Village Life in Pongo-lancl. 157 
stimulus of meat diet, caused by the damp and de¬ 
pressing equatorial climate, of which Dr. Living¬ 
stone so pathetically complains. The settlements 
are sometimes provided with little plots of vege¬ 
tables ; usually, however, the plantations are dis¬ 
tant, to preserve them from the depredations of 
bipeds and quadrupeds. They are guarded by 
bushmen, who live on the spot and, shortly before 
the rains all the owners flock to their farms, where, 
for a fortnight or so, they and their women do 
something like work. New grounds are preferred, 
because it is easier to clear them than to remove 
the tangled after-growth of ferns and guinea grass ; 
moreover, they yield, of course, better crops. The 
plough has not yet reached Pongo-land; the only 
tools are the erem (little axe for felling), the 
matchet (a rude cutlass for clearing), the hoe, and 
a succedaneum for the dibble. After the bush has 
been burned as manure, and the seed has been 
sown, no one will take the trouble of weeding, and 
half the surface is wild growth. 
Maize (Zea mays) has become common, and the 
people enjoy “ butas,” or roasted ears. Barbot 
says that the soil is unfit for corn and Indian 
wheat; it is so for the former, certainly not for the 
latter. Rice has extended little beyond the model 
farms on the north bank of the river; as every¬ 
where upon the West African Coast, it is coarser, 
more nutritious, and fuller flavoured than the 
