DE. KIBK OK THE PiLLMS OF EAST TBOPICAL APEICA. 231 



Further nortli, within the dominions of Zanzibar, it is extensively 

 cultivated. 



On the sea-board, and throughout the Zambesi delta, the Palm 

 IS planted near the residences of Europeans, but not in any quan- 

 tity. Beyond 60 miles inland it is extremely rare, although I 

 am acquainted with a few trees which bear fruit a little above the 

 town of Tete, on the left bank of the Zambesi, and distant from 

 the sea 300 miles. It is unknown in the interior, on the Nyassa 

 Lake or on the Eovuma. 



2. El^ts gtti^'eeksis, Linn, 



This Palm has hitherto been known from the western side of 

 the African continent, that from America being a distinct species. 



The specimens now brought from the central lakes of tropical 

 Africa are not so perfect as might be wished. Although no cha- 

 racter has been found by which to distinguish this from the com- 

 mon Oil Palm of the west, it is not improbable that further 

 research may establish a difference; meanwhile they must be 

 regarded as one. 



Major Gamitto (^ O Muata*Cazembe,'p. 359) has informed us 

 that the people of Cazembe use, in cooking, an oil made from the 

 nuts of a Palm named ^' Coma," 



town 



fall 



Journal 



Royal Geographical Society') found large quantities of palm-oil 



exposed for sale. 



Captain Speke makes no mention of this palm on the Vic- 

 toria Nyanza, or in the region he traversed. Having formerly 

 accompanied Captain Burton to the Tangenyika, had this tree 

 existed he must have recognized it ; we may therefore suppose 

 that it is absent from that route. At the same time it certainly 

 exists to the south of Gondokoro, its fruit having been found 

 attached to native girdles brought home by Dr. Murie. These 

 may have come from the country of the Luta Nzige. 



The Oil Palm was first seen by ua on the western shore of the 

 Nyassa Lake, in lat. 12^ south. As we sailed north on that inland 

 sea it became more frequent, but was nowhere an object of im- 

 portance to the tribes, as it would seem to be on the shores 

 of the middle lake and its affluents, according to Gamitto and 

 Burton. 



Seen from a distance, the full-grown Palm has much the appear- 

 ance of a Date, having a clean cylindrical stem, 30 feet high, topped 



