Travels in West Africa | Page 9

some days the Peak stands out clear from ocean to summit, looking
every inch and more of its 12,080 ft.; and this is said by the Canary
fishermen to be a certain sign of rain, or fine weather, or a gale of wind;
but whenever and however it may be seen, soft and dream-like in the
sunshine, or melodramatic and bizarre in the moonlight, it is one of the
most beautiful things the eye of man may see.
Soon after sighting Teneriffe, Lancarote showed, and then the Grand
Canary. Teneriffe is perhaps the most beautiful, but it is hard to judge
between it and Grand Canary as seen from the sea. The superb cone
this afternoon stood out a deep purple against a serpent-green sky,
separated from the brilliant blue ocean by a girdle of pink and gold
cumulus, while Grand Canary and Lancarote looked as if they were
formed from fantastic-shaped sunset cloud-banks that by some spell
had been solidified. The general colour of the mountains of Grand
Canary, which rise peak after peak until they culminate in the Pico de
las Nieves, some 6,000 feet high, is a yellowish red, and the air which
lies among their rocky crevices and swathes their softer sides is a
lovely lustrous blue.

Just before the sudden dark came down, and when the sun was taking a
curve out of the horizon of sea, all the clouds gathered round the three
islands, leaving the sky a pure amethyst pink, and as a good- night to
them the sun outlined them with rims of shining gold, and made the
snow-clad Peak of Teneriffe blaze with star-white light. In a few
minutes came the dusk, and as we neared Grand Canary, out of its
cloud-bank gleamed the red flash of the lighthouse on the Isleta, and in
a few more minutes, along the sea level, sparkled the five miles of
irregularly distributed lights of Puerto de la Luz and the city of Las
Palmas.
We reached Sierra Leone at 9 A.M. on the 7th of January, and as the
place is hardly so much in touch with the general public as the Canaries
are {14} I may perhaps venture to go more into details regarding it. The
harbour is formed by the long low strip of land to the north called the
Bullam shore, and to the south by the peninsula terminating in Cape
Sierra Leone, a sandy promontory at the end of which is situated a
lighthouse of irregular habits. Low hills covered with tropical forest
growth rise from the sandy shores of the Cape, and along its face are
three creeks or bays, deep inlets showing through their narrow
entrances smooth beaches of yellow sand, fenced inland by the forest of
cotton-woods and palms, with here and there an elephantine baobab.
The first of these bays is called Pirate Bay, the next English Bay, and
the third Kru Bay. The wooded hills of the Cape rise after passing Kru
Bay, and become spurs of the mountain, 2,500 feet in height, which is
the Sierra Leone itself. There are, however, several mountains here
besides the Sierra Leone, the most conspicuous of them being the peak
known as Sugar Loaf, and when seen from the sea they are very lovely,
for their form is noble, and a wealth of tropical vegetation covers them,
which, unbroken in its continuity, but endless in its variety, seems to
sweep over their sides down to the shore like a sea, breaking here and
there into a surf of flowers.
It is the general opinion, indeed, of those who ought to know that Sierra
Leone appears at its best when seen from the sea, particularly when you
are leaving the harbour homeward bound; and that here its charms,
artistic, moral, and residential, end. But, from the experience I have
gained of it, I have no hesitation in saying that it is one of the best
places for getting luncheon in that I have ever happened on, and that a

more pleasant and varied way of spending an afternoon than going
about its capital, Free Town, with a certain Irish purser, who is as well
known as he is respected among the leviathan old negro ladies, it would
be hard to find. Still it must be admitted it IS rather hot.
Free Town its capital is situated on the northern base of the mountain,
and extends along the sea-front with most business-like wharves, quays,
and warehouses. Viewed from the harbour, "The Liverpool of West
Africa," {15} as it is called, looks as if it were built of gray stone,
which it is not. When you get ashore, you will find that most of the
stores and houses--the majority of which, it may be remarked, are in a
state of acute dilapidation--are of