EVILS FOLLOWING DESTRUCTION OF fOEESTS. 53 



accidental destruction of whole plains of the Olea, or wild 

 olive, by fire near Griquatown. There the stumps still 

 remain, or at least were in existence some years ago, and 

 I have never heard of their disappearance.' To these I 

 refer as evidence that forests once existed where now 

 there are none, Mofifat further testifies in regard to the 

 Bechuanas, amongst whom he laboured, ' that they are a 

 nation of levellers . . , cutting down every species of 

 timber without regard to scenery or economy. Houses 

 are chiefly composed of small timber, and their fences of 

 branches and shrubs. Thus, when they fix on a site for a 

 town, their first consideration is to be as near a thicket as 

 possible. The whole is presently levelled, leaving only a 

 few trees, one on each great man's fold, to afford shelter 

 from the heat, and under which the men work and recline.* 

 There are countries in Europe in which were this done 

 the forests might be reproduced by self-sown seed, but it 

 is not so now in any part of Africa which I have visited ; 

 and MoflFat tells that of whole forests where the giraffe 

 aad elephant were wont to seek their daily food nothing 

 remains. 'When the natives remove from that district, 

 which may be after only a few years, the minor species of 

 the acacia grows, but the acacia giraffcca requires an age 

 to become a tree, and many ages must pass before they 

 attain the dimensions of their predecessors. In the course 

 of my journfsys I have met with trunks of enormous size, 

 which if the time were calculated necessary for their 

 growth, as well as their decay, one may be led to conclude 

 that they sprung up immediately after the Flood, if not 

 before it.' 



The European colonists have done as the native tribes 

 did before them, and by burning the grass and by reckless 

 felling of trees, forests have been reduced in extent, or 

 altogether cleared away. The mode of exploitation is that 

 known in France as Jardinage : for a small fee a licence 

 to cut and bring out of the forest a waggon-load of some 

 specified timber is given, and the licence-holder helps 

 himself. Thus forests of the Cape cedar, Widderingtonia 



