Horticulture is limited to certain spots, and, excepting at Bara and some other small villages, where there is plenty of water, no gardens are to be seen in the whole province. The wants of the natives who live in fixed places of residence are not such as they may supply by cultivating gardens; and the frequent change of residence is a yet greater hindrance to the nomades from occupying themselves with tillage of the ground. The blame, however, is chiefly to be attributed to the government, who would lay their hands upon the harvest, or levy large contributions upon it, which the natives would not be able to pay. When the Egyptians first took possession of the country, under the Defturdar, they found merely dokn, a little douhra, water-melons, bamíyeh, meluchia (lentils), onions, and tobacco. The Defturdar’s army, therefore, suffered greatly from want of provisions, until it was supplied from the stores in the north, and the necessary articles of consumption were subsequently produced in the country. Since these times, the Turks, who have become residents, and the Dongolavi have cultivated gardens, in which they now grow wheat, bedingajoti[54] (Poradies-üepfel[55]), small beans, radishes, celery, dill, and garlic; some vineyards have been planted, as also pomegranates, lemon trees, Indian and common figs. In the larger plantations sim-sim, ful-Darfûr (beans from Darfour), rice, and cotton are grown. It is, however, by mere chance if garden fruits, or green vegetables, are ever seen exposed for sale in the market place at Lobeid; weeks frequently pass without any such luxuries coming to sight, for the gardeners are very far backward in their art, and take but little pains to produce any plants. The natives, in fact, leave the cultivation of the gardens, like everything else, to chance, and do not give the vegetation the slightest assistance, so that it is really by mere hazard if anything thrive. Should the traveller wish to obtain vegetables for his own consumption during his residence in this country, he must make a kind of agreement with the proprietor of a garden to deliver the produce of the season at his house; for to wait for what might be exhibited in the market, would be, indeed, to wait in vain, as such an exhibition is, in the first place, according to my former statement, of very rare occurrence, and vegetables are only offered publicly for sale when all the private consumers are supplied, and there is a surplus of one or the other production. The vegetables indigenous in temperate climates are not of the same succulent quality in this country, partly because they are not properly attended to, and partly because the tropical climate causes them to grow too luxuriantly to arrive at the same state of perfection in which we obtain them in Europe. Grapes ripen twice in the year, but the leaves must be gathered off the vines, or all the sap will be exhausted by the foliage and tendrils, and no grapes will be formed.