Bararetta. 
177 
at the place where the gigantic branches separate 
from the trunk, and the decay, proceeding down- 
wards, hollows out a space sufficiently large to hold a 
large quantity of water. The branches, extending 
almost horizontally in all directions, greatly widen 
the already ample proportions of the immense trunk, 
so as to form a spacious natural roof, which, re- 
ceiving a portion of the water of every shower, con- 
veys it to the aperture in the centre, and thus fills 
the hollow tree with a liquid, the preciousness of 
which, in such a country as Africa, the traveller 
is often made to feel and appreciate as no one else 
can. It was such a reservoir we found to-day. It 
did not, however, appear to me to be formed in the 
ordinary way. The tree is a baobab, but one of the 
most singular that I have ever seen. It is one of 
those prodigies of nature which we sometimes meet 
with, and which nQver fail to arrest our attention. 
The tree was full grown, but entirely without trunk. 
Instead of developing the massive column which dis- 
tinguishes its family, it has sent its branches along the 
ground, twisting and turning, interlacing and inter- 
twining with each other, in such an eccentric fashion 
as to form a vast, hollow knot, with two apertures at 
the top, in places where the branches, deviating from 
the regular curve, do not meet. The top looks as if it 
had been pushed in by some huge Titanic fist, and so 
forms a hollow roof, which collects the water, and pours 
it into the openings mentioned above. Measuring the 
hollow roughly with a stick, I found it to be about 
three feet in depth, but nearly six in width, so that it 
is capable of holding a good supply of water, and has 
no doubt been blessed a thousand times bv the 
