170 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The India-rubber trie (Fieus elaitita) alto abounds in the colony, and specimens of 



India rubber and of gutta-percha were shown. The tree seeds shown were of the 

 most diversified character. Two only may be mentioned. One of these, that of the 

 aresawroo (botanical name unknown), when rubbed down and mixed with an unguent, 

 is considered an infallible cure for ringworm and itch, and is in use amongst the 

 Indians ; while another, called the snake nut, is a great natural curiosity. When 

 broken there is to be seen by way of kernel of the nut, the germ of the tree, coiled 

 up like the reptile from which the tree in consequence takes its name. The zoology 

 of the forests of Guiana was well represented. Indeed, from British Guiana came a 

 larger collection of forest animals and insects than from any other country. Among 

 other spiders shown was the huge Mygale, which spins a dense white web, and in 

 it captures not only flies and insects but the smaller birds. There was a wasp's nest 

 2 feet long and 1 foot in breadth, and some formidable looking scorpions and centi- 

 pedes. There was a large collection of snakes, mostly preserved in spirits, among 

 others shown being the anaconda, or water-boa, which attains a length of 40 feet, 

 and may bo said to be the " sea-serpent" of science. It swims in the rivers or lurks 

 on their banks, ready to seize and crush in its ample folds whatever animal may come 

 to drink. There was also a fine example of the great Iguana, a creature like nothing 

 so much as the fiery dragon of heraldry. 



ST. VINCENT AND TOBAGO. 



From the first named of these islands were many things to show how rich it is in 

 frurVbearing treee. Prominence was given to The fruit of the cacao from which 

 chocolate is made, a shrub which it appears is largely taking the place of the sugar- 

 cane, on account of the ease with which it can be cultivated. St. Vincent is also 

 rich in fibrous plants. A specimen of the best of one of the termite family, known 

 as the carpenter's friend, from the manner in which it perforates all wooden articles, 

 was shown. The timber from Tobago includes many beautiful woods, conspicuous 

 among which is one, unnamed, deep scarlet in the ground, with a mottling or black 

 irregular spots. 



CAPB COLONY, 



The great forest of the Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Colony, is the Knysna, situ- 

 ated between Table Bay and Algoa Bay. It is the magnificent remains of the 

 splendid primeval woods which covered the south of Africa. There are about 100 

 miles along the coast of Knysna under wood, and there are small Crown forests in 

 extent of about 18 square miles. 



In consequence of the wasteful destruction of wood which was going on, and which 

 in many places threatened the entire deforesting of the country, the Cape Govern- 

 ment recently adopted stringent measures of conservation, which, though very un- 

 popular at present among the blacks, are likely to produce beneficial results. There 

 is now r a staff of rangers and guards, who report to Parliament on the state of the 

 forests under their care, through the chief superintendent. The foresters are now 

 required to take out a license, and tho forests are being surveyed so that they may 

 bo w T orked in rotation. Premiums are also offered to private persons for the planting 

 of trees ; plantations are being formed on the Cape Flats and other waste lands, and 

 Government nurseries have been established which supply trees for the gaps in the 

 forests, and from which young trees are sold at a cheap rate to private planters. How 

 needful such protection had become may be judged from the fact that Norwegian 

 " deals" oan be bought at a cheaper rate in Cape Town than the woods of the colony. 

 No wood is of course exported from the colony. The collection of woods exhibited 

 included fifty varieties, chief among which were the stinkwood and the sneezewood, the 

 latter of which, like greenheart, is of great specific gravity, and can resist the attack of 

 marine worms. As showing upon what lines the afforesting of the lands at the Cape 

 are proceeding, it may be mentioned that last year there were in one of the nurseries 

 atTokai, near Cape Tow r n, over 120,000 young trees, which included 12,500 beefwood 

 (Casuarina), 20,000 blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) — a tree introduced with great suc- 

 cess into the Cape forests; 10,000 mahogany, 20,000 hakia, 10,000 Pinus pinaster, 5,000 

 sneezewood (Pteroxylon utile), and 4,000 ker apple (Aberia caffra). 



SIERRA LEONE AND GAMBIA. 



The timbers shown from these West African settlements were generally of a rough- 

 grained description, and ai>peared more adapted for the builder than the cabinet- 

 maker. The woodlands are said to be extensive, transport is easy by water, and 

 native labor is cheap, the cost at which some of the serviceable woods of Gambia can 

 be supplied being stated as low as 2d. per foot. There seems no reason why ; that being 

 so, a great impetus should not be given to the trade of the colony, in timber at all 

 events, The wicker-work sofas and chairs of native workmanship are exceedingly 



