The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1878-06-20
TIE MAN-EATING TREE.
Il HORRIBLE pL/fNT or MIDAGAS-
CTR ISLAND.

How 1t Seizes it's Victim and Crushes
Him to Death--A Most Barbarous
Proceeding.
A letter from Curl Loche, the dis
coverer, contains the following con-
cerning that most wonderful pro-
duction Of nature, the man. eating
tree
If you can imagine pineapple
eight feet high, and thick in proper
ton, resting upon it's base, and de-
nudcd Of leaves, you will havo q
good idea of the trunk of the tree,
which, however, was not the color
Of the banana, but dark, dingy
brown, and apparently hard as iron.
From the apex Of this truncatcd
cone (at 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 tho tree at regular
intervals, wcrc about eleven or
twelve feet long, and shaped very
much like the American agavc, or
century plant. They were two feet
through in their thickcst part, and
three feet wide, tapering to sharp
point that looked like cows horn,
very convex, the outer (but now
under) surface, and on the inner
(now uppe) rsurface slightly concave.
This concavo surface WAS thickly set
with very strong thorny hooks, like
| those upon the head of the teazel.
These leaves, hanging thus limp and
lifeless, dead green in color, had
in appearance the massive strength
Of oak fibre. The apex Of the cone
was round, white concave figure,
like a smaller plate set within a
larger one. This was not flower,
but n receptacle, and there cxuled
into it clear treacly liquid honey
sweet, and possessed Of violent in
toxicating and soporific properties
From underneath tho rim, so to
speak, of the undcrmost plate SO :
ries of long, hairy, green tendrils
stretched III every direction toward
the horizon. These were seven or
eight feet long each, and tapcrcd
from four inches to a half inch in
diameter, yet they stretched out
stif1ly as iron rods. Above these
(from between the upper and under
cup) six white, almost trans~
parent palpi reared themselves to-
ward the sky, twirling and twist
ing with a marvellous incessant
motion, yet constantly reaching
upward. Then the natives sur
rounded one Of tho women and
urged her with the points of their
javelins, until slowly and with dc, =,
spairing face she climbed up tho
stalk of the tree and stood on the
summit Of the cope, the palpi twirl-
ing about her. "Tisk Tisl T.
Drink Drink y cried the men, and
STOPPING she drank Of the viscid
fluid in tho cup, rising instantly
with wild frenzy in her face and
convulsive cborea in her limbs.
But she did not jump down rs she
seemed to intend to do. Oh, no
Tie atrocious cannibal that had
been SO inert and dead came to
sudden savage life. The slender,
delicate palpi, with the fury OF
starved serpents, quivered for q
moment over her he I, then as if by
instinct, with demoniac intelligence,
fastened upon her in sudden coils
round and round her neck and arms;
then, while her awful screams and
yet moro awful laughter rose wilder,
to be instantly strangled down
again into gurgling moan, the
tendrils, one after another, like
green serpents, with brutal energy
and internal rapidity, rose, retract-
ed themselves, and wrapped her
about in fold after fold ever tightcn-
ing, with the cruel swiftncss and
savage tenacity Of anacondas fas-
tening upon their prey. 1t was the
babarity Of the Laocoon without it's
beauty-this strange, horrible mur-
der. And now the great leaves rose
slowly and stiffiy like the arms of
derrick, erected themselves in the
air, approaching one another, and
closed about the doad and ham
pered victim with the silent force
of any hydraulic press and the
'. i