CAMEROONS, or perhaps preferably Camaroons, is the greatest mountain-mass on the western coast of Africa. It is situated at the angle of the Bight of Biafra, directly opposite the island of Fernando Po, with which it has evidently an intimate geological connection. Its European name is said to be derived from the Portuguese Camarãos (shrimps or prawns), and to have been bestowed by the early discoverers on the neighbouring coast from the abundance of its Crustacea. The native designation of the highest peak is Mongo-má-Lobá, or the Mountain of the Sky, and the whole upper region is usually called Mongo-mo-Ndemi, or the Mountain of Greatness. The area of the Cameroons proper is calculated at about 380 square miles; but offshoots and underfalls seem to stretch both north and south for considerable distances. The pile is of distinctly volcanic formation, and the higher district contains numerous craters and lava-beds of comparatively recent date. On the principal summit, whose twin peaks of Mount Albert and Victoria rise to a height of about 13,120 feet above the sea-level, there are one small and two large craters, from which, if native report can be trusted, eruptions have taken place within the memory of man (1838). The lower portions of the mass are occupied by a luxuriant vegetation of palms, acacias, fig-trees, kokos, plantains, and a rich variety of tree and shrub; while at the height of about 7000 feet these give place to ferns, grasses, and heaths. The climate of the middle zone would render it an excellent site for a sanatorium for Europeans debilitated by the malaria of the neighbouring coasts; and the fertility of the soil would soon raise the district to great commercial importance, if it were brought under cultivation. The native tribes which inhabit the ...