86 WEST AFRICAN FORESTRY AND FORESTS 
trunk at nearer inspection. It will be seen that it is rather a tall tree, 
with open thin crown and straight upward-spreading branches. The bole 
usually does not exceed 30 feet in length, and then forks or divides 
into three main stems. The curious marks on the stem, making the 
tree look as if it were attacked with some form of canker, are those 
made by tapping the trees for the gum. At the beginning of the 
dry season small squares of bark, about an inch across, are removed 
from the tree, beginning at the ground, upwards to 20 and 30 feet. 
At the corners of each little square gum gradually exudes during 
the dry season in the form of an ever-increasing sized globular tear, 
which hardens on exposure to the air. By the end of the dry season, 
as in February or March, it has attained a size of half an inch or so, 
and is then quite hard and white and nearly transparent. Only a 
few little pieces of bark adhere to its surface, and these are easily 
removed. Then these tears are collected in a bag, sorted, and then 
sold to the European firms in Sierra Leone and elsewhere. The 
average tree yields 1 lb. of gum copal per year. 
In the peninsular forest a patch of Gum Copal trees is found near 
Bureh Town. In the Protectorate, irregular belts occur, such as that 
on the Kassewe Hills and north of Moyamba. On the banks of the 
Rokell River, too, it occurs in single specimens dotted along the 
bank. The smooth grey bark of the stem is not unlike Beech, except 
for the fact that it is pitted by the tapping squares, which occude 
only very gradually. 
The leaves are in pairs, but have such a straight inner edge that 
they appear like one leaf which has been cut in half down the middle. 
The main vein of the leaf is at one side of it. In this manner 
the leaf is unmistakable, though a Cynometra leaf is somewhat 
similar, and also a Bauhinia; but in the former the vein is more in 
the centre and the leaves are quite separate and not close together, 
and in the latter they are joined at the base. The tree appears to 
be easily killed by overtapping. Before the formation of the Forest 
Department, whole forests had been destroyed in this way, one of which 
I saw north of Moyamba during an inspection of the Gum Copal 
belt. 
The timber of this tree is a red-brown colour, of hard texture, with 
a pretty grain. It is, of course, of the type of purple-heart. It is 
very durable and termite-proof, though a borer attacks it slightly. 
The wood of trees killed by overtapping proves to be quite sound 
and useful for any purpose where a hard timber is required. 
The tree can be grown from the flat, round, paper-like seeds, which 
are bought at £1 a bushel in Sierra Leone. The tree usually bears 
well, and the seed is collected off the ground. Young self-sown 
seedlings are found, which shows that the seeds germinate readily 
too. It does not stand transplanting very well, but with care soon 
