FRUIT.— RAPIDS. 257 



rind is hard, and, with the pips and bark, contains much of the 

 deadly poison. They evince their noxious qualities by an in- 

 tensely bitter taste. The nuts, swallowed inadvertently, cause 

 considerable pain, but not death ; and to avoid this inconven- 

 ience, the people dry the pulp before the fire, in order to be able 

 the more easily to get rid of the noxious seeds. 



A much better fruit, called mobola, was also presented to us. 

 This bears, around a pretty large stone, as much of the fleshy part 

 as the common date, and it is stripped off the seeds and preserved 

 in bags in a similar manner to that fruit. Besides sweetness, the 

 mobola has the flavor of strawberries, with a touch of nauseous- 

 ness. We carried some of them, dried as provisions, more than a 

 hundred miles from this spot. 



The next fruit, named mamosho (mother of morning), is the 

 most delicious of all. It is about the size of a walnut, and, un- 

 like most of the other uncultivated fruits, has a seed no larger 

 than that of a date. The fleshy part is juicy, and somewhat like 

 the cashew-apple, with a pleasant acidity added. Fruits similar 

 to those which are here found on trees are found on the plains 

 of the Kalahari, growing on mere herbaceous plants. There are 

 several other examples of a similar nature. Shrubs, well known 

 as such in the south, assume the rank of trees as we go to the 

 north ; and the change is quite gradual as our latitude decreases, 

 the gradations being herbaceous plants, shrubs, bushes, small, then 

 large trees. But it is questionable if, in the cases of mamosho, mo- 

 bola, and mawa, the tree and shrub are identical, though the fruits 

 so closely resemble each other ; for I found both the dwarf and 

 tree in the same latitude. There is also a difference in the leaves, 

 and they bear at different seasons. 



The banks of the river were at this time appearing to greater 

 advantage than before. Many trees were putting on their fresh 

 green leaves, though they had got no rain, their lighter green 

 contrasting beautifully with the dark motsouri, or moyela, now 

 covered with pink plums as large as cherries. The rapids, 

 having comparatively little water in them, rendered our passage 

 difficult. The canoes must never be allowed to come broadside 

 on to the stream, for, being flat -bottomed, they would, in that 

 case, be at once capsized, and every thing in them be lost. The 

 men work admirably, and • are always in good humor ; they 



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