<< MONTH LV. I>* 
XXI. 
COLOMBO, A.PRIL 1st, 1902. 
No 10. 
COFFEES AND RUBBERS, OIL-PALMS, 
GROUND-NUTS, &c., IN EASTERN AND 
CENTRAL AFRICA. 
(Extracts from the work of a recent Traveller.) 
CONGO :— THE CATARACTS »ISTRICT. 
LMOST everywhere in the dis- 
tricts of the Cataracts there 
are hills of some hundreds of 
yards of elevation, the soil of 
which is argillaceous and 
the vegetation auch as I have 
just described. The rivers 
wind through narrow valleys, 
the alluvial soil of which in 
remarkably fertile. And here it is that the natives 
jjften establish their villages, and plant th«ir oil- 
palms and the " safo " {Sachylohus edulis, now called 
Canarium edula,) which develope vigorously. In the 
neighbourhood, that is on the lower slopes of 
the hills, or in the valleys, they cultivate the 
manioc, the sweet-potato, and the earth-nut. Ther« 
are also some villages in the Savannahs, even on the 
hill tops or on plateaux ; one discovers them from i, 
distance by their clusters of oil-palm and safo planted 
long ago by the side of dwellings. 
There are also sandy districts, and they form 
extensive plains and ar« planted by the natives 
with ground-nuts. This plant gives abundant harvests, 
principally in the region of North Manyanga, of 
Bauza Kasi and Banza Makuta. Formerly the 
natives of these regions used to bring their ground- 
nuts to Matadi, to the Dutch factory, to exchange 
for salt, which they sold in the interior. 
In the wooded ravines other useful plants may be 
the objects of commercial transactions, such as the 
oil-palm for itsoilaud its seeds; the Lundolphia, one 
kind of which, at least, gives a good India-rubberi 
the " panza " or r»ntedethra, that fine tree with larga 
pods, containing large oily seeds. If these natural 
products are scarcely, if at all, objects of trade, wa 
must attribute it to the sparseness of the population 
and the profits to be reaped from porterage. One 
must also remember the comparatively limited extent 
of the wooded areas. We are not in the primseval , 
forest where trees and useful lianas abound. 
When the railway will have put a stop to the porter- 
age between Matadi and Leopoldville, the population 
will resume its ancient occupations. The ground- 
nut will again be more largely cultivated and the 
natural products of the country will be better utilized. 
Thanks to favourable tariffs, the railway will facilitate 
the export. I cannot say at all what will be the pro- 
duct of the future for this region. 
There is still one cultivation which may acquire a 
certain importance in the districts of the Cataracts ; 
it is that of the Coffee tree (of Liberia). Near Luvi- 
tuku station, I saw a plantation consisting of about 
500 plants 2 years old and 1,500 recently planted. They 
are shaded by oil-palms and panza and are coming on 
very well. One may therefore say that the same kind 
planted in the wooded valleys near the streams will 
give good results, in spite of the locg dry season, I 
do not think that very large plantations would bo 
possible ; therefore the State will be wise not to under- 
take them. It would be better to induce the natives to 
cultivate small plots around their own villages, and ' 
to give them seed and even young plants. I con- 
sider it would be useless to try to cultivate coffee on 
the forestless hills, nor would I recommend it on the 
plateaux unless they attain an altitude of at least 2,000 . 
to 2,500 ft. It is too dry during a great part of the year. 
DIS1BI«T OF STANLEY POOL AND OTt THE EASTERN 
KWANGO. 
In these sandy regions, in open savannah, some in- 
teresting varieties of plants grow in abundacce. They 
belong to the LmAol-pUa group, India-rubber creepers 
