Chap. XXIV. STARVATION FAEE OF NATIVES. 483 



pletely successful that it was often, in the hard march, 

 a subject of regret, that King had not been taken too. A 

 removal of only a hundred yards is sometimes so beneficial 

 that it ought in severe cases never to be omitted. 



We were fairly on the march on the 19th August. The 

 island Motola, at which the boat had been hung, was soon 

 reached. Two men, who had taken refuge on the island, 

 were walking along one of the paths which wound among 

 the trees and bushes. The noise of the Cataract, on the 

 other side of their island home, prevented them from hear- 

 ing the sound of our footsteps till we were within a yard of 

 them. A start — and the bundles of roots they were carrying 

 fell to the ground, and they made off as if to jump into the 

 river; but we stopped beside the roots, and called them to 

 come back and take their food. They thought that we were 

 Ajawa, but a glance assured them to the contrary, and we 

 were gratified to see, in their look of confidence when told 

 who we were, the wide-spread influence of the English name. 

 The roots were about the size of common turnips, and called 

 Malapa. The natives said that a person who did not know 

 how to cook them would kill himself by using them as food. 

 This is probable ; for it is necessary to boil them in a strong 

 ley of woodashes, pour that away, and boil them in the same 

 kind of mixture a second and third time before they are eat- 

 able. The tamarinds of this country were now ripe, and the 

 people were collecting them and neutralizing their excessive 

 acidity by boiling the pods with the ashes of the lignum - 

 vitas tree, which are beautifully white, and sometimes cake 

 as if they contained a large amount of alkali ; the same ashes 

 are used too as a whitewash. When we came upon men like 

 these poor fugitives, they were employed to carry our luggage, 

 and were paid for their labour. This seemed to inspire more 

 confidence than giving a present would have done. 



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