28 COLONIAL KEPOUTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



is inure plentiful about here than it is at Huuisu, and so is the 

 Waw-waw. 



\Ve spent a day at Prestea in order to ascertain the character 

 of the fellings made for supplying' the mines with fuel. For 

 this purpo.se we walked along the light tramway-line, leading to 

 luira Junction, for a few miles in that direction. The felling 

 zone is limited to about 500 yards on either side of tlie line, 

 which is utilised as the main haulage track. AVe found that the 

 bulk of the arboreal vegetation had been cut within this zone 

 with the exception of the following species, the wood of which 

 has been found to be difficult to split into billets, and has there- 

 fore been discarded by the native contractors who supply the 

 mines with fuel. 



The favoured species are : 



The Daliomah (Piptadenia africana). 



The Atltaira/i (Pentaclethra macrophylla) . 



A species of Brachystegia. 



A species of Dialium. 



Of these the first two are the most important, as one of them, 

 the At/iawah, is the oil bean tree, and the other, judging from 

 recent inquiries made at home about the wood, is likely to turn 

 out a useful timber tree. 



All other species of arboreal habit have been felled, including 

 Khayas, Pseudocedrelas, the Kakit, the Baku, Kokoti, Kishia, 

 Off ram, Kmril, &c. 



Those that have from experience been found to be the best 

 for heating purposes are, in descending order of merit, the Kaku, 

 the Kokoti ', the Baku, Dubiiii (Kliaya}, ^yankon, &c. 



Some exceptionally fine pieces of timber from the latter species 

 that had been split up as firewood Avere seen. The wood is very 

 similar to that of the mahogany (Khai/a), and has the same 

 brilliant lustre along the radially fractured planes, due to the 

 conspicuous " silvery grain " of the medullary rays as seen in 

 that section. 'Situated as those mines are, a very long distance 

 from any sea-port, the general use of coal would on account of 

 the expense of transport be prohibitive, and under these circum- 

 stances the only alternative is to utilise the fuel obtained locally 

 from the forests. The cost of obtaining this even is prohibitive, 

 unless (with the exception of the woods that are difficult to 

 split) every species standing in the forests can be cut up and 

 used for firewood. Any attempt in these areas at trying to 

 protect valuable species such as the Dulj ini, Kal-tt, Baktt, Kokoti, 

 &., simply means that the balance of the arboreal vegetation 

 would not be worth exploiting for fuel, for these trees possess 

 the good calorific properties, and they form the main mass of 

 the vegetation. It so happens that the very timbers that are 

 most useful for export and for local purposes are also best for 

 fuel. Hut under these circumstances it would be folly to place 

 any restrictions on the cutting of the forests for fuel; such 

 restrictions would end in stifling the gold-mining industry in 

 inaccessible localities where i( is already difficult enough to make 

 the revenue balance the expenditure. In my opinion only two 

 conditions should be allowed under the present condition of the 



