MEDICINAL PLANTS. 459 



tion. Casati is in Monbuttu, and is getting ready for a tour 

 to the south-east. 



My collections increase very slowly, for there is nothing 

 to collect in Lado but mosquitos and bats. However, my 

 herbarium begins to assume more respectable proportions, and 

 I shall soon get together a small collection if I go once more 

 on my travels. These are certainly castles in the air at pre- 

 sent. I have a most delightful piece of news to tell you — at 

 least I consider it such — namely, that the first female date- 

 palm in this province is now bearing fruits as large as a bean. 

 I will send them to you if they ripen. 



You will receive another curiosity in the shape of a black 

 powder, which the Monbuttu extol as an aphrodisiac. Our 

 people here swear to its efficacy, and so I enclose directions for 

 its use. Only persons presumably sterile, whether men or women, 

 ought to take it. The powder is composed of the ashes of two 

 roots, one of which looks and smells just like a radish. I 

 was, unfortunately, not able to obtain whole tubers, but I have 

 written for some. Bruised leaves of a liliaceous plant, which 

 the Monbuttu and Zande grow for the purpose beside their 

 huts, are added to beverages. I have brought four bulbs of it 

 with me, and have planted them for the present to keep them 

 from spoiling. If they blossom, I will send you a whole plant ; 

 if not, I will send the bulb in clay. 



A quantity of sweet-smelling resin from the mpafu-tree, of 

 which I have already sent seeds, will do for analysis. In 

 Unyoro, I heard the Amaranthus praised as a good remedy 

 for worms, and therefore I brought seeds of it with me ; it 

 grows wild everywhere, and is eaten like spinach. Its effi- 

 cacy has been confirmed by trials in the hospital here ; 

 perhaps something might also be done with it in Europe. 

 The leaves of the Papaw are excellent for inflammatory swell- 

 ings, as well as for swellings of the glands and for bubos. I 

 prefer it to all the other remedies I know. There is much 

 to learn here in this direction. But how is it that the 

 Papaw,. which is looked upon as the type of dicotyledonous 

 trees with an unramified trunk, often forms branches here 

 which also bear fruit like the main stem itself? I am impa- 

 tiently waiting for the mango seeds to try and cultivate them. 



