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In the district of Messina in the far northern extremity of the Transvaal there is a strange group of natural monuments. All the Baobab or ‘Cream-of-Tartar’ trees on the farms Vogelenzang, Messina, Singelele, Berkenrode, Prinzenhage, Stockford and Toynton have been pro- claimed as natural monuments, for even these giants of the botanical world are threatened by destruction. This protection was especially necessary during the Second World War when there was a shortage of imported paper and there was talk of using baobab trees for manufacturing paper locally.

It is now generally accepted that all the baobabs belong to one species, Adansonia digitata. The fruit contain a sourmilk like juice which the local people use to make a drink. The first European settlers used the fruit as a substitute for cream-of-tartar.