ANALYSIS OF ELAND’s BOONTJES. 
817 
Specimens of the root and seed and a leaf of this plant were presented to me 
by David Bain, Esq., who brought them from South Africa, and who gave me 
the following additional information concerning them. From the bean the 
Kafirs extract, by boiling, an oil which they use in food; an infusion of the 
root is employed by them as a gargle, and is taken in cases of dysentery and 
other affections of the bowels; while both the natives and the Dutch Boers find 
the root of considerable value in converting skin into leather, the Boers using 
it as a substitute for oak bark in tanning, and the natives employing it in the 
l^reparation of their “karosses,” or blankets, by rubbing it on the flesh side of 
tlie skins of animals. 
App)arently, therefore, Eland’s boontjes is a plant of some importance in the 
Cape, yet no mention of it is made in the ‘ Flora Capensis ’ of Harvey and Sender, 
nor in the work of the late colonial botanist Pappe, nor in any similar book 
that I have been able to consult. Mr. Bain says,—and in this he is confirmed 
b}'’ an associate of Livingstone, Mr. Thomas Baines, with whom I recently had 
some conversation,—that the plant is evidently a species of dwarf Acacia, hence 
the name loontjes, little dean, growing about a foot and a half high. Com¬ 
pared with the size of the plant the pods are enormous. It has roots seven to 
eight feet long. The stem dies annually. As evidence that it is very plentiful, 
a brother of Mr. Bain, resident at the Cape, undertook to supply a neighbour 
who had a tannery with three loads, or from five to six tons weight, weekly for 
some time. Pie collected it by ploughing. 
The roots of Eland’s boontjes being then of considerable value as a tanning 
agent, it became a matter of some interest to determine the amount of tannic 
acid they might contain, especially as their medicinal effect would probably be 
due to the same substance. On making experiments with this view 20 per 
cent, of tannic acid was first obtained, precipitation by tartar-emetic, and 
estimation of the weight of tannate of antimony, separated, being the method 
adopted. It was afterwards found, however, that this process was not reliable 
to the decoction therefore was added some chloride of ammonium ; in this solu¬ 
tion tannate of antimony is insoluble, and, moreover, deposits so readily that 
the tannic acid present may be estimated volumetrically. Proceeding in this way, 
13 per cent, of tannic acid was obtained for me by Mr. Watts, lately my assis¬ 
tant, as the mean of six experiments. Doubtless the percentage of tannic acid 
in this Acacia varies just as it does in oak-bark,—age, temperature, etc., pro- 
bably influencing its formation in the cells of the plant. It will also, of course, 
vary according as the amount be calculated on the recent or the dried material. 
The roots that I examined were hard, quite dry, very fibrous, and of a light 
brown-red colour. This colour, Mr. Bain says, enables the Boers to dye white 
wood of a mahogany tint, and gives to their moleskins a similar hue. In quality 
the tannic acid resembles that of oak bark, an infusion giving with iron salts 
p)recipitates similar to those produced by gallotannic acid, and unlike those of 
the mimotannic acid existing in the Acacia Catechu or Uncaria Gambir. The 
above amount of tannic acid, then, sufficiently accounts for the value of Eland’s 
boontjes as a tanning agent, and as an astringent medicine. Mr. Bain, when 
in the colony, some years ago, conceived the idea of making an extract of the 
plant, hoping to obtain a marketable article similar to catechu. He boiled the 
roots in water and evaporated the liquor to dryness by the heat of the sun. 
The resulting mass was sent to a broker in this country, who 'pronounced it to 
be “superior to gambier, but inferior to East Indian cutch, and worth about 
£20 per ton.” 
perhaps usually restricted to the African animal, and Elk to that occurring in colder latitudes. 
Both are fine creatui es, often the size of a large horse, but the eland has conical, unbranched 
horns, not so long as half a metre (about 18 inches), while those of the elk spread much, have 
many points, and often weigh 25 kilogrammes (50 to GO pounds). 
