KEl'LA.EMENT OF TllK ANC IKNT E. AFRICAN FOREST 505 



and (if the population were larjie) less choice, and this mode of 

 cultivation may have heen as much the fashion here as it was in 

 Belt's day in Nicara^^ua. A recent period of this kind mig-ht 

 explain, far better than tire alone, the clearing of certain rich 

 trap-areas, like large parts of the jihu, since the sand-av)ple line 

 was fixed — subsec(uently. that is, to another kind of period dur- 

 ing which the disappearance of forest from the poorer or drier 

 soils first was the rule. Not so recent as to have left memories 

 or traditions — .for of these I find no trace : and not concluded bv 

 the Zulu incursion — for this, an incorporation on this side of the 

 Sabi rather than a con(juest. appears to have interfered so little 

 with the life of the people as to have been unlikely to have 

 caused the cessation of such a custom. Yet it might have been 

 coincident with the Arab trade and the better davs of the 

 \''arozvvi. 



A fact that perhaps may tell against the importance of the 

 above factor is that some of the most important forests in Africa 

 outside of the solid area occur far up on the route of the south- 

 ward migration of the races, and where blocking and crowded 

 |X>pulat-ions would appear to have occurred in the process. 



An instance of the effect of the constant cuttinq of saplings 

 by natives will be given below. Continued long enough by suffi- 

 cient natives, it would certainly end in the destruction of the 

 ]x>rtion of forest afifected. 



Shade. — Roosevelt and Heller (^ifricaii Game Animals) 

 suggest as the raisou d'etre for this " massed "' type of forest and 

 its sharj) demarcation from the surrounding grass-veld that the 

 trees composing it seem capable of growing' only " where they 

 are protected from the maximum (|uantity of sunlight." The 

 need is doubtless felt by certain si)ecies — as it is. I believe, by 

 the Ca])e Stinkwood — and the shrubs and herbs are also, doubt- 

 less, largely dependent on shade. Coffea lic/iisfroides, planted by 

 me without shade, failed, and shrubs of Conopharyngia usam- 

 bareiisis, though they have grown vigorously, show some leaf- 

 crumpling and a flecking with yellow that indicates some chloro- 

 ]ihyll-destruction. Seedlings, again, in their first drv season, 

 liave certain small requirements, which may be better referred 

 to below. Be)-ond this, the view does not seem to apply to our 

 big forest trees. Many years ago. in experimenting in shade- 

 trees for coffee and standards for Lan.dolphia rubber, I planted 

 forest-trees in the open sunlight, did not irrigate, and. except at 

 first, gave no cultivation, b'ach is now growing in isolation, 

 surrounded by grass but protected from fire,, and the latter 

 seems to be, at this stage, its sole demand. The failure of one 

 individual {Chrysophyllum s|). ) has been counterbalanced by the 

 success of another that has come u]) naturally, in broad sunlight, 

 outside the forest, and Khaya iiyasica, Lovoa Szuynnertonii, 

 and Eckebergia Meycri ( IMeliacecc). Teclea Szvymiertonji (Ruta- 

 ce?e). Schefflerodendron gazense (Leguminosse), Pygeum afri- 

 canum (Rosaceae), Chrysopliyllinn fulvum ( Sapotaceae), Stryeh- 

 nos mitis (Loganiaceffi), Maba mualala (Ebenace?e). Croton 



