y of one
enormous tree, from the branches of which descended numerous slight
stalks, apparently supporting them as they spread out on every side over
the ground. I now recognised a magnificent specimen of the baobab-tree,
of immense girth, and with numerous branches and almost countless
offshoots. On one side was a Guinea-palm, its graceful fan-like
branches rising from a centre stalk--a mere liliputian plant it looked
in comparison to its lofty neighbour. On the other side was an acacia,
the size of an ordinary oak, though a little way off I took it for a
diminutive shrub. A very few other trees only were scattered about.
Getting still nearer, I observed a hollow in the trunk of the
baobab-tree--a wooden cavern, capable of containing a dozen or more
persons. Remembering to have heard that the baobab does not attract
lightning, I made my way towards it, resolving to take shelter within.
I hurried to the mouth, and looking in, was thankful to find that it
contained no inhabitants. Here, at all events, we might rest secure
from the storm.

Putting Natty down, I examined the interior to see that no snakes lurked
in the crevices of the wood. I could discover none: so I cleared out a
spot where Natty could rest more at ease; and as the wood and leaves
under the tree were still dry, I collected a sufficient supply of both--
one to form our couch, and the other for our fire. The rain had begun
to pour down in torrents outside, but within the trunk we were
completely sheltered. As there was ample room to light a fire inside, I
soon had one, and some of our birds roasting before it. Natty agreed
that we were better lodged than we had been since we left home. There
we sat watching the storm, which howled and raged outside. The rain
came down literally in a deluge.

The tree in which we had taken shelter was evidently of great age. I
have since heard that some people suppose that the patriarchs of these
trees may have been alive before the Flood. The natives cut off and
pound the bark, from which they thus obtain the fibres for making a
strong and fine cord. Although the bark of many of the trees near their
villages is completely torn off in a way that would destroy any other
tree, the baobab does not suffer, but throws out a new bark as often as
the old one is cut off. Trees are either exogenous--that is to say,
grow by means of successive layers on the outside; or they endogenous--
which means that they are inc