464 CULTIVATION— COTTON. Chap. XXIII. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



June IGth, 1863, start for Upper Cataracts — Cultivation — Cotton — Huts, 

 empty, or tenanted by skeletons — Buffalo-birds and dread of the poisoned 

 arrow — Kombi, a species of strophantus, the poison employed — The 'Nga 

 poison — Its effects — Instinct in man — Mukuru-Madse — Sanu, or prickly- 

 seeded grass — Its use — Native paths — Guinea-fowls — Cotton patches — 

 Expedition recalled — No other course open to us, labour being all swept 

 away by Portuguese slave-trading — Mr. Waller witnesses a small part of the 

 trade — Friendliness of Ajawa and Makololo to English — Try to take ano- 

 ther boat past the Cataracts — Loss of the boat — Penitence of the losers — 

 The Cataracts — Geology. 



On the 16th of June, we started for the Upper Cataracts, 

 with a mule -cart, our road lying a distance of a mile west 

 from the river. We saw many of the deserted dwellings 

 of the people who formerly came to us ; and were very much 

 struck by the extent of land under cultivation, though that, 

 compared with the whole country, is very small. Large 

 patches of mapira continued to grow, — as it is said it does 

 from the roots for three years. The mapira was mixed with 

 tall bushes of the Congo-bean, castor-oil plants, and cotton. 

 The largest patch of tins kind we paced, and found it to be 

 six hundred and thirty paces on one side — the rest were from 

 one acre to three, and many not more than one-third 

 of an acre. The cotton — of very superior quality — was now 

 dropping off the bushes, to be left to rot — there was no one 

 to gather what would have been of so much value in Lanca- 

 shire. The huts, in the different villages we entered, were 

 standing quite perfect. The mortars for pounding corn — 

 the stones for grinding it — the water and beer pots — the empty 

 corn-safes and kitchen utensils, were all untouched ; and most 

 of the doors were shut, as if the starving owners had gone 



