112 Deserts 



however — gourds and melons — are especially charac- 

 teristic of so-called ' desert ' regions, which are exposed 

 to long-continued droughts. 



Whenever there is more rain than usual vast tracts of 

 desert land in South Africa are covered with melons, 

 which provide food and drink both for man and beast. 

 The sama, or wild water-melon of the Kalahari, grows 

 in great abundance in many parts of this desert ; and 

 the fruit, which remains good for a year in dry seasons, 

 affords the natives almost their only supply of water 

 when they are journeying across this rainless region. 

 Evidently, therefore, the sama is able to make the 

 most of its limited opportunities, and can not only 

 appropriate, but also keep, moisture, where most plants 

 would simply perish of thirst. 



Trying as are the droughts of the South African 

 desert, they are less severe than those of Australia, for 

 at all events such rain as does fall is kept, and sinks 

 into the sub-soil, there being no rivers to drain it away ; 

 whereas in Australia the rivers quickly carry it off 

 again. Even here, however, some trees, and among 

 them the eucalypti, manage to store water in their 

 roots ; and from this supply the natives were in the 

 habit of helping themselves in time of need. The long 

 side roots were laid bare, as much as twenty or thirty 

 feet, and divided into short lengths, from which water 

 dripped at once, clear, cool, and free from any 

 unpleasant taste or smell. 



How the water remains so cool, buried only from 

 six to twelve inches beneath the burning surface, is one 

 of the many mysteries connected with the great mystery 

 of life. 



Water in a pipe, from which there was little or no 



