Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-04-08
AFRICAN SCENERY.
A Magnificent Country.

Tie British troops in Ashantee GER
fanny can behold some charming sights.
Her IS picture of African scenery
from the correspondence of the London
Daily News
when Lieutenants Richmond and
Wo'dgate went up with their company
to luild redoubt, the thickness Of the
unPrgrowth in the bush forbade any
viev whatever. By persistent hacking
at this underground, by telling the
smaller trees, and keeping up perpetual
fire., they have cleared considerable
sp@e upon the crest, and exposed a
charming view. On either side rose
loft hills, clothed in green from base
to summit. Very far off, in the misty
Distance beyond Coomassie, is faint
shadow of mountains. The level be-
TWEEN, through which lies our road, is
belPld through breaks OF foliage exact
ly Ike that affectioned by the earliest
italian painters. Giorgione mi ht have
studied his tree effects from this spot.
The plain lies misty and vague, it's
tones of delicate verdure fading at the
distance into golden haze. High
above the forest level uprise the pale
green crowns Of cotton trees, disdainful
OF bwer growths. Creepers drop like
a brown waterfall down the trunks.
Great runs of fern encircle their branch
es, or hang their leaves like stag horns
from the topmost boughs. A few trees
bear q crown of blossoms, scarlet or
pink, but not to match in mass or beauty
the brilliant garden of Fanteeland.
Animal life, for all we see of it. might
not exist at all in this country. We
hear birds and beasts sometimes Oc-
casio1ally we see parrots fly overhead,
at q distance to skim the tallest boughs;
but Jew of us have beheld a creature
that runs or flies, except the insects. [
mediate a short depression on the
creeping things of Africa in some pause
OF the campaign. It is sufficient now
to say, that no country in the world can
compare with this for variety and num-
Der of it's insects"
Another correspondent writes: .
:" little stream goes clean and clear
over some shingly pebble, and bends in
and out above and below the road among
foliage rich enough to deck, not crowd
CNi w COuCtdl IL, llllulotiIdUpIV
after crossing, one of the richest banks
of flowers which have here seen pre-
scented itself, the chief feature being a
gay plant, whose name [ do not know,
very like cowslip in the actual flow
er, but with a bright white leaf stand
ing out as If part of the flower itself
behind each fower-head, and the plant
growing in luxuriant masses on stems
SIX or seven feet high the whole inter
twined with ferns and creepers innum-
cradle, The bank had q curious look
roots stood out from it as from the base
OF fallen tree, and by the irregUlarity
and ruggedness they gave to it, added
to it's picturesqueness and beauty. Yet
the whole appearance of a bank, and
not OF huge root, was there, from the
completeness with which Nature had
decked every nook and Granny I was
rather puzzled, and went around behind
it to find plainly enough, stretching
along behind it for, perhaps, sixty
yards, the quite rotten carcass of an
old forest king no longer, except
by its mere shape, distinguishable from
mound of rich earth, and covered all
over with rich, high-growing moss and
ferns and plants of all kinds" q