and llianas, the African 'tie-tie,' varying in growth from a packthread to
a cable, act as cordage to connect the growths.

There is evidently a shorter cut up the river, at whose lagoon-mouth craft
can be hired. Our ferryman with his single canoe wasted a good hour over
the work of a few minutes. We then remounted hammock and struck the 'true
coast,' a charming bit of country, gradually upsloping to the north and
east. The path passed through the plantation-villages, Benyá and Arábo,
growing bananas and maize, cassava and groundnuts, peppers and papaws,
cocoas and bamboo-palms (_Raphia vinifera_). The latter not only build the
houses, they also yield wine of two kinds, both, however, inferior to the
produce of the oil-palm (_Elais guineënsis_). The _adúbé_, drawn from the
cut spathe, which continues to yield for two or three months, is held to
be wholesome, diuretic, and laxative. The _inséfu_ is produced in
mortice-like holes cut along the felled trunk; they fill freely for a
fortnight to three weeks, when fires must be lighted below to make the
juice run into the pots. It is sweeter and better flavoured than the
former, but it is accused of being unwholesome. The people drink palm-wine
at different hours of the day, according to taste. The beverage is mild as
milk in the morning; after noon it becomes heady, and rough as the sourest
cider. The useful palm bears a huge bolster-like roll of fruit, which
should be tried for oil: Cameron brought home a fine specimen for Kew.
Here the land is evidently most fertile, and will form good farms for the
Company. Leaving Arábo, we forded the double stream called the Bilá, which
runs a few yards west of the concession. The banks are grown with rice,
showing how easily they will produce all the food necessary for the
labourers. The quality, moreover, is better, and the grain more nutritious
than the Chinese import. The bed of bright sand, supplying the sweetest
water, has in places been worked for gold by the women, but much remains
to be done.