1866.] EAST AFRICANS AT HOME. 141 



through an ill-peopled country. The morning was lovely, the 

 whole country bathed in bright sunlight, and not a breath 

 of air disturbed the smoke as it slowly curled up from 

 the heaps of burning weeds, which the native agriculturist 

 wisely destroys. The people generally were busy hoeing in 

 the cool of the day. One old man in a village where we 

 rested had trained the little hair he had left into a tail, 

 which, well plastered with fat, he had bent on itself and 

 laid flat on his crown ; another was carefully paring a stick 

 for stirring the porridge, and others were enjoying the cool 

 shade of the wild fig-trees which are always planted at 

 villages. It is a sacred tree all over Africa and India, and 

 the tender roots which drop down towards the ground are 

 used as medicine — a universal remedy. Can it be a tradition 

 of its being like the tree of life, which Archbishop Whately 

 conjectures may have been used in Paradise to render man 

 immortal ? One kind of fig-tree is often seen hacked all 

 over to get the sap, which is used as bird-lime ; bark-cloth is 

 made of it too. I like to see the men weaving or spinning, 

 or reclining under these glorious canopies, as much as I love 

 to see our more civilized people lolling on their sofas or 

 ottomans. 



The first rain — a thunder shower — fell in the afternoon, 

 air in shade before it 92° ; wet bulb 74°. At noon the soil 

 in the sun was 140°, perhaps more, but I was afraid of 

 bursting the thermometer, as it was graduated only a few 

 degrees above that. This rain happened at the same time 

 that the sun was directly overhead on his way south; it 

 was but a quarter of an inch, but its effect was to deprive 

 us of all chance of getting the five carriers we needed, all 

 were off to their gardens to commit the precious seed to the 

 soil. We got three, but no one else would come, so we have 

 to remain here over to-day (30th October). 



30th October. — The black traders come from Tette to this 

 country to buy slaves, and as a consequence here we come 



