ACCLIMATISATION OF PLANTS. 423 viscous transparent resin of a very light green colour oozes out immediately. It becomes slightly turbid like milk on exposure to the air, and when fresh, gives out a powerful smell like that of cedar wood (Olewm cedri). This resin is dissolved by boiling it in oil, and is a favourite perfume among the natives. The wood is reddish, and very serviceable, as it is not attacked by insects. In Uganda this tree is called mpafu, and Cameron mentions it. adh _ Specimens of the fruits of Calamus secundiflorus are likewise enclosed, but you will perhaps take more interest in those of Musa ensete, which I found fairly abundant round ‘Tomaya. The fruits are fresh, so perhaps they will sprout. Did the Helmia * bulbs reach you safely (through M. Vossion)? Would you like specimens of caoutchouc, and shall I send other kinds of resin? I have also sent some fruits and seeds of Amomum, which is very common everywhere; perhaps a practical use for it might be discovered. The people here use the crushed seeds to mix with coffee, just as the Egyptians use their habbe han, Abyssinian seeds of the same plant. Ifthe tubers [of the kambo plant| come in time, I will send you a basketful of them. The tomatoes were as large as my fist at our station of Janda (4100 feet), while in Lad6é they are very diminutive.

I am able to send a good report of my agricultural experiments. Among the varieties of bamboo that were kindly sent me, Lambusa arundinacea and Dendrocalamus strictus have made a good start, and I have great hopes of them. I have not been so fortunate with the Italian peperont. The cultivation of the Zea mays (American seeds) is spreading slowly among the Negroes ; rice is thriving splendidly in Ladé and Dufilé, and is now going to be cultivated also in Makraka (at Rimo). I brought a small sample of wheat from Kharttim, where the missionaries grew it from Algerian seeds. The result was good, only the birds will not leave the ears alone. I have sent some of the seeds produced here to Makrakaé and to the southern stations, so that its cultivation may be tried there. Vine stocks have taken root at last, after failing at least ten times. The Carica papaya + has spread from here over the Bahr-el-Ghazal terri-* They are still growing in several of the gardens in Cairo.—G. 8. t Dr, Emin brought it from Uganda in 1874.—G. 8.