Fig. 67. PALIURUS ACULEATTS. 



ARMED PLANTS. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 



" As we approach the district where some great war 

 is raging, the traces of the struggle become more 

 numerous and more striking. At one place the 

 ground is furrowed by the heavy round shot, or torn 

 up where a shell has burst. A little farther on we 

 come upon an earthwork or a broken bridge, the 

 wreck of a waggon or a tumbril. At last we see the 

 flashing bayonets and glancing helmets of the com- 

 batants." 



So, as we leave the well-watered shores of the 

 Atlantic, and travel towards the east and south, we 

 find at each step fresh evidences of a struggle, a 

 fierce contest with heat and drought which vegetation 

 is compelled to wage. 



