'Sanitation,' however, is loudly called for; and if cholera come here it
will do damage. The southern part of the narrow ledge bearing the town,
and including the French establishment, is poisoned by a fetid, stagnant
pool, full of sirens, shrimps, and anthropophagous crabs, which after
heavy rains cuts a way through its sand-bar to the sea. This _marigot_ is
the 'little shallow river Axim,' the Achombene of Barbot, which the people
call Awaminisu ('Ghost's or Deadman's Water'). To the north also there are
two foul nullahs, the Eswa and the Besaon, which make the neighbourhood
pestilential. In days to come the latter will be restored to its old
course east of the town and thrown into the Awaminisu, whose mouth will be
kept open throughout the year. The eastern suburbs, so to call them, want
clearing of offal and all manner of impurities. Beyond the original valley
of the Besaon the ground rises and bears the wall of trees seen from the
offing. There is, therefore, plenty of building-room, and long heads have
bought up all the land in that direction. Mr. Macarthy, of the School of
Mines, owns many concessions in this part of the country.
All the evils here noted can easily be remedied.
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