IN AUSTRAL AFRICA. 295 



several varieties of mimosa, the different kinds of 

 euphorbias, and the African banian, whose pendent 

 tendrils from many a limb aloft, swing to and fro on 

 the pressure of the slightest breath of wind. 



The boabab, the first mentioned, although far 

 from lofty, is supposed to possess the largest trunk 

 of any vegetable production known, a circumference 

 of one hundred feet being far from rare when 

 measured a yard or two above the ground's surface. 

 For thirty or more feet the trunk is bare, but at 

 that altitude the branches strike out to an immense 

 distance, at right angles from the parent stem, 

 covering with their shadows a vast area. The in- 

 dividual leaves are very large, and in shape like 

 those of the horse-chestnut, while the fruit re- 

 sembles a large cocoanut when the husk is green. 

 From this the natives and the few Europeans that 

 are acquainted with the boabab make a refreshing 

 acid drink, which is considered an unfailing specific 

 against fever. 



To the researches of the great naturalist, Adan- 

 son, we owe our first knowledge of this wonderful 

 tree, hence it has been scientifically called Adansonia 

 gigantica. He supposed that the large specimens 

 to be found at the present time existed before the 

 floor. Whether this be so or not, you cannot 

 destroy it by water, or kill it by fire, unless the stem 

 be utterly consumed. The trunk is invariably little 

 more than a shell of a foot in thickness, and conse- 



