VEGETABLE POISON. ICI 



flowering bulbs : the A maryllis toxicaria and A . Bruns- 

 vigia multiflora (the former a poisonous bulb) yield in 

 the decayed lamellae a soft silky down, a good material for 

 stuffing mattrasses. 



In some few parts of the country the remains of ancient 

 forests of wild olive-trees (Olea similis), and of the camel 

 thorn (Acacia giraffe), are still to be met with ; but when 

 these are levelled in the proximity of a Bechuana village 

 no young trees spring up to take their places. This is 

 not because the wood has a growth so slow as not to be 

 appreciable in its increase during the short period that 

 it can be observed by man, which might be supposed 

 from its being so excessively hard ; for having measured 

 a young tree of this species growing in the corner of 

 Mr. Moffat's garden near the water, I found that it in- 

 creased 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, cannot be above two or three 

 hundred years old. 



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

 the Covenant 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 " (or 

 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 

 role, that nearly all the plants in the dry parts of Africa 

 are scentless or emit only a disagreeable odour. It, more- 

 over, 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 described 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 



