210 THE AFRICAN SUGAR CANE. 
shades of difference, as the larger edition of this work 
will contain all such particulars. 
I have before remarked, that all the varieties are 
known (from the Cape Colony to Delagoa Bay) under 
the general Zulu-Kaffir name of Jimphee, which name is 
- likewise generally used by the Europeans, who some- 
times also call it the Kaffir Sugar Cane, from the circum- 
stance of the Kaffirs growing it round their kraals, to 
eat, as they do the real sugar cane; but I never meta 
single European who could tell one description of imphee 
from another, not even among those who have been 
in the Colony ten or twenty years. 
The following points are particularly striking, namely 
Ist. The Zulus never (to the best of my knowledge and 
belief) cultivate it for its grain, or for any other pur- 
pose than for its sweet juice, which they obtain by 
chewing the stalk. 
2d. Whilst ripening its seed the birds never attack it, 
whereas it requires great vigilance to preserve the 
seeds of the Kaffir Corn (Guinea Corn) or Sorghum 
vulgare, from their pertinacious voracity. So much is 
this the case, that I do not think I lost a single seed 
from the birds, whilst from the Kaffir Corn there is 
no keeping them off. The Kaffirs say this is always 
SO. . 
As the Kaffirs cultivate the imphee merely for its 
juice, they never allow any more to ripen than is neces- 
sary for the next year’s planting ; but soon after the seed 
head appears, they pull it off, by giving it a smart jerk 
upwards. By this means they argue that the plant per- 
fects the elaboration of its juices and becomes much 
