SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
19 
getable oil, fit for culinary ufes, has yet been difcovered in the 
colony. For this purpofe the fefaraum would prove an ufeful 
grain. In moft of the fandy flats are found in great abundance 
two varieties of the Mjrica cerifera^ or wax plant, from the 
berries of which is procurable, by fimple boiling, a firm pure 
wax ; and the honey bee is every where wild on the heathy 
fides of the hills ; but the culture of the plant and of the infedt 
have hitherto been equally negled:ed. 
Timber of all kinds for building is an exceeding fcarce and 
expenfive article at the Cape, yet little pains have yet been 
taken to rear it near the town. Avenues of oak trees, planta- 
tions of the white poplar, and of the Hone pine, are to be feen 
near moft of the country houfes not very diftant from the 
Cape, and have been found to thrive moft rapidly ; but the 
timber they produce is generally fhaken and unfound. The 
oak that has been introduced into the colony appears to be 
that variety of the i^uercus Robur known in England by the 
name of Durmajl oak, much of which grows in the New Foreft, 
and is but of little eftimation among fhip builders. It is diftin- 
guifhed by the acorns growing in clufters, and each having a 
long foot ftalk. The larch, whofe growth in Europe is rapid, 
and yet the timber as good or better than any of the pine tribe, 
would be an accquifition and an ornament to the prefent naked 
hills of the Cape ; and the beech would no doubt thrive in 
thofe places where the poplar does fo well. 
Of native plants, that which is the moft cultivated, in the 
vicinity of the town, is the filver tree abovementioned. Whole 
D 2 woods 
