Olive Tilford Dargan and Frederick Peterson - "The Flutter of the Goldleaf; and Other Plays"

Various - "Georgian Poetry 1916 17"

Angela Brazil - "The Jolliest School of All"

Walt Whitman - "Complete Prose Works"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

From Pole to Pole

S >> Sven Anders Hedin >> From Pole to Pole




"Thanks for your advice. I am the more ready to follow it because I
always intended to get to Chicago sometime."

"From Pittsburg," continues the American, "a line runs direct to the
large town of St. Louis on the Mississippi. St. Louis is a junction of
great importance, for not only do a whole series of great railway lines
meet there, but also innumerable steamboats ply from there up the
Mississippi and Missouri, and to all the large towns on their
tributaries. St. Louis is the centre of all the winding waterways which
intersect all parts of the United States. And there you can travel on
comfortable flat-bottomed steamers along the main river to New Orleans,
a great harbour for the export of cotton. You can well conceive what a
blessing and source of wealth this river is to our country. It is of
immense extent, for it is the longest river in the world, if we take its
length from the sources of the Missouri in the Rocky Mountains, and in
the area of its basin it is second only to the Amazons. Its plain is
exceedingly fruitful, and far around its banks grain shoots up out of
the soil to feed many millions of human beings. And its waterways,
ramifying like the nerves of a leaf, facilitate communication and the
transport of goods between the different States.

"You should just see how the great river rises in spring. You might
think you were sailing on a large lake, and, as a matter of fact, it
floods an area as large as Lake Superior. If the Mississippi is a
blessing to men, on the other hand in spring it exacts a heavy tax from
them. The vast volumes of brown, muddy water often cut off sharp bends
from the river-bed and take short cuts through narrow promontories. By
such tricks the length of the river is not infrequently shortened by ten
or twelve miles here and there. But you can imagine the trouble this
causes. A town standing on such a bend may one fine day find itself six
miles from the bank. In another the inhabitants are in danger of being
at any time drowned like cats. A railway bridge may suddenly be
suspended over dry land, while the river has swept away rails and
embankment a little farther off. Our engineers have great difficulty in
protecting constructions from the capricious river in spring. Not a year
passes without the Mississippi causing terrible destruction and
inflicting great loss on those who dwell near its banks, especially in
cattle.

"You have only to see this water to comprehend what immense quantities
of earth, sand, and mud are yearly carried down by it. And all this silt
is deposited in the flat delta below New Orleans. Therefore the delta
extends from year to year farther out into the Gulf of Mexico. This is
an easy way of increasing our territory, but we would willingly
sacrifice the gain if we could get rid of the terrible floods in
spring."

The train with our two travellers on board has now crossed the boundary
of Pennsylvania, and is making its way westwards through the states of
Ohio and Indiana. Boundless plains extend to north and south, planted
with maize, wheat, oats, and tobacco. Maize fields, however, are the
most frequent, and the harvest is just beginning. Gigantic reaping
machines, drawn by troops of horses, mow down the grain and bind it into
sheaves, while other machines throw it into waggons. The reapers have
only to drive the horses; all the rest is done by the machines.
Certainly men's hands could never be able to deal with all this grain;
whole armies could be hidden under the ears of maize.

Now the train skirts the shore of Lake Michigan, which stretches its
blue surface northwards, and a little later halts at Chicago.

* * * * *

Gunnar has been directed to an agency for Swedish workmen, and the first
thing he does is to call there. In a day or two he obtains work in the
timber business, and goes up to Canada in a large cargo steamer which
carries timber from the forests of Canada to Chicago. Here the timber
supplies seem to him inexhaustible when he sees the dark coniferous
woods on the shores and hills, and when he notices that hundreds of
steamboats are carrying the same freight. The workman beside him, an
Englishman, boasts of the immense territory which occupies almost all
the northern half of North America.

"Canada is the most precious jewel in the crown of Great Britain, next
to the mother-country and India."

"Why is Canada so valuable? I always thought that its population was
very small."

"It has not many people; you are right there. Canada has only seven
million inhabitants."

"Oh, not more! That is just about as many as Greater London."

"Yes; and yet Canada is as large as all Europe and as the United States
of America. It stretches so far to east and west that it occupies a
fourth part of the circuit of the earth, and if you travel from Montreal
to Vancouver you have a journey of 2906 miles. But you can well
understand that such an extensive country, even though it is thinly
peopled, especially in its cold, northern parts, must yield much that is
valuable to its owners."

"Yes, certainly; so it is in Siberia, where the population is also
scanty."

"Just so. In Canada fields, mountains, forests, and water yield an
immense revenue. Think only of all the agricultural produce which is
shipped from here, not to speak of gold, fish, and furs. The wheat
produced in Canada is alone worth over 22 million pounds sterling a
year. There are also huge areas which are worthless. We get little
advantage from the northern coasts, where the Eskimos live."

"You are quite at home on these lakes?"

"Oh yes. When a man has sailed to and fro over them for ten years, he
knows all about the roadsteads and channels, and about when the ice
forms and breaks up, and when there is a prospect of a storm."

"But the storms cannot be very dangerous?"

"Ah, you do not believe in them. All the same they may be just as
dangerous as in the Atlantic, and when a real hurricane comes, the
skipper will do well to seek shelter, or at the best he will lose his
cargo. You will soon have opportunities of seeing, hearing, and feeling
how the surge beats just as on the coast of the ocean. But then, all
these lakes have an aggregate area more than half as large as the
Baltic, and if we take the depth into account we shall find that the
volume of water is the same as in the Baltic. Lake Superior is the
largest lake in the world. Beyond the point yonder lies Lake Huron. You
must acknowledge that this scenery is beautiful. Have you ever seen
anything to equal this sheet of dark-blue water, the dark-green woods,
and the grand peaceful shores? It is a pity that we do not go to Lake
Erie, for at its eastern extremity is one of the wonders of the world
and the most famous spectacle in North America."

[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII. NIAGARA FALLS.]

"You mean the Falls of Niagara, which I have heard described so many
times?"

"Yes. Think of a steamboat on Lake Erie sucked along by the stream that
flows to Ontario. This lake lies 300 feet lower than Erie, and about
half-way between the two lakes the water passes over a sharp bar and
plunges with a thundering roar into the depth below (Plate XXXIII.). The
barrier itself, which is a thousand yards broad, is formed of a huge
stratum of sandstone, and the rocks under it are loose slates. Erosion
proceeds more rapidly in the slates than in the hard limestone, which,
therefore, overhangs like the projecting leaf of a table, and the
collected volumes of water hurl themselves over it. But when the
limestone is so far undermined that it is no longer able to bear the
weight of the water, fragments break off from time to time from its edge
and fall into the abyss with a deafening noise. Thus in time the fall
wears away the barrier and Niagara is moving back in the direction of
Lake Erie."

"Moving, do you say? The movement can surely not be rapid."

"Oh no; Niagara needs about seventeen thousand years to move half a mile
nearer to Lake Erie."

"That's all right, for now I can be sure it will be there when I visit
it at some future opportunity."

"Yes, and you would find it even if a crowd of railway lines did not run
to it. You hear the roar of the 'thunder water' forty miles away, and
when you come closer you see dense clouds of foam and spray rising from
the ravine 150 feet below the threshold of the Fall. Yes, Niagara is the
most wonderful thing I have seen. In all the world it is surpassed only
by the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, discovered by Livingstone. One
feels small and overawed when one ventures on the bridges above and
below the Fall, and sees its 280,000 cubic feet of water gliding one
moment smooth as oil over the barrier, and the next dashing into foam
and spray below with a thundering noise."

"It would not be pleasant to be sucked over the edge."

"And yet a reckless fellow once made the journey. For safety he crept
into a large, stout barrel, well padded inside with cushions. Packed in
this way, he let the barrel drift with the stream, tip over the edge of
the barrier, and fall perpendicularly into the pool below. As long as he
floated in the quiet drift, and even when he fell with the column of
water, he ran no danger. It was when he plumped down on to the water
below and span round in the whirlpools, bumped against rocks rising up
from the bottom, and was carried at a furious pace down under the watery
vault. But the traveller got through and was picked up in quiet water."

"I suppose that there are bridges over the Niagara River as over all the
others in the country?"

"Certainly. Among them is an arched bridge of steel below the Falls
which has a single span of 270 yards, and is the most rigid bridge in
the world."

"Tell me, where does all this water go to below Niagara?"

"Well, it flows out into Lake Ontario, opposite Toronto, the largest
town in Canada. Then it runs out of the lake's north-eastern corner,
forming winding channels among a number of islands, which are called The
Thousand Islands. Then the river, which is called the St. Lawrence, is
sometimes narrow and rapid and sometimes expands into lake-like reaches.
At the large town of Montreal begins the quiet course, and below Quebec
the St. Lawrence opens out like a huntsman's horn. The river is frozen
over every year, and in some places the ice is so thick that rails can
be laid on it and heavy goods trains run over it. In spring, when the
ice begins to break up, the neighbourhood of the river is dangerous, and
sometimes mountains of ice thrust themselves over the lower parts of
Montreal. It can be cold in Montreal--down to-30 deg. It is still worse in
northern Canada. And the summer is short in this country."

"You have just mentioned Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec. Which is the
capital?"

"Oh, none of these is the capital of the Colony. That honour belongs to
the small town of Ottawa. And now I will tell you something
extraordinary. The Dominion of Canada is situated between two
goldfields. In the extreme east is Newfoundland, in the extreme west
Klondike. I shall never forget the gold fever which seized adventurers
in nearly all countries when it was known that the precious metal
occurred in large quantities in the gravel and sand-beds on the banks of
the Yukon River. I was one of them myself. Men rushed wildly off to get
there in time and stake out small claims in the auriferous soil. What a
wild life! How we suffered! We had to pay a shilling for a biscuit and a
dollar for a box of sardines. We were glad when a hunter shot elk and
reindeer, and sold the meat for an exorbitant price in gold dust. We
lived huddled up in wretched tents and were perished with cold. Furious
snowstorms swept during winter over the dreary country and the
temperature fell to-67 deg. And what a toil to get hold of the miserable
gold! The ground is always frozen up there. To work in it you must first
thaw the soil with fire. By degrees the situation improved and a small
town grew up on the goldfield, and in a few years the gold won attained
to the value of five millions sterling."

"And the other gold mine, then?"

"Newfoundland. A cold polar current brings yearly quantities of seal,
cod, salmon, herring, and lobster down to the banks of Newfoundland,
where more than fifty thousand fishermen are engaged in catching them.
As the fish brings in yearly a revenue of several millions, this
easternmost island of North America may well be called a gold mine too."


THROUGH THE GREAT WEST

After a few profitable voyages on Lakes Michigan and Huron, Gunnar has
saved so much that he can carry out his plan of travelling to the
extreme West. He intends to let his dollars fly in railway fares, and,
after he has seen enough of the great cities of America, to settle down
in the most attractive district. There he will stay and work until he
has saved up enough to buy a farm of his own in his native country.

He sets off from Chicago and leaves St. Louis behind him, and is carried
by a train on the Pacific Railway through Missouri and Kansas westwards.
In the latter State he flies over boundless prairies.

Eventually a German naturalist enters Gunnar's carriage when the train
stops at a large station. He is dusty and out of breath, and is glad to
rest when he has seen his boxes and chests stowed away in the luggage
van. Like all Germans he is alert and observant, agreeable and
talkative, and the train has not crossed the boundary between Kansas and
Colorado before he has learned all about Gunnar's experiences and
plans.

Soon the German on his part explains the business which has brought him
out to the Far West.

"I have received a grant from the University of Heidelberg to collect
plants and animals in the western States, and I travel as cheaply as I
can so that the money may last longer. I love this great America. Have
you noticed how colossal everything is in this country, whether the good
God or wicked man be the master-builder? If you cross a mountain range
like the Rocky Mountains, or its South American continuation, the Andes,
it is the longest in the world. If you roll over a river, as the
Mississippi-Missouri, you hear that this also is the longest that
exists. If you travel by steamboat over the Canadian lakes, you are told
that no sheets of fresh water in the world surpass them. And think of
all these innumerable large towns that have sprung up within a century
or two. And these railways, these astonishing bridges, these
inexhaustible natural resources, and this world-embracing commerce. How
alert and industrious is this people, how quickly everything develops,
how much more bustle and feverish haste there is than in the Old World!"

"It is charming to see the Rocky Mountains become more and more
distinct, and the different chains and ridges stand out more sharply as
we approach."

"Yes, indeed. You notice by the speed of the train that we are already
mounting upwards. You see the prairies pass into the foot of the hills.
We shall soon come into the zone of dwarf oaks and mahogany trees.
Higher up are slopes covered with fine pine woods, and willows and
alders grow along the banks of the streams."

"You speak of trees. Is it true, as a skipper on Lake Michigan told me,
that there are trees here in the west which are over three hundred feet
high?"

"Quite true. Your informant meant, of course, the two species of the
coniferous family which are called mammoth trees, because they are the
giants of the vegetable kingdom, as the mammoths were of the animal
kingdom. They grow on the western flanks of the Sierra Nevada in
California. When one sees these heaven-aspiring trees one is tempted to
believe that their only aim in life is to rise so high that they may
look over the crest of the coast range and have a free view of the
Pacific Ocean. One of these giants which fell long ago had a height of
435 feet and a girth of 110 feet at the base. It was called the 'Father
of the Forest.' The trunk is hollow. There is also another fallen
mammoth called the 'Riding School,' because a man on horseback can ride
some way into the inside. These trees are supposed to be several
thousand years old. The place in the Sierra Nevada where the last giants
stand on their ancient roots is protected and is the property of the
whole people. If the law did not protect the trees, they would go the
same way as the bisons and Indians."

"Is there not also a reserved area in the Rocky Mountains?"

"Yes; the Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming. It is a
wonderful place, and whole books have been written about it. There are
as many as four thousand hot springs and a hundred geysers in the lower
part of the valley between the crests of the Rocky Mountains. The Giant
Geyser shoots up to a height of 250 feet, and 'Old Faithful' spouts up
once an hour. The Park contains many other natural wonders, and there
are preserved herds of wild animals, such as elks, antelopes, and stags.
Even beavers have found a refuge in its streams."

"Are there dangerous beasts of prey in these mountains?" asks Gunnar
while the train puffs and rolls heavily up a dark valley.

"Yes; the grizzly bear is the largest of them. He is not so particularly
dangerous, and at any rate is better than his reputation. If he is only
left in peace he will not come near a man, and if he is attacked he
almost always takes to flight. But if he is wounded at close quarters he
may take a terrible revenge, and he is the strongest of all the animals
in his native haunts. It was formerly considered a great honour to wear
a necklace of a grizzly bear's teeth and claws.

"It is a fine sight to see a grizzly bear roaming through the woods and
thickets, where he considers himself absolute master of all the animals
of the region. He is sometimes brownish, sometimes grey, and a grey bear
is supposed to be more dangerous than a brown. He lives like all other
bears, hibernates, eats berries, fruit, nuts, and roots, but he also
kills animals and is said to be very expert in fishing. I will tell you
a little hunting story.

"A white hunter was once eager for an opportunity of killing a grizzly
bear, and a young Indian undertook to lead him to a spot where he would
not have to wait long. The two marksmen hid behind a small knoll, after
having laid out a newly-killed deer as bait. The Indian, who knew the
habits of bears, was not mistaken. Soon a huge bear came waddling out
of the wood with such a ridiculous gait that the white hunter could
hardly control his laughter, though the Indian remained silent and
serious. The old fellow stopped frequently, lifted his nose in the air,
and looked about to convince himself that no danger lurked around. Once
he began to scratch in the ground, and then smelled his forepaws and lay
down on his back and rolled. He wanted probably to rub his coat in some
strongly smelling plant.

"Then he went on again. After a time he sat and clawed his fur, looked
at his paws, and licked his pads. Then he scratched himself behind the
ears with his hind paws. And when his toilet was finished he trotted
straight towards the place where the deer lay. When he saw the animal he
was surprised, reared up on his hind legs to his full height, cocked his
ears, wrinkled his forehead, and seemed perplexed. When he was sure that
the stag was dead he went up to it and smelt it. Then he went round and
nosed about on the other side to see if the animal were dead on that
side also.

"His meditations were here interrupted, for the white hunter fired and
the bear fell, but raised himself again on his hind legs. The hunter
followed his example, but the Indian, who saw that the bear was in an
angry and revengeful mood, advised him to hide himself again quickly.
Too late! The furious bear had seen his enemy, and rushed in a rolling
gallop towards his hiding-place. The hunter found it best to run, and in
a minute was with the Indian perched on the bough of an oak. Here they
loaded their guns again, while the bear, limping on three legs, made for
the tree. Hit by two bullets he fell down, tore up the earth and grass
with his claws, and at last became still."

"It is a shame," said Gunnar, "to kill these kings of the Rocky
Mountains for amusement or to gain a name as a hunter. Probably they are
fated to pass away like the bisons and Indians."

"Oh no, not yet. They will long survive in inaccessible regions of the
mountains and in the uninhabited parts of Canada. But certainly it is a
shame to destroy them unnecessarily, particularly when we hear of such a
deed of chivalry as the following.

"A traveller took a young grizzly bear with him to Europe, and on board
he was a general favourite. He drank and ate and played with the
sailors, and, curiously enough, conceived a great friendship for a small
antelope which travelled with him. When the vessel came into port and
the antelope was being led along a street, a large bulldog fell on the
defenceless animal. The bear, which was led behind the antelope by a
chain, perceived his friend's danger, tore himself away from his keeper
with a single jerk, threw himself on the bulldog, and mauled him so
badly that he ran away howling with pain."

* * * * *

"You may well declare," says Gunnar, "that everything in America is on a
large scale, but all the same lions and tigers are not found here."

"No, but there are jaguars and pumas instead. Both are more common in
South than in North America, where the jaguar only comes as far north as
the south-western States and Mexico. They are found in the outskirts of
forests and in the tall grass of the pampas, where wild horsemen track
them down, catch them in lassoes, and drag them after their horses till
they are strangled. The jaguar also frequents thickets on the
river-banks and marshes. He keeps to the ground, whereas the bold and
agile puma even pursues monkeys in the trees. With shrill screams and
cries of warning the monkeys fly from tree to tree, but the puma is
after them, crawls out along a swaying branch and jumps over to another
on the next tree. Both are bloodthirsty robbers, but the jaguar is the
larger, stronger, and more savage. He can never be properly tamed, and
never loses his innate treacherousness, but the puma becomes as tame as
a dog.

"The puma never attacks a man, but you must be on your guard against a
jaguar. Both are enemies of flocks and herds, but while the puma never
worries tame animals larger than sheep, the jaguar will often attack
horses, mules, and young cattle. The jaguar hunts only at daybreak and
twilight, or when the moon shines brightly; the puma only in the evening
and at night. The puma is dark reddish-yellow, the jaguar orange with
black spots and rings on his fur, a marking which reminds one of the
colour of certain poisonous snakes. The puma's cubs are charming little
creatures, like kittens, but larger. Their eyes do not open until they
are ten days old; then they begin to crawl about very awkwardly,
tumbling down at every other step, and climb up on their mother's back.
They soon become sure on their feet and, like kittens, play with their
mother's tail.

"The jaguar is a keen and patient hunter. He crawls along on his belly
like a cat, and from the recesses of the thicket watches his victim
without moving an eye. He creeps nearer with wonderful agility and
noiselessness, and when he is sure of success he makes his spring, tears
open the throat of the antelope, sheep, or waterhog, and drags his booty
into the thicket. Small animals he swallows hair and all. Of a horse he
eats as much as he can, and then goes off to sleep in some concealed
spot. When he awakes he goes back to his meal.

"On one road in South America twenty Indians were killed by jaguars
within a lifetime. If a man has presence of mind enough to shout and
make a noise and go towards the brute, the latter withdraws. Otherwise
he is lost, for even if he escapes with his life, the wounds inflicted
by the jaguar's blunt claws and teeth are terrible and dangerous. There
are Indians in South America who are said to hunt the jaguar in the
following manner. They wrap a sheepskin round the left arm and in the
right hand hold a sharp two-edged knife. Then they beat up the jaguar
and set dogs at him. He gets up on his hind legs like a bear, and
attacks one of the Indians. The man puts out his left arm for him to
bite, and at the same time runs his knife into the beast's heart.

"A traveller relates a very good jaguar tale. Some sailors from Europe
had landed on the bank of a river in South America. Suddenly they saw a
jaguar swimming over from the farther bank. They hurriedly seized their
guns, manned their boat, and rowed out to meet the animal. A shot was
fired and the jaguar was wounded, but instead of making off, he came
straight for the boat. The sailors belaboured him with the oars, but he
paid no attention and managed to drag himself on to the boat, when the
crew all jumped out and swam to the bank. The jaguar remained, and
drifted comfortably down the river. A little farther down came a boat of
other sailors, and this time it was the jaguar who jumped out and
disappeared among the thickets on the bank. It was a great feat to make
his escape after tackling two boats' crews."

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