1. Guinea Corn (_Pennicillaria spicata_). 2. Sorgho Grass (_Sorghum cernuum_). 3. Manihot (_Jatropha Manihot_). 4. Yam (_Dioscorea alata_). 5. Screw Pine (_Pandanus candelabrum_). 6. Black Pepper (_Piper nigrum_).] The _Corchorus olitorius_,[100] an annual cultivated in Egypt as a potherb, is largely grown in Senegal for the tenacious fibres of its root and the oily juices of its seeds. The Black Pepper (_Piper nigrum_) of India and the Sunda Isles we find perfectly acclimatized in this part of Africa, and it flourishes even in a wild state. Finally, the Coffee-tree (_Coffea Arabica_), the Cocoa (_Theobroma Cacao_), Indigo (_Indigofera tinctoria_), and the _Cocos oleracea_, are among the cultivated plants of Senegambia. In northern Guinea and the Gaboon, recently made famous by Du Chaillu's discovery of the gorilla, Savannahs and cultivated districts are intermingled, though their flora is still imperfectly known. A great number of grasses adorn the fresh and humid prairies, and sedges and reeds abound, while, on the river-banks, in shady nooks, flourish some of the Screw-pine tribe,[101] notably the _Pandanus Candelabrum_, a highly curious plant, which attracts one's attention by its mode of vegetation, its graceful ribbon-like foliage, and its small fragrant flowers. Thatching and cordage are obtained from the fibrous leaves; the fruit resembles a richly-coloured pine-apple, but is insipid to the taste. The Savannahs of the neighbouring provinces, and especially those of the Gold Coast, are in general sparsely inhabited, nor are those on the banks of the Niger an exception; man shrinks from a region which the deadly malaria seems to claim as its own. The flora is very poor, consisting chiefly of aquatic grasses, with blades of moderate height, and leaves of comparatively little succulence. The herbaceous plants, suitable for food or industrial uses, which are most frequently met with in Guinea and the Gaboon, resemble those already described as belonging also to Senegambia. But there are many different Arums, such as the _Caladium segmium_ and _Colocasia mucronatum_, properly known as Taro, Tara, or Tayo, and employed in making granulate sugar from the stem of the former, and in boiling or roasting for food the rhizomæ of the latter; Tobacco; the ox-heart Annona, a plant sometimes cultivated in Europe, where it never fructifies, though its aromatic fruits are its most valuable product, and are highly esteemed by the Africans,--these "Custard Apples" resembling thick cream, and being eaten, like cream, with a spoon; the Banana,[102] with its gigantic foliage--precious "Musa Sapientum "--valuable not only to "wise men," but foolish men, as a substitute for wheat or the breadfruit tree, and gratifying the savage with a succulent and nutritious food. Forty or fifty banana plants will flourish in a square space of one thousand feet, and an acre of ground will yield sufficient provision for fifty men. That area of land which,