184 MOZAMBIQUE 



groves did not coppice, and even if they did I could 

 not conceive that the standing dead timber could 

 interfere much with the growth of the young trees. 



At Angoche I took the opportunity of inspecting 

 some forests which had been worked through. I 

 found Avicennia Officinalis sprouting but no 

 others ; and I believe this so-called white mangrove 

 to be the only one of the many species that line 

 the estuaries of the rivers that sprouts again after 

 being cut down. Certainly BJiizophora mucro- 

 7iata, the principal if not the only source of 

 mangrove bark of commerce from Mozambique, 

 does not coppice. When the tree is barked it 

 dies, root and branch. 



Next, as to whether cutting down the old trees 

 is necessary for the welfare of the young plants, 

 I found opinions divided on this point. One 

 authority, who had been in the mangrove business 

 seven years and has large concessions in the 

 territory and in Madagascar, gave it as his opinion 

 that it was necessary to cut down the trees after 

 barking, otherwise the young trees could not 

 obtain the light, air, and room they required. 

 Others whom I consulted were equally emphatic 

 in insisting that the cutting and the removal of 

 the dead trees were quite unnecessary. I was 

 predisposed, I confess, to agree with this view, and 

 my observations at Angoche confirmed me in this 



