THE SHORES OF THE LAKE. 
197 
craft was so cranky that such a voyage would have 
been madness, the water streaming in. Her bows 
and stern were pointed, standing for a yard over 
the water, with broad central plank from stem to 
stern, rounded outside, answering for a keel, and well 
adapted for gliding through papyrus. 
The flora along this tract did not afford much 
variety. The most graceful tree on the route was the 
wild date-palm, growing in clumps of three and four 
upon the bare green hills : its crested plumes waved 
in the breeze, giving almost animal life to the silent 
scene. Birds' nests, or clusters of Indian red fruit, 
hung in pendants from the branches. We met with 
a new acacia, whose thin pods were broad and numer- 
ous ; on looking at the tree, the crop was so abundant 
that the leaves were all but hidden by the fruit. Few 
large trees were seen ; they probably got killed by the 
different varieties of lichens and parasites which 
covered them. One acacia with a flat top was netted 
over with bushes of them, as if they had been planted 
on the tops of the branches. The north-east sides of 
trees were observed to have the most moss upon their 
trunks, denoting that it was the dampest wind at that 
particular locality and position. On the 1 4th of May 
I was sheltered from the rays of the sun by the boughs 
of the coffee-shrub, then with clusters of green berries 
bowing down its branches till within reach. Each 
yearly growth or produce could be seen by looking 
at the number of knots in the branches. No care or 
pruning was observed, and the roots near the trunk 
grew very much above the soil. On the grounds fac- 
ing the lake, 20 or 30 miles south of the equator, 
quantities must be grown, as some houses there were 
