CHAPTER XX 



THE NATUKAL FOEESTS 



The great proportion of the surface of the Province 

 is timbered — in the south as semi-afforested low 

 veld, in the north as low tropical forest — but I 

 do not think timber will ever become an important 

 article of exportation from the colony because of 

 the cost of transport. Only if there are found to 

 be large areas with particularly valuable timber 

 trees thick upon the land, and near to water 

 transport, making it worth while incurring the 

 expense of opening sawmills, will there be a 

 prospect of a lumber industry arising. This, 

 however, as well as the examination of the forests 

 for balata, gums, dye, bark, cordage, drugs, rubber, 

 gutta, and other economic products, is a matter 

 for future investigation. The chief value of the 

 forests, in my belief, exists not in the expectation 

 of the discovery in paying quantities of any valu- 

 able commercial product, but in providing timber 

 and fuel for domestic use for future planters, and 



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