VEGETABLE POISON. 127 



the water, I found that it increased at the rate of a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter annually during a number of years. Moreover, 

 the larger specimens, which now find few or no successors, if they 

 had more rain in their youth, can not be above two or three hund- 

 red years old. 



It is probable that this is the tree of which the Ark of the Cov- 

 enant and the Tabernacle were constructed, as it is reported to be 

 found where the Israelites were at the time these were made. It 

 is an imperishable wood, while that usually pointed out as the 

 "shittim" {ox Acacia nilotica) soon decays and wants beauty. 



In association with it we always observe a curious plant, named 

 ngotuane, which bears such a profusion of fine yellow strong- 

 scented flowers as quite to perfume the air. This plant forms a 

 remarkable exception to the general rule, that nearly all the plants 

 in the dry parts of Africa are scentless, or emit only a disagree- 

 able odor. It, moreover, contains an active poison ; a French 

 gentleman, having imbibed a mouthful or two of an infusion of its 

 flowers as tea, found himself rendered nearly powerless. Vinegar 

 has the peculiar property of rendering this poison perfectly inert, 

 whether in or out of the body. When mixed with vinegar, the 

 poison may be drunk with safety, while, if only tasted by itself, it 

 causes a burning sensation in the throat. This gentleman de- 

 scribed the action of the vinegar, when he was nearly deprived of 

 power by the poison imbibed, to have been as if electricity had 

 run along his nerves as soon as he had taken a single glassful. 

 The cure was instantaneous and complete. I had always to re- 

 gret want of opportunity for investigating this remarkable and yet 

 controllable agent on the nervous system. Its usual proximity to 

 camel-thorn-trees may be accounted for by the probability that 

 the giraffe, which feeds on this tree, may make use of the plant as 

 a medicine. 



During the period of my visit at Kuruman, Mr. Moffat, who has 

 been a missionary in Africa during upward of forty years, and is 

 well known by his interesting work, " Scenes and Labors in 

 South Africa," was busily engaged in carrying through the press, 

 with which his station is furnished, the Bible in the language of 

 the Bechuanas, which is called Sichuana. This has been a work 

 of immense labor ; and as he was the first to reduce their speech 

 to a written form, and has had his attention directed to the study 



