FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF AFRICA. 
255 
refresh the eye of the traveler. Cassia ranks high among the list 
of medicinal plants found in the desert, and colocynth, with its creep¬ 
ing cucumber-like stems, filled with fruit resembling our apple, 
first green and then turning yellow, is found along all the outskirts 
of the valley. The natives have a wholesome awe of the drastic 
remedy, and scarcely ever touch the gourd fruit, while the Bedouins 
remove the inside pith and seeds, and fill it with milk, to take it next 
day as a remedy. 
AFRICAN WART HOG. 
The date palm, it is true, is seldom seen, and then only in a 
half-wild state; but the fig tree is found laden with fruits. The 
fruit of the caper tree tastes like an odd mixture of sugar and 
mustard; and the traveler is refreshed by the pleasant acid of the 
sorrel, the berries of the lycium, a thorny plant. The coast flora of 
the desert is very peculiar, and depends upon the salt vapors rising 
from the sea. The dense woods of the shore are famous in travel- 
