10 



Dry evergreen bush forest occurs in various parts of the highlands, 

 chiefly between 5,500 and 7,000 feet, among characteristic species being 

 Acokanthera Schimperi, Olea chrysophylla, Elaeodendron sp., Carissa 

 edulis, giant Euphorbia, and various stiff leathery-leaved, often thorny, 

 evergreens. This type often represents the remnants of forest of better 

 quality which has deteriorated through cutting, burning and grazing. 



(9) Bamboo forests. These forests, consisting of the one species, 

 Arundinaria alpina, occur mainly between 7,500 and 10,000 feet, often 

 forming a more or less continuous and extensive belt above the tree limit, 

 but the bamboo, at its lower elevations, forms an undergrowth in tree 

 forest. Some details regarding the bamboo will be found in paragraphs 

 37 to 41. 



4. FOREST RESERVATION. 



4. DESTRUCTION OF FOREST. The forest area of the Colony was at one 

 time considerably greater than it is now. The curtailment of the area is due 

 to various causes. Severe inroads have been made by the grazing fires of the 

 Masai and by wasteful clearing for temporary cultivation on the part of the 

 Kikuyu who, profiting by the security offered by British protection against 

 Masai raids, have destroyed extensive areas of valuable forest since the advent 

 of the British. In the earlier years of the Protectorate large tracts of forest 

 were needlessly alienated before their value was fully appreciated or the 

 machinery for reserving them could be brought into operation. More recently 

 considerable areas have been alienated by surveyors anxious to secure good 

 boundaries on paper without considering the actual existence of forest or 

 grass-land respectively. 



It has been noted above (paragraph 1) that from the producing point 

 of view alone the forest area of the Colony has already been curtailed to the 

 utmost limit of safety. It may be added here that that limit has already 

 been exceeded in respect of the destruction of forest on which the main- 

 tenance of the water supply depends. The fact is now too generally known 

 to require emphasising that forests in the catchment areas of streams 

 exercise a most important influence in preventing denudation, and in holding 

 up water in the soil after showers of rain and producing a regular flow from 

 springs. The clearing of forest, on the other hand, results in the erosion of 

 the surface soil and the rapid run-off of water after every shower, pro- 

 ducing sudden floods after rain with a corresponding drying up of springs 

 and streams in periods of dry weather. In this respect the forests of Kenya 

 Colony, situated as they are for the most part on hilly country, exercise an 

 important, not to say a vital, influence on the general prosperity of the 

 Colony. 



An official with long experience of the country informs me that cases 

 have come under his personal observation in which the destruction of forests 

 on the slopes of the Aberdares has resulted in certain streams which were 

 formerly perennial becoming seasonal. That the effect of deforestation is 

 already being viewed with alarm by settlers themselves is apparent from a 

 resolution passed unanimously by the Ruiru Farmers' Association at a meet- 

 ing held on the 15th December, 1921, to the effect that the Association viewed 

 the deforestation of the river banks in the Kyambu district with much concern, 

 and wished to draw attention to the serious desiccation of the rivers which 

 was resulting, to the grave detriment of development below the reserves. This 

 resolution refers to denudation on private land over which Government, 

 having no riparian rights, has no control : the remedy is in the hands of the 

 riparian owners, but it is advisable that legislation should be invoked to ensure 

 the protection of streams and their banks against desiccation and denuda- 

 tion. The district in question was until comparatively recently covered with 



