416 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



the Tiko plain, are the following : Mahogany, Khaya Klainei, Long- 

 capsuled Unscented Mahogany, Entandrophragma Condollei, Scented 

 Mahogany, Entandrophragma utilis, Cedar, Guarea sp., Red Ironwood, 

 Lophira procera, Canarium Schweinfurthii, Brown Ebony, Diospyros 

 sp., Terminalia, Scutifera, Afzelia pachyloba, Berlinia sp., two kinds 

 of Camwood, Walnut, Lovoa Klaineana, Pterocarpus tinctorius, as 

 well as the valuable orange-coloured wood of Sarcocephalus sambucinus 

 and Mahogany-like species of Guttiferse and Uapaca Staudtii. 



Some of the " stands " of this timber, and especially on the hill 

 slopes of the Cameroon Mountains, are very thick and dense, more 

 especially near Debundscha, with its annual rainfall of 423 inches. 



One of the most interesting and unique stands on the mountain- 

 side is that of tree-fern, about 30 feet high, as an undergrowth, and 

 heavy mahogany, Entandrophragma Eederi, and Ongekea Kamerunensis, 

 chiefly at an altitude of 3,500 to 4,000 feet, also quite untouched except 

 in the neighbourhood of Buea. 



Only the smallest part of all this area, and in fact only that on 

 the bank of the Meme, had been at all operated upon before the war, 

 and the forests on the banks of the Akwayefe were quite untouched. 

 All the higher slopes and the northern sides of the Cameroon Moun- 

 tains, and beyond as far as Mount Gonistan, were also quite unused. 

 All through this part the villages are comparatively few and far 

 between, and even in those parts where they are closer together, the 

 population in each is very small, and the forest growth is so thick 

 that they make little impression upon it. Added to that, the chief 

 crop grown by the natives is the cacao-yam, for which only compara- 

 tively small areas are necessary, and in many cases this is grown in 

 small spaces in the shade of giant forest trees. Also, all through this 

 area only comparatively small patches, compared to the whole, have 

 been cleared and planted with cacao. Again, the area occupied by 

 the European-owned cacao and rubber plantations is very small, 

 and chiefly found near Victoria and a little both westward and east- 

 ward at the base of the Cameroon Mountain (Mount Fako). 



Turning now to the Mungo River region, we have in some ways 

 an even more valuable forest area. Here, indeed, one German firm 

 had actually made a felling over an area of nearly one square mile 

 and had sold nearly all the timber in Germany. 



Amongst the more prevalent species found are the following : 

 Bush Oak, Chlorophora excelsa, Black Ebony, Diospyros Gilgiana, Pear- 

 wood, Mimusops Djave (which is found in immense specimens on the 

 edge of the Kumba road), Inoi Nut, Poga oleosa, with its light-reddish 

 wood with wide medullary rays ; African Greenheart, Cylicodiscus 

 Gabunensis, a magnificent tree ; Shinglewood, Scented Mahogany, 

 Guarea glomerulata, Brown Teak, Brachystegia cynometroides. Long- 

 capsuled Mahogany, Entandrophragma Condollei, the Oil Bean, Penta- 



