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BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
Mnyonyeve 1 grows in flat, open, damp soil, or near water. Its fruit, when ripe, is 
black, and is edible. I think the Europeans might employ it after pounding in the 
manufacture of ink. Its wood is used in furniture-making. 
Mpingo 2 is a good wood, used in making the masts of dhows. With the inner 
wood natives make canes, knife-handles, etc. It grows near streams, and is always 
seen on the banks of big rivers. Long ago people employed this wood in making 
arrow-heads, as it is exceedingly hard. 
Mkundanguluwe grows on sandy soil. Is used in making knobkerries, tobacco pipes. 
It takes on a good polish. 
Mpinjipinji is a choice fruit tree. It is propagated from cuttings, and takes five 
years before reaching maturity. 
Masau grows anywhere on high ground. The surface of the tree is covered with 
small prickles. It has short, small leaves and a small fruit. When ripe the fruit is red. 
It is then plucked or picked off the ground where it may have fallen. It is boiled in a 
pot into which a gun-barrel has been inserted. The pot is covered up, and a fire 
is kindled beneath it. Water is poured on the gun-barrel, and the distilled liquid is 
caught in a bottle as Kachaso (spirits). 
Mkakatuku grows on sandy soil. It is a very hard wood, hence its name. The 
wood is good at the heart of the stem. People scrape off the bark, steep it, and 
drink the liquid. 
Mkwesu grows near the river or lake on small ant hills. The wood is very hard. 
The fruit is long and finger-like. The wood is good for making boards for furniture, etc. 
Mtundulci grows near a stream. Its fruit is edible and sweet. The bark is used 
for dyeing cloth of a red colour, like Turkey-red calico. The wood can be made 
into boards. 
Muungitiisja —a large tree growing in the long grass near a stream. It produces 
a red fruit inedible save by elephants. The wood is used for making mortars, and also 
for canoes. 
Chitasya is a hard wood that does not, however, grow to any size. It grows on sandy 
soil. The wood is used in making head-rests (pillows) and lip ornaments for women. 
Mkuyu 3 grows either near a stream or on high ground. If the stem is cut it exudes 
a white sap which is used in smearing arrows, so as to harden them. The fruit is called 
nguyu , and is edible. In seasons of famine the fruit is plucked when still green, and 
pounded and eaten as a porridge with fowl as relish. If picked up hard and dry the fruit 
is mashed up and cooked. The bark of the tree gives good bark-rope. It affords good 
shade. The fruit is eaten by the birds. There is another species of fig called mpumbe , 
with a larger fruit. If many of the fruit are eaten they are apt to cause sore throat. 
Mbama 4 grows near a stream or in dense clumps of forest. It is a large tree. The 
fruit is not edible, but the seeds of it are roasted, pounded, and used in dyeing or softening 
bark-cloth. The bark of the tree is thick. The wood is used in canoe-making. The 
Europeans make excellent boards of it, as it does not crack, which they make into articles 
of furniture. The natives use it as a medicine for the stomach. They chip off pieces 
of bark and steep them in a dish, and drink the water. 
Mngwenye is a special large-sized tree, which grows near streams. Chips of the bark 
are used as medicine for the stomach. They are steeped in water, and the water is drunk. 
The leaves are long and narrow. The fruit is small and inedible. The wood makes 
excellent boards, of a light colour, which crack only to a small extent. The wood is 
very hard, and is used for making furniture. It is also used in canoe-making. 
1 Nnxia congesta.- —H. I I. J. 2 Ebony— Diospyros sp.—H. H. J. 
“ Ficus sycomorus. —H. H. J. 4 Khaya senegalensis .—H. H. J. 
