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The natives in the neighbourhood of Port Essington are, like all others on the continent, very superstitious; they fancy that a large kind of tree, called the Imburra-burra, resembling the Adansonia, contains evil spirits. Here, also, as I have elsewhere observed, they fancy that after death they reappear as whites; the bones of the dead are frequently carried from place to place.
But we should observe, that the Adansonia, like the ochroma, and all the plants of the family of bombax, grow much more rapidly* than the dracaena, the vegetation of which is very slow. "Voyage a l'Ouest des Monts Alleghany" 1804 page 93.
According to P. Symmonds, the United States in recent years have largely used bamboo. The rind of the Adansonia digitata also yields an extremely good material; in particular, paper made entirely from New Zealand flax deserves consideration, being, by virtue of its superior toughness, eminently suited for "bill paper."
About fifty men are employed; and the number of seeds and vegetables annually distributed is very great. Of trees the most conspicuous are the tamarind, Tecoma jasminoides, Erythrina, Adansonia, Bombax, teak, banyan, peepul, Sissoo, Casuarina, Terminalia, Melia, Bauhinia. The grapes looked extremely well, but they require great skill and care in the management.
Beyond Diamond Rock is a well-wooded, stony cove, "Salan Kunkati:" Captain Tuckey makes this the name of the Diamond Rock, and translates it "the strong feather." High cliffs towered above us, and fragments which must have weighed twenty tons had slipped into the water; one of them bore an adansonia, growing head downwards.
Adansonia the largest tree known, its dimensions Bulbous roots contain the embryon flower, seen by dissecting a tulip-root Flowers of Colchicum and Hamamelis appear in autumn, and ripen their seed in the spring following Sunflower turns to the sun by nutation, not by gyration Dispersion of seeds Drosera catches flies Of the nectary, its structure to preserve the honey from insects
It would require the pencil of the author of the Indian Cottage, to do justice to such a picture. This is not the only service which the blacks, who inhabit Senegambia, derive from the Adansonia or Baobab. They convert its leaves, when dried, into a powder which they call Lalo, and use it as seasoning to almost all their food.
Bees are very fond of these trees, as they are generally more or less hollow, and well adapted for hives. The Adansonia digitata, although a tree, always reminds me of a gigantic fungus; the stem is disproportioned in its immense thickness to its height, and its branches are few in number, and as massive in character as the stem.
I knew that the tree had other names as well as baobab; that the negroes of Senegal call it the "monkey's bread-tree," the "sour gourd," and "lalo plant," and my book had been minute enough to give the botanical name, which is Adansonia so called from a distinguished French botanist, of the name of Adanson, who, long ago, travelled through western Africa, and was the first to describe this wonderful tree.
The wood is not much firmer in substance than cork, and is as succulent as a carrot. In Kordofan, where water is exceedingly scarce, the Adansonia is frequently used as a reservoir; one of these huge hollow trees is cleaned out and filled with water during the short rainy season.
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