Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-06-04
A Man-Eating Tree.

THE New York World publishes the
following unique production, said to have
been condensed from Carlsruhe maya
zine. The extract purports to be from a
letter written by one Karl Leche, a trav-
elerin Madagascar. The writer says:
AT the bottom of the valley q had no
barometer, but should think it not over
400 feet above the level of the seal and
near its eastern extremity we came to a
deep, tarn-like lake, about mile in diam
eter, the sluggish, oily waters of which
overflow into a tortuous, reedy canal that
went unwillingly into the recesses Of a
black forest, jungle below, palm above.
This lake was filled with alligators, and
its jungled borders were the home of the
chetah and a variety of venomous serpents.
Great ferns bent over its margin, and its
surface was spotted with leaves and flow
ers of the lotus. A path, diverging from
its southern side, struck boldly for the
heart of the forbidding and seemingly
impenetrable forest. HeDrick led the way
along this path, following closely, and
behind me curious rabble of Mkodos,
men, women and children. After we were
fairly in the forest the shade overhead
was so dense that the jungle and under
growth almost disappeared and instead
there was damp, Doggy turf, cold,
spongy, and yielding to the tread The
stalks Of the tall trees rose like columns,
the vines hanging down from them in
festoons, and their roots running over the
ground in every direction made walking
difficult.
Suddenly all the natives began to cry,
"Tepe! Tepe!" and Henrick, stopping
short, said, "Lookl" The sluggish,
canal-like stream here wound slowly by,
and in bare spot in its bend was the
most singular OF trees. have called 1t
Crinoida, because when its leaves are in
action it bears striking resemblance to
that wellknown fossil, the crinold lily.
stone, or st. Cuthbert's head. 1t was now
at rest, however, and will try to describe
it to you. IF you can imagine pine-ap.
pie eight feet high and thick in proper
ton resting upon its base and denuded OF
leaves, you will have good idea Of the
trunk Of the tree, which, however, was
not the color of an anana, but a dark,
dingy brown, and apparently hard as iron.
From the apex of this truncated cone lat
least two feet in diameter) eight leaves
hung sheer to the ground, like doors
swung back on their hinges. These leaves,
which were joined to the top Of the tree
at regular intervals, were about eleven or
twelve feet long, and shaped very much
like the leaves of the American aguave,
or century plant. They were two feet
through in their thickest part, and three
feet wide, tapering to a sharp point that
looked like cows horn, very convex on
the outer (but now under) surface, and on
the inner (now upper surface slightly
concave. This concave face was thickly
set with very strong, thorny hooks, like
those upon the head of the teazle. These
leaves, hanging thus limp and lifeless,
dead green In color, had in appearance
the massive strength of oak fiber.
The apex Of the cone was a round,
white, concave figure, like small plate
set within larger one. This was not q
flower but receptacle, and there exuded
into 1t clear, treacly liquid, honey-sweet,
and possessed of violent intoxicating and
soporific properties. From underneath
the rim $50 to speak, Of the undermost
plate series of long, hairy, green ten
drills stretched out in every direction to-
ward the horizon. These were seven or
eight feet long each, and tapered from
four inches to half inch In diameter, yet
they stretched out stiffiy as iron rods.
Above these (from between the upper and
under cup) six white, almost transparent
palpi reared themselves toward the sky,
twirling and twisting with marvellous, In.
cessant motion, yet constantly reaching
upward. Thin as reeds, and frail as quilts,
apparently, they were yet five or six feet
tall, and were so constantly and vigorous
ly In motion, with such subtle, sinuous,
silent throbbing against the air, that they
made me shudder in spite of myself with
their suggestion Of serpents fayed yet
dancing on their tails.
Here were not corolla, pistils, stamens,
a flower, mind you, nor nothing like 1t.
For Crinoida, unknown, new species as
IL Is, is highest akin to the cycadace@,
and perhaps its exact prototype may be
found among the fossil cycad@, though
confess do not remember any one that
presents all its peculiar features. The
description am giving you now Is partly
made up from a subsequent careful In
spection of the plant. My observations
on this occasion were suddenly inter-
rupted by the natives, who had been
shrieking around the tree in their shrill
voices, and chanting what Henrick told
me were propitiatory hymns to the great
tree-devil.
With still wilder shrieks and chants
they now surrounded one OF the women,
and urged her with the points of their
javelins until slowly, and with despairing
face, she climbed up the rough stalk OF
the tree, and stood on the summit OF the
cone, the palpi twining all about her.
"Tsik! tsik" {" drink drink ~ cried the
men, and. STOPPING, she drank Of the Wis.
cid fluid in the cup, rising Instantly
again with wild frenzy In her face and
convulsive cholra In her limbs. But she
did not jump down, - she sssned to In.
tend 10 do. Oh, NO! Tie atrociOus can
nibsl tree that had been % insrt and dead
came 70 sudden savage life. The slender