162 LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



suspended by a long stem from the branches. The 

 fruit is a large green pod, about the size of a very 

 small cocoa-nut, and when this has been broken open by 

 a stone it is found to contain a number of irregularly- 

 shaped seeds, enveloped in a thick yellowish-white 

 powder, and held together by a fibrous network. This 

 powder has a most refreshing taste, both sweet and acid, 

 and tends greatly to quench thirst, and when mixed with 

 water imparts a very pleasant flavour to it. Our present 

 tree has numerous wooden pegs driven into it at short 

 intervals, and is thus converted into a capital ladder for 

 the Arabs to get at its precious stores of honey. Our 

 men were not long in taking advantage of them to make 

 an inspection of the hollow trunk, and much to their 

 delight they found that the bees were still left in undis- 

 turbed possession of this year's store. 



Whilst our people were trying to make the best of 

 our present locality, we took a short stroll in the woods, 

 but saw nothing to give us hope of any sport here beyond 

 numerous tracks of giraffe and a few of rhinoceros. After 

 dinner we were specially invited to witness the Arab 

 method of taking honey. A fire was first lit close to a 

 big opening at the bottom of the trunk, and made to 

 give out large volumes of smoke that passed up it. Our 

 oldest camel-man, an adept in the art, who declares that 

 he has collected nearly two camel-loads of honey in one 

 night, climbed up the tree, and with no other clothing 



