257 
Notice of an Excursion in the Zulu Country ; by Mr. R. W. PLANT*, 
Naturalist. (Communicated by Mr. Stevens.) 
Having forwarded the principal and heaviest portion of our luggage, 
such as provisions, boxes, paper, and ammunition, from Natal, by the 
wagon, we started on ox-back; pack-oxen entirely superseding horses 
for coast travelling, the frequently excessive heat and sour pasturage 
proving fatal to the latter. The usual equipage is one ox to ride and 
another, or sumpter-ox, to carry blankets and other necessaries for each 
person; and it is a matter of some moment to secure native or tho- 
roughly acclimatized oxen, for should one or other of these two fail, 
there only remains one of the two alternatives, either to walk the rest 
of the journey or abandon the least valuable of the baggage. 
At the Umvoti I got all the information possible of our intended 
route ; and as this is the last mission station in the colony, on leaving 
it we bid adieu to civilization in toto. Two days brought us to the 
Tugella, the confines of the colony, and as the country wore a promis- 
Ing aspect I determined on staying a short time, both to rest the oxen 
and obtain an opportunity of looking into the flora. The country here, 
as in every other part, is hilly, but being well wooded the acclivities do 
not seem so great. The principal wood consists of two or three species 
of Mimosa, Assagai, and bastard Stinkwood; in the ravines, which are 
here numerous, many other trees and bushes are found; one of the lat- 
ter, bearing no distant likeness to a Laurustinus, was blooming profusely 
and scented the air for many yards with its delicious aroma. A pretty 
pure white Crocus (?) ornamented the ground in patches, and large beds 
of Gazania unicolor were frequent. Zpomæa Nil, or a species very like 
it, occurred often among the bushes, and pendent tufts of two Zycopo- 
dia were now and then seen hanging from the tops of trees. The river 
Tugella is a wide stream, and when full in the rainy season must present 
a formidable barrier; where we crossed there was about five or six hun- 
dred yards’ width of water, but the banks must be near a mile apart, 
the intervening space being sand. We had been here four days and 
were just becoming interested in the place, when going one evening 
towards the river for the purpose of shooting Ibis for dinner next day, I 
` AET tal at p. 223 of the present 
See notice of Mr. R. W. Plant’s mission to Na atural History mission 
volume. His brother, Mr. N. Plant, is gone on a similar 
to South America, as announced in our vol. iii. p. 125. + : 
L 
VOL. IV. 
