chapter I 



HOW THE SAHARA HAPPENED 



Who are The Men of the Trees? They are not as some 

 might suppose Sons of Tarzan or those little pigmy men 

 who swing themselves from bough to bough in the tall 

 trees of the forest, but they are a band of African War- 

 riors who have pledged themselves before N'gai — the 

 High God — to save their forests from destruction and 

 plant trees everywhere. 



The life and prosperity of the tribes of Equatorial 

 Africa are inseparably bound up with the splendid for- 

 ests which are the ancient heritage of their people. Lofty 

 and dense, these forests have for countless centuries af- 

 forded shelter, food and fuel to the wandering inhabit- 

 ants of these vast tracts of country. It is difficult for city 

 dwellers in Western civilization to realize the tremen- 

 dous influence of the primeval forests of Africa upon the 

 lives of those peoples, who, from time immemorial, have 

 dwelt beneath their shade. The very soul of the forest 

 has entered into their folk songs and legends, and deep 

 within their primal hearts is a feeling of awe and devo- 

 tion for its vast solitudes and everchanging tropical 

 beauties. 



Everybody knows that trees, apart from their direct 

 economic value, exert a beneficial influence affecting cli- 



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