6 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



Mazera to Nzowi is a most curious district. 

 Gnarled and twisted Acacias of all sorts and sizes, 

 usually with bright white bark and a very thin 

 and naked appearance, cover the whole country. 

 Amongst these one finds the flat-topped Acacia, 

 which, I noticed, prefers the lower slopes of the 

 hills and usually places where game is more abun- 

 dant and where the soil is a little better (if possible 

 in so poor a country). Amongst these one finds 

 curious trees of Euphorbia. The grasses and 

 sedges in this part grow in little tufts at some 

 distance from one another, leaving the general 

 tint of the landscape that of the soil itself. No 

 sward or turf is formed, and except immediately 

 after the rains, all these grasses are dead, dry, 

 and withered up. 



Most of the plants are either thorny or fleshy, 

 as is usual in all desert countries. The reason of 

 this is not, I think, because there are antelopes 

 and giraffes which must be kept at bay, although 

 the foliage is undoubtedly protected by its thorns ; 

 it is, more probably, a result of the intense heat 

 of the sun which by transpiration (or evaporation) 

 makes the walls of the cells very thick and hard, 

 and thereby produces a cure for the evil which it 

 itself brings about. A thorn is, of course, a hair, 

 leaf, or branch, which has become thickened in 

 this way. 



Through this wilderness runs with almost painful 

 and lioman straightness of aim the excellent road 



