188 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
when once the work has been begun, the local Forest Officer deals 
direct with the department concerned. 
Forestry progress in Nigeria has been less tardy than in several 
other Colonies, though many forests’ have been destroyed owing to 
lapse of time before the formation of a department. In 1904 there 
were eight, and there are now twenty-four administrative appoint- 
ments. The amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria into 
one administration should accelerate the development of Forestry. 
It is as yet only in its initial stages, and scarcely more than a 
thousand square miles of forests, out of nearly a hundred thousand 
which exist in some form or another, have been permanently set aside 
for further timber production. The revenue-earning capacity of the 
Forest Department has been somewhat diminished by the war; but 
with recent legislation more local revenue should be obtained, which 
should more than off-set any loss already sustained. Provided the 
financial position of Nigeria remains strong, the prospects of the Forest 
Department are quite bright. 
Although Nigeria has by far the largest Forest Department, very 
similar conditions of service obtain in the other West African Colonies 
of the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone; but there are no Forest Officers 
in the Gambia. 
VI. A Review or THE BotTanicaL FEATURES oF NORTHERN NIGERIA. 
By Dr. J. M. Dawzigu. 
The Northern Provinces of Nigeria exhibit in an interesting manner 
the transition, now familiar in West Africa, of physical characteristics 
from the tropical forest to the border region ‘‘ that just divides the 
desert from the sown.” 
So far as the progressive stages may be stated in terms of geo- 
graphical latitude, we may place the northern limit of the forest belt 
at about 8° North latitude. A convenient natural boundary in a por- 
tion of the area under consideration may be accepted in the lower course 
of the Benué River from its tributary, the Katsina River, or even as 
far up as Ibi, to the Niger at Lokoja. On the other hand, the southern 
limit of the desert is taken at about 17° North latitude, or higher, and 
thus falls some three or more degrees beyond the northern boundary. 
Between these arbitrary limits lies the greater part of Northern 
Nigeria and practically the whole of Hausaland, presenting physical 
features which vary through grassy plains and rolling downs, orchard- 
bush and thin-crowned forest, laterite plateaux and hilly woodlands, 
to the mountains of the Bauchi Highlands. The vegetative covering 
over a very large area can be classed as one or other type of savannah, 
tree and bush savannah, or open orchard and treeless savannah, with 
intermediate grades. Local topography alters the type here and 
