PALM OIL IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 



59 



the oily sarcocarpium from the one seed of the drupe, 

 boil it for some hours, allow the floating substance to 

 coagulate, and collect it in large earthen pots. The 

 price is usually about one doti of white cotton for thirty- 

 five pounds, and the people generally demand salt in 

 exchange for it from caravans. This is the " oil of a 

 red colour" which, according to Mr. Cooley, is bought 

 by the Wanyamwezi " from the opposite or south-western 

 side of the lake." Despite its sickly flavour, it is uni- 

 versally used in cooking, and it forms the only unguent 

 and lamp-oil in the country. This fine Guinea-palm u 

 also tapped, as the date in Western India, for toddy : 

 and the cheapness of this tembo — the sura of West 

 Africa — accounts for the prevalence of intoxication, 

 and the consequent demoralisation of -the Lakist tribes. 



The bazar at Ujiji is well supplied. Fresh fish of 

 various kinds is always procurable except during the 

 violence of the rains: the people, however, invariably 

 cut it up and clean it out before bringing it to market. 

 Good honey abounds after the wet monsoon. By the 

 favour of the chief, milk and butter may be purchased 

 every day. Long-tailed sheep and well-bred goats, 

 poultry and eggs — the two latter are never eaten by 

 the people — are brought in from the adjoining coun- 

 tries: the Arabs breed a few Manilla ducks, and the 

 people rear but will not sell pigeons. The few herds at 

 Ujiji which have escaped the beef-eating propensities 

 of the Watuta are a fine breed, originally, it is said, 

 derived by the Wahha from the mountains of Karag- 

 wah. Their horns in these lands appear unusually 

 large ; their stature combines with the smallness of the 

 hump to render them rather like English than Indian or 

 African cattle. They are rarely sold of later days, 

 except for enormous prices, an. adult slave being the 



