. Missionary travels and researches in South Africa : including a sketch of sixteen years' residence in the interior of Africa, and a journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loanda, on the west coast, thence across the continent, down the river Zambesi, to the eastern ocean. efound in the greatest abundance where it is most needed. Onseeing the leaves, I stated that it was not the Cinchona longifolia,from which it is supposed the quinine of commerce is extracted,but the name and properties of this bark made me imagine thatit was a cinchonaceous tree. I could not get the flower, but whenI went to
. Missionary travels and researches in South Africa : including a sketch of sixteen years' residence in the interior of Africa, and a journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loanda, on the west coast, thence across the continent, down the river Zambesi, to the eastern ocean. efound in the greatest abundance where it is most needed. Onseeing the leaves, I stated that it was not the Cinchona longifolia,from which it is supposed the quinine of commerce is extracted,but the name and properties of this bark made me imagine thatit was a cinchonaceous tree. I could not get the flower, but whenI went to Senna I tried to bring away a few small living treeswith earth in a box. They, however, all died when we came toKilimane. Failing in this mode of testing the point, I submitteda few leaves and seed-vessels to my friend, Dr. Hooker, whokindly informs me that they belong apparently to an apocy-neous plant, very nearly allied to the Malouetia Heudlotii (ofDecaisne), a native of Senegambia. Dr. H. adds, Variousplants of this natural order are reputed powerful febrifuges, andsome of them are said to equal the cinchona in their is called in the native tongue Kumbanzo. The flowers are reported to be white. The pods are in pairs, a 018 THE KUMBANZO. Chap. Tbe Kumbanzo leaves, pods, and seeds. foot or fifteen inches in length, and contain a groove on theirinner sides. The thick soft bark of the root is the part used bythe natives, the Portuguese use that of the tree itself. I imme-diately began to use a decoction of the bark of the root, and mymen found it so efficacious, that they collected small quantities ofit for themselves, and kept it in little bags for future use. Someof them said that they knew it in their own country, but I neverhappened to observe it. The decoction is given after the firstparoxysm of the complaint is over. The Portuguese believe it tohave the same effects as the quinine, and it may prove a substi-tute for that invaluable medicine. There are
Size: 1414px × 1768px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubject, booksubjectmissions
