TROUBLES 
PARASITICAL PLANTS. 
137 
morning by En-Noor to write some letters for him 
to these marauding tribes. They are fighting 
amongst themselves. The route from the North 
will never be safe for Europeans until these tribes 
are properly subjugated; and when will that time 
come ? It is now reported that we all go to 
Zinder. I shall be glad of this opportunity to get 
a few dollars, and then make the best of my way 
to Sakkatou. But our delay here renders this 
trip always less certain, and seems to point out 
that I shall go first to Bornou. 
The most frequent parasitical plant, which is 
found upon nearly all the tholukhs, is called koushi 
in Haussa, and barango in Bornou. It is a fine 
plant, and its flower is not unlike the woodbine or 
honeysuckle, but devoid of all fragrance. The 
leaves are succulent, full of moisture, in shape a 
long oval, the longest not more than an inch and a 
quarter. This parasite also fastens itself on other 
trees, and often kills the branches from which it 
draws its strength — a real sap-sucker. The ka- 
rembo frequently dies in its embraces. 
Hamma, the son-in-law of En-Noor, is not to go 
with us, on account of the quarrels with the Kal- 
fadaT and the Kaltadak. He is exceedingly disap- 
pointed, for it deprives him of making anything for 
himself in Haussa; and En-Noor keeps him very 
poor indeed, as his highness does everybody about 
him. 
The salt-caravan is the affair of life and death 
