452 
THE MOSHU TREE — HEELA! 
22 July, 
the town, every dry stick in the vicinity having been consumed by 
the inhabitants. 
When I had finished my sketch, MattTvi, pleased at the thought 
that the magnitude of his town would now be made known in the 
country of the white-men, inquired very particularly if I had drawn 
every house ; yet though my answer was contrary to his wishes, he 
remained well satisfied by being told that 1 had drawn as many as 
my paper could contain, and that I intended making a sketch of the 
other part of the town, from the opposite hills. 
We all then descended the hill together. In our way I sought 
for flowers, but could discover nothing new ; every vegetable was so 
completely dried up, that scarcely a specimen could be procured. 
Some of the natives seeing me gather a plant, very good-naturedly 
made search for more of the same kind, and brought them to me ; 
but nothing was found worth preserving. 
The path by which we returned, brought us to Serrakutus 
mootsi, the first dwelling to which we came, and situated at a little dis- 
tance from the foot of the hill. I walked in to examine a beautiful 
tree of a new species of acacia, called by the inhabitants, Moshu 
and to gather some of its singularly twisted or curved pods, which 
just at this season were hanging in abundance. 
Serrakutu, who was sitting in one corner of the enclosure, and 
whom I did not at first observe, called out to me with a loud voice, 
Heeela ! Heela ! f and seemed much gratified by my paying him a 
* Acacia Lituhunensis, B. Catal. Geogr. 2205. Arbor 40-pedalis, (vide tabulam 
sextam) comis partialibus depresso-patentibus. (In plantula hortensi bienni ; Folia sub- 
pubescentia, bipinnata 4 — 6-juga, foliolis interstitio invicem separatis, anguste oblongis, 
9 — 13-jugis. Spinse stipulares geminae breves recurvae.) Legumina bivalvia tortuosa. 
f Hcla ! (Haylah) is a common exclamation among the Bachapins, and is used when 
calling to a person at a distance. The first syllable is usually protracted to a length pro- 
portioned to the distance of the person called. If he be only a few yards off, Hela ! is 
supposed to be sufficient ; if at a much greater distance, Hcela ! if still farther, Heeela /, 
and even He e ela ! : and when it is considered that both the tone and the strength 
of the voice are heightened and increased in the same proportion, it will readily be con- 
ceived that this is not a word of mean importance, nor much less resounding than the 
9roXuipXo«r§o5 ^ocXutra-x. It is, however, in its more moderate form, employed in common 
conversation or debate, as the means of calling the atteiition of the company or the assem- 
bly, to the person who is speaking. 
