CAPTAIN TUCKEY’S NARRATIVE. 197 
swarm in all the huts. A great scarcity of wood fit for 
building prevails in this country, The stony hills about 
this part are thinly clad with scrubby trees, which are fit 
only for fuel; in many places they resemble an old apple 
orchard. 
The mornings are calm. The breeze sets in from the 
westward at noon, and is proportionably strong to the heat 
of the day, and when the sun has been very hot, continues 
strong during the night; the days and nights however are 
both very cloudy, so that it is impossible to get any obser- 
vation even in three or four days. 
The hoop by which they ascend the palm trees is formed 
of a moist supple twig. 
The idea of civilizing Africa by the sending out a few 
Negroes educated in England, appears to be utterly use- 
less; the little knowledge acquired by such persons having 
the same effect on the universal ignorance and barbarism 
of their countrymen, that a drop of fresh water would have 
in the ocean. 
The scarcity of food at this time is extreme. ‘The sole 
subsistence of the people being manioc, either raw, roasted, 
or made into coongo, and of this they have by no means an 
abundance ; anda very few green plantains. A bitter root, 
which requires four days boiling to deprive it of its per- 
nicious quality, is also much eaten. 
