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THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



ous fruits, plantains, limes, and papaws; and of vege- 

 tables, brinjalls, cucumbers, and tomatos, which relieve 

 the indigenous holcus and maize, manioc and sweet- 

 potato, millet and phaseoli, sesamum and ground-nuts. 

 They declare to having derived great benefit from the 

 introduction of onions, — an antifebral, which flourishes 

 better in Central than in Maritime Africa. The onion, 

 so thriving in South Africa, rapidly degenerates upon 

 the island of Zanzibar into a kind of houseleek. In 

 Unyamwezi it is of tolerable size and flavour. It enters 

 into a variety of dishes, the most nauseous being probably 

 the sugared onion-omelet. In consequence of general 

 demand, onions are expensive in the interior ; an indigo- 

 dyed shukkah will purchase little more than a pound. 

 When the bulbs fail, the leaves chopped into thin circles 

 and fried in clarified butter with salt, are eaten as 

 a relish with meat. They are also inserted into marak 

 or soups, to disguise the bitter and rancid taste of 

 stale ghee. Onions may be sown at all seasons except 

 during the wet monsoon, when they are liable to decay. 

 The Washenzi have not yet borrowed this excellent 

 and healthy vegetable from the Arabs. Garlic has 

 also been tried in Unyanyembe, but with less suc- 

 cess ; moreover, it is considered too heating for daily 

 use. As might be expected, however, amongst a float- 

 ing population with many slaves, foreign fruits and 

 vegetables are sometimes allowed to die out. Thus 

 some enterprising merchant introduced into Unyan- 

 yembe the date and the mkungu, bidam, or almond- 

 tree of the coast : the former, watered once every third 

 day, promised to bear fruit, when, in the absence of 

 the master, the Wanyamwezi cut up the young shoots 

 into walking-sticks. Sugar is imported : the water- 

 wanting cane will not thrive in arid Unyanyembe, and 



