260 WILD FRUITS. Chap. XIV. 



public good, stirs up every cesspool, that he may describe its 

 reeking vapours, and, by long contact with impurities, becomes 

 himself infected, sickens, and dies. 



The men went about during the day, and brought back wild 

 fruits of several varieties, which I had not hitherto seen. One, 

 called mogametsa, is a bean with a little pulp round it, which 

 tastes like sponge-cake ; another, named mawa, grows abun- 

 dantly on a low bush. There are many berries and edible bulbs 

 almost everywhere. The mamosho or moshomosho, and milo 

 (a medlar), were to be found near our encampment. These are 

 both good, if indeed one can be a fair judge who felt quite dis- 

 posed to pass a favourable verdict on every fruit which had the 

 property of being eatable at all. Many kinds are better' than 

 our crab-apple or sloe ; and, had they half the care and culture 

 these have enjoyed, might take high rank among the fruits of 

 the world. All that the Africans have thought of has been pre- 

 sent gratification ; and now, as I sometimes deposit date-seeds 

 in the soil, and tell them I have no hope whatever of seeing the 

 fruit, it seems to them, as the act of the South-Sea Islanders 

 appears to us, when they planted in their gardens iron nails 

 received from Captain Cook. 



There are many fruits and berries in the forests, the uses of 

 which are unknown to my companions. Great numbers of a kind 

 of palm I have never met with before, were seen growing at and 

 below the confluence of the Loeti and Leeambye ; the seed pro- 

 bably came down the former river. It is nearly as tall as the 

 palmyra. The fruit is larger than of that species ; it is about 

 four inches long, and has a soft yellow pulp round the kernel, or 

 seed ; when ripe, it is fluid and stringy, like the wild mango, 

 and not very pleasant to eat. 



Before we came to the junction of the Leeba and Leeambye, 

 we found the banks twenty feet high, and composed of marly 

 sandstone. They are covered with trees, and the left bank has 

 the tsetse and elephants. I suspect the fly has some connection 

 with this animal, and the Portuguese in the district of Tete must 

 think so too, for they call it the Musca da elephant (the elephant 



fly).- 



The water of inundation covers even these lofty banks, but 



