KOKOTO-NI. 



3 



banon, whilst tlie general aspect is that of a 

 giant asparagus. Like the arbutus, some trees 

 will be bare, others in leaf, and others in flower, 

 all at the same season. When thickly clothed 

 with foliage growing almost stalkless from the 

 wood; topped with snowy blossoms, like the 

 fairest and lightest of water-lilies, and hung 

 about with four or five hundred gourds ; ovals 

 somewhat larger than a cocoa-nut, dressed in 

 green velvet with the nap on, and attached by a 

 long thin cord, like tassels which wave with 

 every breath of the zephyr, its appearance is 

 striking as it is novel. Nothing, in fact, after 

 the negro can be more typically and distinctly 

 African. 



Escorted by Said bin Salim and his slave, we 

 visited the village Mwanda. It is the normal 

 collection of cajan-thatched huts, with wattle 

 and dab walls, gathering round a little Mosque 

 and grave-yard. There are no stone dwellings, 

 but scatters of such hovels extend far and wide. 

 The settlement was mostly tenanted by women 

 who hid themselves, by children who ran away, 

 and by slave-girls who squatted, combing and 

 plaiting one another's locks ; these grinned mer- 

 rily enough, having nought to fear. The faces 

 were hideous to look upon, with black, coarse 



