The Poison Tree of the Creoles. 
231 
as interesting.! Among such for me was that generally feared llippo- 
mane M a micella Linn., or i’oison Tree of the creoles, abundantly loaded 
with its yellow ripe fruit resembling our apple, the exterior of which is 
indeed very inviting, but when eaten causes acute intestinal inflammation 
and inevitably fatal results: the milky sap of the tree is so acrid that it 
soon blisters the epidermis. 
TUt?. Lay broke and with it the fatiguing and perilous work com- 
menced. The whole wide stretch upon winch the released masses of 
Avater flustered and foamed had to be contended with, and there were 
spots along it at which the most undaunted would have doubted their 
success. Amongst the most dangerous must be especially noted the 
enormous itaballi Cataract which was alike conspicuous for its height 
and the large number of rocky boulders facing the force of the current. 
At a cataract of this nature there are only two ways of bringing the 
corials over the top, both equally tiring, if not always equally unsafe. 
But here both were combined. We had, for instance, only the choice of 
discharging the boats and carrying the baggage on our backs across the 
mile-long heaped-up giant rubble-stone which, owing to the extra- 
ordinary smoothness and inequality of the boulders, was as difficult as 
it was dangerous, or to haul the vessels over with ropes. The latter 
means was chosen. At huge falls like these the immense quantity of 
water that rushes headlong down over the dark cliff forms at their base 
large eddies and whirlpools into which the liberated element blusters 
into angry billows and engulfs everything so long as it can only seize it. 
A broad border of white foam indicates the limits within which the 
violent commotion of impassioned waves threatens danger. The boat is 
still swaying gently outside the treacherous area upon the water rolling 
peacefully from it — the crew has already left, and only the captain 
remains silent and rigid with the steering paddle in his powerful grip 
as he critically watches the piled-up mass of water. He once more tries 
the knot with which one end of a strong rope is tied into an iron bracket 
at the bow, its other being held in the hand of the best swimmer in the 
ship’s company. These men suddenly jump into the torrent on the outer 
border of the whirlpool, lise up again, and carried by a side current, 
come up once more until after a long struggle they reach one of the 
exposed rocks. Yet the real fixed spot that they must try and gain lies 
still farther up, the dangerous dive has to be risked once more, the 
point is at last reached and a loud shout announces the victory. The 
captain now directs the bow of the vessel straight towards the wildest 
whirlpool and, while the swimmers are hauling on to the rope with all 
their might, does his very best to keep the boat in this direction. It is all 
right, — the top is reached, — the boat, still trembling, wobbles here and 
t— The most prominent representatives included the beautiful Marbaerinm leiophyllvm 
ßenth., M. nervosum Vogel, Antonia piloxA Benth.. Aeschynomene xensitira Swart®!. A.paniculata 
Willd., Dioelea lasioearpa Mart., D. gnianensix Benth., Matmnea sarmentoxa Aubl., Licania 
coriacea Benth , t, divaricata Benth.. Pithecolobivm trapezi folium Benth., several lovely Tnqa 
as I . florihundn Benth.. J. platyearpa Benth. and I. soviet a Humb. Bonp , Swartzia qrandiflora 
Benth. HirteVn paniyulatn. Swartz., H. eriandra Benth., TacUaalia pnbitiora Benth.,— all of 
them, plants that I did not come across on the lower coastal reaches. 
