A Thousand Miles in a Machilla 



Marine Transport Department employed a large 

 number of natives under Europeans to clear the 

 passage, and a main channel sixty-five miles long 

 and forty-eight feet wide was made at a cost 

 of ^"400. 



The Government has a forestry department, and 

 many thousand eucalyptus and African mahogany 

 trees have been planted, also on the Zomba plateau 

 several species of pinus as well as the Mlanje 

 cypress {Widdringtonia Why tie]. Experiments 

 are being made with other varieties of timber 

 trees. 



Afforestation in the country round Blantyre 

 and Zomba is imperative. There is a very large 

 demand for firewood, not only for domestic purposes, 

 but for the tobacco industry and the railway. The 

 cypress is considered a valuable asset ; it has been 

 found most serviceable for the Public Works Depart- 

 ment, and can be felled and brought to its desti- 

 nation at a much lower price than the imported 

 timber, but it cannot last for ever. 



Ebony. Ebony is found throughout the 

 Protectorate. Samples of this wood have been 

 valued in the home market at ^ IDS. to 6 a ton. 

 Carved articles and walking sticks of ebony can be 

 very cheaply bought at Zanzibar and other coast 

 towns. 



Camphor trees, planted in Zomba in 1896, 

 have done well. One flowered and fruited in 1907, 

 the result being 850 young seedlings. About half 

 of these have been distributed over various estates, 

 and the remainder planted out in the Zomba experi- 



122 



