316 



PLANT OF FORSAKEN GARDENS. Chap. XVIII. 



the moutli of an ox, the animal stands and roars with pain and 

 a sense of helplessness. 



Seeii-vessel of die " grapple-plant." 



Wherever a part of the forest has been cleared for a garden, 

 and afterwards 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 be- 

 tween this and the Bechuana country, where a fern, except one 

 or two hardy species, is never seen. The plants above men- 

 tioned bear a pretty pink flower close to the ground, which is 

 succeeded by a scarlet fruit full of seeds, yielding, as so many- 

 fruits in this country 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 river 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 N.E. It would have been better to have 

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



