48 



which is annually increasing by settlement of people from the north. 

 In consequence the forest is being rapidly cut for farming. 



(4) Savannah vegetation, energetically assisted by the annual fires 

 that sweep through the northern country, is constantly making further 

 inroads into this farmed northern edge of the forest and, once estab- 

 lished, remains in possession with the constant retreat southwards 

 and westwards of the remaining forest. 



(5) Once the forest has been completely driven off this high ground, 

 the regression will be rapid and result in rolling back on to the Ivory 

 Coast throughout the whole of the area now covered by the Deciduous 

 Forest. With the consequent concentration of farming in the remains 

 of the forest the forest itself will entirely disappear. 



(6) The eastern part of the forest area is being rapidly separated from 

 the remainder by the clearing of a belt up to 20 miles wide along the 

 railway from Seccondee to Coomassie, and along the main north road 

 from Coomassie to Ejura. In a few years' time, if unattended, this 

 belt will be continuous throughout the forest zone, and with the com- 

 pletion of the Coomassie-Accra railway the remaining forests in the 

 Central and Eastern Provinces of the Colony will be completely 

 encircled. The construction of the proposed railway through the Cen- 

 tral Province of the Colony will so open up this eastern portion to 

 exploitation and agriculture that the whole of these forests wiU be 

 wiped out in a few years, and no forests will then exist in the country 

 east of the Seccondee-Coomassie railway. 



An attempt may here be made to reply to two questions that are 

 often asked and which bear on this part of the subject : "At what 

 period did the destruction of the forests begin ? " The first step in 

 the destruction of the forests was undoubtedly, as Mr. Rattray suggests, 

 when the original races gave up their primitive hunting habits and 

 began to cultivate imported foods such as cassava, yams, etc., and 

 this, Mr. Rattray considers, was at no very distant period. The rapid 

 destruction of the forests, however, began at the time when local wars 

 and fightings ceased, a time which approximately coincided with the 

 introduction and initial stages of the cocoa industry. 



" How much longer can this country be considered as a virgin 

 country for forest exploitation and agricultural purposes ? " From a 

 general survey of the progress already made in the development of 

 the country, and a knowledge of the extensive proposed development 

 of railways and roads, one is forced to the conclusion that the virgin 

 forests of this country, if unprotected, will all have been exploited 

 and agriculture, within the forest zone, have reached its optimum, 

 within the coming generation. 



An appreciation of these facts clearly indicates the forest pohcy 

 required and the urgency for its immediate prosecution. (Contrast 

 maps at pages 8, 13, and 36.) 



