278 IN DARKEST AFRICA. 



The Jigger Flea [Pulex poietraiis) was also very troublesome. It 

 makes its way under the skin, especially of the toes, and lays its 

 eggs there, thus causing terrible ulcers in the flesh. 



The flora of Central Africa is of far greater diversity than its 

 fauna. Lieut. Stairs, in his ascent of Mount Ruwenzori, gathered 

 members of no fewer than thirty-eight genera, including Clematis, 

 Viola, Impatiens, Rubus Vaccinium, Begonia, Senecio, Erica, 

 Carex, and many ferns and lycopods. In the forest occurred 

 palms (Elais, Raphia, and Calamus), teak, camwood, mahogany, 

 lignum vitse, iron-wood, stink-wood, ebony, copal wood, wild 

 mango, orange, wild fig, butter-tree, acacia, and numerous other 

 trees. 



Those plants which afforded food to the expedition were of 

 most interest to Stanley, and in some localities were found in 

 considerable numbers. Chief amongst these were the banana, 

 plantain, and manioc, or cassava, the fruits of three species of 

 musa, the berries of phrynium, the fruit of Aviomum^ and nux 

 vomica. Fungi were common, but for want of accurate know- 

 ledge they were only eaten in times of famine, and then occasion_ 

 ally with unfortunate results. The Castor Oil plant grows at the 

 edges of the forest, and some of the tribes cultivated tobacco. 

 Many of the native tribes cultivated corn, which matures with 

 extraordinary rapidity, and the garrison at Fort Bodo, during 

 Stanley's long absence while searching for the rear column, grew 

 large quantities, as well as potatoes, etc. Nothing but industry, 

 and a settled government, is needed to convert the hundreds of 

 miles over which the expedition travelled, often on the verge of 

 annihilation for want of food, into a fruitful garden. Perhaps 

 these conditions will soon be realised ; at any rate these latest 

 efforts of the veteran explorer have made the future of Africa 

 appear full of promise. It must be a matter for intense gratifica- 

 tion to him that the leading nations of Europe have at length 

 agreed upon a large project for the development of the vast sources 

 of wealth which he has opened up in the very heart of the Dark 

 Continent. 



These gatherings from Stanley's pages, through which they are 

 scattered without any attempt at systematising, afford a glimpse of 

 the treasures that await the student of natural history who shall 



