SIX iMONTHS' BIRD COLLECTING IN EGYPT. I03 



must bring them down ; but they have rather a tenacious 

 grasp of the ground. I consider them very bad trees for 

 birds. The wood is not of much use. The inhabitants of 

 ancient Syene take a six-foot log of it, and on that venture 

 to come down the cataract of El Bab. We purchased logs 

 of them, and after a good deal of practising, one of my com- 

 panions attained some proficiency in this art of paddling. 

 Some time ago a young Englishman was so excessively 

 foolhardy as to attempt the cataract, which no one but a 

 native can safely do : his rashness cost him his life. 



In Upper Egypt the Date Palm gives place to the Dhom, 

 the tree from which vegetable ivory is obtained. The fruit 

 grows in clusters, and is about the size of a large apple. 

 Those I examined were hard and brown. Having with 

 considerable difficulty cut one open, I found the vegetable 

 ivory to be the core. There is also a third species of Palm 

 called the Dourra, which is hardier and more generally 

 distributed than the Dhom. 



