158 Village Life in Pongo-land. 
Indian. The cereals, however, are supplanted by 
plantains and manioc (cassava). The plantains 
are cooked in various ways, roast and boiled, 
mashed and broiled, in paste and in balls; when 
unripe they are held medicinal against dysentery. 
The manioc is of the white variety ( Jatropka Aypim 
sen utilissima), and, as at Lagos, the root may be 
called the country bread: I never saw the 
poisonous or black manioc ( Jatropha manihot\ 
either in East or in West Africa, and I heard of it 
only once in Unyamwezi, Central Africa. Yet it 
is mentioned by all old travellers, and the sweet 
harmless variety gives very poor “ farinha,” Anglice 
“ wood meal.” 
The vegetables are “Mbongwe” (yams), koko 
or Colocasia esculenta, Occras (Hibiscus esmlentus), 
squashes (pumpkins), cucumbers, beans of several 
sorts, and the sweet potato, an esculent disliked by 
Englishmen, but far more nutritious than the 
miserable “ Irish” tuber. The ground-nut or pea¬ 
nut ( Arachis hypogcea'), the “pindar” of the 
United States, a word derived from Loango, is 
eaten roasted, and, as a rule, the people have not 
learned to express its oil. Proyart (Pinkerton, xvi. 
551) gives, probably by misprint, “ Pinda, which 
we call Pistachio.” “ Bird-peppers,” as the small 
red species is called, grow wild in every bush; they 
are wholesome, and the people use them exten¬ 
sively. Tomatoes flourish almost spontaneously, 
