CHAPTER III 

 SIERRA LEONE 



I. The Forests. 



The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone cover an area of approxi- 

 mately 34,000 square miles, or, to make it more comprehensible, it 

 is almost the same size as Ireland. Probably in the earliest times 

 the whole territory was covered with some kind of arborescent growth, 

 varying from open savannah and deciduous forest to close, impene- 

 trable evergreen rain forest. 



Now scarcely I per cent, of this forest remains, one of the most 

 important tracts being the Sierra Leone or Peninsular Mountain Forest, 

 situated on the mountain due east of Freetown. The whole of this 

 region was once covered with forest, now reduced to an area of 

 approximately 48 square miles, or 30,000 acres. All this tract down 

 to the 500-foot control line has been reserved as a permanent forest, 

 so that eventually the whole peninsular forest will have an area of 

 75 square miles. Illustrations Nos. 2 and 4 show a general view of 

 these forests. 



Other important mountain forests are those situated on the Kassewe 

 Hills, Kagnari Mountains, Kambui Hills, Panguma Hills, Nimmini 

 Mountains, Loma Mountains, Bunbola Hills, and Maramper Hills. 

 In addition to these areas, timber trees are felled at Kangahan and 

 Yonni, as well as in the peninsular mountains and Maramper Hills, 

 especially for local use. 



Turning now to a consideration of the forests more in detail, one 

 naturally first deals with the most accessible ones, i.e. of the penin- 

 sular mountains. From the beautiful harbour of Freetown, Sierra 

 Leone, one sees the edge of these forests between Leicester Peak and 

 Sugar Loaf Mountains. From these two points it skirts the hill 

 station, extending thence roughly parallel to the sea as far as Kent ; 

 the largest wooded slopes face the ocean, only a narrow strip of forest 

 being found on the landward side of the mountains near Burehtown 

 and John Obey. The forest extends practically from the water's 

 edge on the estuary of the Bureh River right up the mountains to an 

 elevation of 2,000 feet, with a rainfall of upwards of 160 inches per 

 year. Silvan vegetation is very luxuriant, the giant trees standing 



