FORESTRY OF ]^'EST AFRICA. 239 



shortly after the first Colonization of the island in 

 1673, was followed by a succession of severe and 

 destructive droughts, but that since the forest lands 

 were replanted, the island has ceased to suffer from 

 them to anything like the same extent." 



It would seem that the lesson of the past has 

 not been sufficient, for, on the result of continued 

 denudation there, Mr. Morris has recorded in his 

 pamphlet on that island thus : — 



" Latterly, the island has suffered very severely 

 from drought, numerous springs having been almost 

 dried up. It is probable that such conditions may 

 be repeated, if the process of denudation is not 

 immediately stopped, and if the central ridge, where 

 the chief streams of the island take their rise, is not 

 reclothed with trees. The beds of the streams should 

 also be more shaded by suitable trees to prevent 

 excessive evaporation, and all ponds and reservoirs 

 should be similarly treated." 



Next, let landlords be influenced by the sugges- 

 tions briefly given in this chapter, and let them 

 specially conserve, at least, such belts of wooded land 

 as cover mountains or hills and flank rivers and 

 streams. 



The author of ' Akimfoo,' when he wrote " But alas 1 

 the African forest is always green, always wet, always 

 fire-proof," had not experienced the waste that it has 

 been my lot to have witnessed and to witness ; yet 

 how appropriately can the remark "always fire- 



