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a“ 4 
THE {AINSLIE SS NATURALIST. 5] 
A NATURALIST IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
By A. 8. le Sotief. 
The journey was from Mombassa, through to the Vic- > . 
toria Nyanza, and Uganda. 
I was struck by the paucity of the ‘native flora, asi 
seen from the railway. Only two species of Acacia and 
one Juniper were noticeable, though there were. dense 
thickets of Australian trees, principally Hucalyptus globu- 
‘lus and Acacia decurrens, which had been planted along-  _ 
side of the railway line for miles, to supply fuel for the 
locomotives, because of the scarcity of coal. The growth 
which these trees have made is surprising. _ I saw wattles 
larger than any which I have met with in Australia. The 
eucalypts had a different character to those growing in 
Australia, being taller in proportion to girth, and even 
those planted in the open made no attempt to spread. 
Nearly all the railway stations are planted with H. 
radiata, while the capital, Nairobi, has miles of these trees 
bordering its principal roads, and the main avenue 
through ‘the town has a double row on each side of #. | 
calophylla rosea, which were in full flower, making a finer 
show than anything I have seen in Australia, except per 
haps the King’s Park, in Perth. ! 
The animals of South Africa are indeed andornile 
in numbers and variety. One-passes in the train through 
thousands of game, right up to the suburbs of Nairobi, com- 
prising antelope of many kinds, giraffe, zebra, gnu, gazelle, 
ostrich, secretary vulture, crowned crane, etc. While on 
the Government farm at Navaiska I noted actually on the 
property lions, cheeta, spotted hyaena, several bush buck, 
impala, water buck, Thompson’s gazelle, hippopotamus, 
baboon, green monkey, poreupine, ant bear, fox, jackall, 
wart hog, vulture, marabou, and the beautiful erowned 
crane was numerous; the pretty glossy starling and the 
brilliant little sunbirds were always in evidence. \ 
On a journey up to the Aberdaire Mountains a large 
herd of elephants was passed. These animals, especially 
in Uganda, and at the present time, are destructive to the 
native crops. It was interesting to note where the leopards 
had placed the body of a small antelope, about fourteen 
feet up a small tree, for safety. The leopards play about 
in clear places in the forest like cats, tearing up the 
