78 A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



practised by the Boer farmers, who, I am informed, use 

 the leaves of other trees than the C. compres^um for 

 the purpose ; and when the government really takes up 

 the necessary question of forestry, a most important one 

 for the country, the preservation and planting of these 

 trees, upon which will depend the success of a Transvaal 

 leather manufacturing trade, must be seriously dealt 

 with*. 



At present the Transvaal may almost be described as 

 timberless, so far as building-operations can be carried 

 on. Even the wagon-builders have no local material, 

 or at least none that can be obtained in any quantity, 

 and it is absolutely cheaper to import wagons from the 

 British Colonies, where there is an official Inspector 

 of Forestry, than to manufacture them in the heart of 

 the Transvaal. Vast quantities of deals and other 

 European and American woods are brought up from 

 Durban with all the incidental cost of rail and ox- 

 wagon f ; and when at last the railway is allowed to 

 give to the development of the country its natural and 

 much-desired impetus, the sleepers for the lines will 

 have to be imported. At present the great drawback 

 to all local industries is that articles, despite duties, 

 and in the face of monopolizing concessions, can be 

 imported as cheap or cheaper than they can be manu- 

 factured on the spot. The wealth of the Transvaal has 

 hitherto only been sought beneath the ground ; it must 

 now be cultivated on its surface. 



I started just after a period of heavy rains, and as the 

 coach passed through the Wonderboom Poort, signs of 

 the recent floods could be observed by the vegetable 



* This lias been thoroughly done in Australia, and Mr. Maiden, in his 

 ( Useful Native Plants of Australia,' has described over thirty species of 

 " Wattles" and about half as many Eucalypts which have been tested for 

 tanning-material. In all eighty-seven Australian species have been under 

 examination. 



liurchell found that the Hottentots used the bark of the Karro-thorn for 

 tanning sheepskins, and amongst other plants used for the same purpose were 

 a kind of J-Vcw-s and Mesembryanthemum cvriariiim, B. (' Travels in Interior 

 of Southern Africa,' vol. i. p. 243). 



t In October 1890 the following quotations were obtained : Deals, 3x9, 

 Is. 5d. per foot ; flooring, f Xt> ; 4c?. per foot. 



