arieties, requiring only cultivation to raise it to
perfection and amount. The natives manufacture from it a narrow cloth,
which is made from thread, spun in a manner similar to the distaff.

A species of silk cotton, or ether down, is produced on a large tree,
called the pullam tree. The quantity which the usual size bears may be
computed at about 4 cwt. in pods of 6 to 9 inches long, 4-1/2 in
circumference, and about 1-1/2 inch in diameter, which, upon being exposed
to the heat of the sun, is distended to an incredible bulk. It is much
superior to down for the couch, and, from its elasticity, might be of great
utility in the manufacture of hats. This tree is in great estimation among
the Africans, and is frequently regarded by them as their _Fetish_. Every
town almost has a tree of this species towering over its huts, which its
chief tells the traveller with exultation he or his father planted.

Tobacco is uncertain, but I entertain very little doubt that it might be
raised upon the more luxuriant soils.

Pepper, more particularly near Cape Mount, of several sorts, Maboobo,
Massaaba, Massa, Amquona, Tosan, &c.; the three first are of a weaker
flavour, and are oblong and angular in their seeds; but the last excels in
pungency, and is the native Malaguetta pepper of Africa.

The bread-fruit tree, is similar in appearance to the apple tree, and grows
in the low sandy situations of the Boolum shore, producing a fruit
exceedingly nutritious, and larger than an apple.

Tamarinds in great variety and plenty: the velvet tamarind abounds in the
Bananas, also the white and brown; but the latter are most in esteem, and
are very fine.

Okras, the fruit of a small tree, resembling the English mallows, which put
into soup gives it a gelatine quality, highly alimental; the leaves make a
good spinage.

The palm tree, producing the oil so denominated, is one of the most useful
trees to the African, yielding him meat, drink, and raiment. Where it
grows, it is an indication of a good soil. It is remarkably tall, without
branches, having regular and gradual protuberances, from the bottom towards
the top, ending in five or six clusters of nuts, shaded by large deciduous
leaves. The nuts, which are about the size of a hazle nut, have a hard
kernel, encompassed by a clammy unctuous substance, covered by a thin skin,
and the oil is produced from them by being exposed to the sun, which, by
its influence, opens the juices; subsequent to