1887.] Acacias of So7ithern Africa. 271 



The most important South African representative of this genus is 

 the camelthorn, which name, however, is applied to two nearly allied 

 species, the A. Giraffae of Burchell and the A. eriolaba of Meyer, 

 The first one, the Mokdala of the Betchuanas, was formerly common 

 enough in the Free State, Transvaal and Bechuanaland, the other 

 one, the Omumhonde of the Hereros, takes the place of the former in 

 the western parts of the Kalahari region. I said, that the Mokdala 

 was formerly common in the countries north of the Great River, but 

 it is not so any more. For more than fifteen years all the steam- 

 boilers of the Diamond Fields have been heated with its wood, which 

 almost equals coal in respect to its heating power, and it is therefore 

 not surprising that this tree has nearly disappeared from the country 

 within several hundred miles round Kimberley. Before the com- 

 pletion of the railway to Kimberley, thirty to forty wagon-loads of 

 this wood were brought to market every day, which amounts to a 

 yearly consumption of 5,000 tons. The wholesale destruction of the 

 Mokdala in a country which is almost deficient in other trees of 

 remarkable size is very much to be regretted, for it has considerably 

 increased the dreariness and monotony of these regions. A full 

 grown Mokdala is a beautiful tree. It is not often over thirty-five 

 feet in height, but the thick trunk, two or three feet in diameter, bears 

 an umbrella-shaped crown, resembling thus in the distance the 

 famous stone-pine of Italian and Greek landscapes. In former times 

 hills and plains of those vast northern territories were adorned with 

 scattered Mokdalas and the sun-burnt traveller could pull up his wagon 

 under its shady roof, but now, having once left the willow-fringed 

 banks of the Orange and Vaal rivers, he may pass along for many a 

 day without perceiving a single tree rising above the shrubs of the 

 hookthorn and vaalbosch {JFa.rchonanthus minor Burch^. 



The other camelthorn, the Omumhonde^ reaches the same dimen- 

 sions as the Mokdala^ but it never assumes such picturesque form 

 having more resemblance to an old knobby oak. 



Both trees differ from all other acacias in the shape and size of 

 their pods. 



The last acacia which I intend to deal with here is the Ana-tree 

 (^, albida Del?). It is not a South African species properly speaking,, 

 occurring principally in Western Central Africa and in the regions 

 of the Upper Nile, but it comes within our limits on the northern 

 border of Great Namaqualand. It is the biggest of all our acacias, 

 having a trunk often four feet in diameter and a height of sixty feet. 

 The large crown is generally hemispherical with fresh, rich foliage^ 



