148 
SOUDAN DATE BURS. 
prints of ostriches and gazelles. His highness En- 
Noor made us a present of two ostrich eggs, and we 
supped on this out-of-the-way delicacy the last day of 
the year. The date of the black country (Soudan) is 
deserving of notice. It is called in Bornou, bitu; and 
in Haussa, aduwa and tinku, both tree and fruit. Its 
kernel, or stone, is very large, and the little pulpy 
matter upon it has the taste of a bitter sweet. It is 
about the size of an almond, and covered with a 
green husk, a little thick. This fruit is now ripening 
fast in Aheer. The tree is covered with thorns,, 
very large, and projecting in every direction. The 
leaves are small, almost without veins, and with a 
thick stalk. 
To-day we had the karengia, or bur, with a 
vengeance. En-Noor had already advertised us of 
its appearance hereabouts two clays ago. It is cer- 
tainly the most troublesome thing that can well be 
conceived for all travellers, and more so for Euro- 
peans. This bur is from a species of herbage 
bearing grain, very small, and which the people 
make bazeen of, like ghaseb and other grain. All 
feet of men, women, and animals, were to-day covered 
with this teasing bur. 
The animals seen on this plateau, it will be seen,, 
are in reality mostly of the harmless kind. The 
giraffe, the wild ox (considered a species of immense 
gazelle, or stag), the gazelle, a large and small 
species, the ostrich, the guinea-fowl, the hobara (in 
Haussa, tuja), various kinds of vultures, the crow, 
