16 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



After a short stay at Accra I left, on the 8th of January, 1908, 

 for Sekondi, by the mail steamer " Burutu," arriving there the 

 next afternoon. Whilst my carriers were being procured, stores 

 purchased, and arrangements being made for a prolonged trip 

 into the forests, I took the opportunity of visiting the saw-mills 

 at Gaiyin Krom, 12i miles up the railway line, and of examining 

 the forests in their vicinity. 



The vegetation near Sekondi itself is of the mixed deciduous 

 type, with, if anything, a preponderance of evergreens. The 

 rainfall of this place is much below 50 inches a year ; to this is 

 due the presence of extensive patches of grass lands a few miles 

 up the railway, and the occurrence there of large numbers of 

 the Daleb palm, Borassus flabelliformis. I also noticed some 

 examples of Dialium guineense, the presence of which is another 

 certain indication of only a moderate rainfall. The hillsides on 

 which farming has been carried out are already in places over- 

 grown with grass, and a continuance of the extensive fellings of 

 the bush, after the native methods of farming, will undoubtedly 

 tend to push the deciduous vegetation further inland to places 

 at present occupied by the densest of evergreen forest. The 

 invasion has already started. 



If there is any wholesale clearing of the vegetation which 

 clothes the main ridges and borders the more important streams 

 on those portions of the West African coast possessing a medium 

 rainfall of 50 inches and under, there is great danger of per- 

 manently reducing the water supply of the country, and of en- 

 couraging the spread of deciduous-leafed vegetation and, above 

 all, that of the grasses. 



During my stay at Sekondi, Messrs. J. H. Nicholas and Brett 

 very kindly gave me much useful information regarding the 

 timber trade of the Colony and the different kinds of wood 

 exported to Europe ; they showed me various samples of timber, 

 and marked for me on the maps the distribution of the more 

 important forest areas, both of the Colony and Ashanti. They 

 were also good enough to place their house near the saw-mills 

 at my disposal, to invite me to wander freely all over their 

 timber concessions, and to supply me with guides and natives 

 familiar with the forests and the vegetation ; in short, they 

 helped me in every possible way. For all this assistance aiul 

 kindness I tender my best thanks to those gentlemen. 



As one passes up the railway line towards the saw-mills (which 

 are situated alongside the railway at a distance of 12 miles from 

 Sekondi), some fairly extensive patches of grassland are met 

 with; they are dotted about with the palm, Borassus flabelli- 

 formis, and small clumps of bush containing Yitcx cuneata, 

 Vitex macrophylla, Anona senegalensis, Sarcoceplialus escii- 

 lentus, and other plants typical of the Savannah forests ; beyond 

 this comes a belt of mixed deciduous forest much honeycombed 

 with clearings made for the native farms. These fellings are 

 comparatively recent, and have not yet been repeated sufficiently 

 often to convert the existing type of vegetation into the open 

 Savannah forests. The clearings are, however, being gradually 



