Xlvill ITINERARY. 



of them. What this must mean in the case of such a very specialised 

 flora as that of the upper slopes in particular, will be better realised 

 when it is pointed out that they show no aspect whatever of uniformity, 

 but are made up of an altogether irregular series of broken ridges and 

 valleys, wide or narrow, shallow or deep, with gentle slopes or preci- 

 pitous faces and bluffs, rifnning across or towards the great escarpments, 

 as so clearly shown in the illustration facing p. xxiii, Itinerary, Vol. I. 

 Moreover, the surface may be merely rugged or thickly strewn with 

 rooks of all sizes, covered with grass or mixed with bushes and 

 occasional small trees, broken at times by swamps, or closely over- 

 grown by a thicket of woods and creepers and epiphytes, intersected 

 by streams and narrow gullies, up to and over the great jumble of 

 huge rocky masses that in the long course of ages have fallen from the 

 immense vertical walls, and where the atmosphere amid the vegetation 

 is humid and dank in the extreme — an ideal home for the most 

 luxuriant growth of succulent and delicate flowering plants, and of 

 cryptogams of all sorts, that literally run riot in every direction, on 

 and over rocks and other plants, and often forming a most deceptive 

 carpet over the debris below. 



The character of the surrounding savannahs is, of course, much less 

 varied and broken, still it is sufficiently so to present a very wide 

 range in environment for plants. At times the surfaces are almost 

 wholly of bare rock or pebbly debris, or of white and red clays and 

 sands, irregularly weathered and fissured, where some scanty soil has 

 collected in little di'ainage channels, giving roothold for small plants. 

 Mostly the valleys and ridges are grass-covered, with sparse bushes; 

 though woods are frequent, especially in small coppice in sheltered 

 situations or along the watercourses ; and according to the elevations 

 and the nature of the slopes, there are numerous small gullies and 

 water channels with cascades, pools, and swampy areas, always rich in 

 vegetation. 



Down the steep sheltered sides of the valleys and channels, the sand- 

 stone is often just covered with a thin carpet of grass, over which the 

 water dribbles ; and these are favourite situations for masses of the 

 peculiar-looking bromeliad, BroccMnia reducta, with its rolls of golden 

 leaves. All about the moist gullies, there are numbers of ferns of 

 many kinds, with a variety of gentians, orchids, sundews, bladderworts, 

 xyrids, bromeliads, and other small growths ; while among the rocks 

 and on the broken debris, and along the streams, are lai'ger flowering 

 trees and creepers, such as species of melastomes, clusias, cassias, etc., 

 some of which were in splendid flower, like masses of gold, red, or 

 purple, and among them the brilliant red clusters of the fruit of a 

 scandent prickly palm {Besvioncus). Some of the Ternstroomias were 

 especially beautiful, such as the splendid Bonnetia sessilis, with its 

 fragrant rose-like flowers, though the equally fragrant Archytoea, which 

 recalls so much the scent of the meadow-sweet, is difficult to surpass 

 with its masses of apple-like blossoms. In further disricts plants of 

 Mahuria were found in flower, with beautiful panicles. 



It was noticeable that, in these more exposed situations, the plants 

 of the characteristic Cattleya Laibrenceana, which was obtained in large 

 quantities by Siedel, the first of the German orchid collectors, were 



