AFRICA. 
to encumber themfelves with tow, cotton, or 
any other fubftances of the like nature. In 
order that I might procure a quantity of it 
fufRcient for my whole journey, as I was 
afraid of not ifinding it elfewhere, I ordered 
one of thefe trees to be cut down and to be 
ftripped of all its hair. The youngeft and 
fhorteft is the moft delicate; that which is 
fix feet long is harder, and can be of no ufe 
but for quadrupedes and^very large birds. 
I found creeping plants alfo in almoft every 
place where I paffed, which having reached 
the fummits, and even the fmalleft branches 
of the trees, fhot forth filaments that hung 
down to the earth. Being at firft exceed- 
ingly weak and flender, they at length attain 
to the fize of one's arm, like thofe fcen in 
America. Thefe filaments, which are al- 
moil: innumerable, bear no leaves, and the 
natives call them bavians toWy or bavians 
TOpeSy becaufe, by their affiftance, thefe apes 
climb to the tops of the trees in order to. 
reach the fruit of the plants, which grows 
only at their extremities where the filaments 
begin to (hoot forth. This fruit, vi^hich birds, 
and particularly the touracos, are exceedingly 
fond of, contains in its pulp a few round 
R 2 and 
