CHAPTER XVIII 



1*10. 169.— Kukuniakranka fruit. 



KUKUMAKRANKA 



" Did you ever hunt for Kukumakrankas ? Here is one." 



From a respectful distance it looked loaded, but the bearer 

 disarmed me of suspicion. 



" We do go hunting for them sometimes. You find them 

 sticking out of the ground." 



By this time information was coming from other sources. 



" You keep them to enjoy 

 their perfume." " You wear 

 them in your hat." " Or press 

 them in a book ! " 



The specimen shown was 

 soft, light brown, and tapered at one end. It was loaded with 

 seeds which showed through the thin covering, and was evidently 

 the ovary of some plant. 



" What kind of a flower has it ? " 



" It never flowers," replied a chorus of voices ; " that is all 

 there is of it." 



Here was a puzzle. It was then in May, and since the 

 seeds were quite ripe the flowers could probably not be found 

 that season. Nor were they the next, nor the next. At last, 

 at Stellenbosch^ one Christmas holiday, my hostess brought in 

 a flower — a beautiful, cream-white, six-pointed star, borne at 

 the top of a long tube. 



"That is surely a Kukumakranka," I exclaimed. "You 

 have left part of it in the ground — the Kukumakranka — the 

 part we hunt to wear in our hats and enjoy the scent, and 

 press in books." 



No time was lost in seeking out the place where it was 



