BAGAMOTO TO MPWAPWA. 33 ground-nuts (Arachis liypogsea}, sweet potatoes, and a few bananas were grown. There were no cattle to be found, goats and a few sheep being the only domestic animals seen, so that meat was scarce and very dear, and we had to depend largely on our guns for our supplies of food. The country between the Kingani and the Pongwe hills was undulating, and more or less densely covered with forest, any distant view revealing nothing but a waving sea of foliage broken here and there by a few low hills. The country around the Pongwe hills is more open ; the soil is a tenacious red clay, -which is used by the natives to plaster the walls of their houses, the flat roofs being formed of the same material, a thick layer of it being laid upon a foundation of mtarna stalks. Enormous quantities of the castor-oil tree, (Ricinus communis) are found here ; the natives collect the seeds, dry them in the sun, and after pounding them in a mortar, boil them in water and skim off the oil which comes to the top. This oil they use for anointing their persons, and as it soon becomes rancid, the odour of a crowd of natives who have been indulging in its use is better imagined than described. The two Pongwe peaks were fine bold hills rising several hundred feet above the sealevel, and formed useful landmarks for a considerable distance ; they were for the most part covered with trees, and were said to be infested by lions.

On this part of the journey small-pox broke out VOL. i. D