Village Life in Pongo-land. 159 
and there is a bulbless native onion whose tops 
make excellent seasoning. . Sugar-cane will thrive 
in the swamps, coffee on the hill-slopes : I heard 
of, but never saw ginger. 
The common fruits are limes and oranges, 
mangoes, papaws, and pineapples, the gift of the 
New World, now run wild, and appreciated chiefly 
by apes. The forest, however, supplies a multi¬ 
tude of wild growths, which seem to distinguish 
this section of the coast, and which are eaten with 
relish by the people. Amongst them are the 
Sango and Nefu, with pleasant acid berries ; the 
Ntaba, described as a red grape, which will pre¬ 
sently make wine; the olive-like Azyigo (Ozigo ?); 
the filbert-like Kula, the “koola-nut” of M. du 
Chaillu (“Second Expedition,” chap, viii.), a hard- 
shelled nux, not to be confounded with the soft- 
shelled kola ( Sterculia ) ; and the Aba, or wild 
mango (Mango Gabonensis ), a pale yellow pome, 
small, and tasting painfully of turpentine. It is 
chiefly prized for its kernels. In February and March 
all repair to the bush for their mango-vendange, 
eat the fruit, and collect the stones : the insides, 
after being sun-dried, are roasted like coffee in a 
neptune, or in an earthern pot. When burnt 
chocolate colour, they are pounded to the con¬ 
sistency of thick honey, poured into a mould, a 
basket lined with banana leaves, and set for three 
days to dry in the sun : after this the cake, which 
