162 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



and that the wood is also intensely bitter in most 

 of the families. 



" In one of the neighbouring tribes," continued 

 his father, " we have myrrh and frankincense ; in 

 another mahogany * and other fragrant woods ; 

 the whole tribe consisting of trees with compact, 

 scented, and beautifully-veined timber, the bark of 

 several of which has been used successfully in India 

 in the cure of fever. Not far from these are trees 

 abounding in an acrid, resinous, and sometimes 

 highly-poisonous juice, which represent a tribe, 

 chiefly tropical, in which we find the cashew-nut, 

 the pistachio-nut, and the mango. The beautiful 

 zebra- wood of the cabinet-makers ; and the in- 

 tensely-bitter wood called ' quassia,' an infusion of 

 which is used to poison flies, and as a substitute for 

 hops, in making beer ; these belong to the following 

 tribes, which are more or less valuable in medicine. 

 We next come to the FLAX tribe." 



"Flax is very pretty, and very useful too," 

 said Mary. "I once had a plant of it in my 

 garden, arid I could hardly believe that its little 

 delicate stems had fibres strong enough to make 

 linen." 



* Swietenia maliagoni. 



