Chap. XXIX. GLOOM OF SLAVE-TRADE. 591 



mahogany — all yield oil, or a kind of oleaginous matter ; 

 the oil of the Buaze has fine drying properties. 



In addition to these wild products we ha^e the Sesaniuni 

 widely and extensively cultivated ; from its seeds, which are 

 now an article of export, and ground-nuts, most of the salad 

 oil used in England is expressed. A large species of cu- 

 cumber called Makaka is much cultivated by the natives, 

 both as an article of food and for the sake of its fine oil. 



We confess that we do not attempt to describe the 

 productions of the country with that fulness they deserve, 

 nor with that hopeful heartiness we once felt. Nor do we 

 cite the discoveries of Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, or the 

 patient examination of the Zambesi to a point beyond the 

 Victoria Falls, or other important geographical feats, with 

 any degree of pride. These were all incidental to our 

 main design. What we have seen of the slave-trade has 

 thrown a gloom over all. Our notes tell of a country 

 entirely different from most preconceived notions of Africa ; 

 and though in the cozy room, which by grace we occupy 

 in Newstead Abbey, the eye now falls on the lawn all 

 covered with snow, it is no difficult task to recall the 

 bright warm glow reflected from East African ghauts. We 

 can easily fancy the slopes furrowed by valleys lined with 

 trees, with here and there a rocky bluff jutting out. Or we 

 can bring back to our memory the rich upland plateaux like 

 open prairies covered with grass, or dotted over with clumps 

 of foliage, and watered by numerous streams, all bathed in 

 a flood of sunlight; but that sad slave-trade hangs like a 

 pall over the whole. The picturesque undulations, the deep 

 gorges and ravines leading down from the edges of the table- 

 lands to lower levels where the Shire meanders in green 

 meadows like a silver thread, or the broad lake, backed with its 

 mountain masses, can all be pictured to the mind's eye ; but 

 their natural beauties are now inseparably associated with 

 human sorrow and woe. 



