SIERRA LEONE 39 
of the Mano, Morro, Maho and Rokell Rivers. The long fronds of 
the leaves yield the steering and pushing poles for canoes, also most 
useful rafters and scantlings for houses. The leaves themselves are 
made into mats for covering the houses. They are said to last 
seven years when properly put on. The fruit of the tree is used 
for stupefying fish, which can then be very easily speared by the 
natives. The tree is usually set on fire to draw the palm wine, though 
this more often happens subsequently to the taking of the wine. 
A tree does not last more than three years with severe tapping, such 
as it is subject to by the natives. 
Borassus flabellifer (Fan Palm, Bottle Palm) is found in the 
northern, drier part of the Protectorate, but so far is not used to any 
extent for house-building, for which the timber is most suitable, being 
very durable, of good length, and can be split. The nuts of the large 
coconut-like fruit are useful as a substitute for vegetable ivory, though 
thus far no use has been made of them. The approximate area of 
distribution of this species of tree is about 4,000 square miles. Quite 
a trade is done in various kinds of bark, altogether from about fifteen 
different species of trees, of which most are collected in the Peninsular 
Forest. Amongst them is found the Sasswood, or that of Erythro- 
phiecum Guineense, the notorious native poison, though it is not at 
all certain that nowadays in Sierra Leone it is used for this purpose. 
V. Tut Forest DEPARTMENT OF SIERRA LEONE. 
In the course of 1911 a Forest Department was formed by the 
appointment of a Conservator of Forests; this has been gradually 
enlarged until there are now three Assistant Conservators of Forests 
as well. The chief work of the Department so far has been the 
drafting and passing of a Forestry Ordinance in 1912 and the 
demarcation of two Forest Reserves. The Peninsular Forest, with 
its new boundaries, comprises 75 square miles, and the Kassewe 
Hill. Other areas have been set aside, notably the Kagnari Hills 
and Kambui Hills as Forest Reserves, and Nimmini and Loma 
Forests examined previous to demarcation with a view to their 
reservation. The Gum Forests were closed to tappers with the 
consent of the chief, so that the trees could recover from 
previous overtapping. In addition to this work, some rubber 
planting has been done in the Gumah, and one Assistant spends all 
his time on this work, nurseries having been formed in different places 
—Mano, Bo, and Falaba. A large number of botanical specimens of 
the trees and shrubs have been forwarded to Kew for identification, 
so that gradually the silvan vegetation is becoming known. No 
planting of oil palms (Eleis Guineensis) has been undertaken yet, 
despite the large export of this product. Rubber planting has not 
