Chap. XXIV. 



FEMALES HOEING. 



499 



show their skill in agriculture is by collecting all the weeds 

 and grass into heaps, covering them with soil and then set- 

 ting fire to them. They burn slowly, and all the ashes and 

 much of the smoke is retained in the overlying soil. The 

 mounds thus formed, when sown upon, yield abundantly. The 

 only instrument of husbandry here is the short-handled hoe ; 

 and about Tette the labour of tilling the soil, as represented 

 in the woodcut, is performed entirely by female slaves. On 



Females Hoeing. , 



the West Coast a double-handled hoe is employed. Here 

 the small hoe is seen in the hands of both men and women. 

 In other parts of Africa a hoe with a handle four feet long is 

 used, but the plough is quite unknown. 



In illustration of the manner in which the native know- 

 ledge of agriculture strikes an honest intelligent observer, it 

 may be mentioned that the first time good Bishop Mackenzie 

 beheld how well the fields of the Manganja were cultivated 



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