293 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 10, 1858 
sidered more venomous than the viper. Hut, having often 
handled and teased this reptile, I can safely affirm that there 
is no foundation for either. It has fine dark eyes, and is quite 
harmless. Its Latin name, however, which means a brittle 
snake, is most correct; for its body snaps asunder at the 
least stroke of a stick. Both, however, are viviparous,—that 
is, they bring forth their young alive ; whence the viper has 
its name. The blind worm, when frightened, darts out its 
black tongue, like the snake, which is vulgarly thought to be 
its sting, but is as soft to the touch as a bit of thread. The 
reptile never shows the least disposition to bite, and, indeed, 
its teeth are so small that they could hardly pierce the skin. 
, Nor does it hiss, but appears to be entirely dumb. 
It is chiefly found near the outskirts of woods, and when 
disturbed wriggles out of sight by a winding movement. But, 
like snakes, it can move but slowly on a smooth surface. I 
mention this more particularly, because some persons imagine 
that serpents can glide by upright, undulating, movements, 
which certainly is not the case. Mr. Waterton, whose know¬ 
ledge of snakes is very superior, ridicules the idea of their 
being represented in such a position. 
Having said that the blind worms are viviparous, I may 
also mention that, some years back, I stated in another pub¬ 
lication that I kept two of them as pets, which produced 
sixteen young ones, about two inches long, and of a silvery 
appearance. They wriggled about and put out their tongues 
as soon as they were bred. The old ones took no notice of 
them, contrary to what we are told respecting the great care 
that vipers have for their young. 
Old blind worms are about nine inches long, of an ash 
colour, and less slender than snakes of that length j and I 
should notice that their tails are not tapering, but end as if 
1 partly cut off. I do not think that they cast their ski n s 
whole, like vipers, but that it peels off by pieces. At least 
i it was not so with those I had in confinement. Neither am 
I sure of then’ food. My pets, however, eat small slugs ; but, 
! like all their tribe, can exist long without food. They also, 
| in like manner, lie torpid in the ground during the winter.— 
I J. WlGHTON. 
PLANTS IN THE KALAHARI DESERT- 
CENTRAL AFRICA. 
(Continued from page 282.) 
On our way from Khopong, along the ancient river-bed 
which forms the pathway to Boatlanama, I found a species of 
Cactus, being the third I have seen in the countx*y,—namely, 
one in the colony with a bright red flower, one at Lake 
Ngami, the flower of which was liver - coloured, and the 
present one, flower unknown. That the plant is uncommon 
may be inferred from, the fact that the Bakwains find so much 
difficulty in recognising the plant again after having once 
seen it, that they believe it has the power of changing its 
locality. 
In no part of this country could European grain be cul- 
| tivated without irrigation. The natives all cultivate the 
| Dourrha or Holcus sorghum , Maize, Pumpkins, Melons, 
Cucumbers, and different kinds of Beans; and they are 
entirely dependent for the growth of these on rains. Their 
instrument of culture is the hoe, and the chief labour falls 
on the female portion of the community. In this respect the 
Bechuanas closely resemble the Caffres. The men engage in 
! hunting, milk the cows, and have the entire control of the 
cattle; they prepare the skins, make the clothing, and, in 
many respects, may be considered a nation of tailors. 
We passed over the immense pan Ntwetwe, on which the 
latitude could be taken as at sea. Great tracts of this part 
of the country are of calcareous tufa, with only a thin coating 
of soil; numbers of “Baobab” and “Mopane” trees 
abound all over this hard smooth surface. About two miles 
beyond the northern bank of the pan we unyoked under a 
fine specimen of the Baobab, here called, in the language of 
the Bechuanas, Mowana; it consisted of six branches united 
into one trunk. At three feet from the ground it was eighty - 
five feet in circumference. 
These Mowana trees are the most wonderful examples of 
vitality in the country ; it was, therefore, with surprise that 
we came upon a dead one at Tlomtla, a few miles beyond this 
spot. It is the same as those which Adanson and others 
believed, from specimens seen in Western Africa, to have 
been alive before the flood. Arguing with a peculiar mental 
idiosyncracy resembling colour - blindness, common among 
the French of the time, these savans came to the conclusion 
that “ therefore there never was any flood at all.” I woidd 
back a true Mowana against a dozen floods, provided you do 
not boil it in hot sea-water; but I cannot believe that any of ! 
those now alive had a chance of being subjected to the ex¬ 
periment of even the Noachian deluge. The natives make a 
strong cord from the fibres contained in the pounded bark. 
The whole of the trunk, as high as they can reach, is, con¬ 
sequently, often quite denuded of its covering, which in the 
case of almost any other tree would cause its death, but this 
has no effect on the Mowana, except to make it throw out a I 
new bark, which is done in the way of granulation. This ‘ 
stripping of the bark is repeated frequently, so that it is 
common to see the lower five or six feet an inch or two less 
in diameter than the parts above; even portions of the bark 
which have broken in the process of being taken off, but : 
remain separated from the parts below, though still connected 1 
with the tree above, continue to grow, and resemble closely j 
marks made in the necks of the cattle of the island of Mull 
and of Caffre oxen, where a piece of skin is detached and 
allowed to hang down. No external injury, not even a fire, 
can destroy this tree from without; nor can any injury be ' 
done from within, as it is quite common to find it hollow; 
and I have seen one in which twenty or thirty men could lie 
down and sleep as in a hut. Nor does cutting down ex¬ 
terminate it, for I saw instances in Angola in which it con¬ 
tinued to grow in length after it was lying on the ground. 
Those trees called exogenous grow by means of successive 
layers on the outside. The inside may be dead, or even re¬ 
moved altogether, without affecting the life of the tree. This 
is the case with most of the trees of our climate. The other 
class is called endogenous, and increases by layers applied to 
the inside ; and when the hollow there is full, the growth is 
stopped—the trefe must die. Any injury is felt most severely 
by the first class on the bark—by the second on the inside; 
while the inside of the exogenous may be removed, and the 
outside of the endogenous may be cut, without stopping the 
growth in the least. The Mowana possesses the powers of 
both. The reason is that each of the Laminae possesses its 
own independent vitality; in fact, the Baobab is rather a 
gigantic bulb run up to seed than a tree. Each of eighty- 
four concentric rings had, in the case mentioned, grown an 
inch after the tree had been blown over. The roots, which 
may often be observed extending along the surface of the 
ground forty or fifty yards from the trunk, also retain their 
vitality after the tree is laid low; and the Portuguese now 
know that the best way to treat them is to let them alone, 
for they occupy much more room when cut down than when 
growing. 
The wood is so spongy and soft, that an axe can bo struck 
in so far with a good blow that there is great difficidty in 
pulling it out again. In the dead Mowana mentioned the 
concentric rings were well seen. The average for a foot at ! 
three different places was eighty-one and a half of these rings, i 
Each of the Lamina; can be seen to be composed of two, three, 
or four layers of ligneous tubes ; but supposing each ring the 
growth of one year, and the semi-diameter of a Mowana of I 
one hundred feet in circumference about seventeen feet, if 
the central point were in the centre of the tree, then its age 
would lack some centuries of being as old as the Christian era 
(1400). Though it possesses amazing vitality, it is difficult 
to believe that tills great baby-looking bulb or tree is as old ; 
as the pyramids. 
The necessity of making a new path much increased our 
toil. We were, however, rewarded in lat. 18° with a sight we 
had not enjoyed the year before, namely, large patches of 
Grape-bearing Yines. There they stood before my eyes ; but 
the sight was so entirely unexpected, that I stood some time 
gazing at the clusters of Grapes with which they were loaded, 
with no more thought of plucking than if I had been beholding 
them in a dream. The Bushmen know and eat them; but 
they are not well flavoured on account of the great astringency 
of the seeds, which are, in shape and size, like split Peas. The 
elephants are fond of the fruit, plant, and root alike.— 
(Dr. Livingstone’s Missionary Travels .) 
