HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
4* 
from the thick foliage of its top, is calculated to form avenues: it resembles the 
plumb tree, and rises to a similar height. Its wood is red, and may be used in joiner’s 
work: its bark is very smooth and white, and its leaves, which are large, possess a 
very brilliant verdure. 
The Fotersbe. It is among the largest trees of Madagascar; but its wood is fit 
only for fuel. There is another kind of it, which grows in swamps and marshy places. 
M. Flacourt describes it under the name of Voua foutra. 
The Tanguem. It grows on the sea-shore, and its wood, which is hard and veined, 
is employed in cabinet and ornamental work. The Malegaches make a fatal use of 
its fruit, which contains a deadly poison. It is an undoubted Manchenillier. 
The Antafara. This is known in the Isle of France by the name of the milk tree; 
its flower has the odour and figure of the jessamine. A slight incision produces, in 
great abundance, a caustic, milky juice. 
The Assy. This is a fine palm tree, which grows to the height of ten or eleven 
feet ; its trunk is impressed with the mark of its leaves, which it successively sheds. 
Its top is crowned with three or four rows of leaves, from four to five feet in length, 
and about an inch and an half broad, which resemble the leaf of the flax plant: 
they possess the consistence of palm leaves, and are manufactured into umbrellas. 
The Tafoumonna. This tree is large and tufted; the bark is smooth, and the 
wood white. Its fruit is an acorn, like that of the oak; whose kernel has an aro¬ 
matic taste, with a slight flavour of turpentine. 
The Hounits. It is a large and very fine tree; the bark is red, and the wood 
yellow. On an incision, a red juice issues from it of the colour of coral. From the 
bark of the root the Malegaches extract a fine red dye, by means of a common lie. 
The Zavin-raven. It grows in marshy situations, rises to a moderate height, 
and is somewhat tufted; the trunk is covered with knots; the bark green, and the 
wood white. 
The Lingo. This is a woody creeper, of about two inches in diameter, which 
ascends to the top of the highest trees: the wood is yellow, as well as the inside o*f 
the bark. The Malegaches employ the bark and root of this plant to dye the thread 
of their pugue of a red and yellow colour. 
The Harongan. It rises to the height of fifteen feet, and grows in a sandy soil ; 
its leaves are employed to dye hats and baskets. The rosin extracted from this 
tree is a kind of dragon’s blood. 
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