Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/144

 112 WEST AFRICA. features in its natural history would seem to imply that the island was never at any time connected with Africa. Of its eighteen species of land molluscs one only occurs on the neighbouring coast; a bat also [Cynonycteris stramineus) is peculiar to the island, as well as a monkey {Cercopithecus albigularis), the only member of the family found in its forests. Of noxious animals the most troublesome are the cobra negra, a poisonous snake, dangerous to those engaged in clearing the woods, and the rat, very often destructive to the crops. Inhabitants. Since the end of the fifteenth century Sam- Thome was occupied by European colonists, who worked their plantations by means of slave labour. But in 1567 the French corsairs drove the Portuguese settlers to take refuge in the inland forests, while those in the north were harassed by some Angolan Negroes, who had been shipwrecked and obtained a footing on the south-west side. For over a century this guerilla warfare was continued, but the runaways were at last reduced in 1693. They, however, still occupy the west coast to the number of about thirteen hundred, faithfully preserving their national usages, keeping entirely aloof from the other islanders, and still speaking the Bunda language of their ancestors. During the first half of the present century Sam-Thome lost much of its economic importance through the emigration of large numbers to Brazil ; but since 1876, when the slaves were emancipated, the island has become one of the most flourishing colonial possessions of Portugal. During the first period of the colo- nisation attention was chiefly paid to the sugar-cane, which was introduced from Madeira, and which in some years yielded 2,000 tons. Numerous other tropical plants also thrive in the gardens, and the heights between 2,000 and 4,600 feet are now covered with cinchona plantations containing as many as a million trees. But the chief sources of wealth are coffee and cacao exported almost exclusively to Lisbon, where they are much more highly esteemed than those of the Antilles. Nearly all the north side of the island is under cultivation, while the southern half is still mainly overgrown with primeval forest. The population is increasing rapidly, having risen from 8,000 in 1855 to 18,260 in 1878, of whom 1,200 are either whites or mestizos. But education is still in a very backward state, scarcely more than two hundred and sixty being able to read and write. Cidade, or the " city," capital of the island, is pleasantly situated on the semi- circular Anna de Chaves bay on the north-east coast, and at the mouth of the Agoa Grande. Here resides the governor and commander of the Portuguese garrison. In the neighbourhood are some salt-pans. Principe. The Ilha do Principe (Prince's Island), so named because thirty years after its discovery in 1471 it was assigned as an appanage to a royal prince, is six times