420 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



for forest products less than those to be had in the forest. There is thus 

 a surplus for export. Up to the outbreak of war, out of all this area 

 only 47,000 acres, or 73| square miles, had been, or was being, leased as 

 timber areas. Outside these areas some 285,000 acres, or 445 square 

 miles, had been alienated, chiefly on the lower slopes of the Cameroon 

 Mountains and in the neighbourhood of Mount Kupe. Under the 

 old German law, ten marks per ton was charged on Ebony, Mahogany, 

 Bush Oak, and one or two other species, and five marks on all soft 

 woods, except certain trees which had proved unprofitable to export. 

 Compared with those in force in Nigeria, these fees were very low, and 

 despite the fact that on the average the Cameroon forest would be 

 more difficult to exploit than the average one in Nigeria, there should 

 still be more profit in the former ; also, with the considerable number 

 of water-power sites available, timber conversion could be undertaken, 

 and thus the cost of transport cheapened in comparison with the 

 value of the product to be transported. Well-squared logs, large 

 flitches or planks of timber could be cut and transported. Under 

 the German Colonial land law, with the exception of 15 acres per 

 head allowed to each native, all the land could be declared Crown 

 land, so that no difficulty would be involved in leasing land to timber 

 companies ; that is to say, it was first declared to be Crown land and 

 then subsequently leased to timber companies. The natives, how- 

 ever, then received no ro5^alties on the trees which were felled. Thus 

 those in the immediate neighbourhood had no incentive to work 

 in the forests as they do in Nigeria. Sufficient emphasis was not 

 laid on the fact that a timber company should possess ample capital. 



In afforestation a great deal had been planned, but only a small 

 amount had been executed. In the north, at Fontwans, in the Dschang 

 district, a 40-acre teak plantation had been made. At each of the 

 stations themselves, Dschang, Mbo, Djutisha, various experimental 

 plots of trees had been planted. Nearer the coast, at Kumba, valuable 

 test plantations, aggregating some 400 acres, had been planted with 

 Ebony, Diospyros suaveolens, Umbrella Tree, Musanga Smithii, 

 Casuarina, Casuarina equisitifolia, Cigar-box Cedar, Cedrela, Iroko 

 {Chlorophora excelsa), Djave Nut (Mimusops Djave), Teak {Tectona 

 grandis), Para Rubber [Hevea Braziliensis), Cacao [Theobroma cacao), 

 and Oil Palms (Elcesis Giiineensis), Red Ironwood {Lo2)hira procera), 

 Mahogany {Khaya euryphylla), and Heavy Mahogany {Entandro- 

 phragma sp.). 



At Mussake at an elevation of 6,000 feet on the side of the 

 Cameroon Mountains, there was a quinine plantation. At an elevation 

 of 3,000 feet at Buea there were small experimental plantations of 

 tea, Ceylon and ordinary, quinine and Casuarina. Several of the 

 roads had been planted with avenues of cypress and Biota trees. 

 On the coast at Victoria, small Casuarina plantations had been made. 



