Unika. 
85 
repeating, but of its abuse a word may be ventured.. 
The natives tap it for toddy. The top is cut from 
the heart of the tree, and a calabash is appended. A 
wine exudes, which by the time it is collected is highly 
intoxicating, but becomes more so the longer it is 
kept, that is, till it arrives at the acid stages, when it 
becomes vinegar. The tree is tapped three times a 
day. It is necessary to repeat the operation in order 
to keep up the flow of the liquor. This practice is 
called by the natives " ku gema." The tree thus 
tapped does not yield a full complement of nuts, and 
often does not produce any whatever ; therefore the 
course of nature has to be turned aside in order to 
procure the wine. The liquor is a favourite beverage 
with the Wanika ; many of them almost live upon it. 
The mvumo (Palmyra), cabbage-tree, with its peculiar 
bulging stem and splendid plume of fans, is found in 
some parts of Unika, while the mkorma (fan palm) is 
seen everywhere. These trees are also tapped for 
toddy, but the one is too scarce and the yield of the 
other too scanty for the occupation to be carried on 
largely. The areca palm sends its slim, tall shafts 
high into the air by the side of the cocoa-nut palm, 
but it is not numerous. It supplies the nut which 
the Wasuahili chew with lime, tobacco, etc. Very 
conspicuous on the face of the country is the 
baobab, with its elephantine trunk, its branches now 
bare and grey, and now bursting into green ; and 
the tamarind with its compact mass of exquisite and 
never-fading foliage. 
The cotton plant is among the wild growths of 
Unika. Samples have been sent to England, and 
have been pronounced gopd. We once planted some 
