APPENDIX. 47 



gfr=== ' : #& 



GIR GIR, or GESHE EL AUBE. 



THISfpecies of grafs is one of the acquilitions which my 

 travels have procured to botany. It was not before 

 known ; and the feed has not, as far as I know, produced 

 any plant but in the garden of the king of France. It 

 grows plentifully near Ras el Feel, not far from the banks 

 of the large river Guangue, of which I have fpoken in my 

 return from Abyffinia into Egypt. It begins to moot in the 

 end of April, when it firfl feels the humidity of the air. It 

 advances then fpeedily to its full height, which is about 3 

 feet 4 inches. It is ripe in the beginning of May, and de- 

 cays, if not deftroyed by fire, very loon afterwards, 



The leaf is long, pointed, narrow, and of a feeble texture* 

 The flock from which it (hoots produces leaves in great a- 

 bundance, which foon turn yellow and fall to the ground. 

 The goats, the only cattle thefe miferable people have, are 

 very fond of it, and for it abandon all other food while it 

 is within their reach. On the leaves of fome plants I 

 have feen a very fmall glutinous juice, like to what we fee 



upon 



