Chap. XXXI. CONGE AND BUAZE. 645 



Angola. The pile is short, and it clings to the seed so much 

 that they use an iron roller to detach it. The soil, however, is 

 equal to the production of any tropical plant or fruit. The natives 

 have never been encouraged to cultivate cotton for sale, nor has 

 any new variety been introduced. We saw no palm-oil trees, the 

 oil which is occasionally exported being from the ground-nut. 

 One of the merchants of Tete had a mill of the rudest construction 

 for grinding this nut, which was driven by donkeys. It was the 

 only specimen of a machine I could exhibit to my men. A very 

 superior kind of salad-oil is obtained from the seeds of cucumbers, 

 and is much used in native cookery. 



An offer, said to have been made by the ' Times,' having ex- 

 cited attention even in this distant part, I asked the Commandant 

 if he knew of any plant fit for the production of paper. He pro- 

 cured specimens of the fibrous tissue of a species of aloe, named 

 Conge', and some also from the root of a wild date, and, lastly, of a 

 plant named Buaze, the fibres of which, though useless for the 

 manufacture of paper, are probably a suitable substitute for flax. I 

 submitted a small quantity of these fibres to Messrs. Pye, Brothers, 

 of London, who have invented a superior mode for the preparation 

 of such tissues for the manufacturer. They most politely under- 

 took the examination, and have given a favourable opinion of 

 the Buaze, as may be seen in the note below.* 



* 80, Lombard Street, 20th March, 1857. 

 Dear Sir, — We have now the pleasure to return you the specimens of 

 fibrous plants from the Zambesi river, on which you were desirous to see the 

 effects of our treatment ; we therefore enclose you, 



No. 1. Buaze, in the state received from you. 

 1 A. Do. as prepared by us. 



1 B. The tow which has come from it in hackling. 



No. 2. Conge, as received from you. 



2 A. Do. as prepared by us. 



With regard to both these fibres, we must state that the very minute 

 quantity of each specimen has prevented our subjecting them to anything like 

 the full treatment of our process, and we can therefore only give you an 

 approximate idea of their value. 



The Buaze evidently possesses a very strong and fine fibre, assimilating to 

 flax in its character, but we believe, when treated in quantity by our process, 

 it would show both a stronger and finer fibre than flax ; but being unable to 

 apply the rolling or pressing processes with any efficiency to so very small 

 a quantity, the gums are not yet so perfectly extracted as they would be, nor 

 the fibre opened out to so fine a quality as it would then exhibit. r^g 



