112 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



sheltered valleys and gentle slopes, up to 6,600 

 feet. In the Wimi, and elsewhere, they are 

 greatly plundered by a kind of baboon, which 

 comes down in bands with sentinels posted on a 

 prominent place to give notice of danger. The 

 elephants in the Nyamwainba valley also do a 

 great deal of damage, and if a flock of locusts 

 should happen to alight on a plantation, nothing 

 is left but the midribs of the leaves — this damage, 

 however, is not permanent, as the plants soon 

 recover. 



Usually speaking these banana plantations are 

 covered by a dense jungle of weeds curiously 

 distinct from those found in uncultivated places. 

 Many of these plantation plants are of American 

 origin, and I fancy most have accompanied the 

 banana wherever it has been carried by man. 

 Sometimes, however, a good deal of care is taken, 

 and in one place I have seen a very considerable 

 amount of irrigation carried on. 



On the bare slopes, and high up the valleys to 

 nearly 7,200 feet, the cultivation usually consists 

 of beans, wimbi, " hungry rice," and sweet 

 potatoes ; there are also in the higher valleys 

 quantities of the edible Arum. Fresh cleared 

 land is planted in May with beans, which are said 

 to yield a crop three or four months afterwards, and 

 along with them pumpkins and gourds of various 

 sorts. It is afterwards planted with "hungry 

 rice," and then left to the bush, and a fresh 



