88 
ABRUS SEEDS. 
natives in the above rude way ; and this is the extent 
of their knowledge in ironwork. 
The women have no needlework. The men, if they 
make a web in the loom, sew it all themselves; but 
the former are very neat-handed at working in straw 
and matting. They grind the corn and attend to the 
house. There is no fine earthenware, such as cups 
and plates, in the country ; they are not requisite. 
Straw or wooden ones suffice to hold water, beer, 
or vegetables ; and European pots and kettles are 
represented by earthen gurrahs, like a sphere with a 
slice off it. Salt is extracted from the soil, as prac- 
tised in Uhiao, and is considered better than that 
taken from the ashes of plants. 
The forest at this dry season did not afford any 
amusement in its flora : everything was in a dormant 
state, and few or no flowers could be gathered, except 
some jasmine-scented bushes in the stream-bed ; the 
beautiful little seeds of the abrus peeping out of their 
open curled-up pods, and the plant twining delicately 
round a small tree ; some thorny bushes of a vermilion 
flowering-shrub, and large umbrageous trees of the 
flcus order, used for bird-lime by the natives ; several 
sweet plums now ripe, but nearly all stone. The most 
useful tree to the natives here is the Miombo ; it 
makes a brilliant fire, and lasts the whole night, just 
to suit the African, who luxuriates in its heat. Most 
of the trees are bare-poled, admirably adapted for 
palisade purposes, and seldom heavier than can be 
carried by two men. The wands from the Miombo, 
a kind of banyan, afford the natives the fibre which 
they attach to their wool. Its manufacture is simple : 
split the wand longitudinally, separate the inner from 
