Yet it is mentioned by all old travellers, and the sweet
harmless variety gives very poor "farinha," Anglice "wood meal."
The vegetables are "Mbongwe" (yams), koko or Colocasia esculenta,
Occras (Hibiscus esculentus), squashes (pumpkins), cucumbers,
beans of several sorts, and the sweet potato, an esculent
disliked by Englishmen, but far more nutritious than the
miserable "Irish" tuber. The ground-nut or peanut (Arachis
hypogaea), the "pindar" of the United States, a word derived from
Loango, is eaten roasted, and, as a rule, the people have not
learned to express its oil. Proyart (Pinkerton, xvi. 551) gives,
probably by misprint, "Pinda, which we call Pistachio." "Bird-
peppers," as the small red species is called, grow wild in every
bush; they are wholesome, and the people use them extensively.
Tomatoes flourish almost spontaneously, and there is a bulbless
native onion whose tops make excellent seasoning. Sugar-cane will
thrive in the swamps, coffee on the hill-slopes: I heard of, but
never saw ginger.
The common fruits are limes and oranges, mangoes, papaws, and
pineapples, the gift of the New World, now run wild, and
appreciated chiefly by apes.
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