156 CAPTAm TUCKEY'S NARRATIVE. 



infinitely more refreshing and grateful to the stomach, when 

 heated and fatigued, than either wine or spirits and water, 

 is at this season extremely scarce, owing to the long drought; 

 so that, though every banza and gentleman's town is sur- 

 rounded by these trees (from 20 to 200 at each), we often 

 could not procure it even in exchange for brandy. It 

 appears that the rainy season, for these last two years, has 

 been very moderate, and the lighter rains, that usually 

 happen in June, have been entirely wanting this year, which 

 accounts for the burnt -up appearance of the country, and 

 the very little water. It is however expected by the natives, 

 that the ensuing rainy season Avill be proportionally violent ; 

 and they are now preparing for it, by fresh covering and 

 repairing their huts. They say that every third or fourth 

 year the river rises considerably higher than in the inter- 

 mediate ones ; and this accounts for the different elevation 

 of the marks on the rocks. 



Thus far the banks of the river do not afford a single 

 timber tree capable of making a beam or timber for a sloop 

 of war. The only trees that grow to a large size are the 

 Adansonia and the Bombax, (or wild cotton), and the 

 wood of both is spongy and useless; several varieties of 

 evergreens, highly ornamental in their growth and foliage, 

 are however met Avith in the vallies. 



