FORESTRY 205 



reduction in the quality of prime logs. It has to be realized that the 

 very large prime logs, on which trade in the past has largely de- 

 pended, can no longer be produced after the areas of virgin forest 

 have been worked over. The maintenance of supply for the future 

 depends on silvicultural treatment of the forests, which is still in 

 its early infancy. 



From East Africa the only timbers exported in any quantity at 

 present are pencil cedar to Europe and mangrove poles from the 

 coast to Arabia and the Persian Gulf. There is a possibility of 

 export trade in yellow- wood (Podocarpus) , mvule and other timbers 

 to South Africa. Major F. M. Oliphant's recent tour in East 

 Africa on behalf of the Colonial Office may lead to an increase in 

 such trade. 



For the Belgian Congo, there is an extensive collection of speci- 

 mens in the Congo museum at Tervueren, and investigations have 

 been carried out at the museum's laboratory. Delevoy (1928-32) 

 has written an important reference work on the characters and 

 uses of each kind of wood found in the Katanga. 



Little is known regarding the local consumption of timber and 

 other forest produce in any part of Africa, and data are required 

 in order to assess the actual value of forests in each territory, and 

 to forecast future demands. For the non-native population fairly 

 accurate data on consumption could be obtained without much 

 difficulty, but to obtain statistics for the natives would be extremely 

 difficult, if not impossible. Apparently the only figures available 

 are those of Zon and Sparhawk (1923), who give the consumption 

 of wood per head of population as ranging from 2 cubic feet per 

 annum in Egypt and the Sudan up to 73-6 in the Rhodesias. These 

 figures, however, refer presumably to prepared timber, whereas 

 native consumption is mainly represented by round timbers and 

 firewood. Every man cuts for himself and consumption depends 

 on the amount available in each locality. In an area of low popu- 

 lation where plenty of wood exists, fires are often kept burning 

 in huts all day and all night, but even this consumption is insignifi- 

 cant in relation to the quantity destroyed in shifting cultivation. 

 In some regions, moreover, as in Nyasaland, numbers of trees are 

 felled to collect caterpillars for food. These illustrations indicate 

 the extreme difficulty of obtaining estimates of any reliability. 



