88 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



other rivers to the East might have been explored until 

 one convenient for approaching the mountains had been 

 found. 



After spending a night on a sand bank from which 

 we were very nearly washed away by a sudden flood, 

 we paddled leisurely down the river and came in one 

 day again to Obota. Though the two places are so close 

 together and communication between them is very fre- 

 quent, the inhabitants of Obota are a much better lot of 

 people than those of Wakatimi. The Obota men, who 

 came up the river with us, worked steadily for several 

 days, a thing we never could persuade the Wakatimi 

 men to do, and, a more striking sign of their superiority, 

 the Obota people cultivate the soil, whereas the Wakatimi 

 people never do anything of the kind. 



Many acres of ground on both sides of the river were 

 cleared of bush and planted with bananas and sweet 

 potatoes ; we never succeeded in obtaining any of the 

 latter, but bananas were brought for us to buy and in 

 the circumstances they seemed to us to be excellent. 

 The most extensive crop cultivated at Obota is tobacco ; 

 they plant out the seedlings and shelter them with a 

 low roof of bent sticks covered with leaves, until the 

 young plants are strong enough to bear the full force of 

 the sun and rain. Almost every native smokes, men and 

 women, and very often the children. A small handful 

 of the dried leaves is taken and very carefully rolled 

 up in the form of a cigar, and then wrapped round with 

 a sirih leaf, which has been previously warmed over the 

 fire ; the ends are bitten square, and sometimes the 

 leaf is tied round the middle with a thread of fibre to 



