CH. V 



MAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 81 





of cattle. In sucli forests graziers are to be allowed 

 on no account to set fire to the grass in order to 

 bring out a new crop of tender herbage. Finally, 

 if the area is overgrazed and there are no means 

 of regulating the grazing to the limits which render a 

 rational forest management possible, it is useless to 

 attempt the latter. Although there is a maxim 

 in law that no right can be exercised so as to ruin 

 the land in or over which it exists, political reasons 

 may in some cases override these rules. As an ex- 

 ample, I may quote a case which came within my 

 own experience not long ago. The new town of Port 

 Sudan, on the Red Sea, was in want of a fuel reserve 

 in order to provide for the regular supply of firewood 

 to the inhabitants. The settlement provided that the 

 Government was vested, free of all rights, in the land 

 within a radius of ten miles of the town. Within that 

 area there was a wood, chiefly composed of Acacia 

 tortilis, which was well suited for this fuel reserve. 

 A survey of the forest land was made and a forest 

 officer drew up a working plan for the same. As the 

 forest was to be worked on the coppice system, a 

 clause in the working plan provided for the closing to 

 grazing of the compartments cut over for a sufficient 

 number of years to ensure the safety of the new re- 

 growth. Thereupon the Governor of the Province, 

 although the area was declared free of rights, stated that 

 it was not possible to keep out of the woods or any 

 portion of them the herds belonging to nomad Arabs, 

 who always came down when the water-supplies and 

 the pasture in the hills were exhausted. As the work- 

 ing of a forest, especially on the coppice system, under 

 such conditions would have meant hastening the total 

 destruction of woody growth, not only was the fuel 

 reserve given up, but regulations had to be published 

 prohibiting absolutely the cutting of wood within these 

 areas. 



As regards the number of cattle which can be ad- 

 mitted into a forest without causing permanent injury, 



G 



