354 Wanderings in Eastern Africa. 
when I was there in a body twelve paces wide by two 
or three feet deep, at the rate of four or five miles an 
hour. It is made by the people to contribute its 
waters to their plantations far and wide, drawing it off, 
as they do, on all sides for the purpose of irrigation. 
The whole district is traversed by artificial water- 
courses opened by the natives for this purpose. The 
river is very rich in fish, some of which are extremely 
fine. 
The forest trees of Taveta deserve especial men- 
tion. The muale and the mkindu I have already de- 
scribed. The mgunga is a thorny tree of large size, 
with pinnated leaf, and light green, clean, smooth 
bark. Large portions of the wood are composed 
wholly of this tree. The muari is large, with feathery, 
drooping foliage, much denser than that of the mgunga. 
The muasi, forty or fifty feet high, much resembles the 
elm* in appearance and size. Its wood is very tough, 
and does not burn well. The mvule is a gigantic 
growth, with dark, clean, soft-looking bark, and is used 
on the coast for making canoes. The mkuiju (syca- 
more) is here a magnificent tree, while the msere is a 
wonder of vegetation. The latter rises for seventy or a 
hundred feet as straight as a mast, without a branch or 
twig upon its shaft, and dwarfs even the much-boasted 
. and really splendid mfune. The msundu and mkulu 
are also very large trees. The mringa-mringa and 
mbarembare, together with the mkuyu, are used by 
the natives for the making of mzinga (beehives), 
which are hollowed logs that are hung in the trees to 
attract the bees. 
The undergrowth is very dense and varied; and 
ferns, mosses, innumerable flowering plants and 
