ACACIA TIMBER. 293 



effect as a bedding plant in the London parks. 



Then as regards the floral beauty and highly scented 

 blooms of some of these trees, we may mention the 

 well-known African species Acacia Giraffa as a good 

 example, which during the rains is often to be seen 

 covered with magnificent yellow flowers, which exhale 

 an aromatic and overpowering perfume. * This tree 

 which is largely distributed throughout Africa, is 

 known in South Africa as the " Kameel Doom " or 

 " Giraffe Thorn " ; it grows there to a great size, and 

 forms a most valuable timber which is said to be 

 harder than oak, and exceedingly strong and dur- 

 able ; it was in consequence highly esteemed for the 

 axles of Cape waggons, and as such often proved 

 a friend in need to the traveller throughout the South 

 African wilderness. In Northern Africa, and in the 

 Soudan, it is known to the Arabs as the Soont, and 

 under various other local names. 



The Acacia Formosa which supplies the valuable 

 timber known in Cuba and the West Indies as " Sabicu " ; 

 the A . Seyal, supposed to be the Shittim wood of the 

 Bible ; f the A . Melanoxylon or " black-wood " of 

 Australia, which attains a great size and is much used 

 for furniture; and the A. Homalophylla, a fragrant 

 timber known as " myell-wood " and used for orna- 

 mental purposes: all form valuable examples of the 

 Acacicz of which it is estimated that there are about 

 420 species, widely scattered over the warmer regions 

 of the globe. Trees of this family specially abound 

 in Australia and Africa, and indeed over the whole of the 



* The Wild Sports of Southern Africa, by Captain Cornwallis 

 Harris, R.F., 3rd edit. 1849, p. 46. 

 f Encycl. Brit. Vol i, p. 68, 9th edit. 

 Ibid., Vol. i, p. 68. 



