The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-05-16
African Scenery.

The British troops in Ashantee certainly
did behold some charming sights. Here
is a picture of African scenery from the
correspondence ofthe London Daily Netcs:
when Lieutenants Richmond and Wood
gate went up with the If company to build
aredoubt, the thickne IS ofthe underground
in the bush forbade any view whatever.
By persistant hacking at this underground,
by telling the smaller trees and keeping up
perpetual fires, they have cleared consid-
cradle space upon the crest, and exposed
charming view On either side rose lofty
hills clothed in green from base to summit.
Very far of, in the misty distance beyond
Coomassie, is faint shadow of mountains
The level between, through which lies our
road, is beheld through breaks of foliage
exactly like that affectioned by the earliest
of italian painters. Giorgione might have
studied his tree effects from this spot. The
plain lies misty and vague, its tones of
delicate verdure fading at the distance into
a golden haze. High above the forest
level uprise the pale green crowns of cotton
trees, disdainfal of lower growths. Creep
ers drop like brown waterfall down the
trunks. Great ruifs of fern encircle their
branches, or hang their leaves ike stag
horns from the topmost boughs. A few
trees bear crown Of blossoms, scarlet or
pink, but not to match in mass or beauty
the brilliant garden of Fanteeland. Ami
NAL life, for all We see Of it, might not
exist at all in this country. We hear
birds and beasts sometimes; occasionally
wo see parrots fly overhead, at distance
to skim the tallest boughs; but few Of us
have beheld creature that runs or flies,
except the insects. | mediate short
depression on the creeping things of Africa
in some pause of the campaign. Il is
sufficient now to say thatno country in the
world can compare with this for h variety
and number of its insects"
Another correspondent writes SO A
little stream goes clean and clear over some
shingly pebbles, and bends in and out
above and below the road among foliage
rich enough to deck, not crowded enough
to conceal it. Immediately after crossing,
one Of the richest banks Of flowers which
| have here seen presented itself, the chief
feature being gay plant, whose name |
do not know, very like cowslip in the
actual flower, but with bright white leaf
standing 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 intertwined
with ferns and creepcrs innumerable. The
bank had u curious look--roots stood out
from it as from the base Of fallen tree
aud by the irregularity aud ruggedness
they gave 70 il added much TO lis pictur-
sequences and beauty. Yet the whole ap-
pearancc Of bank, and not of huge root,
was there, from the completeness with
which Nature had decked every nook and
Granny. | was rather puzzled, and won't
round behind il TO find plainly enough,
stretching along behind il for, perhaps,
sixty yards, the quite rotten carcass of an
old foresi-king--uoW DO longer, except by
It's mere shape, distingnishable from a
mound Of rich earth, aud covered all over
with rich, high-growing moss and ferns
and plants Of all kinds