500 



APPENDIX III. 



Why the natives do not cultivate grain is hard to 

 conceive ; perhaps the great plenty of the cocoa-nuts 

 and the mahogo, with the profusion of fruit, supersedes 

 the necessity, and renders them averse to the labour, of 

 raising corn, although their country must be exceedingly 

 well adapted to it. The mahogo, which is the principal 

 article of diet, is eaten by them either simply roasted or 

 boiled, or it is cut into small pieces, which, being dried 

 in the sun, is ground into flour, of which is made a very 

 palatable kind of bread. 



The operations of agriculture are not numerous, and 

 indeed consist chiefly in clearing the ground ; this is 

 done by fire, and seems to be the practice throughout 

 Africa. Within the tropics, where the luxuriancy of 

 vegetation is so great, it would be a work of great labour, 

 if not an absolute impossibility, to get rid of this in any 

 other way. The time of doing it is at the end of the dry 

 season, when the crops are collected and the rains are 

 about to set in. In coming down the coast we observed 

 fires all along the fertile country south of the line. 



Asses and camels are the only beasts of burthen (Note 

 25), and being scarce, are very valuable ; horses have 

 been imported by the Arabs, but will not live. Bullocks 

 and goats (Note 20) are good and in plenty, and can be 

 procured for a moderate price ; a good bullock fetches 

 from ten to twelve dollars in the town, but might probably 

 be got for much less in the country. The rest of their 

 quadrupeds are cats and monkeys of various species. 

 There are scarcely any dogs on the island, the Sounllics 

 having a great aversion to them. When a dog accident- 

 ally touches one of these people, he shows signs of loath- 

 ing and abhorrence.^ 



' ' This is apparently derived from their Persian ancestry. 



