"41 
markets of the Yoruba kingdom, and to the richness of its 
streams in this commodity. 
The importance of the fisheries in that part of the 
world and their growth did not escape the notice of the 
Select Committee of the House of Commons on the West 
Coast of Africa (1842), when Mr. Swanzy, of the firm bearing 
his name, conveyed that there was a great deal of fishing 
there, and that it “forms, as well as salt, a great article of 
commerce between the waterside and interior people.” 
Of the country behind the Portuguese Possessions in 
South-West Africa, Messrs. Capello and Ivens in their 
“from Benguela to Yacca,” state of the river Luando, “it 
is extremely abundant in fish; its banks are visited by 
numerous tribes, who devote their attention to fishing, 
using for this purpose the ‘mu-ghande,’ snares of various 
kinds.” “So abundantly is this river supplied that, as we 
were assured, it furnishes, jointly with the lakes of Qui- 
honde and Catete, more to the north, and the Njombo, one 
of its affluents, sufficient fish for the large requirements of 
the Songo country.” 
Schweinfurth, in his ‘ Heart of Africa, alludes frequently 
to the plentifulness of fish in the rivers in tropical Atrica 
which lay in his path, and also records the abundance of 
crocodiles and hippopotami. Writing of the modes of 
capture adopted by the natives, he states:—‘ They pro- 
ceed very much in the European way of damming up the 
stream by weirs, and laying down wicker pots of consider- 
able size. The fishing, for the most part, is done twice a 
year, first at the commencement of the rainy season, and 
again when the waters begin to subside.” 
The importance that attaches to certain of the Ganoids 
(of which so many specimens are extinct, and are of great 
geological interest), such as Protopterus annectens, Polyp- 
