160 



Canadian Forcstr}) Journal, April, 1919 



IN THE FORESTS OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



By A. S. Le Souef. 



British East Africa is an open country with 

 ht'le forest area or, in fact, trees of any sort; 

 on the railway journey from Momhassa to Vic- 

 toria Nyanza one travels for hundreds of miles 

 and only sees two or three species of trees, of 

 which the African thorn tree is common on the 

 tableland, while the hills west of Nairobi are 

 clothed with a large juniper, which is practically 

 the only building wood available in any quantity, 

 and very excellent it is, being impervious to 

 white ant and easily worked, resembling cedar. 

 The trees are from 50 to 100 feet high and, in 

 favorable localities, two feet in diameter. To 

 make up for this deficiency of timber the For- 

 estry Department has planted large quantities 

 of Australian trees. The only economic use 

 made of these trees is to provide fuel for the 

 railways and the steamers on the lake. 



In Uganda one meets with quite a different 

 class of country, for on the western shores of 

 Victoria Nyanza starts the immense forest area 

 that covers such a large portion of West Africa. 

 Trees of very large size are met with in a fairly 

 dense tropical jungle, but comparatively few are 

 of value, and these are all hardwoods. The 

 milling arrangements are primitive, for the trees 

 are cut up by native labor. 



The Forestry Department of Uganda is in 

 capable hands, and a large nursery is main- 

 tained at Entebbe, where numbers of different 

 trees, chiefly eucalyptus, are grown. These are 

 all planted in bamboos, and were being put out 

 round the shores of the lake — all the labor 

 being done by women engaged on piecework — 

 and very expert and efficient they were in hand- 

 ling the young trees. Several eucalyptus trees 

 about four years old (species unknown) were 

 about thirty feet high and very vigorous; but 

 one long-scented gum, planted on a stony rise, 

 and which as I should judge was twenty years 

 old, showed signs of mal-nutrition. 



The forests of Africa are more interesting 

 than those of Australia in that they are the 

 abode of many wild animals. Elephants are 

 fairly numerous, and where they have been 

 much hunted one has to be circumspect in their 

 vicinity, as they are apt to charge. Monkeys 

 may always be seen, while the tracks of leopards, 

 antelope, wild pigs and many smaller animals 

 show that the forests are well patrolled at night. 



WHERE QUININE COMES FROM. 



Dr. John Footc. 



Whenever a pessimistic physician says that 

 drugs never cure disease, some one is sure to 

 ask him about quinine. For quinine is one of 

 the few antiseptics which, taken internally, will 

 kill an invading parasite without also killing the 

 patient. Malaria is caused by a minute para- 

 site injected into the blood through the bite of a 

 mosquito. The parasite usually raises a new 

 family every other day; hence the intermittent 

 chills and fever. Quinine, taken in proper doses 

 and at proper intervals, will kill the parasite and 

 cure the disease by destroying its cause. It is, 

 therefore, a specific drug. There are few 

 specifics. 



In 1632 the Governor of Peru was much 

 worried about his wife, the Countess of Chin- 

 chon, who was desperately ill with chills and 

 fever. The Corregidor of Loxa recommended 

 the bark of a certain tree which the Indians used 

 as a medicine. The medicine was given and 

 the Countess recovered. The bark was then 

 rewarded for its good behavior by being called 

 Cinchora bark. The Jesuit order afterward in- 

 troduced it into Europe, where it was called 

 Jesuits' bark. 



The Cinchona calisaya, Chinchona succirubra 

 and other species of Chinona are trees of various 

 sizes, some reaching a height of 80 feet or up- 

 wards. Of the forty species, about a dozen 

 are of economic use. They are native to New 

 Granada, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and grow 

 in dense tropical forests, in isolation or in small 

 clumps. The work of securing the bark is of 

 great hardship to the Indian cascadores. Hav- 

 ing found a tree, the cascadore must literally 

 hack his way to it, clean it of surrounding vines, 

 and brush, and strip the bark from its trunk, 

 later felling the tree and stripping the branches. 

 The work of drying, packing and transporting 

 this bark is done under equally adverse con- 

 ditions, and the entire enterprise is difficult, 

 dangerous and wasteful. 



As early as 1854 the Dutch Government en- 

 deavored to cultivate cinchona in Java. A 

 successful industry was established in the East 

 Indies in 1861. Now it is cultivated in Ceylon, 

 southern India, British Burma and many similar 

 tropical climes. 



