Dr Livingstone's Cambridge lectures : together with a prefatory letter by the Rev. Professor Sedgwick / edited with introduction, life of Dr Livingstone, notes and appendix by the Rev. William Monk ; with a portrait and map.

  • David Livingstone
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr Livingstone's Cambridge lectures : together with a prefatory letter by the Rev. Professor Sedgwick / edited with introduction, life of Dr Livingstone, notes and appendix by the Rev. William Monk ; with a portrait and map. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Dr Livingstone believes this to be a fibrous plant of great value, and that it was before entirely unknown to botanists. It grows about Tete, and in large quantities in the country of the Maravi. He submitted some specimens of it to Messrs Pye, Brothers, of London, who pronounce it to be suitable as a substitute for flax, in comparison with which it is stronger and of finer fibre. There is a drawing of this plant at p. 646, Travels. The natives make a thread of it, which is as strong as catgut. Possibly our manufacturers will find it adapted for sail-cloth, &c. ^ This is another new plant, being a species of aloe of fibrous tissue, found by our traveller in the same districts as the Buaze. It was suggested to him by the Portuguese as being fitted for the manufacture of paper. He has met with several of ?reat value. The plants ^^^^^ Nux Vomica, producing strychnia, flourishes abundantly on the Leeambye. The Cinchona bark grows in large quantities on the eastern coast. Senna is there growing in whole forests, and possibly, like that of Egypt. Another new plant, the Kumbanzo, a valuable remedy in cases of fever, is found on the same coast. At page 648, Travels, is a drawing of this latter plant. Also at page 649 there is a long list of useful African medicinal and other plants, worthy of attention from those who are interested in such studies. Manioc, or cassava, is the staple food of some central Afri- can tribes, just as rice is among Asiatics, and wheat among Europeans. Wild indigo abounds over vast tracts of Africa. Potatoes are cultivated both by the Bushmen and by the Ma- ravi. Fruits, flowers, and forest-trees still remain to be clas- sified and described. These new districts, like all other parts of the creation of God, shew forth His glory, forethought and goodness in pro- viding so bountifully for all his creatures.
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