BOTANICAL REPORT OF LIBERIA O61 
melinaceae grow in small numbers in the swampy, yet not excessively wet 
forests of the interior. 
Between Fayapulu and Banga there are numerous ridges, some of them 
rather steep, all of them well forested. Just outside of Soe is the Tuma River 
that is twenty-five yards wide and which we have to cross. The crossing is 
made in a rather ingenious manner. A cable made of the stems of the rattan 
palm is stretched between two stout trees, one on either bank. The loaded 
raft is then worked across the stream by two men, one at the bow, the other 
at the stern, both pulling on the cable. It can well be imagined that a raft 
on rapidly-flowing water exerts a terrific strain on the cable, and the fact that 
it withstood such a test gives admirable evidence of the immense tensile strength 
of the stem of the rattan palm, not in excess of three inches in diameter, and 
of the men who ferry us across. 
In the original forest on low land, Napoleona Vogelii occurs as a large bush, 
fifteen feet high, that branches three feet above the ground. The depressions 
in the ridges are populated by large numbers of marantaceous plants belong- 
ing to two or more species. Maschalocephalus Dinklagei is represented by 
smaller numbers of plants, and these are confined to the type of habitat al- 
ready mentioned. Two ferns grow near the only waterfall encountered during 
the trip. One of them inhabits the rocks at the side of the waterfall, the other, 
Hymenophyllum(?), is submerged and on the rocks below the waterfall. Once 
over the series of ridges, we encounter a fairly open and level valley traversed by 
a stream which has to be forded, knee deep, on fallen logs. The country again 
becomes rolling and forested, except for small rice fields, as we approach Banga. 
Banga is on the government road that is eventually to connect Monrovia 
with the frontier, by way of Beli Yela. The town is situated on a hill, from 
various places on which, one can look out over the rolling country, although 
more steeply rolling than is the rule, and with one or two prominent hills of 
greater elevation than the surrounding ones. Through the description of a 
trip to one of these hills, known as Bo, northwest of the town, an attempt will 
be made to give an insight, though imperfect, as to the nature of the flora of 
this region. Descending the hill on which Banga is situated, we skirt a field 
of rice, at the edge of which grow one or two trees of Pterocarpus santalinoides, 
a species somewhat more than thirty-five feet high, and called “bartu”’ by 
the Vai who eat the beans. Soon we reach the tall original forest on the lower 
slopes of the hill. Here there is a variety of underbrush in which there are, 
many interesting shrubs, of which, Hevsteria parvifolia is rather a common 
member. Milletia Thonningii forms a flat-topped tree about twenty feet high. 
Of equal height, but with drooping branches is Ochthocosmus africanus. Macro- 
lobium macrophyllum, previously reported as a tall tree is found in full bloom 
when it has reached a height of only twelve feet, and four species of Dorstenia, 
seven to nine feet high, are found within a radius of a few rods. One of the 
pretty melastomaceous plants, Dinophora spenneroides, usually terrestrial, 
grows here epiphytically in the crotch of a tall tree, forty feet above the ground. 
According to my Vai boy, the fruit of this plant is eaten in order to cure “‘ women 
