At their feet grew the pine-apples, only in flower or unripe fruit, so that we could not quench our thirst with them, and only looked with curiosity at the small wild type of so famous a plant.

But close by, and happily nearly ripe, we found a fair substitute for pine-apples in the fruit of the Karatas.

This form of Bromelia, closely allied to the Pinguin of which hedges are made, bears a straggling plume of prickly leaves, six or eight feet long each, close to the ground.

The forester looks for a plant in which the leaves droop outwards--a sign that the fruit is ripe.

After beating it cautiously (for snakes are very fond of coiling under its shade) he opens the centre, and finds, close to the ground, a group of whitish fruits, nearly two inches long; peels carefully off the skin, which is beset with innumerable sharp hairs, and eats the sour-sweet refreshing pulp: but not too often, for there are always hairs enough left to make the tongue bleed if more than one or two are eaten.
With lips somewhat less parched, we rode away again to see the sight of the day; and a right pleasant sight it was.