d the juicy fruit. When Senhor Silva heard
the account I gave, he expressed a hope that we should find not only an
abundance of melons, but a root which he called _Jeroshua_, which grows
in the desert, and is of an excessively juicy nature.

While the waggons proceeded on southward, Senhor Silva and I scoured the
plain in one direction, keeping sight of the oxen with the panniers,
that we might summon them directly we discovered what we were in search
of. Before going far, we saw the ground turned up as if some animal had
been digging with its horns. Near it was a small plant, the stalk about
the thickness of a crow's quill. It had apparently been broken off, and
the root to which it had been attached had been consumed. Not far off,
however, we saw several similar plants; and Igubo--who accompanied us
with a spade--and the other blacks, who were not far off, were directed
to dig. They had got down a little more than a foot, when a large
tuber, twice the size of the ordinary turnip, was discovered; and the
rind being removed, we found it to consist of a mass of cellular tissue,
filled with fluid like the root I have mentioned. We eagerly put it to
our mouths, and found it deliciously cool. The poor oxen, as soon as it
was given to them, ate it eagerly. We loaded one with the roots, and
sent it on to overtake the caravan.

Senhor Silva said there was another root, of a similar nature, in other
parts of the desert, called the _mokuri_. The tubers are far larger.
It is a herbaceous creeper. The stem, rising out of the ground, sends
out its branches horizontally to a distance of a yard or more on either
side. They deposit underground a number of tubers, much larger than the
first I have mentioned. The natives, when seeking them, strike the
ground with a stone, and discover by the difference of sound when one is
beneath the spot.

In half an hour, great was our delight to see the ground covered in all
directions with the water-melons of which we were in search. Igubo and
his sons, who had never before seen any, instantly set upon them. They
spat out the first, with wry faces. They had seized upon a bitter one.
The other blacks, more cautious, ran along, cutting a small piece off
with their knives, tasting each in succession, leaving the bitter and
only cutting the sweet.

As we had not more than a load for one buffalo, we pushed on further,
hoping to find a larger supply. After going a few yards, I saw Don