AN INHABITED SWAMP. 
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of cord^ of tanned Mde^ or of dried grass. Those intended to be 
used as drinking-cups have a circular stand of plaited grass : some- 
CALABASHE S. 
times this is dyed and has a pretty effect^ the cup attached to the 
stand. For the purpose of conveying liquid^ or even grain^ to any 
distance^ the bottle form is preferred : the pulp is extracted from 
the gourd through a small aperture made near the stem, and thus 
a neckless bottle is formed. 
September 20/A.— Started at 7.30 a.m., still marching through 
water, at times knee-deep, again but covering the foot ; in half an 
hour passed through an inhabited swamp called Nilgil. The huts 
were far a^part, on ground slightly elevated, a patch of dourra sur- 
rounding them j the inhabitants, a starved- looking, melancholy 
population, crowded on high stages, from whence they gazed upon 
us. Again a forest, inundated ; here and there a solitary tookul 
with its mite of cultivated ground. The grass was rank and high, 
off which, as I rode along, I picked a quantity of shells of a pretty 
