200 miles inland, are better still, both for longevity and work.[9] I am
in agony for news from home; all I feel sure of now is that my friends
will all wish me to complete my task. I join in the wish now, as better
than doing it in vain afterwards.

The Manyuema hoeing is little better than scraping the soil, and cutting
through the roots of grass and weeds, by a horizontal motion of the hoe
or knife; they leave the roots of maize, ground-nuts, sweet potatoes,
and dura, to find their way into the rich soft soil, and well they
succeed, so there is no need for deep ploughing: the ground-nuts and
cassava hold their own against grass for years, and bananas, if cleared
of weeds, yield abundantly. Mohamad sowed rice just outside the camp
without any advantage being secured by the vicinity of a rivulet, and it
yielded forone measure of seed one hundred and twenty measures of
increase. This season he plants along the rivulet called "Bondé," and on
the damp soil.

The rain-water does not percolate far, for the clay retains it about two
feet beneath the surface: this is a cause of unhealthiness to man. Fowls
and goats have been cut off this year in large numbers by an epidemic.

The visits of the Ujijian traders must be felt by the Manyuema to be a
severe infliction, for the huts are appropriated, and no leave asked:
firewood, pots, baskets, and food are used without scruple, and anything
that pleases is taken away; usually the women flee into the forest, and
return to find the whole place a litter of broken food. I tried to pay
the owners of the huts in which I slept, but often in vain, for they hid
in the forest, and feared to come near. It was common for old men to
come forward to me with a present of bananas as I passed, uttering with
trembling accents, "Bolongo, Bolongo!" ("Friendship, Friendship!"), and