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ON THE RESOURCES OF EASTERN AFRICA. "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. " _Psalm LXVIII., v. 31._
In the foregoing pages of this work, attention has been drawn to the capabilities which East Africa offers, on its coast line, for the production of the finest cotton, by the fact of its whole sea-board being washed by that great ocean-current which subsequently, in its course on the east coast of America, obtains the name of the Gulf Stream. The wonderful effect which the heat contained in this great body of water has on the climate of England, and other more torridly-situated countries, is a fact too well attested to be disputed. For my present purpose it will be simply necessary for me to state that the long and beautiful staple of the sea-island cotton is produced by the warm yet humid atmosphere arising from the Gulf Stream, accompanied by the saline breezes on the islands and coast of America; and similarly that cotton of the sea-island quality may be likewise produced on the east coast of Africa, and the islands of the Ethiopian archipelago, bathed by this great oceanic current. In proof of which, I would point to the cotton now grown on the Seychelles, and also to that produced on the coast line of the British colony of Natal.