THE CHOICE OF A SITE FOR WORK 95 
It was only about thirty years ago that attempts 
. were first made to exploit the great forests of 
West and Equatorial Africa, but the work is not as 
easy as might be thought. Magnificent timber is there 
in any quantity, but how fell and transport it ? At 
present the only timber on the Ogowe that has any 
commercial value is that which is near the river. The 
most magnificent tree a kilometre from the water is 
safe from the axe, for what is the good of felling it if 
it cannot be taken away ? 
Why not build light railways, then, to convey the 
logs to the water ? That question will be asked only 
by those who do not know what a forest in Equatorial 
Africa is like. The ground on which it stands is nothing 
but a mass of gigantic roots and swamp. To prepare 
the ground for even 200 or 300 yards of light railway 
means cutting down the trees, getting rid of their 
roots, and filling up the swamp ; and that would cost 
more than a hundred tons of the finest timber would 
fetch at Cape Lopez. It is, therefore, only at the most 
favourable spots that light railways can be built cheaply 
enough. In these forests one learns how impotent 
man is when pitted against Nature ! 
Work, then, has, as a rule, to be carried on in a 
primitive way, and this for the further reason, also, 
that only primitive men can be got for labourers, and 
not a sufficient number even of them. The introduction 
of Annamites and Chinese has been talked of, but it is a 
hopeless proposal. Foreigners are of no use in the 
African forest, because they cannot endure the heat 
and the camp hfe in it, and, moreover, cannot live on 
the foods produced locally. 
The first thing to be done is to choose the right place 
