j84 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
planks and boards. The mbambakofi is a smaller 
tree, but furnishes a very useful wood, red in colour, 
with a beautiful grain, and capable of a high polish. 
The heart of the tree is durable, but the outer parts 
are liable to decay. The Wasuahili use it largely in 
making their heavy doors. The msandarusi (gum- 
copal) tree is common, and large quantities of copal 
are collected from all parts of Unika, and sent 
to the market of Zanzibar. The wood of the tree is 
hard and resinous, and its shafts make excellent 
masts. Among the other forest trees may be men- 
tioned the mgurure (teak), mngambo, mismari, the 
mribe, muenenzi msindi, mkalambaki, etc. The wood 
of these trees is sometimes extremely hard. They 
turn the *edge of any but the best tempered axes, 
and some of them resist the hardest steel. The 
mleha, mngongo, mtunda, mbawa^ and the mfuni 
supply softer wood. The mfuni is one of the hand- 
somest trees in the country. It runs up in straight, 
clean, smooth shafts to immense heights, and then 
spreads into vast dome-like masses of bright green 
foliage. 
The kikuata (acacia) and the mpingo (ebony) are 
both common. The mlimbo-limbo (india-rubber plant) 
is found in the woods. The parasitical marere (orchella 
weed) hangs from the trees, in woods and forests, in 
large quantities, and is collected by the natives and 
sent to the coast. They call it by the fanciful name 
of " Ndevu ya Muitu " (the beard of the forest), and 
from its light grey colour it gives a very hoary aspect 
to the spots in which it abounds. The cocoa-nut palm 
is abundant, and is at once a great boon and curse to 
the natives. Its uses are too well known to require 
