MEN OF THE TREES 



of his time and energy to furthering a movement which 

 he beheved to be for the good of his people, whose well- 

 being was paramount to him. 



I could not bear to remain here any longer, and leading 

 my pony, I walked with Josiah in the direction of his 

 country. After a few minutes silence I stopped and said : 

 ''Josiah, you know that little stream that flows through 

 your land? Down below your camp, hard by the stream 

 is some fine black soil. That is a grand place for a nurs- 

 ery. Your lads know now how to collect the tree seeds 

 and prepare them so that they will grow. There is noth- 

 ing to prevent you from making a nursery on that land 

 and there you may plant as many trees as you desire." 



I did not labour the point, but bid him farewell. Such 

 was his influence with his people that on his return to his 

 village he called his followers together and told them 

 that he had seen me and that everything was all right. I 

 had explained to him that the old nursery was the right 

 place for the tennis court, that the young trees had 

 obviously not been wasted, but had been planted out in 

 the government land and that now they might have their 

 own nursery in their own village and raise their own 

 seedlings where nobody would interfere with them. 

 Quickly a new nursery was prepared and instead of a 

 mere eighty thousand trees, over a million were raised by 

 their fresh endeavours. 



This was not the end of the story, for eight other chiefs, 

 fearing that I should love Josiah more than them, each 

 competed with him in tree-planting and as the result of 



JO 



