Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-11-13
From the New York Tribune.
LECTURE ON CENTRAL AFRICA.

The Rev. 7. j. Bowen. formerly a Texan Rang.
er and lately a Baptist missionary to Yoruba in
Africa, gave q letcure on the Physical Geography
of Africa, especially that portion to the west of
the Niger, on Thursday, in Clinton Hall. He had
seen no chain of mountains in Africa, only isolated
peaks. The long ranges which appeared upon the
maps were, when visited, found to be mere peaks.
This would be of great Importance when the coun!
try began to require railroads. Most of these
peaks were of naked granite, and a few of them
were covered with wood. He first landed on the
coast of Liberia. The immense number of sharks
attracted his attention. For more than 1000
years sharks had fattened there on the droppings
of the slave trade. He penetrated into the coun.
try eastward, and heard the native songs of the
negroes. now domesticated in the South. The rank
smells arising from the swamps explained the un.
healthiness of the country. Through the thick
African bush they went on out of tile district OF
the pineapple and wild coffee tree, introduced there
by the slavers found the St. Pauls river to be
400 or 500 yards broad, and were turned back by
a chief who wanted all the goods they brought
with them. 1t was evident that the land in Africa
vas worn out; most of it was prairie land, which
had been produced by former cultivation, Anoth-
er proof Of this was the immense number of holes
made in the granite by the grinding of corn, now
far from any habitation. The Africans, too were
very clearly, and carried the dirt which accumu-
lated in their houses out and formed mounds that
remained long after the village was destroyed
The first impression Of the desert was that it was a
vast sea of desolation. The stories about men or
caravans being overwhelmed by sand were very
old and very false. Nearly every part the desert
was inhabited There were two old republics on
Sahara, with a literature, perhaps as old as any
other. The soil of most Of the dese rt was lime,
and sand and clay; Artesian wells would probably
find water almost anywhere, and some day the
desert might be made to blossom as the rose
People who Jagged behind the caravans might lose
their way and their bones, and give rise to such
stories as every African trs veler since Herodotus
had told. The Persian army which history said
was overwhelmed in the desert, might be account
ed for by an African tradition that some Of theii
ancestors came from Persia. Mr.. Bowen gsvt
acme interesting detoils of his meteorological ob
seryations. He had pretty good reasons to DO
I lieye that the Western Coast Of Africa was rising
, Harbors had shoaled very sensibly within 3N
! wars. He found excellent iron ore over a larg
extent of country. He had found mounds whicl
q he had satisfied himself were that remnants of oil
q FORCES. about twenty FIVE miles to the northwest O
q Aberkoota. Copper was plenty, and lead hs
/, hoen discovered. Brass of excellent quality wa
q very plenty and cheap, and he had been told that
h was made in the interior. There was an abur
dance Of gold scattered over one thousand miles