43 



The survey of the forest area may be conducted in the following manner : A 

 secondary triangulation, with stations 4 to 6 miles apart, is based on the nearest sides of 

 the chain of triangles of Major Morris' survey. The topographical points and the boun- 

 dary beacons of each reserve are then connected with the secondary triangnlation. 

 Finally, the topography is filled in by plane tabling or some other suitable method. There 

 is a purely graphical, and on that account, a very expeditive, special method of topogra- . 

 phical surveying which, as it is accurate enough in hilly ground, may be used with 

 advantage for forest work in Natal. The boundary line of each reserve should be sur- 

 veyed as it is run along, in order to give additional data for the topography. A con- 

 venient instrument to use for the purpose consists of a transit theodolite fitted with stadia 

 wires, or a vertical micrometer, by means of which distances may be measured without 

 chaining. 



The position of the different points in forest surveys should be specified by means of 

 rectangular co-ordinates, taking a near trigonometrical station as origin, and the 

 meridian and a perpendicular to it as axes. Co-ordinate surveying is compulsory at the 

 Cape, and the advantages of the method are too well Known to require notice. 



The principal features that should be laid down on forest maps are the following 

 (a) the boundary line of each reserve, (6) the wooded perimeter, (c) the configuration of 

 the ground, shown by shading or by sketched contours, (d) the watercourses and ridge- 

 lines, (e) roads, fences, and buildings. The scale will vary according to the importance 

 of the forest and the proposed mode of exploitation. For working plans of forests 

 that are required to be sectioned, a scale of 8 inches to the mile will be found con- 

 venient. For those of forests that can only be worked irregularly, a scale of 4 inches 

 to the mile will be generally sufficient ; and for general plans 2 inches to the mile is 

 a suitable scale. 



Owing to the scattered distribution of the Natal forests, their survey will often 

 involve that of a large tract of country, but the expense could be materially reduced by 

 combining, in forest districts, such surveys with the secondary triangulation of the Colony 

 which is now carried, and by apportioning the cost between each work. If the surveys 

 are carried independently, the same ground will have to be traversed twice, and the cost 

 will increase in proportion. In the forest districts, nearly all the stations of the 

 secondary triangulation would have to be visited again with instruments ; and thus the 

 cost of the one survey would not be much less than the cost of both, if carried together. 



CONSTITUTION OF FOREST RESERVES. The course followed at the Cape in estab- 

 lishing Forest Reserves is adaptable to Natal. After three months' publication of a 

 notice declaring the situation and the boundaries adopted, each demarkated area is 

 proclaimed a Forest Reserve, unless the declaration is restrained by a judicial order. 



