THE WEST COAST OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA. 107 
Turtles, birds, and Jisli, without number, frequent the coast, 
and no sportsman need here complain of a dearth of game. 
The most useful, as well as the most graceful, of all the Plants 
of this region, is the palm-tree, which yields that great civilizing 
medium, palm oil ; and hardly less important, as commercial 
productions, are the india-rubber vine, the barwood, ebony, and 
several gum-trees. The natives themselves, however, find less 
use in any of these than they do in the shrub variously desig- 
nated the cassava, mandioca, and manioc {Jatropha Manihot), 
almost every part of which is a staple article of food. It, how- 
ever, requires a considerable amount of preparation before it is 
fit for use, as the root contains a deleterious substance, which 
must be washed out before it can be dried, ground, and baked. 
Agriculture is quite unknown in most parts of this region, and 
the natives depend almost entirely upon the manioc for sus- 
tenance — this failing them, they die of starvation. 
Added to the plants just mentioned, there are in Liberia and 
one or two other parts, small sugar-plantations, and, except in 
extremely dry seasons, the soil is capable of producing cotton,* 
coffee, cereals, and the fruits of temperate climates. 
Of the mineral productions little is known. Copper, in the 
form of malachite, is received in considerable quantities from 
Loan dapf gold from various parts of the coast, but not to any 
extent. There is no doubt whatever that iron is plentiful. In 
the interior the natives employ it to fabricate spear-heads, 
knives, &c., and prefer these home-made productions to those 
they receive from European traders. Dr. Livingstone describes 
the ruins of an iron-foundry erected as far back as 1768, by a 
Portuguese nobleman, on the river Coanza, and states, that a 
party of native smiths and miners still work the rich black 
magnetic ore for the Portuguese government. The quantity of 
iron they produce is, however, inconsiderable. 
Although there has never been any certain evidence of the 
existence of coal, there is little doubt that it will be found in 
considerable quantities, and in the neighbourhood of Ambriz- 
ette petroleum (mineral or rock oil) is very abundant. 
It would be difficult to find anywhere a country better adapted 
for trade than this portion of Africa. Its rich tropical produc- 
tions would furnish the materials for an enormous export traffic; 
its naked, unhoused, half-starved inhabitants would, if usefully 
employed, open a market for our home manufactures; whilst its 
numerous bays, creeks, and rivers, would afford the accommoda- 
tion so necessary for a successful interchange of commodities. 
* Dr. Livingstone found cotton further inland, and states that he purchased 
it at a penny per pound. 
t The malachite is found at Ambrizette ; but since the annexation of that 
place by the Portuguese, it has been conveyed to Loanda for shipment. 
