The present trees appear to have been the first that ever grew within the temple area. In the soil removed from ancient floors there were no signs of any older generations of trees having existed. The first appear to have arrived with the soil brought in by the past Makalanga in the course of their usual practice of converting ancient enclosures into platforms on which to erect their huts. The trees evidently flourished in the soil made rich by huge piles of bones of oxen and buck, the remains of feasts and sacrifices. Except in a few instances where rain-water was unable to escape, and has caused the ancient cement flooring to become decomposed, the roots of the trees rarely pierce below the ancient floors, the surfaces of which are covered with matted roots closely interwoven in masses like the roots of a large plant growing in a small pot. The jungle growth of small trees, bushes, and creepers would seem to be the result of excavators, who have broken up the hard clay floors of the old Makalanga and thus ventilated the soil below, as those places where most excavation work has been done have produced the greatest quantities of trees and the densest jungles. Until the whole of this foreign soil is removed down to the level of an ancient floor this jungle growth will always spring up afresh. But the growth of creepers such as monkey-rope, wild vines, and a climbing plant known as “Zimbabwe creeper,” has wrought untold havoc, but mainly on the faces of the walls. These creepers pierce into the joints of the dry masonry and emerge at a point some feet higher up. Later the branch inside the wall swells and forces out of the face of the wall all the blocks between the points where it enters into and emerges from the wall. This destruction of the walls by creepers is seen in many places at every one of the numerous ruins at Zimbabwe. Monkey-rope at the Elliptical Temple and wild vine on the Acropolis have been the most destructive agents of any of the creeper plants. The “Zimbabwe creeper” was found to be growing on the temple walls with its roots on the summits. This plant covered the main walls as with a thick green mantle, at some points completely hiding the entire surface of the walls. It also had its roots in the interstices of the Chevron Pattern, from the blocks of which it hung in festoons of over one hundred-weight each. This constant strain on the pattern has effected some destruction in addition to the injuries caused by the overhanging boughs of trees. The dilapidation of the walls of the Elliptical Temple is fairly typical of the dilapidations at all the ruins at Zimbabwe.