418 



any further, and Avanted to know how far it was to Bur'b^iiT 

 , His companion replied that they were then at the corner of the 

 Market Square and that a hou^^e near by was his father's office. 

 Next mornini^^ he got up very early and walked nbrnit the sandj 

 neighbourhood ^'looking for the houses"' as he expressed it. 

 While thus occupied he was seen by his mother mIio expressed 

 herself as horrified that he should parade tlie middle of the itmn 

 ill his sleeping costume ! Such was Durban ^t that period. 

 In the early part of his- career in Natal, J)r. Wood traded 

 / with Zululand, and turned his attention to farming and the 

 (ultivation of crops suitable to the climate. From boyhood, 

 botany had always been a favourite hobby with him, -and this 

 }jrobiibly broug-lit him in tourli with Hr. McKen, the foiraer 

 ciirator of the Botanic Garden at Durban, who siibsequently mar- 

 ried his sister. Upon the death of his father, Medley WooS went 

 to Inanda and took up stock farming. It -was Avhilst there that 

 in September, 18T5, he first entered into corresjxjndeuce with 

 Kew and from that time until his death never ceased mating 

 valuable contributions of specimens to the Herbarium and living 

 J)] ants to the Hardens. 



During- his residence at Inanda, the Zulu AVar occurred, and 

 upon hearing' of the defeat at Isandljlwana, Medley Wowl 

 «ind others livin*^ in the vicinity removed with tlieir wives and 

 ^families to Yerulara, where, as a member of the Town Guard, 

 he prej)ared to help in defending the place with a small chip's 

 carronade he" bad surrej.titiously brought from Durban, as no 

 one there claimed it, and for wliich he made the cartridges with 

 his own bands. Tortunutely Veruhim was never in danger of 

 an attack by the Zulus. 



^ On Maw-h 1st, 1882, he was appointed Curator of the Botanic 

 Gardens at Durban, of which he subsequently became Director, 

 and when the Gardens were separated from the Herbarium and 

 placed directly nnder the management of the Corporation, "WoikI 

 remained Director of the Natal Herbarium. In the early port 

 of his Curatorship he learned that snmo plants of the " Uba" 

 cane* had lain unclaimed at the Customs House for a con- 

 siderabh' time. All but a few were dead, but those that shf)wed 

 life he, obtained permission to reuKiVe, and managed to coax 

 two of them to grow into healthy plants. These were given t-o 



* Tlie correct name of this cane is unknown, thu name " Uba " represents 



the only letters decipherable on the daranired label attached to this variety on 



its arrival m the country. Mr. Medley Wood thought that the plants wor« 



introdnced bv Governor Charles MitcFiell on his return from a visit to India 



in lBb4-b5. The cane is now very eeaerally cultivated in Natal, see Natal 



Agricultural Journal, Vol. viii, No. 3, 1905, p. 22o. This word *'tJba" 



may be part of the name ''boubaya" aj>plied to one of the Madaffa.pearcai.ps 



introduced to tlie Mauritius Botanic Garden by Dr. J. V. Thom.son in 18i:.. 



Ihis name may have found its way to India from Mauritius alonir with the 



canea sent by Captain Dick in 1827 to the Calcutta Botanic Gardens on • 



hehait of Captain Sleeman. From cuttings of the canes, planted by Sleemaii 



Tn th. iTi^'"''' ^^^''"l^';'-'"''"'} ""{ Mauritius canes Kra<lually became established 



word .f r7' ''••'"'i^"'? f ^^l'^*^ ^•''"^'*>- ^" ^888. But if the preser.ce of the 



7ndh th^TJL .''' '^"' ^" *^^ ^"'■^•'^^l "f the name "boal)aya"in 



oaginally apphed. Acoordrng to Thomson " Jioabaya/' renembled un Ofaheitc 



