The World and Its People Part 38

If I were a king, O stately tree, A likeness, glorious as might be, In the court of my palace I'd build for thee!

With a shaft of silver, burnished bright, And leaves of beryl and malachite; With spikes of golden-bloom ablaze, And fruits of topaz and chrysoprase.

And there the poets in thy praise, Should night and morning frame new lays,-- New measures sung to tunes divine; But none, O palm, should equal mine!

The doom palm is another species, and is remarkable for its many-forked stem. It is found in Upper Egypt and in Central Africa, and in some sections is very plentiful, forming forests; while in others it is found in isolated groups, growing in the very sands of the desert.

The leaves of this tree are shaped like a fan. From the fibres of its leafstalks ropes are sometimes made. The tree is, however, still more useful, for it bears a fruit about the size of an orange. In shape it is somewhat different, being larger and more irregular.

The outer skin of the fruit is red. Upon peeling this off, a thick, spongy, dry substance is found, having rather an insipid sweet taste, and very much the appearance of gingerbread. For this reason the tree is sometimes called the "gingerbread tree."

The substance found within the fruit is used for food, and it is sometimes infused and used as a drink, which is very cooling and useful in fevers. The seeds, one of which is found in each fruit, are semi-transparent and very hard. Beads and other ornaments are made from them.

Amid the tropical growth of the west of Africa the oil palm flourishes.

Its products furnish the incentive to an immense commerce, attracting European ships to coasts once given completely over to the slave trade.

Along the tropical coasts the cocoa palm grows, while along the Gambia River vast quant.i.ties of a species of plant called the groundnut are extensively cultivated. Nine million bushels of groundnuts have been exported during one year from the valley of the Gambia.

This plant has a peculiar habit of thrusting its pods into the ground for the nuts to ripen; hence the name groundnut. Vast quant.i.ties of oil, resembling olive oil and used for the same purposes, are obtained by crushing the nuts. A bushel of nuts will usually yield a gallon of oil.

The plant grows like a trailing vine, with small yellow flowers. After the flower falls, the stalk on which it grew grows longer, and, bending downward, the pod on the end forces its way into the ground to ripen.

The vines are dug up by means of a p.r.o.nged fork or hoe. They are then spread out to dry, and finally stacked up to become thoroughly cured.

The pods are first picked by hand from the vines, and then cleaned in a fanning mill to clear them of dust and chaff. Sometimes they are bleached with sulphur before they are packed for market.

The groundnut forms one of the chief articles of food in some sections.

It is sometimes eaten raw, but is usually roasted. Recently an interesting account of the process of making a meal from groundnuts appeared in one of the daily journals. The experiment had been tried, in the German armies, of using this meal in place of others obtained from the various cereals. It was found on trial to be very nutritious,--far more so than oat or rye meal.

By actual experiment, not only did the soldiers thrive upon porridge and bread made of this meal, so rich in vegetable oils, but they became very fond of it as a daily food and ate it with good appet.i.te, even in their soups.

As the cost of the meal is very slight, it will be a matter of economy to make groundnut meal one of the ingredients of the daily food of the German soldier. Arrangements have already been made to import large quant.i.ties each year from Africa for use in making meal for army consumption in Germany.

You will doubtless be surprised to learn that the groundnut is really only a species of the familiar peanut. So it is really an old friend with a new name. It is sometimes called ground pea, or earth nut. The former name is given to it because its pod resembles the pod of the pea vine.

In the southern portion of the United States a similar nut bears the name gouber. Not only are the nuts of this plant of value as an article of food and commerce, but the vines form an excellent fodder for cattle.

CHAPTER LII.

VARIETIES OF VEGETATION.

In the Barbary States, which border upon the Mediterranean Sea, there is an extensive cultivation of grain. Wheat, barley, maize, rice, and a variety of corn called Kaffir corn, are found in considerable quant.i.ties. Figs and olives thrive luxuriantly, and pomegranates, grapes, and melons abound.

Tobacco has been introduced and has been cultivated to quite an extent.

The white mulberry tree is also cultivated, for use in the silkworm culture. Here, too, are found the indigo and cotton plants, together with the sugar cane, while most of the kitchen vegetables of Europe are easily cultivated.

South of the Barbary States, in the mountainous districts of the Atlas range, is found a peculiar kind of timber growth. It bears the name sandarach, and is almost imperishable. It is generally supposed to be the same species of wood mentioned as the s.h.i.ttim wood in the Scriptures. The ceilings of the Mohammedan mosques are largely, if not exclusively, built of it.

Pa.s.sing beyond the chain of the Atlas Mountains, the vegetation changes.

There are now but few trees, and there is a noticeable dryness in the atmosphere. It is in these regions that rain seldom falls, while such is the heat of the winds that it is scarcely bearable even by the natives.

Here, the palm, by divine Providence, affords a grateful shade. The ma.s.s of foliage formed by its fan-like leaves is almost impervious to the scorching heat, and beneath its towering yet graceful form the orange, lemon, pomegranate, and vine flourish. Strange to say, their fruits, grown thus in the cooling shade, seem to acquire a peculiar richness of flavor not noticeable in those grown in the ordinary way.

The vegetation of Egypt may be said to be somewhat of an intermediate character, for it partakes of the characteristics of the several sections we have already had described.

In the parts watered by the Nile there are found rich productions of grains of all kinds, while in the southern and drier portions are found only stunted, miserable-looking bushes and shrubs. These dispute with the drifts of acc.u.mulating sand for the possession of the native soil of these sections.

Indigo and tobacco are found in the parts of Egypt which have the richest soil. Cotton has been cultivated to some extent, by means of an expensive and laborious system of irrigating the soil.

Along the Senegal the cotton plant flourishes, in its rich, well-watered soil, almost without care or cultivation. One can scarcely estimate what quant.i.ties of cotton could be raised under careful and painstaking labor. Coffee grows luxuriantly in all the fertile sections of Africa, and is very abundant.

In the deserts of the interior the eye is greeted by very different pictures from those which the other sections of Africa present. These deserts are mostly dest.i.tute of plants, and the few they have are of stunted growth. A very remarkable kind of gra.s.s covers entire districts, to the great annoyance of the traveler, on account of its p.r.i.c.kles.

Agoul, a plant peculiar to the desert, furnishes food for the camel.

In the equatorial parts of Africa all trees peculiar to European countries are lacking. Even the date tree is seldom seen. While the flora of these tropical regions resembles somewhat that of India, yet there are peculiarities of vegetation which belong strictly to African localities.

Here are found ma.s.ses of the baobab trees of which we have read, and whose fruit furnishes the refreshing drink so necessary to the natives.

Here, also, are found the cotton trees, the bases of which form great b.u.t.tresses; while shrubs in no inconsiderable variety and rich and varied verdure cover the soil. Groups of palm trees, sago palms, and other varieties of the same family bend down to the water's edge along the great streams.

In the thickets climbing plants of every description twine among the branches of the trees. One variety has recently been discovered which yields a very good species of india rubber. These specimens of plant life, with the ma.s.ses of wild flowers, showing a brilliant coloring of mingled scarlet, orange, and white, make a scene of rare beauty.

While there is so much that is new and strange in these tropical regions, yet the absence of waving fields of grain and corn is strongly noticeable. Here, too, the vine is quite unknown. The fig is of little or no use, except in a few localities. Only the orange and the lime remain to remind us of the usual fruits of the tropics.

Here and there may be found various kinds of apples and plums; but, owing to the intense heat, they do not attain any perfection of size or flavor. It is a curious fact that all the fruit is not only small and undeveloped, but seems to lose, in a large degree, not only its peculiar flavor, but its succulent juices as well.

In some places in the wooded sections pineapples are very abundant, and seem to be as well established as in their native soil in tropical America.

In the tropics, wherever a broad belt of alluvial soil is exposed by the fall of the tide, as on the sh.o.r.es of the sea, in the estuaries of rivers, and in the shallow lagoons, we may expect to find a dense vegetation of mangroves.

These water-loving trees seem to seek the salt water sections in preference even to other localities equally damp. Their growth is peculiar and picturesque. The seeds germinate on the branches, increase to a considerable length, and then fall into the mud. Here, with their sharp points lying buried, they soon take root.

As the mangrove grows upwards, roots issue from the trunk and low branches, and ultimately strike into the muddy ground, where they grow and present the appearance of a series of loops and arches, from five to ten feet high, which support the body of the tree like so many stakes.

Their matted roots interrupt the flow of the waters, and by retaining the earthy particles that sink to the bottom between them, gradually raise the level of the land. As the new land is thus built up, seeds begin to grow in it, and thousands of roots descend, still further to consolidate it. Thus, year after year, the mangroves extend the land into the sea.

As we approach the southern portion of the great peninsula of Africa, we find a wilderness of sand. This barren tract occupies the central portion of the country. Here there is little or no vegetation to attract the eye.

In the table-lands of Cape Colony there are numerous fleshy, leafless tribes of aloes and other plants. These fix their hold in the sand by means of a single tough, wiry root. For conveying nourishment to the plants, these roots must be practically useless, since the soil affords little food. Hence the main sustenance of these plants must come from the dews with which a wise Creator supplies their needs. Many varieties of heath are found here, among other plants.

Upon the hills and rocks of some sections of Africa is a curious tribe of plants which seem partly of the nature of palms and partly of the nature of ferns. They may be said to be of an intermediate family. These fernlike palms literally cover the hills and rocky slopes. After a rain, such portions of the country as have been watered by nature's hand blossom forth into indescribable beauty; for the gladiolus, oxalis, and other native plants are in brilliant bloom.

At Cape Town the American aloe tree has been introduced, and vast impenetrable hedges have been formed by the interlacing of its spinelike leaves, which are often six feet in length. Here, too, flourish the oak and pine of Europe, for the climate is most favorable to their growth.

We have had occasion to speak of the thick-leaved, cactuslike plants of the desert, which seem to prefer the arid soil of the naked plains, where they are fully exposed to the burning rays of a tropical sun.