6580. In point of health how are the other islands as compared with Bulama?—I have no means of judging, being inhabited by barbarous piratical people, with whom we have no sort of intercourse at present; the policy of the Portuguese is to keep all the persons surrounding their settlement in the most barbarous state.
6581. Mr. Aldam.] What is the nature of the land on the opposite coast?—All swampy, I believe.
6582. Then is not the island necessarily unhealthy?—No, I think not; I think that if the sea coast on the western side of the island was occupied, it would not be so; it is certainly not more swampy than the Gambia itself, and many other settlements.
6583. Mr. Forster.] You attribute the failure of Captain Beaver to the inadequacy of the means that he employed rather than to the fault of the island?—I think it was a great deal owing to that; I think there is no proof that the island is unhealthy to the extent supposed, and I believe the island might be immediately peopled by blacks.
6584. Have you in the course of your cruizing on the coast of Africa seen any part that appeared to you to be so eligible for a settlement as the island of Bulama?—I have already stated in as strong terms as I am able, the importance of the island, in my opinion, in every respect; there may be places that I should suppose to be more healthy; for instance, Sierra Leone itself, is apparently the most healthy part of the whole coast, but there seems to be great doubt whether it is so.
6585. Mr. Aldam.] If the opposite coast is swampy, would not fever almost always prevail there when the wind sets from the land?—I am not at all able to say what causes fever, for we find it under all circumstances; you find sometimes swampy places less unhealthy than high places.
6586. Mr. Forster.] Did you land on the island of Bulama?—Yes.
6587. Have you seen any considerable portion of the island?—No, I have not, excepting the coast.
6588. Is it your opinion that there is open ground there?—I found the ground under cultivation, and therefore only told the people that it was a British island; I thought it would have been injudicious to remove them and let jungles spring up before the Government took possession of it.
6589. You saw no extraordinary obstacle to the cultivation and improvement of the island?—Decidedly not; I think it is the most favourable spot for cultivation I have seen upon the coast of Africa.