14=4 
Supplement to the " i'ropical Agriculturist." [Aug. 1, 1902. 
corn." This the Basutos grind with a very 
little salt ; they carry it in small kid-skins on 
their backs when travelling, or in leather bags 
on pack animals. It is simply chewed with 
an occasional sip of water. 
In December, 1873, having snddenly received 
orders to that effect, I called out a little army 
of about 200 native mounted infantry to co-oper- 
ate with other forces against Langalibalele. We 
had it in prospect that, before reaching other 
food supply, we should have a fortnight's march 
up and down the highest mountains in South 
Africa, the Maluti of Basutoland, athen uninhabited 
part of that country. I ordered all the women 
in the neighbourhood to prepare " dipabi " that 
night, and I provided a little salt to grind with 
some of it, and a little sugar with the rest. 
It was cheap ; the whole expedition of six 
weeks' duration cost the Government £1 per man, 
with his food, horse and ammunition. On this 
"dipabi," and meat killed on the road, and but 
sparingly used, we marched, generally lea.ding 
our horses, and walking and running as mounted 
infantry should, till we got into the inhabited 
part of the north of Basutoland. The men did 
excellent marching, and could have done so without 
the meat. I mention this to show another way 
of giving variety with the same article of food. 
I have heard of Basutos marching hundreds 
of miles on " dipabi " alone, carried on their 
backs. I have often wished our sometimes stinted 
soldiers marching near Basutoland could have 
had it. In any case it gives variety. I am sure 
there is considerable chemical change in the 
parched and burst grain, and that analysis would 
easily show the reason of its nutritiousness. 
Rukwezo, or Rapoko (known in science as 
Eleusine coracana), is a very small, hard, red 
grain, looking like Kaffir corn, but from a wholly 
different, low-growing plant. It is said the Mash- 
onas have six varieties of it differently named. I 
learned from Mr. George Watt, a Government 
officer stationed in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 
whose speciiil duty it is, as Government "reporter," 
to investigate matters connected with economic 
products, that this grain and muuga (of which 
presently) are both largely grown and used in 
India as articles of food, but are supposed to 
have been introduced from Africa. They are 
probably the original food grain of Mashona-liko 
tribes of Central Africa, and, like other grain, 
developed from a grass. I learn also that Eleusine 
coracana is now much grown in Japan, so it 
is extending its range, and suits a wide range 
of climate. Under European cultivation "ruk- 
weza" grows much later, tillers much better, 
bears more and develops larger grain than when 
cultivated by natives. Probably, like maize and 
"pedigree wheat," it might, repeated selec- 
tion and careful cultivation, be bred to have a 
less flinty and a thinner husk, while its size 
might be progressively increased. At present its 
diminutive size and hardness give it an advan- 
tage in one respect :--it is impenetrable by 
weevils. It appears to rae the most nitrogenous 
of farinaceous grains. Natives consider food pre- 
pared from it more nutritious and satinfyiug 
tjbau that from any other grain. Rice-eating 
natives from other countries quickly learn to 
prefer food prepared from rukweza," It and 
"muuga" can be sown late, after other native 
grain crops show they will fail from drought, 
locusts, etc., so they are anti-famine crops. As 
yet, a disadvantage in these two crops and Kaffir 
corn is that winnowing them is a slow, laborious, 
difficult process. They do not lend themselves 
to present methods of machine-threshing or mill- 
ing. I propose to submit to the Scientific and 
Technical Department of the Imperial Institute 
specimens of these three, in the grain and in 
the ear and straw, for examination and advice as 
to the possibility of machinery being adapted or 
devised for threshing, grinding, husking and other 
treatment. I propose to place before that very 
strong and well-equipped Department which has 
been instituted to aid and advise all parts of the 
Empire, the following questions : — 
(a) Have any systematic efforts yet been made 
to improve these grains, and for the above 
objects, and, if so, with what results ? 
(6) Is it probable that by careful and conti- 
nuous selection for a few years with improved 
cultivation, the hard husk of Kaffir corn, rapoko 
and "munga" could be reduced to a minimum 
and the grain enlarged, as has been done with 
mealies and wheat, and with quicker maturity ? 
(c) Is it probable that by- devolpements of 
machinery, these grains could respectively, in 
an improved manner, be harvested, cleaned, 
husked and milled, and this on a commercial 
scale, and that they could be cooked in a simple 
way on a large scale? 
{d) Would it be well to have them analysed to 
ascertain their relative value in food constituents ? 
(e) How would the desired results best bo 
promoted: by departmental experiments, or by 
stimulating scientific investigation, cultivation ■ 
and invention by offers of rewards by Govern- 
ments or Departments .P 
My impression is that Agricultural Departments 
of England, America, India and Africa and other 
countries, and the Imperial and Smithsonian 
Institutes, should cause these enquiries and 
experiments to be made, for individual efforts can 
effect little, and only slow, improvement. 
When I was administering Basutoland some 
twenty years ago I found that for years early 
rains had been failing and that the staple crop, 
Kaffir corn, had not time to grow, so partial 
famine was produced. I made such enquiries as I 
could as to quicker maturing varieties of that 
slow-growing grain, and obtained in consequence, 
at my own expense, one variety of Kaffir corn from 
Abyssinia, and "amber cane" from Missouri ; but 
I left, and could not press on the experiments. 
What is wanted is to see whether this quick 
maturing, etc., cannot be accomplished, and 
whether rapoko and munga may not have serious 
value as, at least, a supplementary crop to save 
the situation when rains will not fall in time. 
These grains appear not only to have come to * 
stay, but to be extending in the world's cultiva- 
tion, and it would seem worth whib to improve 
them, 
