114 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



tree-like and suffruticose Alo&s, the Rochea falcata and per- 

 foliate many Crassulas, &c., &c., they grow in a red 

 loamy soil, mixed with gravel of limestone or quartz. We 

 reached the Sunday River directly after leaving that narrow 

 passage ; the tide of the sea comes up as far as where we 

 met that river. Small trees of the Niebuhria Cqftra, Capparis 

 olei/olidy Burch., were growing on the wayside, a Salix, 

 Combretum salicifolium, Chilianthus arboreus, and Rhus pubes- 

 cens, formed the border on the banks of that river. The 

 Plumbago Capensis, growing amongst the bushes, showed its 

 bright blue flowers through the thorny branches of the Ce- 

 lastrus reflexus. From the Komandokraal, where we halted 

 one night, the right flank of the Sunday River has a singular 

 aspect,- an elevated line of hills, covered with dense wood, 

 extends to the immediate bank of the stream. The abrupt 

 appearance of the ridges facing the river, without vegetation, 

 denotes that the encroachment of this stream towards those 

 hills has caused the slipping of the soil. There are strata of 

 a soft limestone visible towards the top of these ridges; 

 it is a favourite spot of the Testudinaria Elephantopus, which 

 grows here frequently. The stem of this curious plant 

 attains sometimes more than four feet high, and nearly the 

 same in diameter. It is only covered with a comparatively 

 thin layer of bark, or woody substance, and the whole mass 

 within is a kind of pulpy vegetable tissue, like the inside 

 of a large turnep. It is of little service as food to mankind, 

 but is a favourite vegetable of the Baboons, who cleverly 

 make a hole in the stem, large enough to allow their hands 

 and arms to enter, when they empty the contents of the 

 inside, leaving the rest of the outer bark whole. It often 

 happens afterwards that swarms of bees take possession 

 of these hollow stems, and fill them with honey, offering 

 a still more pleasant meal for the baboons, should it 

 happen that they fall in with those bee-hives before a 

 Hottentot or a badger has emptied them. Fond as the 

 baboons are of honey, they are great cowards of the 

 sting of bees ; they take with great caution the honey- 



