176 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA 



members of that branch of the creation as possess 

 no sort of possible excuse, either in the direction of 

 utility or good looks, for being spared. 



First and foremost come the thorn-bearing 

 growths — those abominations apparently expressly 

 created for the purpose of heightening human per- 

 fection, that perfection which we are told comes of 

 trial and chastening. I am happy to say that the 

 thorny, flat-topped acacia, the " wacht-ein-beitche " 

 of South Africa, is very sparsely represented. In 

 the Lower Zambezi I have, however, seen occasional 

 trees in the dryer regions covered with devUish, 

 sharp-pointed spikes four inches or more in length. 

 Anything more forbidding than this spiteful plant 

 it would be difficult to imagine, and 1 never see 

 one without speculating upon what my feeUngs 

 would be if, my empty rifle discarded and a 

 vengeful buffalo in hot pursuit, this vegetable 

 porcupine appeared in my path as the sole means 

 of escape. I think I should resign myself to the 

 horns of my pursuer in preference to self-immolation. 



I have already made some allusion to the 

 poisonous, milky juice of the Candelabra euphorbia, 

 but there remain to be enumerated half a hundred 

 different species of thorn-covered trailers, some 

 armed with almost invisible points, which, never- 

 theless, caught across the shin, exercise about as 

 sympathetic a contact with the skin as the fine edge 

 of a newly sharpened file. A small bush with 

 extraordinary tough limbs tears your putties to 

 pieces with a weapon which is as sharp and curved 

 and steely as a small fish-hook. Another larger 

 bush, of whose name I am ignorant, takes small 



