434 ^ICK SANDS» tAZ BOT CAPTAIN. the cassava procured from its roots; and besides ail Ûub, there was the préparation of the soil for its future plantii^ the usual productions of the countiy bdng the mûriisani beansy growing in pods fiflteen inches long upon stems twenty feet high, the arachides, from which they procure a serviceable oil, the cAi/06/peaL, the blossoms of which are used to give a ilavour to the insipid sorghum, cucumbers, oi which the seeds are roasted as chestnuts, as well as the common crops of cofTee, sugar, onions, guavas, and sésame. To the women's lot, too, falls the manipulation of ail the fermented drinks, the mala/oo, made from bananas, the pombi, and various other liquors. Nor should the care of ail the domestic animais be forgotten ; the cows that will not allow themselves to bé milked unless they can see thdr calf, or a stufTed représentative of it ; the short-homed heifers that not unfrequently hâve a hump ; the goats that, like slaves, form part of the currency of the country ; the pigs, the sheep, and the poultry. The men, meanwhile, smoke theîr hemp or tobacco, hunt buffaloes or éléphants, or are hired by the dealers to join in the slave-raids ; the harvest of slaves, in fact, beîng a thing of as regular and periodic récurrence as the ingathering of the maize. In her daily strolls, Mrs. Weldon would occasionally pause to watch the women, but they only responded to her notice by a long stare or by a hideous grimace ; a kind of natural instinct made them hâte a white skin, and they had no spark of commisération for the stranger who had been brought among them ; Halima, however, was a marked exception, she grew more and more devoted to her mîstress, and by degrces, the two became able to exchange many sentences in the native dialect. Jack gencrally accompanied his mother. Naturally enough he longed to get outside the enclosure, but still he found considérable amusement in watching the birds that built in a huge baobab that grew within ; there were maraboos making their nests with twigs ; there were scarlet- throated souimangas with nests like weaver-birds ; widow birds that helped themselves liberally to the thatch of the
