SPINY AND PRICKLY PLANTS. 83 



flowers. Another tree of the same order is called fcino, 

 and is frequently found growing over the ancient tombs of 

 the Vazimba, the supposed aboriginal inhabitants of the 

 central provinces. The seeds resemble in size those of a 

 small french-bean, and grow in large pods or legumes, from 

 lifteen to eighteen inches long, and about three broad, which 

 look most conspicuous on the trees after the leaves have 

 fallen. The seeds were used until very lately in the working 

 of the sikidy or divination, a practice closely interwoven with 

 the idolatry and superstition of the people. They are also 

 used medicinally. 



A more unapproachable plant, however, than the tsiafa- 

 humby\s, the widely-spread prickly-pear {Opuntia) or raiketra, 

 which forms the chief fortification of the Malagasy towns 

 and villages. A dense tliicket of this surrounds every village 

 and homestead in many parts of the country, and a more 

 formidable obstacle to the attack of an enemy can hardly be 

 imagined. The trees attain a considerable thickness, and 

 every portion of them, trunk, leaves, flowers, and fruit, is 

 fvdly armed with clusters of sharp needle-like thorns, be- 

 tween two and three inches long ; these, if carelessly 

 handled, inflict painful wounds which inflame and are often 

 difficult to heal. To an almost naked and barefooted 

 soldiery, and without artillery, it forms an impenetrable 

 barrier, which only rounds of chain and bar shot could clear 

 out of the way. The prickly-pear is also of some service for 

 food, the pears being a palatable fruit when carefully divested 

 of their spiny covering. The larger thorns were formerly 

 used as needles, and are still the ordinary pins of the 

 Malagasy. It is perhaps not superfluous to remark that, 

 except in old trees, there are no proper hranches in the 

 prickly-pear ; all the thick fleshy leaves grow from the edge 

 of the others, and the flowers and fruit also grow in the same 

 position. They possess great vitality, so that a single leaf 

 laid on the ground soon develops a number of tendril roots, 

 takes hold of the earth, and rapidly increases. 



Another prickly plant also very conspicuous in Imerina, 

 and one of the most beautiful, is a species of Euphorbia 

 (E. splendens and U. Bojeri), which is planted on the top of the 



