CAPTAIN TUCKEY’S NARRATIVE. 183 
the blood, the juice of a plant is applied as a styptic, and 
the deeper the cut is, the more raised is the cicatrice. 
When the natives first saw the new moon, they hailed it as 
the precursor of the showers of rain which they expect soon 
after its close (that is to say, when the sun is on the equa- 
tor): they then begin to sow their Indian corn and ground 
nuts. ‘I'he heavy rains do not set in for six weeks later. 
The river begins to risea month before the rains, that is im- 
mediately after the season of showers has set in. I find it 
useless to attempt talking about business until the palaver 
is finished ; that is to say, until the palm wine they have 
brought, and the brandy they expect to receive, are all 
expended, by which time they are usually half drunk, and 
their inclination to palaver, to lie, to chicane, seems to 
encrease in proportion to the quantity they may have 
swallowed. 
This morning I received a visit from a Foomoo with a 
large calabash of palm wine, who, after sharing it out 
among his own people, expected I would, in return of the 
compliment, give him a jar of brandy; but as his sole 
business seemed to be curiosity, and I had little brandy 
left, I did not choose to comply; and in order to prevent 
further solicitation, I told him Thad none, with which, though 
much discontented, he was obliged to be satisfied. At 
noon I returned to Inga. 
