Chap. VI. 
VEGETABLE POISON. 
113 
tlie watei’j I found that it increased 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 hnperishable wood, while that usually pointed out as the 
shittim ” (or Acada 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 rule, that nearly all the plants 
in the dry parts of x4.frica are scentless or emit only a disagree¬ 
able odour. It, moreover, 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 tliis poison per¬ 
fectly 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 to regret want of opportunity for investigating this 
remarkable and yet controllable agent on the nervous system. 
Its usual proximity to camel-thorn trees may be accounted for 
by the frobahility that the giraffe, which feeds on tins tree, may 
make use of the plant as a medicine. 
During the period of my visit at Kuruman, Mr. Moffat, who 
has been a missionary in Africa during upwards of forty years, 
and is well known by his interesting work, ^ Scenes and Labours 
in South Africa,' was busily engaged in carrying through the press, 
with wliich his station is furnished, the Bible in the language of the 
Bechuanas, which is called Sichuana. This has been a work of 
immense labour; and as he was the first to reduce their speech to a 
written form, and has had his attention directed to the study for 
I 
