GOLD COAST REPORT ON FORESTS. 61 



the Baku (Mimusops Djave) and Kokoti (Pynaertia ealaensis), 

 which I had not seen for some time, made their reappearance. 

 That valuable tree, the Odoum (dilorophora excelsa), that fur- 

 nishes the best all-round timber to be found in tropical West 

 Africa, is very plentiful. The silk rubber tree (Funtumia elastica) 

 is also found in fairly large quantities, and, taken all round, I 

 think that in number and variety of valuable trees these exten- 

 sive forests of Western Ashanti will be hard to match anywhere 

 in Africa. Moreover, the undergrowth is not so dense as that pre- 

 vailing in the evergreen forests to be met with near the coast, 

 and in consequence the natural regeneration of the more im- 

 portant species is far more satisfactory, and the gaps in the 

 various age gradations less pronounced. They have so far not 

 been touched by the timber traders, and except for clearings 

 made for farms, little or no damage has been done to them. 

 Villages are not numerous about here, and the inhabitants of 

 some of them have one very good custom that greatly diminishes 

 the damage done to valuable timber trees when the forests are 

 cleared for farms, viz., the habit of leaving the larger mahoganies 

 and cedars as standards on the cleared areas. 



Extensive reserves should be taken up on this side as soon as 

 possible, and strictly protected against farming. If the native 

 chiefs and communities are paid a share of the profits arising 

 from the exploitation of timber and other produce, no great 

 difficulty should be experienced in setting these areas aside as 

 forest reserves. The tract of country under forest is consider- 

 able, and probably exceeds 400 square miles ; so there is ample 

 wooded land available for cultivation as well. A special effort 

 should be made at an early date to protect the richest portions, 

 before they are invaded by new settlements. 



The Forests between Bibiani and Mini. 

 (Tano River Drainage.) 



Leaving Bibiani on the 30th March, we proceeded to Mim, 

 via the Bibiani-Ahiraso-Ka Krorn-Gose road. Between Bibiani 

 and Ahiraso a high range of hills intervenes, after which the 

 path follows close to the left bank of the Tano B/iver w^hich is 

 crossed at Tanoso. From here onwards as far as Mini the country, 

 though broken, has no very high hills dominating it, and is 

 characterized 'by the extraordinary abundance of its water 

 supply. Perennial streams are met with at frequent intervals 

 along the way to that town. The well-defined range of hills 

 close to Bibiani is covered with high forest, in which the ordinary 

 Gold Coast Klutyn and another species with large leaves, closely 

 related to, if not identical with, A', grandis, are very 

 plentiful. Other .species of trees noticed were the Punkwa and 

 Tiama-Tiama (species of Pseudocedrela), both common, the gum 

 copal tree (Cyanoihyrsus oyea), the Kokoti, Baku, Odoum, Kishia, 

 Afzelia africana, tSterculia Barteri, and Sterculia tornentosa. 

 The undergrowth here was thin and comparatively free from 

 climbers. In the swampy depressions to the north-east of the 



