VEGETABLE VAGARIES. 



269 



not ex- 

 ceed a 

 greater 

 length 

 than 

 two in- 

 ch es. 



When ripe, the in- 

 terior of the thin shell 

 is filled with a friable, 

 flour-like, slightly acid powder, 

 in which the somewhat small 

 bean-like seeds are embedded. 



In both their matured 

 condition and in an earlier state 

 the boab nuts are esteemed as 

 food by the natives and have 

 found favour with Europeans. 

 Grey, in his " Expeditions of Dis- 

 covery," Vol. 1, 1841, describing 

 it as the " gouty stem-tree," remarks : " The foliage 

 and it was loaded with fruit of an elliptical form 



W. SaMle-Kent, Photo. 

 PROSTRATE BAOBA1I, WITH REJUVENESCENT TRUNKS, p. 270. 



W. Sarille-fent, Photo. 

 BAOBAB TREE, NUT-BEARING EXAMPLE WITH DOUBLE TRUNK. 



of this tree was slight but graceful, 

 as large as a cocoa-nut. This fruit 

 was enclosed in a rind re- 

 sembling that of an almond, 

 and inside the rind was a shell 

 containing a soft white pulp in 

 which were placed a species of 

 almond veiy palatable to the 

 taste, and arranged in this pulp 

 much in the manner in which 

 the seeds are placed in .the 

 pomegranate." The bark of the 

 tree, when cut, is attested to by 

 the same explorer as yielding 

 a nutritious white gum which, 



