74 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



stunted, g-narled tree growth, which in many places has acquired 

 the habit of Chasmophytes and Lithopytes. It is represented in 

 general by the same species as occupy the valleys, but it is also 

 rich in aloes, succulent Kn pliorh'm.^ and plants of the genera 

 /'/r//\ and Sfi-i/i-linos. The poor condition of the hill vegetation 

 may be attributed to the extremely rocky character of the ground 

 and consequent scarcity of water. 



Good open forests reappear in the valley of the Tornba (Tornme 

 of the maps) River, and again close to the Volta River before the 

 final descent to the channel is made. The banks of the latter are, 

 as usual, occupied by fringing forest. Magnificent park-like 

 country-is met with on the high shelf of land skirting the right bank 

 of that river. The trees about here are of very fine growth, but they 

 are widely scattered, and the intervals are occupied by grass. 

 Cola cordifolia and a small dark-coloured Acacia, closely related 

 to A. nigrescens, are common in this locality. 



East of the village of Oboase the forests for miles are very 

 stunted in growth, and water is extremely scarce in that direction. 

 The banks of dried-up water-courses are occupied by thickets of a 

 spiny bamboo that appears to be an Oxytenanthera, probably 0. 

 dbyssinica. Here even such xerophilous trees as Khaya sene- 

 galensis and Afzelia africana are, on account of the dryness, 

 forced to abandon the high parched-up ground and congregate to- 

 gether along the banks of the streams. 



A few miserable Raphias, oil palms, and the wild date palm, 

 Phoenix reclinata, are also to be met with in the same localities. 



The fan palm (Borassus flabelliformis var. aethiopica) is not 

 nearly as abundant in these savannahs as it is on the Afram plains 

 in the extreme north-eastern portion of the colony. Nevertheless 

 it is sufficiently plentiful to form a prominent feature of the 

 landscape. 



The Yolta River, where we crossed it, just below Tonkomia, is a 

 magnificent stream nearly 400 yards across from bank to bank ; 

 just above and below this point, however, it becomes much nar- 

 rower, and is confined for miles in a rocky channel. The fringe 

 of evergreen vegetation is not as broad as one would expect from 

 a river of that magnitude, but this is probably due to the very high 

 and stony character of the banks, to which moisture cannot perco- 

 late during the dry season when the river is very low. 



Low rocky hills are found along both banks of the Yolta, and 

 the rich alluvial soil along the valleys between them is occupied 

 by forests of superior growth. 



Those passed through between Bian and Jugba (in the Northern 

 Territories) are quite good and capable of yielding fairly large 

 timber. Unfortunately the time at our disposal was too short to 

 enable us to make a tour through other portions of the Northern 

 Territories, where, I understand, good forests exist, as, for in- 

 stance, to the south-east of Bole and along the left bank of the 

 Volta to the south-west of that station. If they are as good as 

 those we saw during our marches from Tonkomia to Bery, then 

 that portion of the Protectorate is to be congratulated on its posses- 



