136 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



of the West Coast as a deterrent 

 to securing first-class men from the 

 States to assist in the work ; the abnor- 

 mal and not-within-the-memory-of-the 

 oldest-inhabitant and therefore unex- 

 pected, floods in the dry season, or sea- 

 sons dry when by all precedents since 

 the time of Noah, the' floods are due; 

 the entire lack of roads and ordinary 

 means of transportation of camp sup- 

 jilies ; besides the other thousand and 



CKOSS-CUTTLNG A MAHOGANY TREE, 

 WEST AFRICA 



rice when he can avoid doing so, pre- 

 ferring to live on the food products of 

 his own country maize, yams, plain- 

 tains, bananas, palm nuts and palm oil, 

 sugar cane, with all the native condi- 

 ments above mentioned besides a host of 

 others. To him no rations are issued, 

 but a fixed sum in cash is paid to each 

 man on the first of every month, with 

 which he buys his own food supplies. 

 Each little clique and clan does its own 

 cooking, has its own pots and pans. 



One of the first things to be done after 

 a camp is opened is to clean the stream 

 and put it into the best possible condition 

 for floating and driving logs. In doing this work it is diffi- 

 cult to make the native workmen understand how thor- 

 oughly it should be done. A crew sent to cut out old 

 logs, driftwood, fallen trees, and other obstructions from 

 the bed of the creek, over a certain limit, will report on 

 their return that the work is finished according to or- 

 ders. On inspection these various obstacles will be 

 found practically untouched, only such timbers cut out 

 as might stop the logs on the very highest floods. Called 

 to book, they say "Massa, God bring the big water; log 

 he pass one time." These people rely for many things 

 on the direct help of gods not the God of the Bible, 

 but their own several gods. 



Lest it might prove dull reading, I refrain from nar- 

 rating particulars of the general work, nor will I give 

 details of the countless difficulties, seen and unforeseen, 

 to be met and overcome ; the untried creeks, the ignorant 

 and unskilled labor, the disappointing qualifications and 

 characteristic failings of the lumberjacks sent over to 

 act as foremen and to educate the natives in the use and 

 care of tools; the self-evident disadvantages of five 

 thousand miles and four weeks' time from the base of 

 supplies; the "white man's grave" reputation 



TYPICAL HOME OF WHITE LUMBERMAN IN MAHOGANY REGION 



OF WEST AFRICA 



one matters constantly cropping up requiring an oflfhand 

 decision by the General Manager ^the healing of the 

 sick, or, failing in that, the burial of the dead; corre- 

 spondence with the home ofii'ce, of the nature of ancient 

 history two months elapsing' before the mail can pos- 

 sibly bring a reply; the unpleasant half hours wherein 

 one feels that the determination not to turn one's back 

 upon an undertaking but rather to stay with it until suc- 

 cess has crowned the effort, is an exhibition of stub- 

 bornness and pride irreconcilable with the possession of 

 common or even horse sense. 



The duties of the manager, as will readily be seen, 

 cover a wide and diversified field of action. He must 

 be ready on his own initiative, as the referendum is 

 two months away, forty days by post and cabling costs 

 one dollar and a half per word each way. The redeem- 

 ing feature of this self-imposed life in exile inWest Africa 

 is found in the multifarious duties here mentioned, and 

 in the fact that one finds the time fully occupied, each 

 day too short for the work ; and the same is true of the 

 weeks and months and years Yet, to be entirely con- 

 tent, one needs a touch of Hearn or Stevenson in one's 



