196 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
contained in a shell the size of an ordinary orange, produces a 
pleasant cooling drink. From the inner bark, fine fibre can be 
made, which the natives turn to use in the making of fishing- 
lines and fishing-nets, which they tan with mangrove bark. 
Another tree which attracts strangers by its long racemes ot 
flowers and cylindrical fruits is K7gelia pinnata (D. C.), but it 
has no commercial value. 
Acacias are represented by Acacia arabica, A. Kraussiana, 
A. caffra, A. horrida, and A. pinnata. The wood of all is 
exceedingly hard and very durable, but owing to their very 
thorny nature, and the difficulty in getting them cut down, they 
are not so often turned to useful account as they should be. 
The Palmyra palm (Borassus flabelliformis, L.), the “ Palmeira 
brava” of the Portuguese, stands out in his solitary grandeur. 
This palm is cultivated on the Zanzibar coast, and also in 
India and Ceylon. It produces a commercial fibre from which 
brooms and brushes are manufactured. 
The tamarind tree (Zamarindus indica) is one ot the finest 
timber-trees of the East, and the seed-pods are of great value 
to the natives, but only a few trees are to be seen near the 
dwellings of the Indian traders. 
Taking a general view of this territory from the Indian Ocean, 
it is separated on the north and west from British Central Africa 
(Rhodesia) by the high mountain ranges Gorongosa and Manica, 
over gooo feet high. The lowlands are mostly open forest with 
rank grasses, the most common of which is Phragmites communis 
(Trin.), often to feet high. Much of the country has been 
rendered worthless by the annual fires that have swept it, but 
my representations are this year bearing fruit, and only lands 
that are required for cultivation are now allowed to be fired. 
Over this belt of lowland the number of species of timber-trees 
is limited, and, with the acacias already mentioned, we have 
one Albizzia (A. fastigiata). The heart-wood of this tree is heavy 
and durable, and the Kaffirs never cut it down, for they have 
discovered its value as a shade-tree, and cultivation is success- 
ful under all the species of A/bizzta. In many countries they 
are planted as shade-trees, for the light feathery foliage gives 
the necessary shade, and the small leaves shed over the planta- 
tion form excellent manure. 
As a forest product, I must mention the valuable creeper, 
Cocculus villosus (D. C.). When searching for basket material 
