FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



de Noya, in 1501,011 the i8th of August, St. Helena's 

 Day — hence the name the island bears- At that date 

 it was entirely covered with forests, the trees drooping 

 over the tremendous precipices that overhung the 

 sea. Now nearly the whole of the indigenous vege- 

 tation has disappeared, except on the upper part of 

 the Central Ridge, and is only very partially replaced 

 by introduced plants, in consequence of the soil 

 having been washed off from its rocky foundation 

 since the destruction of its forests." — Vol. I. Botany, 

 ' Challenger Expedition, 1873-6,' Report III., p. 49. 



The following may be appropriately inserted here 

 from Cook's first voyage around the world, when in 

 1 77 1 he visited St. Helena : — 



" Among the native products of this island, which 

 are not numerous, must be reckoned ebony {Mel- 

 hania melanoxylon), though the trees are now nearly 

 extinct, and are not remembered to have been plenty ; 

 pieces of wood are frequently found in the valleys of 

 a fine thick colour and a hardness almost equal to 

 iron : these pieces, however, are always so short and 

 crooked that no use can be made of them. Whether 

 the tree is the same with that which produces ebony 

 upon the Isle of Bourbon or the islands adjacent is 

 not known, as the French have not yet published any 

 account of it." 



Now as to our own Possessions on the west side of 

 the Continent of Africa, the West African Settle- 

 ments, commonly understood as Sierra Leone and the 



