270 



colours used are five in number, and it may not be misplaced to 

 record here how the natives obtain them. 



Red : — A yellow root, Curcuma (Kiswahiii, Manjanoj found 

 almost everywhere, is dried, stamped, and left to soak for a week 

 in a little alum and water. This mixture is then boiled together 

 with a red root, the Rubia Cordifolia (Kiswahiii, Fua), which is 

 imported from India, and can be purchased in every shop. 



Yellow* : — A piece of the bark of the Xamavele acacia, called in 

 Kiswahiii, Mungamo, is pounded in a mortar and boiled with the 

 strip of mat it is intended to colour. 



Orange : — The same process is performed as with yellow, only 

 a little curcuma is added. 



Green : — The strip of mat is boiled w ith a concoction made up 

 of the green leaves of Ricinus cemmunis, Jatropha curcas, and 

 Cordyla Africana (Kiswahiii, Mche), which have previously been 

 bruised. 



Black : — Some dark-coloured slime, found in many of the rivers, 

 is placed on the piece of mat and allowed to remain there for three 

 days, after which it is removed. The strip is dried in the sun, and 

 then boiled with a little pounded sorghum straw. 



Medicinal plants: — Various kinds of strophantus and stry- 

 chnos are found in the plains. 



W"ax : — A verv laudable effort is being made to establish a ra- 

 tional bee culture. Up to within the last year or two the wax 

 exported from German East xAfrica has solely come from Portu- 

 guese territory. 



Forestry-Hllfiji : — The numerous rivulets and creeks, which 

 form the mouths of the Rufiji River, and which cover an area of 1 

 100,000 acres, are lined by extensive mangrove swamps producing 

 the timber known as boriti or Zanzibar rafters. i his timber, j 

 which is much used for the building of native houses, is also ex- 

 ported to Zanzibar, Arabia, and India. 



It is the opinion of various botanists that when traders, both 

 European and native, are allowed to cut boritis at will the mang- ) 

 roves in course of time die out, as large numbers of big trees are 1 

 usually cleared from one spot, thus exposing the young plants to 1 

 the direct rays of the sun, which is said to kill them. In conse- 

 quence, the only trees now to be found in various parts of the | 

 Rufiji Delta are Phoenix reclinata, Osmunda sp., and Barringtonia ; 

 racemosa. 



In order to preserve, and if possible, to increase the present sup- 

 ply of boritis, a forest officer and three wood-rangers have been 

 stationed in the Rufiji sub-district. The tries are felled under 

 their supervision, and the timber is sold by the German Govern- 

 ment. 



The custom of systematically stripping a part of the bark from I 

 the mangroves, as sometimes practised in the East and West I 

 Indies, is not permitted, as it is held that such a course must be I 

 injurious to the trees. After the timber has been felled, the bark I 

 is stripped and sold. 



