate, and everybody knows it; but, somehow or other, everybody is
reckless and continues to drink, knowing perfectly well what the result
will be."

Dr. Whitney had already made observations to the same effect, and
remarked that he thought the west coast of Africa would be a good field
of labor for an advocate of total abstinence. His new acquaintance
replied that it might be under ordinary circumstances, but that the
conditions of the region where they were not ordinary. It was
necessary to remember that the men who went to West Africa for purposes
of trade were of a reckless, adventurous sort, having little regard for
the future and determined to make the most of the present. Men of this
class take very naturally to habits of dissipation, and would turn a
deaf ear to any advocate of temperance who might come among them.

Fortunately for our friends, they were detained at Bonny only a single
day. A small steamer which runs between Bonny and Fernando Po took them
to the latter place, which is on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and
has a mountain peak ten thousand feet high. This peak is wooded to the
summit with fine timber, and altogether the island is a very attractive
spot to the eye, in comparison with Bonny and the swampy region of the
lower Niger.

Port Clarence, the harbor of Fernando Po, is said to be one of the
prettiest places of Western Africa. The town consists of a group of
houses somewhat irregularly placed, and guarded by a fort which could be
knocked down in a few hours by a fleet of modern warships.

Our friends went on shore immediately after their arrival, and found
quarters in what Ned called an apology for a hotel. Fernando Po is the
property of Spain, and the island is one of the State prisons of that
country. Some of the prisoners are kept in hulks in the harbor, while
others are confined in the fort. Not infrequently prisoners escape and
find shelter among the Adyia, the tribe of natives inhabiting the
island. They are a peaceful people, but have a marked hatred for
civilization. They rarely come into the town, and none of them will
consent to live there. Their huts or villages are scattered over the
forests, and when visitors go among them they are kindly treated. The
town of Port Clarence is occupied by a few white men and a considerable
nu