Report on the climate and principle diseases of the African station; compiled from the documents in the office of the Director-General of the Medical Department, and from other sources: in compliance with the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty / Under the immediate direction of Sir William Burnett. By Alexander Bryson.

  • Bryson, Alexander, 1802-1869.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the climate and principle diseases of the African station; compiled from the documents in the office of the Director-General of the Medical Department, and from other sources: in compliance with the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty / Under the immediate direction of Sir William Burnett. By Alexander Bryson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    TOPOGRAPHICAL REMARKS ON Europeans who visit Whydah are the masters and supercar- goes of slave vessels, and it is understood that they generally suffer severely from fever, both during their residence in the country, and after proceeding to sea. Twelve miles farther down the coast is the town of Badagry, which although of minor importance as a slave mart, is seldom lost sight of by the vessel stationed off Whydah. Lagos, on the other hand, which occupies a position more to the southward, and to the centre of the bight, has always been considered as an important station. It is supposed that during the last twenty years nearly as many slaves have been ex- ported thence as from Whydah. It is built on a strange isolated point, and is nearly surrounded by water, having the sea in front, and Lake Crado, extending to a great distance inland, immediately behind the spit upon which it is situated. In point of salubrity it is considered to be on a par with other swampy districts on the coast; but from the difficulty of land- ing and the inhospitable character of the people, it has been seldom visited; it is, therefore, less known than any other town of the same size on the station. The Benin is the only river on this part of the coast into which our cruisers have penetrated. Like all the other chan- nels which intersect the delta of the Niger, it is bounded on both sides and to the distance of several hundred miles in- land, by a succession of impenetrable mangrove swamps, and these, as might be expected, have seldom, failed to produce fever in any part of the force long enough exposed to their deadly influence. Between Cape St. Paul and Cape Formosa therefore, there have generally been three or four vessels stationed; one off Whydah, one off Lagos, one off the mouth of the Benin, and sometimes one off the upper part of the bight, between Popoe and the estuary of the Volta. It is worthy of remark, that notwithstanding the apparently unfavourable nature of the country, the crews of vessels have generally suffered less from fever while in this locality, than upon any other division of