The soil of Senegambia differs widely. On the coast we find either low, flat, alluvial plains, or an undulating country broadening to the north. In the northern frontier this tract merges into the Sahara. In the interior the plateau rises from the coast plains in a series of mountainous terraces, and finally loses itself in the Kong Mountains. The loftiest elevations of the soil are only a little more than three thousand feet.
Strictly speaking, the country is divided into three sections, High, Middle, and Low Senegambia. High Senegambia lies to the north of the Senegal and is inhabited chiefly by the Moors. Middle Senegambia is the section along the borders of the Senegal. It is inhabited chiefly by negroes, who divide themselves into numerous tribes. The climate of this section is extremely hot and in the marshy districts it is very unhealthy. The soil is fertile, and yields the usual productions of the hot regions of Africa. Lower Senegambia includes the sections bordering on the Gambia.
As a country, Senegambia has a most luxuriant vegetation. The monkey bread tree is characteristic of the country. It is considered the most enormous tree upon the globe, and while other trees may surpass it in height none equal it in the size of its gigantic trunk and limbs. Specimens have been found measuring sixty, seventy-five, and even a hundred feet in circumference.
While the native population of Senegambia consists of negroes of various types, European nations are well represented. The British have a number of settlements along the banks of the Gambia. Along the banks of the Senegal are various French settlements. Scattered along the rivers at various points are numerous small factories managed by the Portuguese.
The chief commercial products of Senegambia consist of gum, beeswax, ivory, bark, and hide.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CONGO RIVER.
The Congo River flows into the Gulf of Guinea and is a most magnificent river, more wonderful in some respects than the Nile. It is the only one of the large rivers of Africa which has anything approaching an estuary; all the others having delta mouths. So great is the volume of water which it discharges at its mouth, that forty miles out at sea its water is only partially mingled with that of the Atlantic, while nine miles from the coast the water is perfectly fresh.
The Congo River was for many years a veritable Will-o'-the-wisp to explorers. Its identity was lost so many times, that the geographers looked upon the course of this river as one of the greatest problems connected with the study of Africa they had ever been called upon to solve.