File:A naturalist in Mid-Africa- being an account of a journey to the Mountains of the Moon and Tanganyika (1890) (14596077469).jpg

Identifier: naturalistinmida00elli (find matches)
Title: A naturalist in Mid-Africa: being an account of a journey to the Mountains of the Moon and Tanganyika
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Elliot, G. F. Scott (George Francis Scott), 1862-1934
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: London A.D. Innes & Co.
Contributing Library: Field Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: The Field Museum's Africa Council

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, and Nzo, which takes a remarkably finepolish. Anywhere near a native village the forestis being continually cleared of timber to supplynative fires and materials for building, and goatsprevent any young trees from growing up to re-place it. The effect of grass fires is to destroyannually a very large amount of forest. It wouldbe very simple for the Government to arrange thatonly a certain proportion of the now existingforests should be touched in any one year, andthus allow the natural forest growth to afford apermanent source of timber. This is very im-portant in view of the tremendous requirementsof the steamers which every one hopes soon to seeplying on the Victoria, and also in view of therainfall. The climate of Uganda is not really unhealthy.Europeans can easily walk about and superintendnatives before noon; but at present the physicalstrain involved in walking 750 miles, the extra-ordinary and dirty productions of a Suahili cook,the miserable mud houses and the absence of any
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o bo THE VICTORIA REGION. 47 good servants, are quite sufficient in themselvesto produce ill-health. The rainfall is not veryhigh. Jan. Feb. Mar. April May June July Aug.Inches. 2.37 4.38 4.47 7.66 5.30 3.00 3.17 2.89Rainy days. 6 8 9 10 11 9 6 8 Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total. Inches. 3.90 5.24 3.89 1.34 47.61 Rainy days. 12 12 14 8 113 These are the mean of eight years observationsat the Missionary Station of Natete, Mengo, byMackay. The most important plant is of course thebanana. The French Jesuit fathers, who haveattempted in many ways to make themselves realfriends of the natives, manufacture the followingfrom the fruit:—beer, brandy, champagne, vinegar,bread, jam, and puddings. This is a fairly varieddietary from one plant! The leaves are used tobuild the houses, and particularly for roofs. Allkinds of plates, spoons, bottles, &c, are replacedby fragments of banana leaves. I have also seena very voluminous though short skirt, like that ofa pantomime artiste, constructed of th

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