278 NATIVE PEODUCE. " Chap. XIII. 



off at full speed. When he tumbled off, to the great amuse- 

 ment of the by-standers, the servants caught the horse and 

 rode off anywhere, leaving the fallen rider to return, rubbing 

 his bruises. The poor horse was kept at this work till com- 

 pletely exhausted, each of the guards being anxious to show 

 that he could keep on longer than the others. This racing, 

 and want of corn and care, would soon knock up any steeds 

 they may obtain. The Doctor, when in Angola, happening 

 to ride the horse of a gentleman at Pungo Andongo, re- 

 marked to his companions, " This would do for Sekeletu." 

 A party had been sent over a thousand miles to purchase 

 it ; but it was now so altered as not to be recognisable. 

 They had no grain at the time we were there, and but a 

 little poor dry grass. 



The native produce cultivated in this, the centre of the 

 continent, consists of mapira, or mabele (Jiolcus sorghum), 

 lobelebele or meshwera (pennisetum), millet, maize, ground- 

 nuts (Arachis liypogwd), underground beans (yoandzeia), 

 cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, mchae, or sweet-reed (Jiolcus 

 saccharatum), sweet potatoes, tobacco, cotton, and Indian 

 hemp or Bang (Cannabis sativa) ; but wheat, rice, and yams 

 they have never seen. Sugar-cane, bananas, and cassava 

 grow in the Barotse valley. They have no garden vege- 

 tables, nor any of the fruits found nearer the sea, such as 

 mangoes and oranges, which have been introduced into 

 Africa from other countries. 



We had ascertained at the Falls the sad fate of the 

 Missionaries of the London Society. Our friend from Natal, 

 Mr. Baldwin, had found them at a well in the desert suffering 

 from hunger ; they had no horses, without which game there 

 cannot easily be procured. They had failed to kill the 

 rhinoceroses which came to the water at night; Mr. Bald- 



