230 A. JOURNEY.UP THE RIVER CONGQ. 
vinifera is met with all along the river, but is not so 
abundant or largely used by the natives for wine-making 
as in Western Africa farther north. On the other hand, 
the sap of Hlais guineénsis, the graceful oil-palm, is 
largely drunk by the Congo peoples, and is called by the 
same name throughout the Congo basin, from Nyangwé to 
the sea: viz. “malafu.”* A somewhat similar name, 
‘ma-lebu” or “ma-rebu,” is given to the sap of the 
Hyphene. . Both these words are plurals, and the singular 
forms—“ilafu,” and “irebu” or “ilebu”—are given to 
the .tree itself. Finally there is the genus Calamus, 
which only appears on the river Congo at and above 
Stanley Pool. The species there found is Calamus 
secundifloris. It is illustrated in all its stages of growth 
and fruiting at p. 122. 
Amongst the Graminece there are many important 
genera, too numerous to describe in detail. _ Andropogon, 
Olyra, Pennisetum and others are noticeable from their 
abundance. The Papyrus is found in quantities on 
Stanley Pool and in all the quiet reaches of the river. 
Pistia stratiotes,a member of the order Lemnacee, abounds, 
as on most tropical streams. Lastly, among the Filices 
there are tree-ferns (I do not know what genus) to be seen 
in the cataract region, and the bracken (Pieris) is omni- 
present. 
On the whole, the flora of the Lower Congo is, as one 
might imagine, half-way between that of Upper and Lower 
Guinea. The mountainous cataract country between Vivi 
and Stanley Pool is almost identical with Angola, while 
the low-lying marshy district near the coast is like the 
littoral of Senegambia and the Niger delta. The Upper 
Congo between Stanley Pool and Nyangwé is much of the 
same character, like the Gold Coast and the great forest 
belt of Western Africa which stretches northward to the 
Upper Shari, the Benue, the Kong mountains and the 
Gambia. Although the Congo offers nothing, as we yet 
know, that is unique as genus or family, yet probably 
* Vide Stanley, ‘ Dark Continent,’ pp. 7 et seq. ; and Chapters III. 
and IV. of this book. 
