1811. 
CAPE MISSLE TO. — POISON-APPLE. 
— DIOSMA. 
143 
the waggon-makers say, there is some shnilarity in their wood. I am, 
however, inchned to believe that the name was given rather on 
account of their growing in similar situations : and this seems the 
more probable, as the name of Witte Elze (White Alder) is applied 
to another tree ( Weinmannia trifoliata) which naturally grows in the 
same kind of places as the common Alder. 
In moist places I met with Erica pubescens growing luxuriantly, 
and covered with a profusion of little pink flowers ; this is one of the 
commonest of the Cape heaths. Growing on the branches of Cassine 
Capensis, I found the Cape Missleto, a very curious parasitic plant, 
bearing small white berries, but without leaves, and exceedingly 
brittle. * A kind of wild cucumber f spreads itself over the bushes 
and along the ground, bearing a small yellow oval fruit hardly an inch 
long, covered with soft prickles, and called Gift-Appel (Poison-apple) 
on account of its extreme bitterness; in which quality it agrees with the 
Coloquintida, and several of the Cucumber tribe. The ' African Sage' X 
is an ornamental flowering shrub, of very frequent occurrence. All the 
Diosmas when bruised, give out a strong odor more or less pleasant ; so 
that, in walking, it is not easy to tread on a plant of this tribe without 
being made sensible of it by the smell. By this means I discovered a 
species § which otherwise might have escaped my notice. The baboons || 
which inhabit this mountain in great numbers, are very troublesome 
by committing depredations on the neighbouring gardens ; and various 
stories are told both of their ingenuity and of their stupidity, which, 
not having it in my power to confirm, I shall not here repeat. 
Soon afl:er noon we took leave of the family of Vanderbyl, 
and commenced our ride to Stellenbosch. We passed through 
the Paarl Village^ which consists of between forty and fifty very 
neat houses, placed at a considerable distance from each other, 
and forming a single street, about the middle of which stands 
* Tlie Vignette at the end of this chapter is a figure of the Viscum Capense, or 
Cape Missleto, of the natural size. 
f Cucumis prophetanm. X Salvia Africana, 
§ Diosma capitata. \\ Cercopithecus ursinus. 
