10 



these districts that one finds the climax staged in the thorn veld 

 succession. In places, however, and especially in the valley of the 

 Hluhluwe, the trees are gaining ground ; for example, a native, who 

 had lived in that district all his life, pointed to a hillside studded 

 with thorn trees, and volunteered the information that in his child- 

 hood there had not been one tree there. In the immediate vicinity 

 of Somkele the thorn trees have been ruthlessly cut down for firewood, 

 and in consequence large Euphorbias [E. ingens (?)] have more or 

 less taken their place, and lend a characteristic appearance to the 

 landscape. Historical testimony goes to prove that formerly thorn 

 trees were much more abundant round Somkele than they are to-day. 

 Along the rivers from Somkele to the Munywane the same type 

 of vegetation occurs : the trees found out in the thorn veld, with an 

 admixture of hygrophilous trees and shrubs which only rarely are 

 found far away from the river-beds. Among the latter are Phoenix 

 reclinata (very abundant in places), Ficus spp., Eugenia cordata, 

 Erythrina caffra (in flower), Vangueria in/austa, Rauwolfia 

 natalensis, Antidesma sp., Gardenia sp., Zizyphus mucronata, Schotia 

 brachypetala, and Dombeya sp. (pro. rotundi folia}. Euphorbia 

 tirucalli was observed along the stream banks, but very rarely far 

 away from them. A vast number of herbs and undershrubs were 

 present, very few in flower, and the majority of those that were 

 proved to be tropical members of the Acanthaceae (Justicia 

 pulegioides, Dicliptera capensis, D. clinopodia, D. sp., Hypoestes 

 iierticillaris. Phaylopsis parviflora, Rubia cordifolia, Plumbago 

 zeylanica, Adiintum capillus-veneris, Dryopteris prolifera). 



(2) "Bush Veld." North of the Munywane River, which is the 

 northern boundary of the Hlabisa District, we entered a country 

 which differed in several respects from that preceding it, both as 

 regaids soil and vegetation. The soil is dry and very sandy; stones 

 are never seen, and there are none of the little spruits common farther 

 south. Anthistiria imberbis is replaced by a tufted wiry grass 

 [Aristida (?)] and the singly occurring Acacias by a kind of thorny 

 scrub, which probably represents a late stage subsequent upon the 

 pioneer Acacias, which for the most part have been killed out by 

 subsequent species. The clumps of bush are from 20 to 30 feet 

 across and are composed of a large number of species, none of which 

 were in flower, so that the composition of the scrub we cannot tell. 

 Among the trees is Terminalia sericea, which is never met with 

 farther south, but becomes more and more common farther north. 

 This " bush veld," as we have termed it, lies between the Munywane 

 and the Mkuzi Rivers. Scattered between the clumps of bush the 

 following plants were observed in flower: Aloe spp. (common). 

 Kalanchoe rotundifolia (in shade at edge of clumps), Lessertia 

 brachystachya, Iboza galpini, Senecio sp., Lasio siphon sp., Asparagus 

 sp., Gazania longiscapa. 



(3) Sand Veld or "Ilala Veld." In the sketch of the topography 

 reference has already been made to this belt of sandy country, some 

 ten miles wide (wider farther north in Tongoland). and running 

 parallel with the coast, but separated from it by the lakes or lagoons. 

 This country is all very flat, although in the Ingwavuma District 

 (which is almost Avholly occupied by it) it is hummocky in many 

 places. It is at an elevation only slightly above sea-level, and 

 consequently, though the soil is sandy, drainage is poor, and water 

 ('always brackish) can be obtained by digging only a few feet below 



