148 TREES OF FOUTATORO. 
country, as all travellers are in regard to places which they 
have visited. He had with him a bow made of a split 
bamboo, the bark of this plant formed the cord ; his quiver 
contained thirty-four poisoned arrows, besides which he had 
a dagger and a pair of pincers for extracting thorns.* The 
African needs little more to be afraid of nothing. 
Maka called us up early, and we pursued our journey 
through a very woody country, the soil of which was sandy. 
Among the new species of trees, I remarked only the rota, 
the flowers of which shed a perfume as delicious as that of the 
rose ; the heh, whose foliage resembled that of our plane-tree ; 
its bark is soft and white, its wood is red, and is used for 
making the shackles which the traders put on the feet of their 
slaves. The incense- tree is also found there, it is thorny, 
and its bark is of a dark brown. The ebony and gum-trees 
were most common. It is singular to see trees of the same 
species, some of which are in flower, others without leaves, 
and others covered with fruit, all at the same time. I con- 
sulted my African botanists on this subject, and they assigned 
the following reason for this diversity : that those which are 
the least advanced, have either not laid up a sufficient pro- 
vision of water during the rainy season, or have already 
* One of the branches of this instrument is pointed, whilst the other, 
similar to the cutting knife of our shoemakers, cuts the flesh in order to come 
at the thorn. , 
