590 HAED WOODS COMMON. Chap. XXIX. 



is parched and burnt, the grass of the preceding year, which 

 may have escaped the annual fires, is discoloured and crumbles 

 into powder in the hand ; and the leaves of the trees, though 

 alive, look withered. One who had seen the landscape in 

 all its glorious freshness and verdure after rains, could 

 scarcely believe that the brown and dusty world before him 

 was ever green. 



Though the country is well supplied with trees, really 

 large timber is to be obtained only in limited districts. The 

 Gun da is valuable for its durability and size, and is hollowed 

 out into canoes capable of carrying two or three tons each. 

 The Mosokoso and Mukundu-kundu also are good timber trees. 

 The Lignuni-vitse attains a larger size here than anywhere 

 else. We have measured specimens four feet in diameter ; 

 but though the wood is in appearance exactly like the lignum- 

 vitae of other countries it is said to be inferior in toughness. 

 Africa is more remarkable for the abundance of its hard 

 woods than for its timber. African ebony, or black wood, 

 though not the same botanically as the ebony of commerce, 

 attains a large size and is of a deeper black. It abounds on 

 the Kovuma, within eight miles of the sea, and so do other 

 valuable woods, as for instance, the Fustic, which yields a 

 permanent yellow dye. The Molompi is widely distributed, 

 and seems to be identical with the Pterocarpus erinaceus, 

 which produces the African kino on the West Coast ; for when 

 wounded it exudes large quantities of gum resembling this 

 drug. The wood is excellent for paddles and oars, from its 

 toughness and lightness. In addition to these we have the 

 Mopane, or iron-wood, and the Mangroves, which are much 

 esteemed for rafters. 



A species of sarsaparilla, probably Smilax Krausiana, is 

 abundant on the highlands ; Calumba-root on the plains ; 

 the Buaze, with a fibre stronger and finer than flax, and the 

 fibrous Sansiviera, or ife, are both common. The Buaze, the 

 Motsikiri, the Boma, — one of the Sterculias, and a species of 



