The Independent Natives Cultivate A Little Cotton, But It Is Not At All Equal,
Either In Quantity Or Quality, To What We Found In Angola.
The pile is short,
and it clings to the seed so much that they use an iron roller to
Detach it.
The soil, however, is equal to the production of any tropical plant or fruit.
The natives have never been encouraged to cultivate cotton for sale,
nor has any new variety been introduced. We saw no palm-oil-trees,
the oil which is occasionally exported being from the ground-nut.
One of the merchants of Tete had a mill of the rudest construction
for grinding this nut, which was driven by donkeys. It was
the only specimen of a machine I could exhibit to my men.
A very superior kind of salad oil is obtained from the seeds of cucumbers,
and is much used in native cookery.
An offer, said to have been made by the "Times", having excited attention
even in this distant part, I asked the commandant if he knew of any plant
fit for the production of paper. He procured specimens
of the fibrous tissue of a species of aloe, named Conge, and some also
from the root of a wild date, and, lastly, of a plant named Buaze,
the fibres of which, though useless for the manufacture of paper, are probably
a suitable substitute for flax. I submitted a small quantity of these fibres
to Messrs. Pye, Brothers, of London, who have invented a superior mode
for the preparation of such tissues for the manufacturer.
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