12 FERTILITY OF SOIL. CHAP. I. 



shop near the church.' " We find also a few guava and 

 lime-trees growing wild, but the natives claim the crops. 

 The dark woods resound with the lively and exultant song 

 of the kingkunter (Halcyon striolata), as he sits perched 

 on high among the trees. As the steamer moves on 

 through the winding channel, a pretty little heron or 

 bright kingfisher darts out in alarm from the edge of the 

 bank, flies on ahead a short distance, and settles quietly 

 down to be again frightened off in a few seconds as we 

 approach. The magnificent fishhawk (Halietus vocifer) sits 

 on the top of a mangrove-tree, digesting his morning 

 meal of fresh fish, and is clearly unwilling to stir until 

 the imminence of the danger compels him at last to spread 

 his great wings for flight. The glossy ibis, acute of ear 

 to a remarkable degree, hears from afar the unwonted 

 sound of the paddles, and, springing from the mud where 

 his family has been quietly feasting, is off, screaming out 

 his loud, harsh, and defiant Ha ! ha ! ha ! long before the 

 danger is near. 



Several native huts now peep out from the bananas and 

 cocoa-palms on the right bank ; they stand on piles a few 

 few feet above the low damp ground, and their owners 

 enter them by means of ladders. The soil is wonderfully 

 rich, and the gardens are really excellent. Eice is cul- 

 tivated largely ; sweet potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes, 

 cabbages, onions (shalots), peas, a little cotton, and sugar- 

 cane are also raised. It is said that English potatoes, 

 when planted at Quillimane on soil resembling this, in 

 the course of two years become in taste like sweet potatoes 

 (Convolvulus batatas), and are like our potato frosted. The 

 whole of the fertile region extending from the Kongone 

 canal to beyond Mazaro, some eighty miles in length, and 

 fifty in breadth, is admirably adapted for the growth of 

 sugar-cane ; and were it in the hands of our friends at the 

 Cape, would supply all Europe with sugar. The remark- 



