36 WEST AFRICAN FORESTRY AND FORESTS 



trunk at nearer inspection. It will be seen that it is rather a tall tree, 

 with open thin crown and straight upward-spreading branches. The bole 

 usually does not exceed 30 feet in length, and then forks or divides 

 into three main stems. The curious marks on the stem, making the 

 tree look as if it were attacked with some form of canker, are those 

 made by tapping the trees for the gum. At the beginning of the 

 dry season small squares of bark, about an inch across, are removed 

 from the tree, beginning at the ground, upwards to 20 and 30 feet. 

 At the corners of each little square gum gradually exudes during 

 the dry season in the form of an ever-increasing sized globular tear, 

 which hardens on exposure to the air. By the end of the dry season, 

 as in February or March, it has attained a size of half an inch or so, 

 and is then quite hard and white and nearly transparent. Only a 

 few little pieces of bark adhere to its surface, and these are easily 

 removed. Then these tears are collected in a bag, sorted, and then 

 sold to the European firms in Sierra Leone and elsewhere. The 

 average tree yields 1 lb. of gum copal per year. 



In the peninsular forest a patch of Gum Copal trees is found near 

 Bureh Town. In the Protectorate, irregular belts occur, such as that 

 on the Kassewe Hills and north of Moyamba. On the banks of the 

 Rokell River, too, it occurs in single specimens dotted along the 

 bank. The smooth grey bark of the stem is not unlike Beech, except 

 for the fact that it is pitted by the tapping squares, which occude 

 only very gradually. 



The leaves are in pairs, but have such a straight inner edge that 

 they appear like one leaf which has been cut in half down the middle. 

 The main vein of the leaf is at one side of it. In this manner 

 the leaf is unmistakable, though a Cynometra leaf is somewhat 

 similar, and also a Bauhinia; but in the former the vein is more in 

 the centre and the leaves are quite separate and not close together, 

 and in the latter they are joined at the base. The tree appears to 

 be easily killed by overtapping. Before the formation of the Forest 

 Department, whole forests had been destroyed in this way, one of which 

 I saw north of Moyamba during an inspection of the Gum Copal 

 belt. 



The timber of this tree is a red-brown colour, of hard texture, with 

 a pretty grain. It is, of course, of the type of purple-heart. It is 

 very durable and termite-proof, though a borer attacks it slightly. 

 The wood of trees killed by overtapping proves to be quite sound 

 and useful for any purpose where a hard timber is required. 



The tree can be grown from the flat, round, paper-like seeds, which 

 are bought at £1 a bushel in Sierra Leone. The tree usually bears 

 well, and the seed is collected off the ground. Young self-sown 

 seedlings are found, which shows that the seeds germinate readily 

 too. It does not stand transplanting very well, but with care soon 



