PLANTS OF THE KARROO. 57 



degree. Our silk gloves, transformed suddenly into 

 miniature robes of Nessus, had to be thrown away, 

 perfectly unwearable ; and the inadvertent use of our 

 pocket-handkerchiefs, before we had fully realized the 

 extent of our misfortune, caused fresh agonies, in which 

 nose as well as lips participated. For many a day did 

 the retribution of that theft haunt us in the form of 

 myriads of tiny stings. It was a long time indeed 

 before we were finally rid of the last of them ; and we 

 registered a vow that whatever Algerian fruit we 

 might dishonestly acquire in future, it should not be 

 figues de Barharie. 



In dry weather at the Cape these spiteful little stings 

 do not even wait for the newly -arrived victim ; but fly 

 about, light as thistle-down, ready to settle on any one 

 who has not learned by experience to give the prickly 

 pear bushes a wide berth. 



The leaves of the prickly pear are good for ostriches 

 and cattle, though the work of burning oiF the thorns 

 and cutting the leaves in pieces is so tedious that it is 

 only resorted to when other food becomes scarce. One 

 kind, the kafdblad, or " bald leaf," has no thorns. It 

 is comparatively rare, and farmers plant and cultivate 

 it as carefully as they exterminate its troublesome 

 relative. 



Another kind of cactus, which, if the beautiful forms 

 in Nature were utilized for artistic purposes half as 

 much as they deserve to be, would long since have 

 been recognized as a most perfect model for a graceful 

 branched candlestick, is used as food for cattle during 



