MEN OF THE TREES 



one whom they trust, the forest-dwellers are the first to 

 sense the spirit of the man who would aid them in their 

 life by giving them the results of applied science in 

 terms intelligible to their experience. 



Unguided in the past, the native farmer has invaded 

 the best of the Forest. I have travelled along hundreds 

 of miles which suggested uninhabited impenetrable For- 

 est, for so perfect is the instinct for the wild in the 

 forest-dweller that his skilful concealment of the ap- 

 proaches to his farm are often impossible to detect. The 

 explorer might pass a hundred times within call of these 

 approaches, yet have no consciousness of the hidden 

 clearing. It may be only by chance that he will discover 

 that vast areas he regarded as virgin forest are honey- 

 combed with farms. 



The formation of Forest Reserves is doing much to 

 limit their wholesale destruction, and native farmers 

 are now being taught, to their advantage, to plant trees 

 in their cultivations between their yams, so that when 

 their food crops are reaped, they will leave behind them 

 on the land a potential forest. 



In the world today, whether in Equatorial Africa or 

 elsewhere, people are increasingly realizing the depend- 

 ence of men upon trees for their future welfare and 

 comfort. By the act of planting trees, man is forever 

 safeguarding the future. 



The sons of the forest are exploring new ways and 

 means of livelihood, and as the trees yield up their treas- 

 ure to civilization, the scientist as a factor in civilization 



170 



