72 IAKANAM010 ISLAND. CllAP. III. 



the sap, pouring out at the fresh wound, is caught in an 

 earthen pot, which is hung at the point. A thin slice is 

 taken off the end, to open the pores, and make the juice 

 flow every time the owner ascends to empty the pot. 

 Temporary huts are erected in the forest, and men and 

 boys remain by their respective trees day and night ; the 

 nuts, fish, and wine, being their sole food. The Por- 

 tuguese use the palm-wine as yeast, and it makes bread 

 so light, that it melts in the mouth like froth. 



Beyond the marsh the country is higher, and has a 

 much larger population. We passed a long line of tem- 

 porary huts, on a plain on the right bank, with crowds of 

 men and women hard at work making salt. They obtain 

 it by mixing the earth, which is here highly saline, with 

 water, in a pot with a small hole in it, and then evapora- 

 ting the liquid, which runs through, in the sun. From 

 the number of women we saw carrying it off in bags, we 

 concluded that vast quantities must be made at these 

 works. It is worth observing that on soils like this, con- 

 taining salt, the cotton is of larger and finer staple than 

 elsewhere. We saw large tracts of this rich brackish 

 soil both in the Shire and Zambesi valleys, and hence, 

 probably, sea-island cotton would do well; a single plant 

 of it, reared by Major Sicard, flourished and produced the 

 long staple and peculiar tinge of this celebrated variety, 

 though planted only in the street at Tette ; and there also 

 a salt efflorescence appears, probably from decomposition 

 of the rock, off which the people scrape it for use. 



The large village of the chief, Mankokwe, occupies a 

 site on the right bank; he owns a number of fertile islands, 

 and is said to be the Rundo, or paramount chief, of a large 

 district. Being of an unhappy suspicious disposition, he 

 would not see us; so we thought it best to move on, 

 rather than spend time in seeking his favour. 



On the 25th August we reached Dakanamoio island, 



