238 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



shortsighted greed for a yard or two more ground 

 for the production of cane or some other plant when 

 the price of sugar or some such-like other marketable 

 commodity stood temporarily _ high — sheer selfish 

 greed of immediate gain. 



Humboldt has said, " By felling trees which are 

 adapted to the soil of the sides and summits of 

 mountains, men, in every climate, prepare for future 

 generations two calamities at once, want of fire-wood 

 and scarcity of water." 



It has also been said that "Forests precede a 

 population, and deserts follow it.'' 



Of the Cape Colony, South Africa, it has been 

 recorded in 1873, that "the immunity which British 

 Kaffraria enjoys from the droughts so common in 

 South Africa is believed to be due to the influence of 

 the forests." 



I may also fittingly quote the following having 

 reference to Mauritius : — 



" It is pretty generally believed that the destruction 

 of the forests has had considerable effects upon the 

 climate, and that owing to the same cause, the floods 

 are much more sudden and destructive than formerly. 

 Many streams which have never failed whilst their 

 sources were shaded by the forests are now dried 

 up." 



St. Helena also affords a striking example of the 

 effects of forest denudation upon climate. It is 

 stated that " the extirpation of the indigenous trees, 



