THE SYCOMOKE. 



195 



the Mukondokwa, which, hard on the right, spread out 

 in swamps, nearly two miles broad, temporary where they 

 depended upon rain, and permanent where their low 

 levels admitted of free infiltration. On the steep eminences 

 to the left of the path rose tall and thick the thorny 

 aloetic and cactaceous growth of arid Somaliland ; the 

 other side was a miniature of the marine lagoons, the 

 creeks, and the bayous of green Zanzibar. After three 

 hours of hard marching, the labour came to its crisis, 

 where the path, breaking off at a right angle from the river, 

 wound up an insecure ladder of loose earth and stones, 

 which caused several porters and one ass to lose their 

 footing, and to roll with their loads through the thorny 

 bushes of the steep slope, near the off side, into the bed 

 of rushes below. Then leaving the river-valley on the 

 right, we fell into a Fiumara of deep loose sand, about a 

 hundred yards broad, and occupying the centre of a 

 widening table-land. The view now changed, and the 

 " wady " afforded pleasant glimpses of scenery. Its 

 broad, smooth and glistening bed, dinted by the foot- 

 prints of cattle, was bounded by low perpendicular 

 banks of stiff red clay, margined by mighty masses of 

 brilliant green tamarinds, calabashes, and sycomores, 

 which stood sharply out against the yellow stubbles be- 

 yond them. The Mkuyu or sycomore in Eastern 

 Africa is a magnificent tree ; the bole, composed of 

 a pillared mass, averages from eight to ten feet in 

 height, and the huge branches, thatched with thick cool 

 foliage, extend laterally, overshadowing a circle whose 

 perimeter^ when the sun is vertical, sometimes attains 

 five hundred feet. The fruit, though eaten by travellers, 

 is a poor berry, all rind and seeds, with a slender title 

 to the name of fig. There are apparently two varieties 

 of this tree, resembling each other in general appearance, 



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