NIGERIA 159 



the case, a hole may appear in the middle of the stern end, owing 

 to the centre of the tree having been rather old and rotten. This can 

 be cover,ed over, and is often above the waterline. 



Canoes vary in size from the Oguta canoe, in which the paddler 

 has to keep one foot in the water to balance the canoe, to the twelve- 

 puncheon canoe of the big traders. This last will have a great hollow 

 dug out fully 6 feet deep at the stern end and over 60 feet long. 



The sawyers cut the tree all round, fell it, and then cut it into 

 12-feet length logs, as far as the bole allows. The huge branches are 

 left untouched. A large pit is dug quite close to the logs, and one by 

 one they are placed over and sawn, first two sides and then into three 

 large planks ; finally these are cut into 12-inch planks one inch thick. 

 Most of the work is done within four miles of the railway line or within 

 twenty miles of a large town, such as Jebu-ode, Ife, Ibadan, Abeokuta. 

 Truck loads of this timber may be seen at Ilugun or Ogunshileh, on the 

 Nigerian Railway. 



Permits are also issued for the making of smaller articles, such as 

 verandah posts, culled out of a guttiferous tree ; sleepers, sawn from 

 Iroko {Chlorophora excelsa) ; sword - sheaths, made from Ogohen 

 {Musanga Smithii) ; mortars, cut from Apa {Afzelia Africana) ; pestles, 

 fashioned out of Eba {Lophira procera). 



The dyewood industry in itself is chiefly developed on the banks 

 of the Cross River. The trees are felled in the Oban forests, allowed 

 to lie a year or two, then cut up into long 3- to 4-inch irregular-shaped 

 scantling or poles. These are sold chiefly in the Oban market, after 

 which they are cut into small sections. Women take these up and 

 make lozenge-shaped bricks about a foot long in the greatest length. 

 These are sold at 6d. each. 



Under Government auspices, one of the first enterprises was the 

 sawmill at Etehetem. A very hard redwood, termed Apassa by the 

 Efiks {Mimusops lacera), and also mahogany {Ochrocarpus AJricanus) 

 were cut. Owing to the difficulty of expansion and the increasing 

 cost of the logs, the plant is to be moved elsewhere. The railway 

 had a small plant at Han, where timber and sleepers were cut for the 

 Baro Kano line. At Ebuttemetta the railway also have a small mill 

 for cutting chiefly Iroko, Apa, and a little redwood. 



Of the various firms, Messrs. Mclver had a small mill in Lagos, 

 chiefly for sawing up mahogany logs not worth shipping to England. 

 Later, in 1909, Messrs. Miller Brothers built a mill at Koko town ; Agba 

 {Copaifera sp. ?) as well as mahogany logs have been cut; Ebbe and 

 Obiache, and Obechi {Triplochiton Nigericum), the last-named being a 

 good whitewood. 



The Anglo-French Company have started a plant near Oron Eastern 

 Circle to cut sleepers out of mangrove wood, Lagenaria and Rhizo- 

 phora. 



