FARMS AND PLANTATIONS. 23 



This tree measured forty feet in circumference, 

 and was about sixty feet high ; the bark was 

 smooth*, and of a greyish colour ; the termi- 

 nation of its larger branches is remarkable, 

 from being abruptly rounded, and from these 

 rounded extremities the smaller branches are 

 given off, as may be seen in the accompany- 

 ing drawing ; this forms a very character- 

 istic feature in the tree. The fruit, on the 

 outer shell being broken, contained Hot the 

 yellow pulp usually mentioned, but a white 

 farinaceous substance enveloping the dark brown 

 seeds, of an agreeable acidulated taste. This 

 may proceed from the fruit being old. The fruit 

 is of an oval form, usually six inches in length, 

 and three or four in diameter ; rough externally, 

 and, when mature, of a brownish yellow colour ; 

 a dark red gum exuded from the outer part of 

 the fruit.* 



* " The largest tree in the world is the Adansonia or 

 Baobab tree, the trunk of which has been found with a 

 diameter of thirty feet ; but its height is not in proportion. 

 It is emollient and mucilaginous in all its parts. The leaves 

 dried and reduced to powder constitute Lalo, a favourite 

 article with the Africans, which they mix daily with their 

 food, for the purpose of diminishing the excessive perspira- 

 tion to which they are subject in those climates ; and even 

 Europeans find it serviceable in cases of diarrhoea, fevers, 

 and other maladies. The fruit is, perhaps, the most useful 



