Tropical Forests 
certain destruction of the supply by reckless methods 
of collection. The result has been to extend the area 
of rubber gathering farther back into the wildest and 
most distant parts of the forest. In the Congo Free 
State the collection of rubber has been left to native 
chiefs, supervised by native headmen in the pay of the 
various companies. When the quota of rubber was not 
forthcoming, armies of uncivilised savages were let loose 
upon the offending villages. 
The natural result of such methods has been atrocious 
cruelty, and a destruction of life and property which has 
at last aroused the conscience of Europe. It is doubtful 
whether even the slave-dealing half-Arab from Zanzibar 
caused as much ruin and loss of life in the Congo. 
But during the last few years much capital has been 
invested in the plantation of rubber trees. The acreage 
under this new crop must be enormous. There are some 
10,745,000 trees in the Federated Malay States alone 
which in 1907 yielded some 385 tons of dry rubber. 
There should certainly be no scarcity in the rubber 
supply when all the new plantations come into full 
bearing, say in 1914 to 1916.* The oil-palm is also an 
important and valuable wet-jungle plant. It does not 
grow naturally in the real virgin forest, for it requires 
both light and air, and is probably one of those plants 
which are found in the secondary forest that springs up 
when the true wet-jungle has been cleared away. It is 
a fine tree sometimes 60 to go feet in height, and with 
leaves which may be 12 to 15 feet long. Its cultivation 
is extending, and oil-palms are said to be grown even 
on Nyassa and Tanganyika.* 
There are also many other valuable plants which are 
cultivated in what used to be the true virgin forest, 
such as arrow-root, beniseed, kola-nuts, sago, manioc, 
and several valuable timber trees and drugs. 
“ Journal of the Society of Arts, January 1, 1909. 
321 x 
