270 OF THE COSSO TREE 



The most generally employed remedy, for com- 

 mon purposes, by the inhabitants of Shoa, is the 

 flowers and unripe seeds of the Hagenia Ahjssinim, >t 



called by them " Cosso." Bruce gives us a good 

 description, and was the first who directed the 

 attention of Europeans to this remarkable tree. 

 In Shoa it grows frequently to the height of fifty 

 feet. About one half of the way up the Tchakkah 

 ascent, it flourishes remarkably well. It appears 

 to be a short-lived tree. Of its wood the Negoos 

 has all his gun-stocks manufactured, as it ap- 

 proaches nearly in colour to that employed for the 

 same purposes in the European firearms he pos- 

 sesses. The wood, however, is far from being 

 strong; but whilst the colour satisfies the eye of 

 the monarch, the workmen he employs find it is 

 well adapted, by its soft nature, to their tools, and 

 its excellence for the purposes required is therefore 

 never questioned, except by the unfortunate gun- 

 man, who, when the stock of his piece is fractured 

 by any accident, must submit to a stoppage in his 

 rations or pay, until its value has been reim- 

 bursed to the monarch, who always takes this 

 method of ensuring carefulness as regards valuable 

 property. 



The cosso tree, as was remarked by Bruce, does 

 not grow below a certain elevation, which is about 

 eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, in 

 the 10th degree of latitude north of the equator. 

 It is a very beautiful tree in appearance, and, I 



^ VTdtU C 



