MEN OF THE TREES 



is the limit of uncontrolled natural growth, in this riot 

 of species, for in all such virgin forest which remains 

 unexploited, the growth but keeps pace with decay, and 

 it is not till man assists nature by cultural operations 

 that there is a surplus of valuable timber assured for the 

 future use of civilization. 



For countless generations in the past these vast forests 

 of the Southern Provinces of Nigeria have provided 

 food and shelter for primitive man, whether he lived by 

 his bow, or his hoe. Fearless in the face of the dangers 

 from wild beasts, yet fearful of the unknown mysteries 

 that to him lie hidden in the Forest, he has thus eked out 

 his precarious existence. 



The hunters have been the friends of the Forest, for 

 their wants were meagre, and easily satisfied, without 

 the necessity for extensive tree destruction. A few dead 

 sticks gathered from wind-fallen branches provided suf- 

 ficient fuel. In the spell of the Forest he guarded his own 

 domain from all intruders, for no rival would risk his 

 poisoned arrow. Led by his honey-bird he extended his 

 arboreal apiary, but always within his mysteriously de- 

 marcated province. It is the unwritten law of the For- 

 est that each dweller has his own territory. To the white 

 man the origin and observance of this law is inexpli- 

 cable, except as a survival of the past, but to its power is 

 due the preservation of many of the still existing virgin 

 forests. 



In these forests are the giants of the tree world. I have 

 measured great mahoganies girthing over thirty feet, 



164 



