SUBURBS OF UN Y AN YEMBE . 
47 
was considered by an Indian resident to be as fine as 
that grown in Kutch, bnt be said tbey bad no use for 
it, merely burning it as wicks. As tbe previous year's 
corn bad been consumed, tbe poorer classes gathered 
the heads of a wild grass (Dactyloctum JEgyptiacum), 
and prepared it for stirabout by sun-drying, beating 
on the rocks, and rubbing it into flour on their flag- 
stones. They also fed upon mushrooms, growing 
amongst the rank " dub" grass, after drying, roasting, 
and peeling them. They were five inches in diameter, 
and sienna-coloured. Another variety was white, and 
half the size. All the cattle and goats in the country 
seemed to have found their way into the folds of the 
Arabs, and had been captured in a war still going on 
between them and the native population. The sur- 
rounding country is devoid of game, but within a long 
day's march a forest was visited, where various ante- 
lopes, giraffes, lions, and a few elephants might be met 
with along the valley of the Wallah river. The scales 
of an armadillo were seen worn as a charm, three 
inches across, and striated or lined at one end. Our 
men had a superstition that the person who found a 
live armadillo would become a king — meaning, I im- 
agine, that it was so rare. However, we came upon a 
pet one at 3° N. latitude. About the cultivations near 
the village no singing-birds are ever heard, but the 
plumage of those seen is often very brilliant. Flocks 
of beautiful little birds, with black bodies, golden- 
tinted scarlet heads and backs, pecked at the ears of 
corn ; or in the rice-fields the favourite of the Cape 
farmers, the " locust bird," black, and looking like a 
curlew when walking, went tamely about. Crows, 
with a ring of white round the neck, were seen in twos 
