OF THE TED TREE. 255 



and myself, and to keep, at the same time, a careful 

 watch upon the outgoings and incomings of the great 

 Abdoanarcli himself. 



I soon satisfied him about the gunpowder, and 

 the next day was appointed for taking the first 

 step in the process, by making some charcoal, for 

 I was led to suppose that the inferiority of the 

 coarse grey-looking sort of native manufacture was 

 owing to the badness of that article. Two of Tinta's 

 servants were immediately despatched for wood of 

 the u ted" (Juniper us oxycedrus) tree, which I had 

 chosen as best calculated for charcoal. The ted tree 

 is a species of pine, and grows in the characteristic 

 form of that tree. The wood smells exactly like 

 cedar, and is extensively used for fuel in the royal 

 residences. It does not grow on the table land, 

 but only in the upper portions of the valleys of 

 Efat and corresponding situations, at an elevation 

 • of between six and eight thousand feet above the 

 level of the sea. 



A large euphorbia called kol-qual, some- 

 times thirty feet high, with strong spreading arms, 

 bearing at their extremities a little red fig-like 

 fruit, was pointed out to me by the Shoans as the 

 tree supposed to produce the best charcoal. This 

 cannot be the tree that Bruce asserts yielded so 

 much milk-like juice upon striking it with his 

 scimitar, although I have heard it asserted that it 

 is. On making the experiment myself on several 

 of different ages, I never could produce more than 



