88 pPant Tsore, Tsege^/, and. "buria/. 



hesitation ; and on the morrow brings back the deadly gum, and 

 some drooping stalks and leaves, while from his pallid brow the 

 cold sweat falls in streams. He staggers, falls on the mats of 

 the tent, and, poor miserable slave, expires at the feet of his 

 proud master. And the prince steeps his ruthless arrows in 

 the cruel poison ; they are destined to carry destruction to his 

 neighbours across the frontier. 



In Mexico there grows a herb, familiarly known there as the 

 Loco or Rattle Weed, which has such a powerful effect on animals, 

 that horses eating it are driven raving mad. 



In Scotland there is a certain weed that grows in and about 

 the Borgie Well at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, which possesses 

 the awful property of making all who drink of its waters mad. 

 Hence the local saying : 



'* A drink of the Borgie, a bite of the weed, 

 Sets a' the Cam'slang folk wrang in the head." 



Some few plants are repellent from the obnoxious smells 

 which they emit : among these are the Phallus impudicus, and many 

 of the Stapelias. One — the Carrion-flower- — has an odour so like 

 putrid meat, that flesh flies, attracted by it, deposit their ova in the 

 flowers; and when the maggots are in due course produced, they 

 perish miserably for lack of food. 



Zahn, in his SpeculcB Physico-Mathematico-HistoriccB (1696) enume- 

 rates several trees and plants which had, in his day, acquired a 

 very sinister reputation. He tells us that- — • 



" Herrera speaks of a tree, m Granada, called Aquapura, 

 which is so poisonous, that when the Spaniards, at first ignorant 

 of its deadly power, slept under its shade, their members were all 

 swelled, as if they had taken dropsy. The barbarians also, who 

 lingered naked or intoxicated under it, had their skin broken by 

 large swellings, which distended their intestines, and brought them 

 to a miserable death. 



"There is a tree in Hispaniola, bearing Apples of a very fragrant 

 smell, which, if they are tasted, prove hurtful and deadly. If any 

 one abides for a time beneath its shade he loses sight and reason, 

 and cannot be cured save by a long sleep. Similar trees are found 

 in the island Codega. 



" In the same island, Hispaniola, another kind of tree is found 

 which produces fruit formed like Pears, very pleasant to the sight, 

 and of delicious odour. If any one lies beneath its shade and falls 

 asleep, his face begins to swell, and he is seized with severe pain 

 in the head, and with the sorest cold. In the same island another 

 tree is found, whose leaf, if touched, causes at once a tumour of 

 a very painful nature to break out, which can only be checked and 

 healed by frequent washing with sea water. There also grows a 

 plant called Cohobba, which is said to be lymphatic. It intoxicates 

 by its mere smell, and renders fanatical. Cardanus believes this 



