' They will leave a sweet savour
in the reader's mouth after a somewhat acid chapter.
But the ingrained idleness of generations is not so easily cleared away.
The real cure for Sa Leone will be an immigration of Chinese or of Indian
coolies, that will cheapen labour and enable men of capital to farm on a
large scale. It may be years before agriculture supplants trade with its
light work and ready profits; but the supplanting process itself will do
good. At present Sa Leone finds it cheaper to import salt from England
than to lay out a salina, and to make an article of commerce which finds
its way into the furthest interior. Immigration, I repeat, is the sole
panacea for the evils which afflict the Lioness Range.
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM SA LEONE TO CAPE PALMAS.
Frowsy old Sa Leone bestowed on us a parting smile. After a roaring
tornado at night and its terminal deluge, the morning of January 19 broke
clear and fine. We could easily trace, amongst the curious series of
volcanic cones, the three several sanitary steps on the Leicester or
Lioness Hill. These are, first the hospice of the French Jesuits, now
officers' quarters; then a long white shed, the soldiers' hospital; and
highest (1,700 feet) the box which lodges their commandant.
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