the Abyssinian name of a tree, which some botanists have supposed to be the Euphorbia Officinarum of Linnaeus. Mr Bruce, who gives the only description of the Kol-quall that we have seen, is of a different opinion; for which he assigns two reasons; the first is, that the flower, which he says is rosaceous, is composed of several petals, and is not campaniform; and the second, that it produces no sort of gum, either spontaneously or upon incision. We must acknowledge, that we entertain some doubts whether our author was at due pains to ascertain this fact; and these doubts are suggested by his own history of the tree. His description is not very perspicuous, and therefore, lest we should misrepresent his meaning, we shall give it in his own words:

"The first thing that presented itself was the first shoot of this extraordinary tree. It was a single stalk, about six inches measured across, in eight divisions, regularly and beautifully scolloped and rounded at the top, joining in the centre at three feet and a half high. Upon the outside of these scollops were a fort of eyes or small knots, out of every one of which came five horns, four on the sides and one in the centre, scarce half an inch long, fragil, and of no resilience, but exceedingly sharp and pointed. Its next process is to put out a branch from the first or second scollop near the top; others succeed from all directions; and this stalk, which is soft and succulent, of the consistence of the aloe, turns by degrees hard and ligneous, and after a few years, by multiplying its branches, assumes the form of a tree, the lower part of which is wood, the upper part, which is succulent, has no leaves; these are supplied by the fluted, scollopped, ferrated, thorny sides of its branches. Upon the upper extremity of these branches grow its flowers, which are of a golden colour, rosaceous, and formed of five round or almost oval petals; this is succeeded by a triangular fruit, first of a light green with a slight cast of red, then turning to a deep crimson, with streaks of white both at top and bottom. In the inside it is divided into three cells, with a seed in each of them; the cells are of a greenish white, the seed round, and with no degree of humidity or moisture about it; yet the green leaves contain a quantity of bluish watery milk almost incredible.

"Upon cutting two of the finest branches of a tree in its full vigour, a quantity of this issued out, which I cannot compute to be less than four English gallons; and this was so exceedingly caustic, that though I washed the fabric that cut it immediately, the stain has not yet left it.

"When the tree grows old, the branches wither, and, in place of milk, the inside appears to be full of powder, which is so pungent, that the small dust which I drew upon striking a withered branch, seemed to..." threaten to make me freeze to death; and the touching of the milk with my fingers excoriated them as if scalded with boiling water; yet I everywhere observed the woodpecker piercing the rotten branches with its beak, and eating the insects, without any impression upon its olfactory nerves."

If what is milk in a young tree be a dry powder in one that is old, is it not probable that the milk might by evaporation be reduced to the consistence of gum, and that the kol quall may be at most but a variety of the euphorbia officinarum? From our author's observation, the kol quall appeared to thrive best on poor sandy, stony earth, at no great distance from the sea. The Abyssinians employ the milky juice in tanning to take off the hair from the skins, and they make no other use whatever of the tree.