FORESTRY IQI 



common. As population increases, the periods allowed for forest 

 regeneration are becoming shorter, and destruction is propor- 

 tionately increasing. The allocation of areas for village forests, 

 inaugurated in 1926, has been mentioned (Clements 1935). 



Tanganyika has also suffered the loss or modification of large areas 

 of forest through shifting cultivation, and much damage has been 

 wrought by uncontrolled firing. Judging from climatic and soil 

 conditions, considerable areas of evergreen forest must formerly 

 have existed in the mountainous country, on the alluvial plains 

 surrounding the mountains, and over considerable areas of the 

 coastal plain; but these original forests had been seriously damaged 

 long before the coming of the white man, and now the primeval 

 type of virgin forest seems entirely to have disappeared. Dr. E. 

 O. Teale (1929) has described this process for parts of the territory 

 in relation to the geological conditions which prevail. 



The territory is still, moreover, badly provided with forest 

 reserves, which represent less than i -5 per cent of the land area 

 and include nearly all the remnants of evergreen forest. These 

 reserves are mostly situated in mountainous country or around the 

 heads or courses of rivers and streams. Their object is to ensure 

 a permanent water-supply in stream beds, which is the first essen- 

 tial of man's existence in a country like Tanganyika where the dry 

 season averages six months of the year. There are large areas of 

 savannah forests which could be reserved and, with no more 

 elaborate treatment than protection from fire, should play an 

 important part in the economic life of the country, not only as 

 sources of fuel and timber, but also as water and soil conservers, 

 and as nuclei for schemes of soil amelioration. This is stressed by 

 Professor Troup (1936) in his report on forestry in Tanganyika.. 

 Unless such reserves are taken up soon, the pressure of population 

 will make their acquisition difficult. Most of the existing reserves 

 are primarily protective and not designed for commercial exploita-^ 

 tion. 



In addition to the gazetted forest reserves, there are small re- 

 serves under the native authorities set aside for timber and fuel for 

 the native inhabitants. These are organized on similar lines to the 

 village forests in Nyasaland. Additional reserves are taken up from 

 time to time as occasion offers, and considerably more would have 



