JAN.— -mar. 1858.] The Geographical Society. 



261 



exude from the greasy walls of the hole. The copal is here found 

 in the vegetable soil overlaying the blue clay. 



On the 13th May, I started from Saadan, a haven on the main- 

 land, opposite Zanzibar, in company with the Akida-ao, or Mucud- 

 dum of the copal diggers. Passing over an alluvial plain, covered 

 with rank vegetations, acacios, "thorns and spear grass, after walk- 

 ing three miles I was shown the copal tree. It is growing in a 

 thicket upon a flat covered with toddy and fan palms, but no cocos ; 

 it stands about thirty feet high, and measures in girth three feet. 

 Gum exuded from the bark, and in securing the specimen of the 

 wood herewith forwarded, we were pitilessly assailed by a large 

 ginger-colored and semi-transparent ant whose very bite drew 

 blood, The copal tree is rare on this part of the coast ; within the 

 space of several hundred yards I saw two only. 



Another mile brought us to a distinctly defined sea beach rising 

 about 150 feet in a swell from the plain, marked by a regular line 

 of quartz and quartzose pebbles and crowned with luxuriant thickets. 

 The soil is sandy, and here as on the flat below are frequent traces 

 of the copal digger. Our guide was induced to cut a stick to 

 sharpen it, and to scrape up the earth which produced several bits 

 of gum. One of the slaves dug a pit about three feet deep ; the 

 color of the sand became redder as he went lower, crimson fibrous 

 matter appeared, and presently the ground seemed to be half co- 

 pal, half sand. He assured me that there is no subsoil but this 

 red sand, and that his people never dig deeper than a man's waist. 



The whole of this land from Panjan to Mboamaji may be called 

 the copal coast : it affords an apparently endless supply of the 

 gum. Copal is obtained by scraping the sand, even in places 

 washed over by high tides, and often when digging holes, to fix 

 the poles of houses, the people come upon it. That of Saadan is 

 poor compared with the produce of Wande and the Southern har- 

 bour. On the mainland it costs half price of what is paid upon 

 this Island, and the lazy inhabitants of the villages can never be 

 induced to dig whilst they have a handful of food remaining. 



The copal tree (Vateria Indica ? or Hymencea Vermicosa ?) is 

 still found in the Island and on the mainland of Zanzibar. It is not 



