132 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



question of labor. The term labor has, on this coast, an 

 unusual significance, covering as it does, not only man- 

 ual, but as well the work commonly performed by horses, 

 mules, oxen or by steam jwwer. The native of the Gold 

 Coast is not running about looking for a job in a log- 

 ging cam]), preferring to fish, hunt, trade or to do noth- 

 ing, letting his wives support him by their labor or by 

 their wits, for the women are very keen as merchants. 

 The main incentive for the young man to labor for 

 wages is to earn the money with which to buy a few 

 wives, the which accomplished, he needs not to toil nor 

 spin. Another obstacle in the way of securing labor is 

 the lack of confidence in the matter of payment of wages 



master and man. The laborer, if so inclined, might after 

 receiving his advance, fail to show at roll call, and the 

 places that knew him well know him no more. On the 

 other hand, the employer might, and often did, by 

 smooth talk and fair promises, get his output for the 

 season safely on board a homeward bound steamer, tak- 

 ing passage himself, leaving the unsuspecting laborers 

 with their unpaid balances. The native employer finds 

 the evading of payment more difficult. He cannot run 

 away ; he must stay and face the music. He ships his 

 logs on the same kind of promises, but when, after long 

 and weary waiting, the logs are sold and the sales ac- 

 count is received, the balance due, if any, is absorbed 



CLE.\RING THE WOODS TO BUILD A LOGGING CAMP 



The mahogany logging camps in West .Africa are constructed to last for several years and to hold hundreds of native 

 workers, and must be so arranged that different tribes or various clans of tribesmen may be somewhat separated. 



when due. It seems that both natives and Europeans 

 who heretofore have essayed to get out logs, either failed 

 to bring their logs to a shipping point or, if succeeding 

 in this, forwarded the lot to the Liverpool market ; the 

 laborer being forced to wait for the return from brok- 

 ers' sales, and these more often than otherwise showing 

 a debit balance for freight and selling charges. 



Another and prevailing feature of hiring did not meet 

 our approval ; the practice being perhaps made necessary 

 by this same lack of confidence, to pay each man on hir- 

 ing, six months' wages in advance, no more to be paid 

 until the end of the twelve months term of hire. This 

 plan had its advantages and its disadvantages to both 



by the local merchants, who have furnished tools and 

 supplies and perhaps a little money, holding a lien on 

 the logs as security. Again the laborer is found not 

 worthy of his hire. 



The contract system also is in vogue in some parts 

 of the coast. The white man leases a tract of land said to 

 carry mahogany timber trees. He then gives out to a 

 native jobber a contract to bring to the mouth of the 

 river a specified number of logs. The jobber hires his" 

 men and gives them an advance on wages, the cash being 

 furnished by the white man. During the year, and 

 as the woj-k progresses, payments are made to the jobber, 

 who spends the sum in other ways than in payment of 



