282 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



missionaries give a very favourable account of 

 coffee, figs, tobacco, rice, wheat, &c. At Ujiji 

 pomegranates, oranges, lemons, guava, mango, 

 cashewnut &c, are common. These plants, and 

 the presence of oil-palms, show clearly that it is 

 a part of the Congo-Niger area. It is therefore 

 a very rich country, but, like that of the Congo, 

 exceedingly unhealthy. 



The plants appear to be (up to 3,500 feet, or 

 towards the north up to 4,500 feet) simply those 

 of the Congo. According to Professor Engler, 

 they have advanced considerably east of the lake 

 along the Malagarasi valley. 



Above this height (3,500 feet) the plants towards 

 the south are simply those of the Tanganyika- 

 Nyassa watershed. 



Probably the most interesting district left now 

 in Tropical Africa is the high plateau region and 

 mountains from the Livingstone range to the 

 north as far as the Malagarasi. This is said to 

 be in places 10,000 feet high, and I suspect will 

 produce the high Alpine forms. 



It seems almost necessary to point out here the 

 decline and fall of the Arab in Africa. 



In the days of the early travellers the whole 

 country was overrun by Arab slave-traders, w T ho 

 appear to have started from the East Coast and 

 Zanzibar. 



The hospitality of the Arab, his courteous 

 manners and clean, flowing robes, appear to have 



