222 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



small black beans called fricollis, which are in gene- 

 ral demand all over Mexico, are no doubt a kind of kid- 

 ney-bean. Recent travellers in that country relate 

 that immense fields of these are under cultivation for 

 the supply of the large cities, where they form a part 

 of every meal, and are not only in great favour with 

 the inhabitants, but are considered excellent even by 

 strangers. 



Among the productions of Bornou, Major Denham 

 enumerates four kinds of beans, which are raised in 

 great quantities, called mussaqua, marya, kleeny, and 

 kimmay, all known by the general name of gafooly. 

 These are eaten by the slaves and the poorer people. 

 A paste compounded from beans and fish was the 

 only eatable the Major and his companions could find 

 in the towns near the river. * 



THE LENTIL Ervum is a small climbing plant, 

 with weak stalks, about a foot and a half high. The 

 leaves are winged, and each is terminated by a tendril. 

 The flowers, of a pale purple colour, are succeeded 

 by short flat pods containing two or three flat round 

 seeds. Another sort, distinguished as the French 

 lentil, is of much larger growth than the former, and 

 altogether more worthy of cultivation. These plants 

 are rarely raised in England, and then only as food for 

 cattle. In most parts of the Continent they are cul- 

 tivated for the use of man, and the seeds are made 

 into soups, or become an ingredient in other culinary 

 preparations. They are readily softened by, and 

 mix with, water, forming with it a pottage of a choco- 

 late colour. In Catholic countries, where the formu- 

 lary of the church enjoins a number of meagre days, 

 such plants as the kidney-bean and the lentil are 

 more cultivated than they are in countries where the 

 religion of the people does not prescribe the same 

 observances. In England there are no fasts scattered 



* Denham'A Travels, vol. ii, p. 143. 



