358 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



which are almost universally swarming in warm climates. 

 From the abundance of bees, and the hills being well 

 clothed with grass, Congo might be made a land " flowing 

 with milk and honey." 



The lower part of the river abounds with excellent fish, 

 which would appearto be an important article of subsistence 

 to those who inhabit the woody banks occupied by the 

 mangrove. Bream, mullet and cat-fish are the most abun- 

 dant. A species of Sparus, of excellent flavour, was caught 

 by the party in large quantities, each of them Aveighing 

 generally from thirty to forty pounds, and some of them 

 even sixty. Mr. Fitijmaurice observes that, near Draper's 

 islands, he fell in with three or four hundred canoes, in 

 which the people were busily employed in dragging up a 

 species of shell-fish, which he compares to what is usually 

 in England called the clam, and Avhich is stated by Captain 

 Tucke}' to be a species of Mya. Most of these fishermen, 

 it was thought, had no other abode than the shelter which 

 the woods afforded them ; that they form a kind of hut by 

 bending and entwining the living branches, in the same 

 manner as is sometimes practised by the roving Caffres 

 bordering on the colony of the Cape of Good Hope ; others 

 make the caverns in the rocks the abodes of themselves and 

 families during the fishing season ; for it would seem that 

 these huts and retreats were but temporary, as the shells 

 of these fish were opened, the animal taken out, and dried 

 in the sun. In the upper parts of the river, women Avere 

 frequently seen fishing with scoop nets, made Irom the fi- 

 bres of some creeping plants ; and in one village, a Avoman 



