THE BRACKISH WATER. 



201 



and puddle at both ends, and provided with an oval 

 opening in the centre, were seen hanging to the branches 

 of the foliaged trees. Cucumbers, water-melons, and 

 pumpkins grew apparently without cultivation. The 

 water-melon, called by the Arabs Johh, and by the 

 Wasawahili Tikiti, nourishes throughout the interior, 

 where it is a favourite with the people. It is sown be- 

 fore the rainy season, gathered after six months, and 

 placed to ripen upon the flat roofs of the villages. Like 

 the produce of Kafir-land, it is hard, insipid, fleshy, 

 and full of seeds, having nothing but the name in coin- 

 roon with the delicious fruit of Egypt and Afghanistan. 

 The Junsal, or Boga, the pumpkin, is, if possible, worse 

 than the water-melon. Its red meat, simply boiled, is 

 nauseously sweet ; it is, however, considered wholesome, 

 and the people enjoy the seeds toasted, pounded, and 

 mixed with the " Mboga," or wild vegetables, with 

 which a veritable African can, in these regions, keep 

 soul and body together for six months. About 10 a.m., 

 I found Khalfan's caravan halted in a large kraal 

 amongst the villages, on the eastern hill above the 

 " brackish water." They were loading for the march, 

 and my men looked wistfully at the comfortable huts ; 

 but their halt had been occasioned by small-pox, I there- 

 fore hurried forwards across the streamlet to a wind- 

 swept summit of an opposite hill. The place was far from 

 pleasant, the gusts were furious ; by night the ther- 

 mometer showed 54° F., by day there was but scanty 

 shelter from the fiery sun, and the " Marenga Mk'hali," 

 which afforded the only supplies of water, was at a con- 

 siderable distance. Moreover our umbrellas and bed- 

 ding suffered severely from a destructive host of white 

 ants, that here became troublesome for the first time. 

 The " Chunga Mchwa," or termite, abounds throughout 



