)4 TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
February '^^^7 cultivate fcveral vegetables, which are not indigenous to 
^— V — > their country, fuch as Tobacco, Water-melons, a fmall fort of 
Kidney-beans, and Hemp, none of which I found growing 
fpontaneoufly. The women make their bafkets, and the mats 
which they fleep on. The men have great pride in their 
cattle ; they cut their horns in fuch a way as to be able to 
turn them into any fhape they pleafe, and teach them to 
anfwer a whiftle. Some of them ufe an inftrument for this 
purpofe, fimilar to a Bolhman's pipe. When they willi their 
cattle to return home, they go a little way from the houfe and 
blow this fmall inftrument, which is made of ivory or bone, 
and fo conftruded as to be heard at a great diftance, and in 
this manner bring all their cattle home without any difficulty. 
The foil of this country is a blackifh loomy ground, and fo 
extremely fertile, that every vegetable fubftance, whether fown 
or planted, grows here with great luxuriance. 
There are great variations in the climate ; but I had no 
thermometer to obferve the degrees of heat. It feldom rains ex- 
cept in the fummer feafon, when it is accompanied with thunder 
and lightning. The country is, however, extremely well fup- 
plied with water, not only from the high land to the north, 
which furniflies abundance throughout the year, but from 
many fountains of excellent water, which are found in the 
woods. From what I obferved of this country, I am induced 
to believe that it is greatly fuperior to any other known part of 
Africa. 
