. Travels in the coastlands of British East Africa and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba; their agricultural resources and general characteristics . had tosend as far as Xasur bin Sulimans shamba for water (anhours journey, or say three to three and a half miles). Oneor two Europeans, they said, had told them the) would findwater in the centre of the town, where the water la) in thewet weather. I had a look at the place, and told them theexperiment was well worth trying, though I could notguarantee its success. I was struck b)- the ap])earance and size of the silk-cotton. TRA\ELS IN EAST AFRIC
. Travels in the coastlands of British East Africa and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba; their agricultural resources and general characteristics . had tosend as far as Xasur bin Sulimans shamba for water (anhours journey, or say three to three and a half miles). Oneor two Europeans, they said, had told them the) would findwater in the centre of the town, where the water la) in thewet weather. I had a look at the place, and told them theexperiment was well worth trying, though I could notguarantee its success. I was struck b)- the ap])earance and size of the silk-cotton. TRA\ELS IN EAST AFRICA J^ trees near my tent; they were fully 30 feet high, and thecircumference of the largest a foot from the ground was 39inches—the head-man told me they were only three years old ! Gongoni was surrounded on three sides by an extensiveplain, bounded on one side by Magarini Hill and on the otherby the low Mombrui Hills. The Guniahs are great cultivators, and subsist chiefl} onmetamah grain, but a large acreage was also under sim-sim,some fully 5 feet high and most luxuriant in appearance. Theirusual custom with new land was to first grow two consecutivecrops of sim-sim, then a crop of beans (kunde), which theysaid had an invigorating effect on the soil ; afterwards sim-simwas again sown and continued as before. Of metamah onlyone crop was grown in the year, and just before it washarvested either sim-sim or beans were put down, and thisprocess was continued till the soil became exhausted, when anew patch of land was taken up ; needless to say no manuringwas done. S
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidtravelsincoastla00fitz
