THE FOREST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



59 



ests. The colony exports a great deal of rubber, and the cultivation 

 of rubber plants is a profitable enterprise. 



CYPRUS. 



The island of Cyprus, lying in the Mediterranean Sea off Asia 

 Minor, is on the whole scantily wooded. An area of 448,000 acres is 

 classed as forest, but many parts of this are of more or less open char- 

 acter. The most common tree is maritime pine. There are also found 

 Pinus laricio, several species of oak, plane tree, alder, cedar, cypress, 

 juniper, elm, and walnut. Rhus coriaria (the sumac of commerce), 

 carob, and olive flourish. 



TERRITORIES OF BRITISH NORTH BORNEO AND SARAWAK. 



The total forest area of Borneo and Sarawak is not known. The 

 territories are rich in timber and other products of the forest, as 

 gutta-percha and india rubber. The exports of timber exceed the 

 imports in volume. 



FRENCH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 



The forests of the Indio-Chinese possessions of France and coun- 

 tries under its protectorate are large, but are very little known and 

 very little used, although they include almost the same species as are 

 found in the forests of British India. 



DUTCH POSSESSIONS IN ASIA. 



Large forest areas are found in the colonies of the Netherlands, on 

 the islands of Java and Sumatra, and part of Borneo. The forests 

 of Java are most known. They comprise 4,920,000 acres. 



AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA. 



In Australia forests in the European sense are very seldom met 

 with, except in the form of a few thousand acres of artificial planta- 

 tions. The Australian forest exists either as thicket, open forest, or 

 chaparral growth. The tree-forest region of the mainland is almost 

 entirely along the coast. The areas under forest in the different colo- 

 nies have been estimated as follows: 



TABLE 21. Area of forests of Australasia, by colonies. 



