258 VEGETATION ON THE ZAMBESI. 



the most common, and one of the finest flavour, is found, says Dr. 

 Livingstone, on all the ant-hills ; it is completely white, very good 

 even when eaten raw, and about eight inches in diameter. There is 

 another of a brilliant red or superb blue, but it is poisonous. 



The banks of the Quilo, like those of the Quango, are endowed 

 with a most luxurious vegetation ; the same is the case with the 

 banks of the Zambesi. Everywhere spreads a gigantic and abundant 

 herbage. In the environs of the small town of Cassanga, the natives 

 cultivate manioc, potatoes, haricots, tomatoes, &c. There are found 

 also bananas and guava plants, and probably all the legumes and 

 fruit trees recognized by Dr. Welwitsch at Benguela, which lies 

 nearly under the same latitude. From the table-land of Cassanga 

 you may survey nearly the whole of the valley watered by the 

 Quango. It is a gently undulating plain, covered with herbs, and 

 sown with great woods. The coffee-tree was formerly cultivated in 

 the province of Te'te', but has been abandoned ; cassias, however, 

 flourish, and indigo. Among the cultivated plants of Tete Living- 

 stone, moreover, mentions some species which are not yet botanically 

 distinguished such as the Loatsa (Pennisetum typhoideuni), and 

 several of the bean tribe, one of which grows underground like the 

 arachides. 



CHAPTER V. 



VEGETABLE LIFE IX THE PRAIRIES, PAMPAS, AND LLANOS OF THE 

 NEW WORLD. 



OF all the provinces, as yet uninhabited or only scantily peopled, 

 which compose the northern regions of the New World, none offer 

 so vast an extent of prairies as that which is situated in the 

 vicinity of the Neosho and the Vert-de-Gris, between the Missouri 

 frontier and the River Arkansas. Woods of small extent or, 



