CHAPTER 11 

 HOW THE FORESTS HELP MANKIND 



Next to the earth itself the forest is the most useful servant of man. 



GlFFORD PlNCHOT. 



THE early races of men were probably not forest dwellers 

 at least very few remains of our prehistoric ancestors have 

 been found in densely forested regions. But, although the for- 

 est is not the cradle of mankind, humanity has always been 

 dependent upon its varied gifts for, next to food, wood is 

 man's greatest necessity. And, although in his wanderings over 

 the face of the earth, man has often strayed far from the forest, 

 yet he must ever return to it and replenish his supply of those 

 very needful things that only the forests can give. The Eskimo 

 himself, living far from forests in the frozen Arctic is not 

 independent of the forest's gifts, for his igloos extend no fur- 

 ther north than where the shifting tides bring driftwood. Be- 

 yond that point he dare not go. 



As a matter of fact the forests bring many benefits to man- 

 kind in addition to wood, nuts, turpentine and other material 

 products. It is with some of those less material, but no less real 

 benefits of the forest we deal here. 



For the weaker peoples, for the driven and the oppressed, 

 the forest has always been a place of refuge. Even today in Af- 

 rica and in South America we find in the dense forest jungles 

 races that once lived out in the open country near the coasts, 



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