THE 'IND UNAS' TREE: 83 
and walked nearly three hours, first through the thin, 
then through the thick, bush, striking a path during 
the walk which we followed to the south-west, and 
which brought us out under a huge spreading baobab, 
the largest tree I have yet seen since leaving Pieter- 
maritzburg. They call it the ' Indunas' tree,' for 
here the indunas from the neighbouring kraals are 
wont to sit and drink beer when anything particular 
is on hand. The huge trunk is blackened all round 
with fire, but the tree seems uninjured, and spreads 
its huge canopy from a framework of crooked boughs, 
like a gigantic oak. Stretching my arms round the 
tree at the height at which I stand from the ground, 
it took me four times, all but about a foot, to encircle 
it — say about twenty- three feet for its girth here, 
but below this it is much more, as it increases 
towards the roots. Other trees of the same kind 
stand about, but they are less. A splendid view, 
such as recalls Wharfedale to the mind, here suddenly 
bursts in sight. The Umvungu River flows in the 
valley; at our backs is the thick bush, through which 
we have come ; but before us stretches the green 
vista of woods far away, till it becomes blue in the 
distance. We waited here about two hours, and re- 
turned as we had come." 
In this way the whole surrounding district was 
gradually traversed. The weather during the stay 
at the present camp was already beginning to be 
wet, and there was no improvement in this respect, 
but the reverse, from that date. On the 27th, 
