210 REMARKS ON THE ALOE. 



blow, and making the most beautiful appearance that can be ima- 

 gined. The flower-stems of this noble plant are in general betwixt 

 twenty and thirty feet high (some of them more), and are covered 

 with flowers from top to bottom ; which taper regularly, and form a 

 beautiful kind of pyramid, the base or pedestal of which is the fine 

 spreading leaves of the plant. As this is esteemed in northern coun- 

 tries one of the greatest curiosities of the vegetable tribe, we were 

 happy in seeing it in so great perfection ; much greater, I think, 

 than I had ever seen it before. 



" With us, I think, it is vulgarly reckoned (though I believe 

 falsely) that they only flower once in a hundred years. Here I was 

 informed, that, at the latest, they always blow the sixth year, but for 

 the most part the fifth. As the whole substance of the plant is carried 

 into the stem and the flowers, the leaves begin to decay as soon as 

 the blow is completed, and a numerous offspring of young plants are 

 produced round the root of the old one. These are slipped off, and 

 formed into new plantations, either for hedges or for avenues to their 

 country-houses." Thunberg says that this Aloe is very common at 

 the Cape ; and although not a native, but imported from the botanic 

 gardens of Europe, blossoms finely every year. 



A kind of soap is prepared from the leaves, and the leaves them- 

 selves are used for scouring floors, pewter, &c. ; their epidermis is 

 serviceable to literature as a material for writing upon. The follow- 

 ing extract from Wood's Zoography will give some idea of the general 

 utility of this extraordinary plant : — 



" The Mahometans respect the Aloe as a plant of a superior 

 nature. In Egypt it may be said to bear some share in their re- 

 ligious ceremonies ; since whoever returns from a pilgrimage to 

 Mecca hangs it over his street-door as a proof of his having per- 

 formed that holy journey. The superstitious Egyptians believe that 

 this plant hinders evil spirits and apparitions from entering the 

 house; and on this account, whoever walks the streets in Cairo, will 

 find it over the doors of both Christians and Jews." 



Maximilian, in his Travels in Brazil, mentions a species of Agave 

 which grew by the sea-side (Agave fcetida), of which he says — " Its 

 smooth-edged stiff leaves, eight or ten feet long, form strong hedges ; 

 and from the middle rises a thick stem thirty feet high, which bears 





