and the Zamia longifolia are very remarkable; grass trees from Australia were there, but they had perished from the cold. When on the Lion's Head we saw a very curious bulb, the hæmanthus or blood-flower; the bulb is of large size, and produces only two leaves, which turn back and lie open upon the ground; they have no stalk, and lie close upon the earth, the colour a bright green; some of this class have spotted leaves. The gardener told me that the Bushmen use the juice of the spotted hæmanthus as poison for their arrows; and my young companions said, when they were on the frontier they saw a Bushman stick his arrow between the two leaves down into the bulb, and he told them, in that manner the Bushmen poisoned their weapons[1].
In India the Hill-men from Rajmal use poison on their arrows; it is most powerful and fatal, but they will not disclose from what plant they obtain it. The Hill-men at Almorah preserve the same secrecy on the subject. The hæmanthus toxicaria has spotted leaves; of these plants there were many in the garden, newly placed there, and they had not been there long enough to flower.
Harris, in speaking of African poisons, says:—"The Bechuana, with what truth I know not, are said occasionally to domesticate this stately bird (the ostrich) for equestrian purposes; and the puny Bushman avails himself of the disguise afforded by its skin to mix with a troop of wild animals, and select his victim. At the twang of his tiny bow away scours the herd in dire consternation, and, more alarmed than all, off scuds the impostor with them, again propelling a shaft as soon as the panic has subsided. The destruction committed in this manner is incredible: a slender reed, only slightly barbed with bone or iron, but imbued with a subtle poison, and launched with unerring dexterity, being sufficient to destroy the most powerful animal.
"The principal ingredient of this deadly bane is said, by
- ↑ See the two leaves of this bulb in the foreground of the portrait of the Bushwoman.
