ever attempts to cross
it even there. Its fisheries are of great value to the
inhabitants, and the produce is carried to great distances.

Among the vegetable products of this region, that which
interested me most was a sort of potato. It does not belong to
the solanaceous, but to the papilionaceous or pea family, and
its flowers have a delightful fragrance. It is easily propagated
by small cuttings of the root or stalk. The tuber is oblong,
like our kidney potato, and when boiled tastes exactly like our
common potato. When unripe it has a slight degree of bitterness,
and it is believed to be wholesome; a piece of the root eaten
raw is a good remedy in nausea. It is met with on the uplands
alone, and seems incapable of bearing much heat, though I kept
some of the roots without earth in a box, which was carried in
the sun almost daily for six months, without destroying their
vegetative power.

It is remarkable that in all the central regions of Africa
visited, the cotton is that known as the Pernambuco variety. It
has a long strong staple, seeds clustered together, and adherent
to each other. The bushes eight or ten feet high have woody
stems, and the people make strong striped black and white shawls
of the cotton.

It was pleasant to meet the palm-oil palm (_Elais Guineaensis_)
at Casembe's, which is over 3000 feet above the level of the
sea. The oil is sold cheap, but no tradition exists of its
introduction into the country.

I send no sketch of the country, because I have not yet passed
over a sufficient surface to give a connected view of the whole
watershed of this region, and I regret that I cannot recommend
any of the published maps I have seen as giving even a tolerable
idea of the country. One bold constructor of maps has tacked on
200 miles to the north-west end of Lake Nyassa, a feat which no
traveller has ever ventured to imitate. Another has placed a
river in the same quarter running 3000 or 4000 feet up hill,
and named it the "NEW ZAMBESI," because I suppose the old
Zambesi runs down hill. I have walked over both these mental
abortions, and did not know that I was walking on water till I
saw them in the maps.

[The despatch breaks off at this point. The year concludes with health
impaired. As time goes on we shall see how ominous the conviction was
which