20 



year to supervise this forest and another, situated at Long Krantz, near the Drakensberg, 

 which is very difficult to work in. A small revenue is derived from the sale of wattles to 

 Natives. These two forests are the last of the Upland belt. 



. THORN BUSH. 



The Thorn Bush of Natal is spread over vast areas in the Midland region, at an 

 altitude of from 1,000 to 3,000 feet. It is densest at the lower elevations, and a belt of 

 grass country almost entirely separates it from the Heavy Timber Forests. Towards the 

 Coast, however, it merges gradually into the Coast Forest. It chiefly consists of various 

 species of Mimosae, of which Acacia JSatalitia, A. Horrida, A. Kraussinia, A. Caffra, and 

 A. Arabica are the most noticeable. The distribution of Thorn Bush is shown in Map I., 

 and the Report of the Forest Commission of 1880 gives the total area covered by Thorn 

 Bush as 196,000 acres on Crown Land, and 1,645,000 acres on Private Lands, but 

 these figures appear to include Coast Forest, which would form an appreciable of 

 the whole. The clearing of Thorn Bush for firewood or for Native cultivation has been 

 very extensive of late years. The continually recurring grass fires arrest the growth of 

 young plants, and the forest is seldom known to recover. Large areas may often be seen 

 that are thickly studded with minute Mimosa plants, which would grow into a forest if 

 protected from the grass fires. The Thorn Forests are usually ill defined and consist 

 often of isolated trees or clumps thickly distributed over a large stretch of country. 



COAST FORESTS. 



i 



With the exception of those in the Lower Umzimknlu Division, nearly the whole of 

 the Coast Forests are situated on private property. It appears that surveyors have not 

 hitherto considered coast forest to be any forest within the meaning of their instructions, 

 and it has been freely alienated, but what remains should be preserved as far as circum- 

 stances will permit. The Coast Forest is still extensive, but much of it has been cleared 

 for planting. Nearly the whole of the cultivated land in the Coast districts consists of 

 cleared bush ground. This extensive denudation is said by old settlers to have somewhat 

 altered the climate, causing a greater aridity and more irregularity in the weather. 

 Yellowwood and wagonwood were formerly cut in many of the coast forests ; but few 

 good timber trees are now left. The coast forest is generally low, the average height 

 varying from 30 to 60 feet. It contains a great variety of trees, the wood of some of 

 which is of great value. The principal species found are the following : Popowia 

 Ca/ra, Niebuhria triphylla, Rawsonia lucida, Dovyalis rhamnoides, Trimeria alnifolia r 



