SIERRA LEONE 39 



of the Mano, Morro, Maho and Rokell Rivers. The long fronds of 

 the leaves yield the steering and pushing poles for canoes, also most 

 useful rafters and scantlings for houses. The leaves themselves are 

 made into mats for covering the houses. They are said to last 

 seven years when properly put on, The fruit of the tree is used 

 for stupefying fish, which can then be very easily speared by the 

 natives. The tree is usually set on fire to draw the palm wine, though 

 this more often happens subsequently to the taking of the wine. 

 A tree does not last more than three years with severe tapping, such 

 as it is subject to by the natives. 



Borassus flabellifer (Fan Palm, Bottle Palm) is found in the 

 northern, drier part of the Protectorate, but so far is not used to any 

 extent for house-building, for which the timber is most suitable, being 

 very durable, of good length, and can be split. The nuts of the large 

 coconut-like fruit are useful as a substitute for vegetable ivory, though 

 thus far no use has been made of them. The approximate area of 

 distribution of this species of tree is about 4,000 square miles. Quite 

 a trade is done in various kinds of bark, altogether from about fifteen 

 different species of trees, of which most are collected in the Peninsular 

 Forest. Amongst them is found the Sasswood, or that of Erylhro- 

 phloeum Guineense, the notorious native poison, though it is not at 

 all certain that nowadays in Sierra Leone it is used for this purpose. 



V. The Forest Department of Sierra Leone. 



In the course of 1911 a Forest Department was formed by the 

 appointment of a Conservator of Forests ; this has been gradually 

 enlarged until there are now three Assistant Conservators of Forests 

 as well. The chief work of the Department so far has been the 

 drafting and passing of a Forestry Ordinance in 1912 and the 

 demarcation of two Forest Reserves. The Peninsular Forest, with 

 its new boundaries, comprises 75 square miles, and the Kassewe 

 Hill. Other areas have been set aside, notably the Kagnari Hills 

 and Kambui Hills as Forest Reserves, and Nimmini and Loma 

 Forests examined previous to demarcation with a view to their 

 reservation. The Gum Forests were closed to tappers with the 

 consent of the chief, so that the trees could recover from 

 previous overtapping. In addition to this work, some rubber 

 planting has been done in the Gumah, and one Assistant spends all 

 his time on this work, nurseries having been formed in different places 

 — Mano, Bo, and Falaba. A large number of botanical specimens of 

 the trees and shrubs have been forwarded to Kew for identification, 

 so that gradually the silvan vegetation is becoming known. No 

 planting of oil palms {Elceis Guineensis) has been undertaken yet, 

 despite the large export of this product. Rubber planting has not 



