94 
P. E. Weiss. 
The Matoppos, which lie a little south of Bulawayo and which 
we visited from that town, are a series of rock Koppjes, showing a 
most curious weathering of the granite rocks into enormous 
rounded boulders on the tops of the small hills. On the slopes of 
the latter the vegetation was more stunted and xerophytic in aspect. 
Numerous bushes of the drought-resisting MyrotJiainnus, mentioned 
in the description of the Transvaal, were found on the broken ground, 
and here and there tree-euphorbias such as were met with on the 
higher ground of the bush-veldt. Near the foot of the hills one of 
the most characteristic trees was the Afzelia, the large woody pods 
of which contain seeds provided with a scarlet or orange aril, and 
sold as curiosities. 
North of Bulawayo the more abundant annual rainfall is 
clearly noticeable, even in the dry season, by the more considerable 
number of trees and their greater size. The savannah now gives 
way to a more continuous, though not very close, woodland. Such 
was the so-called “ Teak forest,” of which most of the trees seemed to 
be members of the Leguminosa 2 . Most conspicuous were Bauhinias 
with light-grey somewhat mottled stems, their characteristic 
bilobed leaves remaining dry and brown on the branches and 
presenting the aspect at a distance of a beech tree in the late 
Autumn. Besides these we noticed a Pterocarpus echinatus, its 
large rounded pod provided with winged margin and very spiny 
centre. Other trees, too, could be recognised by their pinnate leaves 
and leguminous fruits as belonging to the same natural order. At 
this time of the year there was very little undergrowth except the 
dried remains of grasses and other herbaceous plants. Here and 
there a Helichrysum or a drought-resisting member of the 
Thymelaeaceae might be seen. In passing through this district we 
encountered an enormous swarm of locusts flying south and 
darkening the sky as they approached. It gave one a vivid idea of 
the havoc they could make in any region where irrigation would 
supply them with the necessary food, and indeed in the Northern 
Transvaal we had already seen them, though in lesser numbers, on 
cultivated land. 
With slight variations in the density of the woodland, the same 
vegetation continued up to the Zambesi, most of the trees showing 
by deciduous foliage their adaptation to a prolonged period of 
drought. Among these latter trees one of the most remarkable, by 
the swollen and elephantine appearance of its stem, was the Baobab 
(Adansonia), which became more frequent as we approached the 
