Dec. 15, 185f).] LIVINGSTON. 247 



they know the use of any other metal, or the use of alloys, as those of 

 copper ? Can they weave, or make bread ? What plants do they cultivate ? And 

 what are they likely to produce in exchange for our merchandise ? I strongly 

 suspect, from what Dr. Livingston has said respecting the women, that the 

 great portion of the labour, even of the field, is left to them, and is not 

 performed by the men, otherwise how could the women be able to feed the 

 men ? They must work in order to procure that with which the men are 

 fed. I expect the men are idle and the women laborious. Some men would 

 appear to have as many as five wives. How come they to monopolise so 

 many? 



Dr. Livingston said : The new articles of commerce that I observed are chiefly 

 fibrous substances, some of them excessively strong, and like flax. They abound 

 in great quantities on the north bank of the Zambesi. There are also great 

 quantities of a tree, the bark of the root of which is used by the Portuguese and 

 natives as the Cinchona. It has been employed in fever by the aborigines of the 

 country from time immemorial, and both the Portuguese and my companions 

 and myself found it very efficacious. It is remarkable that where the fever most 

 prevails, there the tree, which I believe to be a cinchona, abounds. It seems 

 the remedy is provided for the disease, where it prevails most. Now, in con- 

 nection with the opening up of this river and the fever, I have seen on the 

 banks of the Zambesi whole forests of this Cinchonaceous tree, particularly near 

 Senna. A decoction of the bark of the root has been found to act exactly as 

 quinine : it is excessively bitter, and may prove a good substitute. There is 

 also Calumba root, which the Americans purchase, to be used as a dye, and it is 

 found in large quantities. A species of Sarsaparilla is to be found throughout 

 the whole country. The sugar-cane grows abundantly, but the natives have 

 no idea of sugar, although they have cultivated the cane from time imme- 

 morial. The chief of the Makololo sent about thirty elephant tusks down 

 to the coast, and gave me a long list of articles, which I was to buy for him 

 in the white man's country. As I had been entirely supported by him for 

 several months, I thought it my duty to accept his commission, and I intend 

 to obtain these articles for him. Among other things he ordered a sugar- 

 mill. When he found that we could produce sugar from the cane, he said, 

 " If you bring the thing that makes sugar, then I will plant plenty of cane, 

 and be glad." Then, again, indigo grows all over the country in abundance. 

 The town of Tete has acres of it ; in fact, it is quite a weed, and seems to be 

 like that which grows in India, for before the slave trade became so brisk 

 indigo was exported from Tete. The country also produces the leaves of senna, 

 and, as far as I could ascertain, exactly like that which we import from 

 Egypt. There is plenty of beeswax through the whole country ; and we were 

 everywhere invited by the honey-bird to come to the hives. Any one who 

 has travelled in Africa knows the call of the honey-bird. It invites travellers 

 to come and enjoy the honey, and if you follow it, you are sure to be led to 

 the honey. Some natives have given it a bad character. Sometimes, when a 

 man follows the bird, he comes in contact with a lion or a serpent, and he 

 says, '* It is a false bird, it has brought me to the lion." But if he had gone 

 beyond the lion, he would have come to the honey. The natives eat the honey 

 and throw the wax away. In Angola it is different. There, a large trade in 

 wax is carried on, and the bees are not so numerous as in the eastern parts 

 of the country ; but here they have no market. It was the same with 

 ivory when Lake Ngami was discovered. They will not throw away an 

 ounce of it now. Then, again, there are different metals found. There is a 

 very fine kind of iron ore ; and at Cazembe there is much malachite, from 

 which the natives extract copper. Then there is gold round about the coal- 

 field, and gold has been procured by washing from time immemorial. In 

 former times the Portuguese w^ent to different places for gold with large 



