FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA. 



255 



refresh the eye of the traveler. Cassia ranks high ?.mong the Hst 

 of medicinal plants found in the desert, and colocynth, with its creep- 

 ing cucumber-like stems, filled with fruit resembling our apple, 

 first green and then turning yellow, is found along all the outskirts 

 of the valley. The natives have a wholesome awe of the drastic 

 remedy, and scarcely ever touch the gourd fruit, while the Bedouins 



remove the inside pith and seeds, and fill it with milk, to take it next 

 day as a remedy. 





AFRICAN AVART HOG. 



The date palm, it is true, is seldom seen, and then only in a 

 half-wild state; but the fig tree is found laden with fruits. The 

 fruit of the caper tree tastes like an odd mixture of sugar and 

 mustard; and the traveler is refreshed by the pleasant acid of the 

 sorrel, the berries of the lycium, a thorny plant. The coast flora of 

 the desert is very peculiar, and depends upon the salt vapors rising 

 from the sea. The dense woods of the shore are famous in travel- 



