Chap. III. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY. 79 



tlie spokesman of the chief addresses the person indicated 

 exclusively. There is no lack of punctilious good man- 

 ners. The accustomed presents are exchanged with civil 

 ceremoniousness ; until our men, wearied and hungry, call 

 out, " English do not buy slaves, they buy food," and then 

 the people bring meal, maize, fowls, batatas, yams, beans, 

 beer, for sale. 



The Manganja are an industrious race ; and in addition 

 to working in iron, cotton, and basket-making, they culti- 

 vate the soil extensively. All the people of a village turn 

 out to labour in the fields. It is no uncommon thing to 

 see men, women, and children hard at work, with the 

 baby lying close by beneath a shady bush. When a new 

 piece of woodland is to be cleared, they proceed exactly 

 as farpaers do in America. The trees are cut down with 

 their little axes of soft native iron ; trunks and branches 

 are piled up and burnt, and the ashes spread on the soil. 

 The corn is planted among the standing stumps which are 

 left to rot. If grass land is to be brought under cultiva- 

 tion, as much tall grass as the labourer can conveniently 

 lay hold of is collected together and tied into a knot. He 

 then strikes his hoe round the tufts to sever the roots, 

 and leaving all standing, proceeds until the whole ground 

 assumes the appearance of a field covered with little 

 shocks of corn in harvest. A short time before the rains 

 begin, these grass shocks are collected in small heaps, 

 covered with earth, and burnt, the ashes and burnt soil 

 being used to fertilize the ground. Large crops of the- 

 mapira, or Egyptian dura (Holcus sorghum), are raised, 

 with millet, beans, and ground-nuts; also patches of 

 yams, rice, pumpkins, cucumbers, cassava, sweet potatoes, 

 tobacco, and hemp, or bang (Cannabis sativa^). Maize is 

 grown all the year round. Cotton is cultivated at almost 

 every village. Three varieties of cotton have been found 

 in the country, namely, two foreign and one native. The 



