The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-11 00:00:00

WEST COAST OF AFRICA.

The African Company's Royal Mail steamship
Athenian arrived in the Mersey yesterday after-
noon, with the mails from the West Coast of Africa,
and 4,053 ounces of gold dust, together with a large
miscellaneous cargo and full complement of passen-
gers. Her dates are—Benin, Nov. 24 ; Fernando
Po, Dee. 21 ; Cameroons, Dec. 2 ; Old Calabar, Dec.
4 ; Brass, Dec. 5 ; Bonny, Dec. 7 ; Sierra Leoue,
Dec. 21; Bathurst, Dec. 25 ; Teneriffe, Dec. 31;
Madeira, Jan. 2 ; Lagos, Dec. 10 ; Accra, Dec. 12.
Our Liverpool correspondents are indebted to the
courtesy of Mr. Curry, purser of the Athenian, for
the following summary of news by that vessel.
At Benin the health of the residents was good,
and trade brisk. The steamers Fidelita, Sea Flower,
and Benin loading.
Fernando Po was healthy, and the new Spanish
governor was doing much in the way of improving
the island. Ships at Clarence Cove—United States
gunboats Sumpter and Mystic ; British schooner
Eliza, of Bristol; and Hamburg barque William
Oswall.

The Cameroons were healthy, but trade rather
dull. The natives were quiet, and the recent dis-
turbances had been amicably settled. The dry sea-
son continued very long this year, but rain had
fallen previous to the Athenian's departure. The
Montezuma and the Elizabeth Emily were in the
river.

Brass river was unhealthy, and trade was stag-
nant. The Empress, Arabian, Florence Nightingale,
Orient, and Bell were in the river.
At Bonny trade was rather dull, but the health
of the place was good. The Grand Bonny arrived
in the river on the 3d Dec., and the Valleyfield
sailed for Liverpool on the same day, full of oil.
The ships Mississippi, Empress, Adventure, Mary
Black, Mary, Fanny, and Pomona were loading.
LAGOS, Dec. 10.—Healthy. Trade brisk ; re-
ceived 240 casks of oil. Outside the bar her Ma-
jesty's ship Medusa, United States gunboat
Sumpter, ships Prussian Eagle, Palma, Galatea.
and screw steamer Fidelita. The new British con-
sul, Mr. Brand, was pleased with the place and in
health. _

ACCRA, Dec. 12.—N0 news. Health and trade
pretty good.
CAPE COAST CASTLE, Dec. 14.—Healthy. Trade
brisk. A serious riot took place on November 24
between the people of the Intin and I3entil quarters
or companies into which Cape Coast Castle is di-
vided. In consequence of some misunderstanding
their old feelings of jealousy and mutual hatred
broke out, and they went out to a plain about two
miles from Cape Coast to fight; The authorities
of Cape Coast, when they heard of these proceed-
ings, lost no time in marching to the spot, with
as large a force of regulars and municipal volun-
teers as could be raised. Lieutenant Williams
marched boldly between the two rival parties,
and the chief justice went about amongst them
endeavouring to persuade them to retire. He

" Ceylon, from whatever direction it is approached, un-
folds a scene of loveliness and grandeur unsurpassed, if it
be rivalled, by any land in the universe. The traveller
from Bengal, leaving behind the melancholy delta of the
Ganges and the torrid coast of Coromandel; or the adven-
turer from Europe, recently inured to the sands of Egypt
and the scorched headlands of Arabia, is alike entranced by
tho vision of beauty which expands before him as the island
rises from the sea, its lofty mountains covered by luxuriant
forests, and its shores, till they meet the ripple of the waves,
bright with the foliage of perpetual spring.
" The Brahmans designated it by the epithet of Lanka,
' the resplendent,' and in their dreamy rhapsodies extolled
it as the region of mystery and sublimity; the Buddhist
poets gracefully apostrophised it as ' a pearl upon the brow
of India;' the Chinese knew it as the ' island of jewels;'
the Greeks as the land of the hyacinth 'and the ruby ;'
the Mahometans, in the intensity of their delight, assigned
it to the exiled parents of mankind as a new eiysium to
console them for the loss of Paradise; and the early navi-
gators of Europe, as they returned dazzled with its gems,
and laden with its costly spices, propagated the fable that
far to seaward the very breeze that blew from it was re-
dolent of perfume. In later and less imaginative times,
Ceylon has still maintained the renom n of its attractions,
and exhibits in all its varied charms ' the highest conceiv-
able development of Indian nature.'

"The soil in these regions is consequently light and un-
remunerative, but the plentiful moisture arising from the
interception of every passing vapour from the Indian Ocean
and the Bay of Bengal, added to the intense warmth of the
atmosphere, combine to force a vegetation so rich and
luxuriant that imagination can picture nothing more won-
drous and charming ; every level spot is enamelled with
verdure, forests of never-fading bloom cover mountain and
valley ; flowers of the brightest hues grow in profusion over
the plains, and delicate climbing plants, rooted i 4 the shel-
ving rocks, hang in huge festoons down the edge of every
precipice.
" Unlike the forests of Europe, in which the excess of
some peculiar trees imparts a character of monotony and
graveness to the outline and colouring, the forests of Ceylon
are singularly attractive from the endless variety of their
foliage, and the vivid contrast of their hues. The moun-
tains, especially those looking towards the east and south,
rise abruptly to prodigious and almost precipitous heights
above the level plains ; tho rivers wind through woods be-
low like threads of silver through green embroidery, till
they are lost in a dim haze which conceals the far horizon ;
and through this a line of tremulous light marks where the
sunbeams are glittering among the waves upon the distant-
shore.

" From age to age a scene so lovely has imparted a
colouring of romance to the adventures of the seamen who,
in the eagerness of commerce, swept round the shores of
India, to bring back the pearls and precious stones, the
cinnamon and odours, of Ceylon. The tales of the Arabians
are fraught with the wonders of ' Serendid ;' and the mari-
ners of the Persian Gulf have left a record of their delight
in reaching the calm havens of the island, and reposing for
months together in valleys where the waters of the sea
were overshadowed by woods, and the gardens were bloom-
ing in perennial summer."
The portion of the descriptions which relates to the
gems is very interesting. From time immemorial
this island has been celebrated for its sparkling
mines. The accounts of travellers returning front
the east gave to the story-tellers of the " Arabian
fables of the jewels of Serendib, and
in which they still exist is enough to
tNhiegphrtso'f'utshioen
to prove that there is foundation for the marvels re•
the
olden time. Diamonds are not native
as has been sometimes said,but there are
ilantuedey ofon:
many brilliant gems to compensate for this defi-
ciency. It cannot but be desirable to become ac-
quainted with the facts here specified concerning
the climate of Ceylon. It would appear on un-
questionable authority that it is very far from being
so injurious in its effects as many foreign locali-
ties. The subjoined lines cn the subject will be
acceptable :

" The climate of Ceylon, from its physical configuration
and insular detachment, contrasts favourably with that of
the great Indian peninsula. Owing to the moderato dimen-
sions of the island, the elevation of its mountains, the very
short space during which the sun is passing over it in his
regression from or approach to the soltices, and its sur-
rounding seas being nearly uniform in temperature, it is
exempt from the extremes of heating and cooling to which
the neighbouring continent of India is exposed. From the
same causes it is subjected more uniformly to the genial in-
fluences of the trade winds that blow over the Indian Ocean
and the Bay of Eengal.
" The island is seldom visited by hurricanes, or swept by
typhoons, and the breeze, unlike the hot and arid winds of
Coroinandel and the Darken, is always more or less re-
freshing. The range of the thermometer exhibits no vio-
lent changes, and never indicates a temperature insupport-
ably high. The mean on an annual average scarcely ex-
eeeds 80 deg. at Colombo, though in exceptional years it
has risen to 86 deg. But at no period of the day are dan-
gerous results to be apprehended from exposure to the sun ;
and except during parts of the months of March and April,
there is no season when moderate exercise is not practic-
able and agreeable. For half the year, from October to
May, the prevailing winds are from the north-east, and
during the remaining months the south-west monsoon
blows steadily from the great Indian Ocean. The former,
affected by the wintry chills of the vast tracts of land which
it traverses before crossing, the Bay of Bengal, is subject to
many local variations and intervals of calm. But the lat-
ter, after the first violence of its outset is abated, becomes
nearly uniform throughout the period of its prevalence,
and presents the character of an on-shore breeze extend-
ing over a prodigious expanse of sea and land, and exert •
ing a powerful influence along the regions of southern
Asia.

" In Ceylon the proverbial fickleness of the winds, and
the uncertainty which characterises the seasons in northern
climates, is comparatively unknown ; and the occurrence of
changes or rain may be anticipated with considerable accu-
racy in any month of a coming year. There are, of course,
abnormal seasons with higher ranges of temperature, hea-
vier rains, or droughts of longer continuance, but such ex-
tremes are exceptional and rare. Great atmospheric changes
occur only at two opposite periods of the year, and so gra-
dual is their approach that the climate is monotonous, and
one longs to see again the falling of the leaf' to diversify
the sameness of perennial verdure. The line is faint which
divides the seasons. No period of the year is divested of its