[Footnote 209:  Probably the Manchencel—­E.]

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I observed in the woods certain trees like beeches, bearing fruit resembling beans, of which I noticed three kinds.  One of these was a great tall tree, bearing cods like those of beans, in each of which was four or five squarish beans, resembling tamarind seeds, having hard shells, within which is a yellow kernel, which is a virulent poison, employed by the negroes to envenom their arrows.  This they call Ogon.  The second is smaller, having a crooked pod with a thick rind, six or seven inches long, and half that breadth, containing each five large beans an inch long.  The third, called quenda, has short leaves like the former, and much bigger fruit, growing on a strong thick woody stalk, indented on the sides, nine inches long and five broad, within which are five long beans, which are also said to be dangerous.  I likewise saw trees resembling willows, bearing fruit like pease-cods.

There is a fruit called Gola, which grows in the interior.  This fruit, which is inclosed in a shell, is hard, reddish, bitter, and about the size of a walnut, with many angles and corners.  The negroes are much given to chew this fruit along with the bark of a certain tree.  After one person has chewed it a while, he gives it to his neighbour, and so from one to another, chewing it long before they cast it away; but swallowing none of its substance.  They attribute great virtues to this for the teeth and gums; and indeed the negroes have usually excellent teeth.  This fruit passes also among them for money.[210] Higher within the land they cultivate cotton, which they call innumma, and of which they spin very good yarn with spindles, and afterwards very ingeniously weave into cloths, three quarters of a yard broad, to make their girdles or clouts formerly mentioned; and when sewed together it is made into jackets and breeches for their great men.  By means of a wood called cambe, they dye their purses and mats of a red colour.

[Footnote 210:  In a side-note; Purchas calls this the fruit of the carob tree.—­E.]

The tree on which the plantains grow is of considerable height, its body being about the thickness of a man’s thigh.  It seems to be an annual plant, and, in my opinion, ought rather to be reckoned among reeds than trees; for the stem is not of a woody substance, but is compacted of many leaves wrapped close upon each other, adorned with leaves from the very ground instead of boughs, which are mostly two yards long and a yard broad, having a very large rib in the middle.  The fruit is a bunch of ten or twelve plantains, each a span long, and as thick as a man’s wrist, somewhat crooked or bending inwards.  These grow on a leafy stalk on the middle of the plant, being at first green, but grow yellow and tender as they ripen.  When the rind is stripped off, the inner pulp is also yellowish and pleasant to the taste.