The Osceola times., 1878-01-19
THE MAN.EATING TREE.

GraeIe ana Waithers Magazine OF Carls-
ruhe, together with notes upon it by DR..
Omelius Fredlowski, to whom the letter
by Carl Leche, the discoveren from
which the following is extracted, was
addressed
"The Mkodos are a very primitive
race, going entirely naked, having only
faint vestige OF tribal relations, and no
religion beyond that of the awful
reverence which they pay to the sacred
tree. They dwell entirely in caves ho!.
lowed out of the limestone rocks 10 their
hills, and are one Of the ymallest of races,
the men seldom exceeding fifty six
inches in height. At the bottom of a
valley had no barometer, but should
think II not over 400 feet above the level
of the sea, and near its eastern ex.
tremity) we came to deep, tarn-like
lake, about a mile in diameter, the
sluggish waters of which overhowed
into tortuous reedy canal that went
unwillingly into the recesses of black
forest, jungle below, pslm above.
A path diverging from its southern side
struck boldly for the heart of the forbid.
ding and seemingly impenetrable forest.
Henrick led the way along the path.
followed closely, and behind me a curious
rabble of Mkodos men, women and
children. Suddenly all the natives began
to cry "Tepe! Tepew and Henrick,
stopping short, said, "Look p The
sluggish, csnal.like stream here wound
slowly by, and in bare spot in its bend
was the most singular of trees. | have
called it the CriDOda, because when its
leaves are in action it bears striking
resemblance to that well.known fossil,
the crinoid lilystone, OF st. Cuthbert's
beads. 1t is now at rest, however. |
will try to describe it to you. If vou
can imagine pineapple eight feet high
and thick In proportion, 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
the anana, but a dark, dingy brown, and
apparently hard as iron. From the apex
OF this truncated cone Cat least two feet
in diameter) eight leaves hung sheer TO
the ground, like doors swung back on
their hinges. These leaves, which
were Joined at the top of the tree at
regular intervals, were about eleven or
twelve feet long, and shaped very much
like the American agave, or century
plant. They were two feet through in
their thickest part, and three feet wide.
tapering to sharp point that looked
like cows horn, very convex on the
outer but now unde-) surface, and on
the inner lnow 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 aid
lifeless, dead green in color, had in ap.
pearance the massive strength of oak
fiber. The apex of the cone was a
round, white, concsve figure, like a
smaller plate set within larger one.
This was not flower, but receptacle,
and there exuded into a clear, treacly
liquid, honey sweet, and possessed OF
violent intoxicating and soporific prop.
critics. From underneath the rim. so to
speak, cf the undermost plate, a series
OF long, hairy, green tendrils stretched
in every direction toward the horizon.
These were seven or eight feet long
each, and tapered from four inches to
a halt inch in diameter, yet they
stretched out stiilly as iron rods. Above
these (from between the upper and
under cup), six white, almost transpar-
ent, palpi reared themselves toward the
sky, twirling and twisting with mar.
velous incessant motion, yet co istantly
reaching upward. Thin as reeds and
frail as quils apparently, they were yet
five or six feet tall, and were so con.
stantly and vigorously in motion, with
such subtitle, sinuous, silent throbbing
against the air, that they made me shud.
der in spite of myself with their sug.
gestion of serpents fsyed, vet dancing
on their tails. The description | am
giving you now is part made up from
subsequent careful inspection of the
plant.
My observations on this occasion were
suddenly interrupted by the natives,
who had been shrieking around the
tree in their shrill voices, and chanting
what Henrick told me were pro>
pitiatory hymns to the great devil-tree.
With still wilder shrieks and chants
they surrounded one of the women.
and urged her with the points of
their javelins, until slowly and with
despairing face, she climbed up the
stalk of the tree, and stood on the sum.
nit of the cone, the palpi twirling all
about her. "Tisk. Tisk p (drink
drink y cried the men, and STOPPING,
she drank of the viscid fluid in the cup,
rising instantly again with wild frenzy
in her face, and convulsive cholera in her
limbs. But she did not jump down as
she seemed to intend to do. Oh, no The
atrocious cannibal that had been 40
iuert and dead came to sudden, savage
life. The slender, delicate palpi, with the
fury OF starved serpents, quivering for
moment over her head, then. AS if by in.
stinct, with demoniac intelligence. fas.
tened upon her in sudden coils round and
round her neck and arms, then, while her
awful screams, and yet more awful laugh.
ter, rose wilder, to be instantly struggled
down again into a gurglipg moan, the
tendrils, one after another, like great
green serpents, with brutal energy and
internal rapidity, rose, retracted them
selves, and wrapped her about in fold
after fold, ever tightening, with the cruel
swiftness and savage tenscity of anocon-
das fastening upon their prey. 1t was
the barbarity of the Laocoon without its
beauty--this strange, horrible murder.
And now the great leaves rose slowly and
stiffly like the arms of derrick. erected
themselves in the air, approaching one
another, and closed about the dead and
hampered victim with the silent force of
an hydraulic press, and the ruthless pur-
pose of thumbscrew. A moment more.
and while / could see the basis of the
great levers pressing more tightly toward
each other, from their interstices there
trickled down the stalk streams of vi,cid