WATER STORED IN TREES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 126, 25 February 1928, Page 21

WATER STORED IN TREES

The tebeldi, or baobab, is one of the most interesting of trees. It ie one ot the oldest in the world. It bears a pleas-ant-tasting, pulpy fruit, whence comes the name of moukey-bread tree, wmle its bark provides a fibre used for ropes and basket-making. It is found in West and East Africa, and in tho Southern Sudan. It is in the last-named country that tlie tebeldi attains its greatest usefulness (says the Cairo correspondent of the “Christian Science Monitor”). Not only are the fibre and fruit utilised, but also the tree itself is, in Kordofan, employed as a natural water reservoir, lebeldi trees in time become hollow. This tendency is turned to advantage by the natives of the Sudan, who scoop out the tebeldis from the top until they are lit tie morn than hollow shells. During the rainv season thc villagers fill the hollow trunk with waler, which is drawn upon during thc long dry season, when all other sources fail. A. tebeldi, whose upper branches are so disposed that they tilt the rain inlo lhe hollow interior, and is so self-filling, is particularly valued, and is given the name “laqai.” The waterstoring capacity of the average tebeldi is from .200 to 250 gallons there are approximately 30,000 water-holding tobeldis in Western Kordofan, where the tree is principally found. This giv®s a total storage capacity of about 7,000,000 gallons. It is estimated that the water requirements of the native ot Kordofan amount to about one-third of a gallon a day. This is exclusive ot washing, for the Kordofan natives, who depend upon tebeldi trees for their wa. er, do not wash. It is interesting, in comparison, to note that the average adult Londoner’s daily water consumption for all purposes is 27.8 gallons. Tebeldis are supposed by the Sudanese to attain enormous ages, and even .English writers have hazarded the that these trees sometimes live for 2000 rears. But those theories arc now discredited. and it is thought flint tebeldis seldom last more than 400 years.