-of alternate expofure to heavy rains, dry winds, and a fcorching
fun ; where fuch expofure has been guarded againft, one of the
ilighteft of the woods, the Geelhout, has been known to' remain
for more than a century, without ihewing any fymptoms
o f decay.
In the forefls, near this bay, a creeping plant grows in great
plenty, whofe interior bark, drawn off in fibres of forty or.
fifty feet in length, feems to be an excellent fubftitute for hemp.
The Hottentots twill; thefc fibres into very ftrong cordage. The
bark o f another native plant, a fpecies of Hibifcus, made very
excellent hemp. The leaves of the plant were deeply divided,
like thofe of the Cannabinus, a fpecies of the fame genus, cultivated
in India, for the purpofe o f obtaining hemp from the
bark; but the Item o f the African Hibifcus had fmall fpines,
and the flower was large, and of a fulphureous yellow color. .
Among the ufeful trees of the forefts, we noticed a fpecies of
wild fig, that grew to a very confiderable fize, and bore a fruit
refembling in ihape and appearance the Bergamot pear. It had
a pleafant fubacid flavor, and was greedily devoured by the
birds. The leaves were oblong-ovate. A fpecies of falvia, or
fage, grew wild, and was much efteemed for its healing
qualities, when applied to green wounds. A fpecies alfo of
Solanum was much efteemed for the fame purpofe. The leaf
refembled that of tobacco, on which account it was known by
the name o f wild tobacco ; the upper fide of the-leaf was dark
green, and fmooth; the under fide white, and woolly ; the item
woody and prickly. The woolly fide of the leaf applied to a
fwelling
fwelling or gathering, quickly brings it to a head, and the green
fide afterwards as quickly heals it. I had an opportunity of
feeing thefe effefls in more than one inftance. Not far from
Plettenberg’s bay, along the banks o f a fmall rivulet, I met
with a whole foreft of the Strelitzia Alba, whofe tall and taper-
ft^ms, like thofe of the Areca nut, or Mountain cabbage,
were regular and well proportioned, as the Corinthian ihaft.
Many of them ran to the height o f five and twenty or thirty
feet, without a leaf. It is fufficiently remarkable, that the
three Strelitzias of Africa fhould be found in three diftina fitu-
ations, and at great diftances from each other; and what is
ftill more remarkable, that the white fpecies ihould grow fo
very abundantly along the fide of one ftream of water; and
not a fingle plant be found near any o f the reft in the fame
neighbourhood. From the great refemblance of this plant to
the Banana tree, the peafantry call it the Wild Plantain *.
From Plettenberg s bay we returned to the weftward, crofling
many deep and dangerous rivers. O f thefe, the Kayman, or
Crocodiles’ river, was by much the moft difficult to pafs with
waggons, the banks on either fide being feveral hundred feet
high, fteep, and rocky. It is confidently afferted, that the
animal, whofe name the river bears, occafionally appears in it,
r * EUt th' moilekgant p,ant that oc‘:'lrred in whole foreft, was the native vine
oi Ainca. Th.s creeper ran to the very fummlts of the Hlgheft Geel-hout trees, and
bore a fruit in fize and appearance not unlike the Morelle cherry, feldom more than two
or three b a clnfter, of a very agreeable and delicate fubacid flavor. The leaves of this
vine are fhaped like thofe of the Ivy, dark green, and fmooth on the upper, and rather
woolly on theunder, furfaee; not deciduous, but evergreen.
y y thouglf