56 
gathering it might become an important article of commerce; 
the plant is abundant and the trouble of collecting very small. 
The surface of the bark is cut off until the inner is reached, when, 
after a few punctures have been made, the milky juice runs out 
and being removed by the finger and applied to the skin of the 
body dries instantly; by a repetition of this process a thin cake 
is formed and rolled up in a ball to which the fresh layers are 
successively applied. At the season when I saw it gathered 
there was no troublesome drying required.” 
** Between Senna and Shupanga on the north left hand bank 
of the river a few hills of quartz and trap come down to the water 
edge. They are the southern extremity of hilly country extending 
north and a little west of which Moramballa is the only mountain 
of considerable size; to the west of these hills and at the western 
slope of Moramballa the River Shire flows to join the Zambesi,— 
near Shamwara hill. Among these hills the ‘ Buaze’ plant 
[Securidaca longepedunculata, Fres.] is abundant; it is a bush 
with erect stem sometimes 4 inches in diameter and 12 feet 
high but oftener of smaller size. It gives off above a number of 
slender twigs, which may be cut annually for the sake of the 
fibrous bark; by this process the plant is not injured. I have 
sent dissections of the flower of this plant home among the 
collection of drawings. It seems to be a new genus of the 
Polygalaceae. The seed contains a drying oil which might be 
-used for the same purpose as linseed oil. Among the woods 
you will find the stem of the ‘ Buaze’; it is remarkable from 
including layers of fibrous bark at intervals imbedded between 
the woody zones. For the growth of the ‘ Buaze,’ little care is 
required ; it germinates easily and grows in rocky grounds which 
would serve for little else. It is nowhere cultivated, but the 
people make fishing nets of it such as I sent you by the Lynx | 
gunboat in December 
“* Between ae and Tette and as far as Kelrabassa, the 
banks of the Zambesi are high and rocky, the climate is more 
healthy, but the cultivable lands not so extensive.” 
“Here the wheat is grown which supplies the province; it 
is sown in holes during the cold season. It can only be grown 
in places which have been under the influence of the river when 
in flood as there is no rain then to supply moisture.”’ 
“* In damp places sugar-cane is cultivated, and sugar extracted 
from it by a rude mill, the crushing of the cane is effected in 
such an imperfect manner that the sugar always possesses a dis- 
agreeable flavour which depends entirely on faulty manufacture.” 
“The cultivation and produce of sugar might be made a 
highly profitable business in these parts, as also throughout the 
whole country from the sea upwards. In the rich valleys among 
the mountains of Kelrabassa, cotton is grown for native use; 
it is of both sorts, but the ‘ Tonje Manga’ is the more common; 
it is grown on perennial bushes, which are pruned yearly and 
