170 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



the saloop kind, which the inhabitants call pea ; a plant called ethee, ef which the 



root only is eaten ; a fruit that grows in a ^^^^ N^N^N^^^H , // iq 



pod, like that of a large kidney bean, which, *^^^ 



when it is roasted, eats very much like a 



chestnut, by the natives called whee ; a tree 



called wharra, called in the East Indies 



pandanes, which produces fruit something 



like the pine apple ; a shrub called nono ; 



the morinda, which also produces fruit ; a 



species of fern, of which the root is eaten, 



and sometimes the leaves: and a plant 



called theve, of which the root also is eaten : 



but the fruits of the nono, the fern, and 



the theve, are eaten only by the inferior 



people, and in times of scarcity : all these, 



which serve the inhabitants for food, the 



earth produces spontaneously, or with little 



culture. They had no European fruit, gardenstufF, pulse, or legumes, or grain of 



any kind, till some seeds of melons and other vegetables were given them by Captain 



Cook. 



1038. Of tame animals, the Otaheitans have only hogs, dogs, and poultry ; neither is 

 there a wild animal in the island, except ducks, pigeons, parroquets, with a few other 

 birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor any serpent. But the sea supplies 

 them with great variety of most excellent fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to 

 catch it their principal labor. ' 



1039. The Friendly Islands are in most respects similar to Otaheite. Tongataboo ap- 

 pears to be a flat country, with a fine climate, and universally cultivated. The whole 

 of this island is said to consist of enclosures, with reed fences about six feet high, inter- 

 sected with innumerable roads. The articles cultivated are bread fruit, plantains, 

 cocoa-nuts, and yams. In the other islands, plantains and yams engage most of their 

 attention ; the cocoa-nut and bread fruit-trees are dispersed about in less order than the 

 former, and seem to give them no trouble. Their implements of culture consist of 

 pointed sticks of different lengths and degrees of strength. 



Sect. II. Present State of Agriculture in Africa. 



1040. The continent of Africa in point of agricultural, as of political and ethical es- 

 timation, is the meanest of the great divisions of the earth ; though in one corner of it 

 (Egypt) agriculture is supposed to have originated. The climate is every" where hot, 

 and intensely so in the northern parts. The central parts, as far as known, consist of 

 ridges of mountains and immense deserts of red sand. There are very few rivers, inland 

 lakes, or seas, and indeed fully one half of the whole of this continent may be considered 

 as either desert, or unknown. Some of the African islands are fertile and important, 

 especially Madagascar, Bourbon, Mauritias, &c. We shall take tne countries of Africa 

 in the order of Abyssinia, Egypt, Mahometan states of the north, western coast, Cape 

 of Good Hope, eastern coast, Madagascar, and other isles. 



SuBSECT. 1. Present State of Agriculture in Abyssinia. 



1041. The climate of Abyssinia y though exceedingly various in different parts, is in 

 general temperate and healthy. The surface of the country is generally rugged and 

 mountainous ; it abounds with forests and morasses ; and it is also interspersed with 

 many fertile valleys and plains, that are adapted both 

 to pasture and tillage. The rivers are numerous 

 and large, and contribute much to general fertility. 

 The soil is not naturally good, being in general thin 

 and sandy ; but it is rendered fertile and productive 

 by irrigation and the periodical rains. 



1042. The agricultural j)roducts are wheat, barley, 

 millet, and other grains. They cultivate the vine, 

 peach, pomegranate, sugar-cane, almonds, lemons 

 (fig. 166.), citrons, and oranges; and they have many 

 roots and herbs wWch grow spontaneously, and their 

 soil, if properly managed, would produce many 

 more. However, they make little wine, but content 

 themselves with the liquor which they draw from 

 the sugar-cane, and their honey, which is excellent 

 and abundant. They have the coffee-tree, and a 

 plant called ensete, which produces an eatable nou- 



