THE TAMARIND TEEE. 



165 



Saidi was forbidden to pronounce the name of Muinyi 

 Kidogo, and Muinyi Kidogo was ordered never to utter 

 the words B'ana Saidi before the exasperated leader of 

 the Expedition, who could not, like these squabblers, com- 

 plain, resent, forget and forgive, in the short space of a 

 single hour. 



We left Mzizi Mdogo on the 9th August, much 

 cheered by the well-omened appearance of a bird with 

 red bill, white breast, and long tail-feathers. The path 

 ran over a succession of short steep hills with a rufous- 

 brown soil, dotted with blocks and stones, thinly veiled 

 with grass, and already displaying signs of aridity in 

 the growth of aloetic and thorny plants, the Cactus and 

 the larger Asclepias, the Euphorbia or Spurge- wort, and 

 the stunted Mimosa. The Calabash, however, still rose 

 a stately tree, and there was a sprinkling of the fine 

 Tamarinds which have lent their name to the dis- 

 trict. The Tamarind, called by the Arabs of Zanzibar 

 " Subar, " extends from the coast to the Lake Regions : 

 with its lofty stem, its feathery leaflets, and its branches 

 spreading dark cool shade, it is a beautiful feature in 

 African landscape. The acidulated fruit is doubtless a 

 palliative and a corrective to bilious affections. The 

 people of the country merely peel and press it into bark 

 baskets, consequently it soon becomes viscid, and is 

 spoiled by mildew; they ignore the art of extracting 

 from it an intoxicating liquor. The Arabs, who use 

 it extensively in cooking, steam, sun-dry, and knead 

 it, with a little salt and oil to prevent the effects of 

 damp, into balls : thus prepared and preserved from the 

 air, it will keep for years. 



On the way we were saddened by the sight of the 

 clean-picked skeletons, and here and there the swollen 

 corpses, of porters who had perished in this place of 



M 3 



