The romance of plant life, interesting descriptions of the strange and curious in the plant world . ted,they become arid, dry, and almost useless. But when care-fully and industriously worked, as they were in the days ofGreece, Carthage, and Rome, they produce results which willfor ever live in the history of the world. The meaning of such half-desert climates and of the scrubwhich covers them has been already suggested. The scrub is trying to occupy the desert. If one takes the sternwheel steamer at the First Cataract ofthe Nile and passes southwards, the desolation of black rockand honey-col
The romance of plant life, interesting descriptions of the strange and curious in the plant world . ted,they become arid, dry, and almost useless. But when care-fully and industriously worked, as they were in the days ofGreece, Carthage, and Rome, they produce results which willfor ever live in the history of the world. The meaning of such half-desert climates and of the scrubwhich covers them has been already suggested. The scrub is trying to occupy the desert. If one takes the sternwheel steamer at the First Cataract ofthe Nile and passes southwards, the desolation of black rockand honey-coloured sand of the Libyan Desert is atfirst unbroken. But here and there the thorny trees of the Seyal. Acacia show the beginnings of a scrub further to the south, those acacias and others becomegreat forests which extend all along the south of the SaharaDesert and furnish the valuable gums of the Soudan. If one passes southward through this forest of acacias, italters in character. The trees become taller, closer together,and climbing plants and undergrowth become more frequent. io8. TREES COLONIZING THE DESERT Still ftirther south, one finds the regular tropical forestwhich is characteristic of the tropics everywhere. The most interesting part, which is also the richest in biggame, is the intermediate zone between the desert and theacacia forest or scrub. All sorts of transitions are found. Sometimes there arethickets of thorny bushes. Occasionally scattered clumps ofwoodland alternate with stretches of grass or what looks likegrass. Near the desert one finds pioneer acacias dotted singlyhere and there; these are the scouts or skirmishers of the armyof trees which is trying to occupy and colonize the desert.] This explains why this sort of scrub occurs in so manyparts of the world. On the European side of the Mediter-ranean, the dry climate of Spain, the Riviera, and Greecemust no doubt at one time have supported a scrub vegeta-tion. At present it is difficult to t
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