WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



A. Harold Unwin, D. Oec, 

 Forester, Benin City, West Africa. 



In days gone by when Portugese and British adventurers 

 sailed along the above named coast no one thought very much 

 about the trees they saw, and less about starting any forestry 

 operations there. 



Since then times have changed and the Coast (as it is 

 termed) now produces, besides its well known palm oil, quite 

 an appreciable quantity of the world's mahogany supply. 



In the above term is included not only six large British 

 Colonies but also several French, German, Portugese and Belgian 

 territories, besides finally the practically independent country of 

 Liberia. The following remarks are, however, confined to the 

 portion extending from Lagos, along the "Bight of Benin" to 

 Calabar reaching back about 200 miles on both banks of the 

 Niger to Idah, usually termed Southern Nigeria, a Protectorate 

 of the British Empire. 



Its products are largely palm oil and kernels, but also many 

 others, including especially timber (mahogany, cedar, walnut) 

 and rubber of several kinds. 



The forests containing these latter export commodities are 

 of vast extent, but present quite a different picture to either 

 Canadian deciduous forests or the northern coniferous areas, 

 where one so easily gets so many thousand logs of waney timber 

 per mile, l^esides saw logs. Here one is content with about 400 

 per mile, and a maximum yield of perhaps i ,200 logs ! ! ! 



The tropical forest is in fact a vast arboricultural collection. 

 On one square mile quite 50 or even 100 different species of trees 

 (they have not been actually counted) might be found, besides 

 shrubs, creepers, vines and small flowering plants and ferns. 

 Such endless variety alters the forest problem considerably. 

 In the aggregate there are many of each kind, especially of the 

 commoner kinds such as mahogany. 



All the land nominally belongs to the people, and is worked 

 through their chiefs, and finally now by the white man with the 

 consent of these latter. Anyone may put in an application 

 for a large or small area (9 square miles up to 400 as recently 

 granted), and lease it for usually seven years. It may, however, 



