448 
TRAVELS m AFRICA. 
Chap. LT. 
the addition of a little rice, I subsisted on it almost 
entirely during my long stay in this country, and 
found it very palatable when prepared with plenty 
of butter, or even boiled in milk. Of course it is a 
light food, and, while it does not cause indigestion, 
it does not satisfy the appetite for a long time, or 
impart much superfluous strength. As regards ve- 
getables, moluklriya (" gonermo," Corclwrius olitorius) 
and deraba or bamiya ("gobalto" and "geddegfr") 
are mostly in use, besides the " gongo," the leaves 
of the monkey-bread tree ("kuka"), and occasionally 
that of the hajihj ( u janga "), which form the common 
palaver-sauce of the poor. Water-melons ("ger- 
laka " ?) also are grown to some extent, and that sort 
of Cucurbita called melopepo ("kurchi"?), which I 
have mentioned on a former occasion. Inside the 
capital a great many onions (" bassal") are cultivated, 
but not so much for the use of the natives as of the 
strangers who visit the place. 
Of articles of industry, cotton (" n} 7 ere") and indigo 
("alnri") are grown to a sufficient extent to supply 
the wants of the natives ; but both articles are chiefly 
cultivated by the B6rnu people whc have immigrated 
into this country. 
The soil in general seems to be of a good quality ; 
but, as I have said above, the country suffers greatly 
from drought, and ants and worms contribute in a 
large measure to frustrate the exertions of the hus- 
bandman. Of the trees most common in the country, 
and most useful to mankind, I have principally to 
