374 PLANT OP FOKSAKEN GARDENS. 



an ox, the animal stands and roars with pain and a sense of help- 

 lessness. 



Seed-vessel of the " Grapple -plant. 



Whenever a part of the forest has "been cleared for a garden, 

 and afterward abandoned, a species of plant, with leaves like those 

 of ginger, springs up, and contends for the possession of the soil 

 with a great crop of ferns. This is the case all the way down to 

 Angola, and shows the great difference of climate between this 

 and the Bechuana country, where a fern, except one or two hardy 

 species, is never seen. The plants above mentioned bear a pret- 

 ty pink flower close to the ground, which is succeeded by a scar- 

 let fruit full of seeds, yielding, as so many fruits in this coun- 

 try do, a pleasant acid juice, which, like the rest, is probably 

 intended as a corrective to the fluids of the system in the hot 

 climate. 



On leaving the Chihune we crossed the Longe, and, as the 

 day was cloudy, our guides wandered in a forest away to the 

 west till we came to the Kiver Chihombo, flowing to the E.N.E. 

 My men depended so much on the sun for guidance that, having 

 seen nothing of the luminary all day, they thought we had wan- 

 dered back to the Chiboque, and, as often happens when be- 

 wildered, they disputed as to the point where the sun should 

 rise next morning. As soon as the rains would allow next day, 

 we went off to the W.E. It would have been better to have 

 traveled by compass alone, for the guides took advantage of any 



