Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/190

 exhausting the soil, while its foliage offers the best fodder for all herbivorous animals. Other articles of export are eighteen varieties of millet, rice, maize, beref (oleaginous melon-seeds), wax, cotton, caoutchouc, skins, ivory, ostrich feathers, and vegetable butter, all, however, in very small quantities

The land is nearly everywhere in the hands of the natives, who cultivate it with far more care and intelligence than is generally supposed by superficial observers. "No husbandman," says a local proverb, "finds the day too long or his lugan ('plot') too small." Many concessions have been made to Europeans,