326 



CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



Chap. IX. 



central region regularly collect the seeds of a wild grass, the 

 Pennisetum distichum ; in another district he saw women 

 collecting the seeds of a Poa by swinging a sort of basket 

 through the rich meadow-land. Near Tete, Livingstone 

 observed the natives collecting the seeds of a wild grass, and 

 farther south, as Andersson informs me, the natives largely 

 use the seed of a grass of about the size of canary-seed, which 

 they boil in water. They eat also the roots of certain reeds, 

 and every one has read of the Bushmen prowling about and 

 digging up with a fire-hardened stake various roots. Similar 

 facts with respect to the collection of seeds of wild grasses in 

 other parts of the world could be given. 7 



Accustomed as we are to our excellent vegetables and 

 luscious fruits, we can hardly persuade ourselves that the 

 stringy roots of the wild carrot and parsnip, or the little 

 shoots of the wild asparagus, or crabs, sloes, &c, should ever 

 have been valued ; yet, from what we know of the habits of 

 Australian and South African savages, we need feel no doubt 

 on this head. The inhabitants of Switzerland during the 

 Stone period largely collected wild crabs, sloes, bullaces, hips 

 of roses, elderberries, beechmast, and other wild berries and 

 fruit. 8 Jemmy Button, a Fuegian on board the Beagle, 

 remarked to me that the poor and acid black-currants of 

 Tierra del Fuego were too sweet for his taste. 



The savage inhabitants of each land, having found out by 

 many and hard trials what plants were useful, or could be 

 rendered useful by various cooking processes, would after a 

 time take the first step in cultivation by planting them near 

 their usual abodes. Livingstone 9 states that the savage 

 Batokas sometimes left wild fruit-trees standing in their 

 gardens, and occasionally even planted them, " a practice 



7 For instance, in both North and 

 South America. Mr. Edgeworth 

 ('Journal Proc. Linn. Soc.,' vol vi. 

 Bot., 1862, p. 181) states that in the 

 deserts of the Punjab poor women 

 sweep up, " by a whisk into straw 

 baskets," the seeds of four genera of 

 grasses, namely, of Agrostis, Panicum, 

 Cenchrus, and Pennisetum, as well as 

 the seeds of four other genera belong- 



ing to distinct families. 



8 Prof. 0. Hecr, ' Die Pflanzen der 

 Pfahlbauten, 1866, aus dem Neujahr. 

 Naturforsch. Gesellschaft,' 1866; and 

 Dr. H. Christ, in Riitimeyer's 'Die 

 Fauna der Pfahlbauten,' 1861, s. 226. 



9 ' Travels,' p. 5)55. Du Chaillu, 

 'Adventures in Equatorial Africa,' 

 1861, p. 445. 



