The Forests of British Guiana. 203 
The grant being ready for the fellers and squarers, the 
giants of the forest soon begin to fall, crushing all 
smaller trees that may be in their way. This alone 
causes considerable destruction to the saplings and 
half-grown trees. 
In addition to mora, greenheart, and wallaba, the three 
woods most sought after, the forests are one maze of the 
various woods native to Guiana, and the seeds, being 
sown by nature, are found in all stages of growth, 
from the simplest sapling to the giant. When left 
entirely to nature the young trees have no chance of 
growing, as they are overshadowed by those older ; but 
when by storm or decay a giant has fallen, room is given 
for the strongest of the survivors, and in a few years 
the blank made by the ripe or fallen tree is well sup- 
plied by those which had before been struggling for bare 
existence. Let us see in what respect the wood-cutter 
departs from nature in his operations. 
Reference has already been made to path-making and 
the indiscriminate destruction of young trees for that 
purpose. Some restriction should be made in this res- 
pect, because the grant-holder has no interest in the 
future ; all he wants is the greatest quantity of mer- 
chantable timber that he can get out in a given time. 
Little can be urged against the present mdde of 
felling and squaring timber ; but one feels sorry on walk- 
ing over the ground to see so many fine young trees 
sacrificed to the fall of the ripe trees. In the thick 
forests of the tropics, however, it is impossible so to fell 
one tree as to avoid the destruction of others. After 
all, this destruction may be looked upon as thinning out ; 
