tz were worn down two and a half inches perpendicularly. The ivory
grave-stones soon rot away. Those of Moyara's father, who must have
died not more than a dozen years ago, were crumbling into powder; and
we found this to be generally the case all over the Batoka country. The
region around is pretty well covered with forest; but there is abundance
of open pasturage, and, as we are ascending in altitude, we find the
grass to be short, and altogether unlike the tangled herbage of the
Barotse valley.

It is remarkable that we now meet with the same trees we saw in
descending toward the west coast. A kind of sterculia, which is the
most common tree at Loanda, and the baobab, flourish here; and the tree
called moshuka, which we found near Tala Mungongo, was now yielding
its fruit, which resembles small apples. The people brought it to us in
large quantities: it tastes like a pear, but has a harsh rind, and four
large seeds within. We found prodigious quantities of this fruit as
we went along. The tree attains the height of 15 or 20 feet, and has
leaves, hard and glossy, as large as one's hand. The tree itself is
never found on the lowlands, but is mentioned with approbation at the
end of the work of Bowditch. My men almost lived upon the fruit for many
days.

The rains had fallen only partially: in many parts the soil was
quite dry and the leaves drooped mournfully, but the fruit-trees are
unaffected by a drought, except when it happens at the time of their
blossoming. The Batoka of my party declared that no one ever dies of
hunger here. We obtained baskets of maneko, a curious fruit, with a
horny rind, split into five pieces: these sections, when chewed, are
full of a fine glutinous matter, and sweet like sugar. The seeds are
covered with a yellow silky down, and are not eaten: the entire fruit
is about the size of a walnut. We got also abundance of the motsouri
and mamosho. We saw the Batoka eating the beans called nju, which are
contained in a large square pod; also the pulp between the seeds of nux
vomica, and the motsintsela. Other fruits become ripe at other seasons,
as the motsikiri, which yields an oil, and is a magnificent tree,
bearing masses of dark evergreen leaves; so that, from the general
plenty, one can readily believe the statement made by the Batoka. We
here saw trees allowed to stand in gardens, and some of the Batoka even
plant them, a practice seen nowhere else among natives. A species of
leucodendron