The Country Was Exactly Like An English Park, With No
Larger Timber Than Thorn Trees.
Every now and then there was an
exception in a gigantic homera (Adansonia digitata), or baobab;
these, towering over the heads of the low mimosas, could be seen
from a great distance.
Having steered direct for one, we halted,
and dismounted to rest the horses beneath the shade. This tree
was about forty feet in circumference, and the spongy trunk was
formed into a ladder by pegs of hard wood driven into its side by
the Base hunters, who had thus ascended the slippery stem in
search of honey. Bees are very fond of these trees, as they are
generally more or less hollow, and well adapted for hives. The
Adansonia digitata, although a tree, always reminds me of a
gigantic fungus; the stem is disproportioned in its immense
thickness to its height, and its branches are few in number, and
as massive in character as the stem. The wood is not much firmer
in substance than cork, and is as succulent as a carrot. In
Kordofan, where water is exceedingly scarce, the Adansonia is
frequently used as a reservoir; one of these huge hollow trees is
cleaned out and filled with water during the short rainy season.
The fruit was ripe at the time we halted, and after many
attempts, by throwing sticks, we succeeded in procuring a
considerable number. The sub-acid flavour of the seeds, enveloped
in a dry yellow powder within the large shell, was exceedingly
refreshing.
The immediate neighbourhood was a perfect exhibition of
gum-arabic-bearing mimosas. At this season the gum was in
perfection, and the finest quality was now before us in beautiful
amber-coloured masses upon the stems and branches, varying from
the size of a nutmeg to that of an orange. So great was the
quantity, and so excellent were the specimens, that, leaving our
horses tied to trees, both the Arabs and myself gathered a large
collection. This gum, although as hard as ice on the exterior,
was limpid in the centre, resembling melted amber, and as clear
as though refined by some artificial process. The trees were
perfectly denuded of leaves from the extreme drought, and the
beautiful balls of frosted yellow gum recalled the idea of the
precious jewels upon the trees in the garden of the wonderful
lamp of the "Arabian nights." This gum was exceedingly sweet and
pleasant to the taste; but, although of the most valuable
quality, there was no hand to gather it in this forsaken,
although beautiful country; it either dissolved during the rainy
season, or was consumed by the baboons and antelopes. The
aggageers took off from their saddles the skins of tanned
antelope leather that formed the only covering to the wooden
seats, and with these they made bundles of gum. When we
remounted, every man was well laden.
We were thus leisurely returning home through alternate plains
and low open forest of mimosa, when Taher Sheriff, who was
leading the party, suddenly reined up his horse, and pointed to
a thick bush, beneath which was a large grey, but shapeless,
mass.
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