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MEN OF THE TREES

IN THE MAHOGANY FORESTS
OF KENYA AND NIGERIA

RICHARD ST. BARBE BAKER

Late Assistant Conservator of Forests
in Kenya Colony and the Southern Provence of Nigeria

With an Introduction by
LOWELL THOMAS

With photographs by
The Author

LINCOLN MAC VEAGH

THE DIAL PRESS

NEW YORK • MCMXXXI

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., TORONTO

COPYRIGHT, 193 1, BY DIAL PRESS, INC.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., B I N G H A MT O N , N. Y.

To

WILLIAM LANCASTER JENKINS

Formerly American Consul-General
British East Africa

In memory of many happy days camping
in the Highlands of Kenya, and in grateful
recognition of his friendly encourage-
ment at a time when it was most needed

THIS BOOK

IS
DEDICATED

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGS

Introduction xi

I. How THE Sahara Happened 19

II. The Dance of the Trees 27

III. Riding the Bull 36

IV. JosiAH 41

V. Forest Folk 53

VI. The Man Hunters 60

VII. Katootero and His Honeybird 68

VIII. How the Cock Became King of the Birds . -/(»

IX. Flogging a Shadow 84

X. The Bundi Speaks 91

XI. The Gateway to Kenya ^^

XII. The Lure of Coffee 107

XIII. MwiNiNYAGA, THE Great "White Spirit . 117

XIV. The Secret of the Kiama 129

XV. The Story of Munyai 145

XVI. Dancing on the Equator 150

XVII. Forest Magic 163

XVIII. Adventures in the Mahogany Forests . . .172

XIX. Growing Gold 182

XX. The Feast of the Trees 191

XXI. More African Friends of the Forest . . .201

XXII. Trekking in the Tropics 210

XXIII. A Lesson from the Elephants 218

XXIV. In the Aberdares 227

XXV. Some Forest Secrets 236

XXVI. Tree Heritage 249

XXVII. What Will the White Man Do Next? . . .270

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The First Dance of the Men of the Trees .... Frontispiece

VACINQ
PAQK

Forest Burning by Nomadic Farmers 34

Chuka Girls 4*

The First Nursery at Kikuyu 4^

Katootero and Carriers, with One of My Leopards .... 62

The Home of the Hunter 66

Pay Day 74

Trekking Along the Edge of the Forest 78

Some Camp Visitors 94

Little Friends of the Forest Scouts no

African Walnut Tree 126

A Yam Farm .... 130

Fashioning a Dug-out Canoe 138

Many Willing Hands 142

Mahogany Raft Drifting to the Sea 158

A Young Teak Plantation 164

The Sacred Tree of Benin 168

The Forester's Hut at Sapoba 178

Belo and His Wives 186

ix

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

rACINQ
FAGE

Calling the Sacred Crocodile 194

In the Bamboo Forests of Kenya 202

A Baby "Warrior in a Forest Squatter's Camp 206

Canoe Travel in Africa 222

The Men of the Trees Challenge Shield 228

African Boy with Ivory Bangles 232

Lumbwa Girls, in the Highlands of Kenya 238

Climbing for Cocoanuts 254

My Boy Momudu Saying His Prayers 258

Cotton Spinning 266

A Forest Mother Poses for the First Time 274

Okwen Tree in the Mahogany Forests 282

INTRODUCTION

We were walking along the border of the Plain of
Esdraelon, where Elijah girded up his loins and fled be-
fore the finger of Jezebel, where the Crusader knights
fought the hosts of Saladin. Around us were the ghosts
of a hundred ancient armies — but we were not thinking
of them because before our very eyes, more history was
in the making. A few hundred yards away we could hear
the tramp of a conquering army. Up the famous old road
to Jerusalem marched Tommy Atkins and his pals: —
Yeomen from the counties of England, Scots from the
Highlands, Gurkhas from Nepal, giant Sikhs from the
Punjab, Jodphur Lancers from Rajputana, and swart
Pathans from Waziristan. Behind them came the
Bikanir Camel Corps, and the swaggering horsemen of
the Australian Tenth Light Horse. They were marching
up the same road that had resounded to the armies of the
Pharaohs, the Babylonians, the Canaanites, the Philis-
tines, the Israelites, the Legions of Rome, and Napo-
leon's grenadiers.

For weeks I had been with Allenby's army on its con-
quering sweep across the Holy Land. But what caught
my eye and held my attention on the Plain of Esdraelon
was something strangely removed from this pageant of
modern war. Men were planting trees, the loafers and
laborers of Arab villages industriously working under

xi

INTRODUCTION

the direction of British non-coms. They dug Httle holes
and into each they pressed the roots of a tiny tree. They
were planting the quick growing Australian gum tree,
the eucalyptus. And why? That was exceedingly inter-
esting.

Beside me strode Lord Allenby, tall and powerful,
mustached, grizzled, figure of a soldier, figure of a cav-
alryman, figure of a British general. Allenby was much
given to taking long walks among the scenes of the Holy
Land. Often, if you were with him on one of these ram-
bles, he would talk of birds. He was an enthusiastic
student of bird life, and even during the heat of cam-
paign he spent a little time nearly every day and would
snatch a few minutes from his war maps and staff con-
ferences to slip off to study the migratory birds that
linger in the Holy Land as they wing their way North
and South.

The conqueror of the Turks had a Yorkshire sergeant
who was his companion and co-worker in ornithology.
In the hours when the commander-in-chief might be oc-
cupied with the anxieties of the plans of forced marches
and strategic moves in the region between Dan and
Beersheba, the sergeant from the north of England
would be stationed at some waterhole. And if some rare
species arrived he would report to the commander-in-
chief who would come down and watch the bird for a
while before returning to his work of planning the over-
throw of the Ottoman Empire.

But when I was walking along the edge of the Plain of

xii

INTRODUCTION

Esdraelon with Lord Allenby that day, he did not speak
of birds. He spoke of trees. He told me that this country,
which was now so bare and waterless had once blossomed
like the richest valley in Spain, indeed had once been the
Biblical land of milk and honey instead of brown and
parched and baked as we saw it.

"Why?" I asked.

To which Allenby replied:

"Trees!" meaning — the absence of trees.

Man is ever wasteful of the rich green life of the forest.
He destroys the trees with a prodigal hand. Then often
Nature takes her vengeance. Man destroys the trees to
make farm land for himself. Then, after a while that
farm land lapses into desert. For the trees hold the soil
and the soil holds the moisture of the land. When man
destroys the leafy woods the rain washes the soil away
and the bare, stony expanse remains. In Palestine the
hand of man long ago swept away the forests. Century
after century passed. Army after army swept over this
ancient corridor. The rains came in their season, and each
year the floods ran more quickly from the bare surface of
the hills and slopes, with the result that today when the
dry season comes the land is swiftly converted into blis-
tering desert .

Lord Allenby explained this to me in a few brief
words, and then told me that if the land were to be re-
stored to its ancient fertile state it must be done by refor-
estation. Trees must be planted so that forests will grow
up again and hold the humus and make soft earth which

xiii

INTRODUCTION

will catch the rains and hold them and freshen the whole
country with the influence of deep, rich woodlands. It
was characteristic of the giant Allenby that he had
turned from idea to quick practice and, as a flash of
whim and poesy, had initiated a campaign of tree plant-
ing along with the rigors of war.

This is a recollection that during the years that had
elapsed, had passed back into the dimness of memory. It
was brought to clear reminiscence by a man and a book,
by Captain Richard St. Barbe Baker and his present
work, **Men of the Trees." In his person and in his turn
of mind Captain Baker reminds me of dozens of similar
British officers whom I have met in many parts of the
world, a soldier devoted to some scholarly and scientific
idealism. He is in all respects the blue eyed, ruddy faced,
red mustached, British soldier type. The Britisher most
often displays the characteristic British reserve in all
matters, including his pet enthusiasm. Captain Baker,
though, cannot hold himself to the often somewhat
wooden British restraint, where the subject of trees is
concerned. In his love for forestry he wears his heart on
his sleeve. His manner becomes animated. His eyes
widen. He speaks with a rushing enthusiasm — the won-
der of trees — the necessity of forest conservation and
reforestation — how fair fields will turn into desert if
they keep destroying the trees — how arid wastes will
bloom with the greenness of life and the colors of the
flowers, if they will reforest. You feel the passion and the
earnestness of the man who has given his life to a great

xiv

INTRODUCTION

devotion. You sense the singular turn of poetry and ex-
ultation in the man who is in love with trees.

I always feel, in the case of a man and his book, that
all I need to tell you is a word or two about the man. As
for this book, it is thrilling, full of strange lore, strange
lands, and the primitive peoples of the tropic forests.
But it is for you yourself to read.

Lowell Thomas.

XV

MEN OF THE TREES

chapter I

HOW THE SAHARA HAPPENED

Who are The Men of the Trees? They are not as some
might suppose Sons of Tarzan or those little pigmy men
who swing themselves from bough to bough in the tall
trees of the forest, but they are a band of African War-
riors who have pledged themselves before N'gai — the
High God — to save their forests from destruction and
plant trees everywhere.

The life and prosperity of the tribes of Equatorial
Africa are inseparably bound up with the splendid for-
ests which are the ancient heritage of their people. Lofty
and dense, these forests have for countless centuries af-
forded shelter, food and fuel to the wandering inhabit-
ants of these vast tracts of country. It is difficult for city
dwellers in Western civilization to realize the tremen-
dous influence of the primeval forests of Africa upon the
lives of those peoples, who, from time immemorial, have
dwelt beneath their shade. The very soul of the forest
has entered into their folk songs and legends, and deep
within their primal hearts is a feeling of awe and devo-
tion for its vast solitudes and everchanging tropical
beauties.

Everybody knows that trees, apart from their direct
economic value, exert a beneficial influence affecting cli-

19

MEN OF THE TREES

mate, agriculture, and even the very existence of man.
This can be more clearly demonstrated in Africa where
vast areas are drying up and are becoming depopulated
as the direct result of forest destruction. Recent scien-
tific research has shown that the Sahara has not always
been desert. Remains of trees have been found on the
banks of vanished rivers and on the shores of dried-up
lakes. At the time of Mohammed it is estimated that
about a million Arabs invaded parts that are now desert.
They cut the forests to make their farms, moving on to
repeat the same process of destruction as soon as they had
reaped their crops. They brought with them vast herds
of goats. It is probable that each Arab possessed about a
hundred goats. Now a hundred million goats following
in the train of a million nomadic farmers would not al-
low of much tree-growth, for the goat is the bete noir of
the forest.

To the north of the Gold Coast, in a territory under
the French sphere of influence, vast areas are drying up
and becoming depopulated as the direct result of forest
destruction. In certain tribes the chiefs have forbidden
marriage and their women refuse to bear children, be-
cause they see the end of the forest in sight and they will
not raise sons and daughters to starvation. They have
been trapped in a wedge of the forest with desert right
and left of them and desiccation travelling fast in their
wake, while the shifting sand buries their poor crops,
driving them into the point of the wedge for their pres-
ent cultivations.

20

HOW THE SAHARA HAPPENED

This graphically shows what may be the result of neg-
lecting to form forest barriers when primitive methods
of shifting agriculture are in vogue. In the wake of a
destroyed forest large sandy wastes rapidly spread, and
the planting of trees is the only effective remedy for
holding up the shifting sands, and restoring the fertility
of the land.

When, as a forest officer, I went into the Highlands of
East Africa I came across a tribe of Bantu origin, who
had earned for themselves the name of "Forest Destroy-
ers" because of their shifting methods of agriculture.
Their chief occupation was farming, but of an ex-
tremely elementary sort. Theirs is a system still common
throughout tropical Africa, namely the clearing of a
small patch of forest by matchet and fire, followed by a
short period of cropping, and then its abandonment in
order to continue the process elsewhere.

These African people were childlike, simple and im-
petuous. Their immediate concern was to make farms.
Little did they dream of the value of the timber that they
were destroying. These primitive agriculturists had no
knowledge of the use of fertilizers, natural or artificial.
All they and their forefathers knew, was that, if they
wanted a plot of fresh soil capable of producing a crop
of food, they would find it in the heart of the virgin for-
est. Naturally, therefore, whenever the seasons came
round for sowing fresh grain and planting their sweet
potatoes, they would go into the thick forest, cut down
and burn the trees, even the priceless pencil cedar and

21

MEN OF THE TREES

olive; and after harvesting two crops, would abandon
their spoilt land to move deeper and deeper into the for-
est, leaving always behind them a trail of destruction.
Hence the tribesmen earned for themselves the name of
"Forest Destroyers."

This devastation of the countryside may seem like
wanton destruction, yet the tribesmen did not act in any
spirit of mischief. They were merely ignorant of the
consequences of their recklessness. They did not realize
that, by destroying the forests at this rapid pace, they
would one day leave themselves without fuel to cook
their food or building material for their huts and grana-
ries. Some of the chiefs and elders of the tribe may have
felt vaguely uneasy about it, but the younger men were
quite unconcerned, caring little whether their women-
folk had to go two hours or two days' journey to fetch
fuel, so long as they got their meals.

When I arrived in their country, I pitched my tent on
a hill known as Muguga, which means, a treeless place,
an apt description, for it commanded a view of a coun-
tryside once lovely with sub-tropical woodlands, now
bleak and bare save for the scattered hamlets and a few
distant Katinga, or sacred groves.

It was here, on the hill of Muguga that I held my
Barazas, or meetings of Chiefs and Elders, and endeav-
oured to impress upon them the urgent importance of
tree planting. Day after day, these Heads of the Tribe
journeyed to my camp to hear what I had to say; and

22

HOW THE SAHARA HAPPENED

night after night they went away fully determined that
something must be done to remedy things, but not
knowing how to begin. Their spirit was willing, but, said
they, "We are old men and the work that you would have
us do would require an army of Morans."

The Morans, or young warriors, for their part, lived
their happy-go-lucky lives, not worrying themselves at
all as to what became of their forests. If one talked to
them of the importance of tree-planting, they would re-
ply: "That is Shauri ya Mungu," God's business. It did
not occur to them that if all Mungu's seed trees were re-
moved, Mungu could scarcely be asked or expected to
replace a great forest. One could not punish them, for
they were too many; and how could one punish wrong-
doers totally unconscious of their crime? "Sufficient
unto the day" was their motto. It did not strike these
young men that the destruction of the forests had any-
thing to do with the decreasing rainfall, although their
fathers told them that in the old days, when their land
was covered with high forest, there was rain in plenty,
and that what few crops they grew in those days were
better than they were nowadays. Whenever there was
talk about this tree-planting, everybody agreed that it
was a very good thing, but the problem was to persuade
them to plant trees without paym-ent or compulsion.

I had given long talks in many meetings with the na-
tives, but apparently the seed had not rooted and no ac-
tion had resulted, yet I would not lose hope for I felt

^3

MEN OF THE TREES

there must be a way to do this work, and that I must find
it. Something had to be done, and done quickly to stem
the tide of destruction.

I went about my ordinary routine work, as assistant
conservator of forests, and after some days the inspira-
tion came. I had been watching ceremonial dances and
had learnt that in these parts of Africa there was a dif-
ferent dance for every season of the year. There was a
special dance when the beans were planted and another
when the corn was reaped. When they were going out for
a lion hunt these tribesmen worked up their courage by
a special dance before sallying forth to slay their enemy.
Even when there was nothing particular to do, again
they would dance. Suddenly the idea came to me — why
not a ceremonial tree-planting dance? Everywhere these
young African warriors were pouring a vast amount of
life and energy into their warlike skirmishes, forest
burnings and dancing. I was convinced that such an im-
pulsive body of stalwart young fighters could be in-
fluenced for good instead of being left to continue in old
habits of destructiveness through sheer ignorance of bet-
ter uses for their energy. I had thought of applying the
principles of Boy Scout movement, but, when on a visit
to Nairobi, I ventured to discuss the matter with brother
officers, the idea of putting "natives" upon their honour
was condemned as wildly impracticable and quite im-
possible. I was considered a visionary and but for the en-
couragement received from the American Consul Gen-
eral, a Roman Catholic priest from the Italian Mission, a

^4

HOW THE SAHARA HAPPENED

medical missionary, and a British settler, I might not
have persisted.

As it was the height of the dancing season it came to
me that here might be the opportunity for introducing
this tree-planting dance, and in so doing reach the young
blood of the tribe, for all the young men were passion-
ately fond of dancing.

First of all I sent for the senior captains of the various
N'gomas, or dancers, and when they came to my camp
I said to them, "It is true, is it not, that you have a dance
when the beans are planted, and another when the corn
is reaped? Why not a dance of the trees?" "N'goma, ya
Miti?" — dance of the trees — said they. "Trees are Shauri
ya Mungu" — God's business. — "Why so?" I said. "If you
cut down all God's seed trees, how can you expect Him
to make young ones grow? If you kill all the women in
the land, you won't get children. Don't you see, it is the
same with the trees?" Their surprise showed me that they
had not considered the matter in this light and slowly it
seemed to dawn upon them what I was driving at. "Lis-
ten," I said, "in three weeks' time you shall have a great
dance at my camp." This new dance, I expounded, was
to be the Dance of the Trees, and I promised a prize of a
fatted ox for the best turned out Moran, and, as their
women could not possibly be left out on this auspicious
occasion, a necklace of their favourite beads for the most
beautiful damsel. The winning Moran was to be chosen
by myself, assisted by a Committee of Chiefs, and the
damsel was to be elected by the popular vote of a Com-

25

MEN OF THE TREES

mittee of Morans presided over by my prize-winner.
The captains of the dances excitedly expressed their
pleasure at this new idea and hastened to their various
towns and villages to spread the news.

26

chapter II

THE DANCE OF THE TREES

At length the day of the great dance arrived. It was one
of those perfectly fine days of glorious sun and crisp air
to which one becomes almost accustomed in the delec-
table highlands of Kenya. As I dressed, I felt that at least
the elements were with me, for the sun was already rising
over the distant mountains; and when the early mists
cleared, the snow-capped peak of Kenya caught the
morning sunlight, while her sister Kilimanjaro, a hun-
dred miles away, looked like a giant's breakfast table
spread with a snowy white cloth hanging over its square
top. It was hard to imagine that one was on the equator,
for in spite of the sun as I sat down to breakfast I was
heartily thankful for the roaring fire which Ramazini,
my Arab boy, had kindled beside me.

I noticed that Ramazini was burning Mutarakwa
chips. They made an aromatic fire, but it seemed a great
waste to be burning this wood which I had recently
found would make excellent pencils. Not many weeks
before I had been walking through the forest and came
across a fallen tree of this wood which some native
women had been cutting up for fire-wood or to make
slabs for the walls of their huts. I had picked up a chip

27

MEN OF THE TREES

and smelled it and at once recognized the scent as being
identical to that of the wood from which cedar pencils
were made. I bit it and it tasted just like the pencils one
had chewed at school when a small boy. I next whittled
it and found that it had the usual whittling quality re-
quired by the pencil makers. I next sent samples to the
School of Forestry at Cambridge where it was favour-
ably reported upon by the wood technologists, with the
result that a market was established for it. For it proved
to be juniperous procera. Pleasant as the scent was when
it burned I warned Ramazini in future to find other fuel,
explaining to him that mutarakwa was too valuable for
that purpose.

Early as it was, the excitement had begun, for soon
runners arrived to say that their tribesmen were ap-
proaching in thousands. Three hours later these eager
young warriors were massing in a great column between
two hills, about a mile from my camp, where they were
sorting themselves out and putting the finishing touches
to their elaborate make-up, so that they might be ready
for a big march past. This was to be a great day. It re-
called to them the happy days when, in this same hollow,
they prepared to sally forth to raid the camps of their
hereditary enemies the Masai. War for them had no ter-
rors. It possessed none of the horrors of modern "civ-
ilized" warfare. In the old days it had been little more
than a pastime and the older men had been comrades in
arms, so this indeed was a notable reunion. As was their
custom they had formed themselves into their respective

28

THE DANCE OF THE TREES

irika, or clans. The Aldruru and the Achewa were there,
the Adjui headed by the sons of old Chief N'duni, the
Agachiku and the Ambui, each clan with their separate
divisions and blood-ties. They came from widely sep-
arated villages, for although men joined the clan of their
fathers their habitation was not restricted to any par-
ticular geographical area.

All these were now falling into order, clan by clan and
becoming impatient to present themselves for the judg-
ing and the dance. Runners frequently arrived at my
camp and anxiously inquired from my forest guards
whether the white master was now ready to receive
them. The message was brought to me where I was enter-
taining my friend the American Consul General at
luncheon. I explained that they must wait a little while,
for they were much in advance of time. Finally, as
coffee was served I gave a signal to one of my forest
guards and the great throng started to advance. They
came on rank upon rank, carrying their spears and
shields. As each clan of warriors arrived in front of my
veranda they halted, faced about and proudly presented
themselves for inspection. The discipline was good, for
the captains of the dances had marshalled them in splen-
did order. On they came in a constant stream, prepared
as if for battle, yet on the spear points was the ball of
ostrich feathers to signify that they came in peace. With
great dignity they marched past the raised platform
which had been erected for the occasion and then, halted
by their captains, they formed orderly ranks to listen to

29

MEN OF THE TREES

the address awaiting them. For this occasion I had chosen
Chief Josiah to be my interpreter. He was one of the
younger chiefs and I had already received able assistance
from him at previous times, for he was a brilliant orator
and most popular with the people. Silence was called for,
as I mounted the dais, which had been previously con-
structed and in Ki-swahili I bid them welcome.

"Men and Warriors," I said, *'I have asked you here
to dance, and it is my wish that you should enjoy your-
selves, but there is something I would first like to tell you,
something very important that you should know, for it
is the business of everybody. A reproach hangs over your
heads. The Masai are calling you "Forest Destroyers."

At the very mention of the name of their hereditary
enemy — the Masai — there was a great stir through the
ranks and three thousand spears flashed in the sunlight.
If I had said, "follow me, we will raid the Masai, we will
punish them," every warrior would have followed me
then and there. They were properly worked up to do
something. Nothing would have pleased them so well at
this moment as to have gone on a foraging raid. But they
were doomed to disappointment for I continued, "I
agree with the Masai — you are 'Forest Destroyers.' "
Josiah thought he had misunderstood me and asked me if
I really meant to say that. I replied that I did and he
literally interpreted. To my dying day I shall never for-
get the next few seconds that followed. The reaction of
my words was intense. At one moment these warriors
had been prepared to die with me — brothers in arms —

30

THE DANCE OF THE TREES

against their much hated foes, but now a sudden change
passed over their ranks. It seemed as though they had re-
leased the grip on their spears and then tightened it again.
I sensed bitter disappointment, estrangement and ani-
mosity, then, rapidly turning to hostility. But I repeated,
"I agree with the Masai, you are in truth Torest Destroy-
ers.' Too long have you cut down and burned the old
forests to make your farms, and as you have advanced
you have left a trail of ruin behind you. You have de-
stroyed the forests that were your heritage, the forests
that you should pass on to your sons. If you continue in
your present ways they will not even last your own life-
time. You must all know that this tree destruction can-
not go on for ever. Already your women have to go two
or three days' journey to fetch fuel with which to cook
your food. Soon there will be no more trees left."

A great silence had fallen upon the assembled throng.
As I paused for a moment one could only hear a gentle
breeze moving the leaves of the great solitary tree in the
centre of the arena. Instinctively I dropped my voice as
I continued:

"Since the coming of the white man many of you have
learned how to build better huts and for better huts you
will want more wood. The white man has brought the
gari-ya-moshi, the steam engine and train, and you no
longer have to walk when you want to go to distant
towns to market your produce. But the gari-ya-moshi
needs fuel which is got from the forests. The white man
as you know is here to help you, and you have already

31

MEN OF THE TREES

benefited from his instruction. Now the white man
wants you also to help yourselves. He wants you to learn
to protect the trees. In the past you have been forest de-
stroyers, in the future you must become forest planters.

"Why is it that whenever you want a good farm you
go into the forest to find it? Listen well to my words, and
I will tell you. It is because trees improve the soil; the
leaves of the trees fall on the land and make it good. If
you wish to find good soil you must plant trees on your
old farms before you forsake them altogether, so that
when all the virgin forest is finished, you and your sons
will be able to return and find new forests which you
have planted and fresh soil in which to grow your crops.

"Listen well to my words, I am going to help you to
remove the reproach that hangs over you, for today I
am going to call for volunteers from amongst you, for
men who will promise before N'gai, the High God, to
plant trees each year and take care of trees everywhere.
Thus the reproach against your tribe will be removed.
No longer will men call you 'Forest Destroyers,' but
rather they will look to you to lead the way and show
other tribes how to plant trees and so perpetuate those
great forests whose well-being is bound up with your
own."

Up to this moment the tension had been great and all
listened in breathless silence to Chief Josiah's brilliantly
eloquent interpretation. I had been talking quite quietly
while he had hurled out a marvellous flow of language,
containing all the little idioms used in their native

32

THE DANCE OF THE TREES

tongue. From the very outset this able young chief had
entered into the spirit of the occasion, and was putting
the full force of his oratory and personality into his task.
His last words seemed to raise a great weight from the
mind of the assembled throng and they relaxed as I
continued.

"As you all know, the spot upon which we stand to-
day is known as Muguga. It is well named Muguga for
save a solitary tree, here and three, the whole country,
which was once beautiful with woodlands, now lies
broken and bare. I call on you then for volunteers, for
men who will join together and become Watu wa Miti,
Men of the Trees, and who instead of destroying the for-
ests will plant and protect trees everywhere."

I had finished speaking, but there was no applause.
The only verbal comment was a chorus of "Namwega"
coming from the old men, chiefs and elders. I leant back
upon the table in front of which I had been standing and
waited for a moment to see what the outcome would be.
The captains of N'gomas were in earnest conversation
with their clansmen, and little groups of friends were
discussing something in which they were deeply inter-
ested. In a few moments there was a general hum of con-
versation. Slowly, deliberately, these war-clad warriors
were making up their minds as to what to do. The cap-
tains drew together and again separated, returning to
their clansmen. A brief pause, and then the senior cap-
tains called for order. Conversation died down and the
first volunteers came forward.

33

MEN OF THE TREES

There was no lack of response, and the foremost were
from amongst the Akiruru, or Ethiga clan, whose asso-
ciation with the forest is hereditary. I had often talked
to them of their Katinga, or sacred groves, and one war-
rior had confided to me that not many moons before he
had been summoned to the death bed of his father to hear
the old man's parting instructions which had been
handed down to him in turn by his father. These instruc-
tions had been given under penalty of a curse devolving
upon all those who failed in their performance of the
duties contained in the warnings of a dying man. The
old man had said, "Guard well the trees that stand on
yonder Mirima (hill) for there N'gai communes with the
spirits of great men and trees."

It was not surprising therefore, that the Akiruru, the
clan bound by traditional duty to preserve the woodland
shrine where chiefs were buried, should be amongst the
first to respond when volunteers were called for to re-
move the reproach of the name "Forest Destroyers"
from their tribe.

That day five hundred warriors came forward. I no-
ticed that they did not all step forward with the same
degree of animation and I suspected that many of them
had been detailed for the task by their dance captains.
So, acting upon my intuition, I intervened. Looking
them over I exclaimed, "that's too many, all I shall re-
quire today is fifty. I am glad to see so many of you have
expressed your wish to become Men of the Trees, but as
there are so many of you, there is nothing left for me to

34

o

(SO

8

cq

THE DANCE OF THE TREES

do but to pick fifty." And this I did with the assistance
of Josiah and other chiefs.

Splendid, stalwart, upstanding fellows all of them
were, many of them sons of Chiefs or Head men and all
of yeoman stock. These fifty stepped forward and hold-
ing their right hand toward the snowcapped mountains
of Kenya took a solemn oath before N'gai, the High God,
to plant trees and protect them everywhere. A badge of
office was there and then tied upon their left wrist to re-
mind them of their vow — a small brass disc bearing an
emblem of the tree and the words "Watu wa Miti." The
badge was fastened with a kinyatta, a narrow leather
band, worked with green and white beads.

Before this simple ceremony was over every warrior
present was wishing that he had been one of the favoured
fifty. It was plain that a new rivalry had been started.
These fifty were men apart from the rest, as it were, a
privileged clan belonging to a new order.

35

chapter 111

RIDING THE BULL

Hard by the platform in a corral to my left was a fine
young bull which was to be my present for the best turned
out Moran, and all were by this time interested to know
the result of the competition. It was no easy task for me
even with the assistance of the chiefs to pick out the best
looking warrior. A double circle had been formed and we
first reviewed the front rank. Those that were in the run-
ning were motioned forward and gradually by a process
of elimination we reduced the competitors to ten. Now
the real diflSculty of the task presented itself and it was
here that the chiefs came to my assistance. After long
and serious deliberation finally the winning warrior was
selected.

This Herculean Adonis, now quite unabashed, set him-
self the task of choosing the most beautiful damsel. With
great expedition and little or no hesitation he selected
ten of the thousand competitors for the beauty contest.
It was of interest to notice their facial beauty was not by
any manner of means regarded as being the most im-
portant factor. As far as I could judge this Moran was
considering the tout ensemble.

At this stage some of the old chiefs could not refrain

36

RIDING THE BULL

from rendering assistance. One even went so far as to
raise the goat skin skirt of one fair damsel to observe
more closely the line of her limbs.

Finally two were left and then ensued a heated discus-
sion as to the comparative merits of their respective
charms. One was coy and modestly demure — too shy for
words — and the other was full of prepossession, fully
conscious of her beauty. It was a problem which was
obviously too difficult for the warriors to decide. In
other words, as far as the girls were concerned, it was a
dead heat. It was here that my American friend came to
the rescue and promised a duplicate necklace of their
favourite beads for the second damsel. When this news
was broadcasted there was great excitement and all agreed
that this was a splendid idea. I later heard that they were
both betrothed on the following day.

All this time the young bull was becoming more and
more restive. The corral was only a temporary contriv-
ance and an extra butt was too much for it. Suddenly it
gave way, and the next moment the impatient steer was
running amok, driving the crowd in every direction.
Quick as lightning the Moran of the day sprinted in his
direction. Rodeo wasn't in it. With a terrific leap he
sprang on the neck of the beast, grasping its horns in his
hands and rode it to earth. That scene will always live in
my memory as one of the finest competitions between
man and beast that it has ever been my privilege to wit-
ness.

This was the signal for the great dance to begin. First

37

MEN OF THE TREES

of all the men lined up in opposite ranks and began a
rhythmic dance to song, without moving their positions.
As the lilt of the song became more lively and the tempo
increased each rank began to advance toward the other,
until they were within a pace. Spontaneously at this
point they reversed, going backward three paces, then
forward two, until they had returned to the starting
point. This was repeated many times and ended in a
grand finale, when from sheer exhaustion they had to
stop for a moment's rest. To me it seemed like a glorified
game of "Here we come gathering nuts in May," and
reminded me of my childhood days when we had picnic
parties on our holidays from school.

The women, for their part, had spontaneously im-
provised a new dance, all on their own; for in the day-
light it is not customary for the sexes to participate in
the same dance. As the afternoon wore on the song and
dance became livelier and at a given signal all began to
wend their way homewards. As the younger members
of the party dispersed in groups the older men and women
began dancing on their own account. It was evident
that the Dance of the Trees had caught on and all were
anxious to participate in it.

Two days later I was sitting in my office busy with the
ordinary routine work of a forester, issuing permits, for
felling trees, interviewing fuel contractors for the
Uganda Railway, signing on forest squatters to assist in
the work of reafforesting the cut-over areas, when one
of my forest guards reported to me that many Morans

38

RIDING THE BULL

wished to see me. There was already a queue of people
waiting to be interviewed, and I indicated that these new-
comers should wait until I was disengaged. My work in
the office kept me till lunch time and when I went in the
direction of my bungalow I found a number of Morans
lined up. Approaching them I demanded, "What do you
want?" One of their number stepped forward and point-
ing to his wrist said, "Bwona nataka saa," meaning
"Master, I want a watch." I abruptly retorted, "I don't
know what you are talking about." Turning to my forest
guard, I said "Drive these foolish men." He thereupon
dismissed them while I proceeded to lunch.

These young warriors returned to their respective vil-
lages and immediately went to their chiefs and said, "Why
was that Master kali with us?" "Why did he drive us?"
"What did you say?" replied their chiefs. "We only asked
him for a *saa,' " ^ said they. "Ah, that is not a *saa,' that is
a badge, and you only get that badge when you promise
to be his men, and plant trees and protect the forests."
So back they came from their distant villages, many of
them having travelled sixty or seventy miles, and again
they presented themselves at my camp. Again I was busily
engaged in a heavy day's work in the office, but at lunch
time I went to them and said, "What do you want?"
One lad stepped out from the rest and replied, "Bwana,
we want a badge, because we want to be your men. We
want to protect the forests and plant trees everywhere."
"Splendid," I replied. "Next week you may present your-

1 Saa — watch.

39

MEN OF THE TREES

selves for the initiation ceremony," and indicated the
hour and day.

I must explain that a few days following the in-
auguration of the Dance of the Trees, two of the orig-
inal members of the Watu wa Miti had come to my camp
and informed me that they had lost their badges. I was
unable to decide whether this had been actually the case
or if it was merely a ruse to obtain two more for friends.
It was obvious that the organization must be safe-
guarded. I only wanted to enlist those who had the
abihty to perform their promises and so I said, "This is a
serious matter. Suppose those badges have been picked up
by men who have not taken the promise. If that is the
case, something must be done to protect our brother-
hood." I immediately sent for Chief Josiah and consulted
with him as to the best move to take. We eventually de-
cided that it was necessary to immediately call a meeting
of the original members and give them a secret sign and a
pass-word. Gradually, there came into being a simple
initiation ceremony, which was intended to express the
spirit which characterized the movement.

40

Chapter W

JOSIAH

I WILL now tell you of one of these impressively simple
and yet, to me, inspiring gatherings. Here is a clear space
in front of a solitary sacred tree upon whose great trunk
has been tied the colours of The Men of the Trees, a white
flag emblazoned with a green tree. In front of the tree in
a hollow square, stand the original members under the
leadership of the Forest Guides. Hard by the great tree,
and close to the colours, stands the Master of Ceremonies
who calls upon all members to prove their membership
by holding forth their left hands bearing the insignia of
office — the badge of The Men of the Trees. This same
movement is the recognized salute of greeting amongst
members. To make doubly certain that no outsiders are
present, the Forest Guides are asked, "Are all present true
members?" They make a rapid survey of the ranks and
after a short pause reply, *'A11 present are true members."
The Master of Ceremonies then puts the direct ques-
tion, "Are the hearts of all men present Safi?" meaning
clean. Each Forest Guide replies for his own men, "Every
man's heart is Safi." Any member with an unfulfilled
obligation, tree-planting or otherwise, cannot be said to
have a Safi heart, and is not allowed to be present at such
a ceremony.

41

MEN OF THE TREES

The recruits who desire initiation are then introduced
and warned of the consequences of Hghtly making prom-
ises which they may be unable to perform. After this
solemn warning it has often been found that candidates
will waver and fall out. Only those who continue in their
desire to become members are allowed to repeat the three-
fold promise:

"I promise before N'gai, the High God, to do at least
one good deed each day, to plant ten trees each year, and
to take care of trees everywhere."

Next the attention of the candidates is drawn to the
colours of The Men of the Trees. At this stage in the pro-
ceedings each candidate has a sponsor both in front and
behind him and the Master of Ceremonies proceeds,
in a clear voice, "They are green to remind you of your
obligation to plant trees and white because your heart
must be 'Safi.' " Upon the word Safi, the sponsor in front
gives the candidate a sharp slap on the heart, sufficiently
hard to knock him back into the arms of his second
sponsor, who immediately pushes him forward, and upon
recovering the candidate's eyes open to view the emblem
of the green tree blazoned on the white background and
tied on the ceremonial tree.

All that now remains is to give the newly initiated
member the secret sign and password. The secret sign is a
particular handshake which symbolizes the threefold
promise. While the password, namely, Twahamwe, means
"pull together," or as is sometimes translated, "we are
all pulling together as one man." This word, Twa-

4^

JOSIAH

hamwe, is whispered into the right ear during the shaking
of hands and thus impHes unity of purpose.

The whole ceremony has a tremendous effect upon the
simple and impetuous heart of the African warrior, and
while it is true that at first he did not quite grasp the
significance of doing one good deed each day, he did ap-
pear to be genuinely troubled should he fail to fulfil this
part of his promise.

The idea of performing one unselfish act every day in
the service of others was entirely new to the thoughtless
pleasure loving warrior, and he did not quickly under-
stand the idea underlying this pledge. This was evidenced
when, some days after the first big initiation ceremony
had taken place, a number of the new initiates came to
my camp. I had been out all day in the saddle, riding
round forest reserves, and had just returned, and very
tired, was enjoying afternoon tea when Ramazini, my
head boy, came to announce that a number of Morans
were wanting to see me. Too weary to attend to further
business I dismissed the matter, as I thought, when I
told my boy "Kesho," meaning to-morrow. I was, there-
fore, somewhat surprised on going out into my com-
pound after tea to find thirty or forty of the Watu wa
Miti still waiting.

""What do you want?" I demanded. "Were you not
told to come to-morrow? No more shauris ^ to-day."

One stalwart spoke up for the rest with winning frank-
ness. "Bwana, we have come to ask you to help us to

^ Shauris — business.

43

MEN OF THE TREES

think of a good deed. In two hours the sun will go down
and so far we have been unable to think of a good deed
to do. Please help us."

I was nonplussed. The sincerity and genuine belief of
those whom I had set on the way, demanded encourage-
ment; they were intent upon doing something very def-
inite there and then before sunset to help the cause for
which they had volunteered.

Some months previous to this I had been carrying out
extensive experiments with a view to discovering how
that most valuable species, Muturakwa, juniperous pro-
cera, could be germinated. It appeared that there were few
pure forests growing gregariously over any extensive
area. I had given considerable time and thought to the
solution of the problem of perpetuating this valuable
tree. For many years my department had endeavoured to
regenerate this species but so far their repeated efforts
had met with almost complete failure. When sown in
the nursery, not more than five percent of the seed had
germinated. After three months' research in the forests,
during which time I accumulated a vast amount of data,
I had noticed places where clusters of Muturakwa seed-
lings were springing up thickly around the brown olive
trees. At times I would find an old olive tree from whose
roots had sprung a fine Muturakwa. Then it was I
noticed that pigeons were feeding on the fruit of the
Muturakwa and perching at night on the branches of the
olive trees. Probably the branches of the Muturakwa
were too rough for their little feet. It seemed that they

44

JOSIAH

preferred the soft stem of the oHve. After close investiga-
tion I discovered that the seeds that had passed through
the guts of the pigeon germinated. It became obvious to
me that this was nature's way of perpetuating this most
valuable species. I had already created a demand for this
wood which provided pencil cedar and this demand was
rapidly increasing. I was now confronted with the prob-
lem of providing sufficient supplies of this wood to meet
the growing call for it. I did not catch pigeons and keep
them in the nursery to feed them upon the fruit of the
Juniper, but I endeavoured to devise a process which
would subject the seed to similar conditions to those ac-
quired naturally. After the seeds were collected I soaked
them in hot water to which I had added a diluted solu-
tion of sulphuric acid. After some hours of treatment,
the seeds were partially dried and rubbed on zebra skins.
Again they were soaked and partially dried and this
process was repeated several times. When the seeds were
sown ninety-five percent germinated.

The most convenient place for my nursery was hard
by the platform of the railway station at Kikuyu, where
I could obtain an ample supply of water for the railway
hydrant. This was where the west bound trains stopped
to take on water, while the passengers generally availed
themselves of refreshments which were supplied at a tea
store on the station platform. My millions of young
Muturakwa delighted the Settlers, who had long sought
the secret of growing what they realized was the most
valuable tree in their country.

45

MEN OF THE TREES

Within six months of the time of sowing, these seed-
Hngs were ready to be planted out, but I had not the
funds available for completing this work. Every time the
up-country train stopped at Kikuyu there were interested
visitors to my nurseries and keen interest was shown in
the results of my experiment, but now I feared that owing
to shortage of labor and lack of departmental funds,
many of these valuable seedlings would be wasted unless
they were planted out before the end of the season. When
these young warriors came to my camp wanting to fulfil
their tree-planting obligations, it occurred to me that
here was the answer and the solution of my problem, so
I suggested that those who really wanted to do something
to help might plant out fifty of these seedlings in a box.

It was the nursery practice to prick out the seedlings
in boxes and grow them on for two or three months and
as soon as suitable days for planting occurred, the young
trees were taken up to the planting site in the boxes, so
that their roots should not be disturbed or subjected to
drying winds. Gladly, then, did these young warriors
respond, and day after day, when they could not think
of anything better to do, they would turn up in the late
afternoon to carry out their self-imposed task.

The very simplicity of a good deed, just a simple serv-
ice rendered to someone else, was too much for the im-
mediate understanding of a warlike race who could more
easily have fathomed the "good" of destroying a man-
eating lion or performing some doughty deed like that of
St. George and the Dragon.

46

^

■^

^

^

B^

JOSIAH

It did not, however, take The Men of the Trees very
long to learn what was really meant by a good deed.
One of them very soon distinguished himself by his brav-
ery during a fire, though he was a raw Shenzi, or bush-
man, on his first visit to Nairobi. This young lad, proudly
wearing the new uniform of the "Watu wa Miti," was in
the fore, rushing up cans of water when and where they
were most needed, and by his courage and example to
others prevented what might have been a very serious
disaster. The news of his bravery was blazoned through-
out the countryside as an example of what was meant by
a good deed, and ever since then many daring deeds have
been done in the endeavour to emulate this lad's action.
But perhaps more important still The Men of the Trees
are learning to perform little acts of kindness and to cul-
tivate the elementary principles of chivalry in the true
spirit of the movement.

But away on that hill of Muguga those young war-
riors stuck to their task of tree-planting. Some fetched
water and sprinkled the newly planted seedlings; others
erected shades to protect them from the sun; and in
this first nursery they raised over eighty thousand young
trees.

The time came for me to depart on leave of absence.
I spent the next three months carrying out further re-
search in the Cedar forests of the Mau Escarpment, en-
deavouring to find fresh supplies, while at the same time
studying more closely the natural methods of perpetuat-
ing these valuable forests. At the end of this time I re-

47

MEN OF THE TREES

turned to the old neighborhood of my camp and visited a
friendly Settler.

The first day, Chief Josiah came to me in great distress.
After the usual salutation and exchange of greetings, he
blurted out "Bwana, shamba ya sanduka na harabika,"
meaning, "the farm of the boxes is broken." At first I
failed to understand him and then it dawned upon me
that he was referring to the nursery of The Men of the
Trees, where these lads had carried out their voluntary
tree-planting. "What do you mean?" I asked. "I do not
understand." "Are you telling me that our nursery is
destroyed?" "Kwale, Bwana — truly sir," he replied.
"Bwana, piga m'pra* — the masters hit the rubber." He
was trying to convey that a tennis court had been erected
on the site of our nursery. At first I was dumbfounded
at this news. I could not believe that any of my brother
officers in government service could have been respon-
sible for this foolish act, and I said, "Josiah, I cannot be-
lieve you." His simple response was, "Master come and
see."

I immediately jumped on a pony and galloped up to
the site of the nursery and there I found a perfectly good
tennis court on the same ground where I had left a
flourishing nursery of eighty thousand young trees. Real-
izing what the consequence of this official blunder might
mean to the tribesmen I could have wept at the sight
which now presented itself. There was no sign of a young
tree in view. I sat down and waited for Josiah who ar-
rived on foot a little later.

48

JOSIAH _^_.=.

**Josiah, tell me what happened," said I. He said, "Mas-
ter, when you went away this thing happened and at first
we were mystified. But when they realized that this had
been done by the orders of the big master of Nairobi, my
followers were furious, but what could they do? Said
they, 'This is Shauri ya Escali' — the business of govern-
ment, and as you had gone away, there was nobody to tell
their trouble to. And now they have gone 'for bush' and
they will not do another thing like this for love."

All this time I had been thinking hard what to say, and
how to meet this unexpected situation. I could not let
down a brother oflEicer however short-sighted his action
may have been and immediately replied, "Josiah, don't be
foolish. Don't you see this is the right place for the tennis
court? I ought to have made it before I went away.

"It may have been all right for you to come here with
the Watu wa Miti, when I was here, but this new master
can't have you coming around every evening so near his
camp." It was hard for me to control myself in the face
of this bitter disappointment, for I acutely felt what it
must have been for those simple folk, who, out of the
goodness of their hearts, in response to my appeal had
come round evening by evening to expend their labour
of love in tree-planting. I was conscious that Josiah with
that natural intuition so strongly developed in the
primitive African, was reading me like a book and was
sharing with me the same intense regret and remorse.
Back of all this I felt a silent challenge coming from
this fine young chief, who had willingly devoted so much

49

MEN OF THE TREES

of his time and energy to furthering a movement which
he beheved to be for the good of his people, whose well-
being was paramount to him.

I could not bear to remain here any longer, and leading
my pony, I walked with Josiah in the direction of his
country. After a few minutes silence I stopped and said :
''Josiah, you know that little stream that flows through
your land? Down below your camp, hard by the stream
is some fine black soil. That is a grand place for a nurs-
ery. Your lads know now how to collect the tree seeds
and prepare them so that they will grow. There is noth-
ing to prevent you from making a nursery on that land
and there you may plant as many trees as you desire."

I did not labour the point, but bid him farewell. Such
was his influence with his people that on his return to his
village he called his followers together and told them
that he had seen me and that everything was all right. I
had explained to him that the old nursery was the right
place for the tennis court, that the young trees had
obviously not been wasted, but had been planted out in
the government land and that now they might have their
own nursery in their own village and raise their own
seedlings where nobody would interfere with them.
Quickly a new nursery was prepared and instead of a
mere eighty thousand trees, over a million were raised by
their fresh endeavours.

This was not the end of the story, for eight other chiefs,
fearing that I should love Josiah more than them, each
competed with him in tree-planting and as the result of

JO

JOSIAH

an apparent blunder it is estimated that over nine million
trees were raised by the Watu wa Miti that first year.

The Men of the Trees are organized throughout on a
simple plan. The organization in the tribe is known as
**the Forest"; the Forest is divided into "Districts" each
taking its name from the most important tree found
growing in that district; these again are divided into
"Branches"; each Branch being in command of a local
chief who holds the rank of "Forest Guide." Hence there
are the Forest, the Trees, and the Branches.

Although started in Kenya Colony the organization
is rapidly growing into a tree-planting brotherhood, and
the ideals of The Men of the Trees are penetrating into
some of the most remote places of the great silent Con-
tinent of Africa.

In Great Britain and in other countries of western
civilization youth finds relief in games and the like; but
games apart from tests of individual skill and prowess
are themselves the product of an advanced civilization
and do not readily provide a common meeting ground
for people to whom they are unfamiliar. In the first in-
stance at least, the appeal must be made to the imagina-
tion, and this was the appeal of The Men of the Trees
movement.

Again, the uneducated must be shown a definite ob-
ject before they can be expected to devote themselves to
any constructive purpose; and as I have previously ex-
plained, the duty of The Men of the Trees is to guard
and protect their woodlands and to ensure that when-

51

MEN OF THE TREES

ever a tree is cut down or destroyed a new one is planted
in its stead. This idea is sufficiently valuable in itself. But
beneath it lie the foundations of a much wider ideal em-
bodying the gradual uplifting of the public mind and
leading ultimately to the highest standards of citizen-
ship which are essential to the well-being of the world.

5^

Chapter V

FOREST FOLK

In the fastness of a little-known forest in Equatorial
Africa dwell a shy and elusive folk; for ever on the alert,
they disappear into the heart of the forest should they
catch sight of a stranger. I had heard of them first from
the Arabs and had often wondered if it would be my
good fortune to make friends with them. But although
I marched for hundreds of miles conscious that I was
being secretly watched by these strange forest dwellers,
many weeks passed before I was fortunate enough to
come into contact with members of the tribe.

My work for the Forestry Department frequently took
me far off the beaten track and often for a month or two
at a time I had been entirely cut off from other white
men. Although I did not realize it at the time such ex-
periences were not without their advantages. The worst
thing I encountered in these forests were a particularly
vicious breed of mosquitoes and greedy blood -sucking
Tsetse flies, but my discovery of the forest dwellers proved
to be adequate compensation for the discomfort caused
by these pests.

One day I was walking in the dense bush when my at-
tention was arrested by a strange sound. I at once stopped

53

MEN OF THE TREES

and beckoned my followers to keep still. We looked
about us, yet there was nothing visible but the dense vege-
tation. There were no fresh game tracks, nor were there
signs of any human being having passed along the old
game track upon which I was walking.

Still looking in the direction from which the sound had
come I listened intently, but all was now quiet. It was
that time in the morning when the sun begins to make it-
self felt. The birds and animals that had been foraging
during the early morning, had already retired before the
heat of the day. My forest guard recruited on the coast
was never quite at ease in the bush; he was anxious to get
on and, vainly endeavouring to disguise his fear, re-
marked, "Si kitu Bwana — it's nothing."

It was evident that he wanted to get away from this
spot as quickly as possible. Only the night before, when
I was giving him his orders, informing him that I in-
tended to come in this direction, he had suddenly asked me
for a day ofif so that he might go and see his sick brother
forty miles away. He informed me that a messenger had
arrived that very evening urging him to return home;
and, as if to add emphasis to the urgency of the call, he
informed me that he had heard that there was another
messenger on the road bringing him the sad tidings of his
brother's decease. This was so obviously a made-up story
that I began to question him about his brother, and it was
not many minutes before he admitted that no messenger
had really arrived, that he had no brother in the village
named, and that his only reason for longing to get away

54

FOREST FOLK

was that he was very much frightened at the idea of go-
ing into this particular bush. He then went on to tell me
of all the people who had gone into this bush and who had
never returned. He got so much excited and talked so fast
that I could with difficulty follow him. He was trying to
convince me of the truth of some fantastic story about a
fierce troop of baboons, who shot men down with
poisoned arrows. For a while I thought that the poor
fellow had taken leave of his senses, but I managed to
calm him down, and told him that whatever kind of
monkey-man or man-monkey was in that bush, I in-
tended to walk through it on the following day, and that
he would have to come with me.

Now that I was actually in the heart of the bush, I
was beginning to wish that I had let the fellow go and
see his imaginary brother. Again he repeated: "Si kitu
Bwana," to which I abruptly replied: "Makalele!" — shut
up. The next instant there was an unmistakable ripple
of laughter as from a tiny child. The sound came from
the dense bush, but could not have been twenty yards
away. I quickly cut my way through the undergrowth,
and came upon a small opening, where I saw an old man,
sitting in a crazy booth, while near by were two small
children, the elder not more than four years old. Upon
closer examination I found that the old man was unable
to move, for he appeared to be suffering from a damaged
knee. He showed no signs of fear, and awkward though
his position was, he possessed an air of dignity rarely met
with amongst the natives in these parts.

MEN OF THE TREES

In a little while I found that I could converse with him
through one of my carriers and I learnt that he had been
lying there for two moons. I gathered also that his woman
had gone out to fetch food. Very soon she returned carry-
ing in one hand a large bow and dragging behind her a
young antelope which she had shot for the pot. Hanging
the result of the chase on a nearby tree she picked up her
water pot, and apparently without noticing me went off
to fetch water.

The sun was by now very hot and was beating down
on the little clearing. I ordered my carriers to make a
stretcher, which they very quickly did, from strips of
bark and staves, and we carefully lifted the old man on
to it in spite of his protestations. In a little while the
woman returned to find that the carriers were about to
remove her man and she burst into a frenzy of rage. Like
some wild creature trapped in a corner she sprang with
one bound upon the carriers, who were about to shoulder
their load, and quickly drove the four of them, stalwart
fellows though they were, into the surrounding bush.
She next returned to her man, bent down over the
stretcher and, after caressingly running her hands over
him from the soles of his feet to his shoulders, knelt by
his side with one hand on each of his arms, fixed him with
her shining eyes and burst into an impassioned musical
speech. In a moment it was as though a spell had been
cast upon him. He answered with his eyes but did not
utter a word. She stopped speaking and half raising him

56

FOREST FOLK

with her strong and supple arms embraced him fondly,
caressingly, and laid him back comfortably to rest.

She now rose quickly to her feet and swung round and
with defiance in every line of her body faced me — the
first white man she had ever seen in her life.

I must admit that I had been deeply moved by this
spontaneous display of affection for a helpless old man
and as I looked at her, even as she was all trembling with
rage, I loved her spirit. Spontaneous recognition of good
will followed, and in an instant she was transformed.
Such is the force of intuition in these children of nature
that without my having spoken a word she instinctively
knew my sympathy and felt that I was their friend and
would not harm them.

By this time the babies were quietly sobbing, with
their little arms clasped tightly about her bare limbs.
Her first instinct was to soothe them, which she quickly
did, for now, completely relaxed, she squatted near by
and drew her babies to her breast and gently rocked them
to and fro, leaving me to talk to the old man.

After the recent display I was convinced that more
harm than good would be done by removing him, for
said the old man, "If I leave this forest I shall surely die.
My father and my father's father have lived here always."
The woman joined in his entreaties that he should be left
where he was. "For," said she, "have I not tended him
well? Is he not my man? Who then can care for him
better than I?"

57

MEN OF THE TREES

Soon one of the carriers whom I had sent back to my
camp came up with my medicine chest so I dressed the
injured knee, and leaving a supply of bandages and iodine
reluctantly passed on my way.

Two months later I was again camping in those parts.
The first evening, just before sunset, an old man crept
up to my tent. I at once recognized my friend of the
forest and welcomed him with keen delight. He was now
able to walk quite well and he said he had come to return
thanks. He brought with him a tall, fine looking young
man of the same tribe, who carried on his shoulder a live
antelope which had apparently been trapped that after-
noon. This he said was a present for me. I examined my
patient's knee which was now healed and after the ex-
change of a few words he hurried off in the direction
from which he had come.

All the next day I was busy with work in the forest
and returned to my camp in the evening, towards sun-
set, to find the same old man again. This time he had
brought with him two young men. The next day I moved
my camp and pitched it twelve miles further on, and
again at sunset the old man turned up, this time with
four young men who after exchanging greetings would
not be detained but quickly disappeared into the night.
Thenceforth, night after night, as I journeyed through
that forest region my old friend would appear just before
sunset with two or three fresh followers, but never once
did they accept my invitation to camp with my carriers.
At length I discovered that my forest patient was none

58

FOREST FOLK

other than the late chief of his tribe. At the time of his
accident he had been succeeded by a younger man, for
it is by only fit and able bodied men that the rank of
chief can be retained.

59

Chapter Yl

THE MAN HUNTERS

One evening one of the young forest dwellers came to
my tent with unaccustomed haste to tell me that his
brother had just been killed by a buffalo. It appeared
that several of them, armed merely with bows and ar-
rows, had attempted to shoot the ''King" of a dangerous
herd; for in every herd of buffalo there is a leader or
King who is generally the strongest and fiercest of them
all. This wild buffalo had charged at sight, knocked down
his victim, and full of rage at having been hunted pro-
ceeded to vent it upon this unfortunate man. The poor
fellow was terribly smashed up and died a short while
afterwards.

The tragedy was recited to me in detail, and as I
listened to the lurid story, a great feeling of pity came
over me; added to that was a strong desire to exterminate
the brute who had taken from me one of my forest
friends, and in the hearing of all present I promised to
hunt down the buffalo and have revenge. Turning to
the boy I said, 'T have heard your story. You will sleep
under my tent flap to be near at hand, and to-morrow
very early we will start out together; and I will not rest
until I have slain the buffalo which killed your brother."

60

THE MAN HUNTERS

Dismissing the carriers who were standing round the
camp fire I sent them to bed and quickly turned in my-
self, while the tired boy curled himself up under the flap
of my tent and was soon asleep.

Next morning we were away long before dawn. Our
route took us through the little camp where the boy had
lived. His mother came out to meet us, and standing in
the morning moonlight with hands outstretched she
called upon the God of the Forest to give skill to the
hunters.

We first went to the scene of the tragedy and carefully
noted the footmarks of the buffalo and from there set
out along a well beaten game trail leading towards the
drinking place — a water hole in the forest — which was
frequented by the herd. Here my guide was confident
that he would find the spoor of the buffalo. Carefully he
walked round the water hole, every now and again stoop-
ing close to the ground to make a more thorough inspec-
tion of some hoof mark. Soon he measured with his closed
hand the width of an exceptionally large impression
made in the damp sand by the buffalo. I had been leaning
against a tree close by, watching his investigations with
interest, but for the moment taking no actual part in
them. I could see now that he had found what he was
looking for, and from this stage onwards there was no
hesitation. At once he gave me the direction and in a few
seconds we were following hard on the track of the
savage beast which, not many minutes before, had been
drinking at this very hole.

6i

MEN OF THE TREES

It was now dawn and easy, even for me, to see in which
direction he had gone. Although there were other buffalo
in the herd this lad had got the culprit properly marked
down and no time was lost in following up the track.
Now and again the tracker would stoop and pluck a
blade of grass which had been recently bruised by the
foot of the animal in passing. Such is the skill of these
sons of the forest that they can readily tell by examina-
tion of such a blade how long ago the game had passed.

As we proceeded the bush became more and more
dense, and although we were following in the trail of
the buffalo, at times we had to crawl on our hands and
knees to get through the entanglement of scrub. We fol-
lowed with the greatest care and precaution, fearful lest
the sound of a breaking twig should betray our presence,
for we knew full well that if the buffalo scented us first
there would probably be another tragedy; a charge by
the infuriated buffalo, a short sharp shock, and all would
be over with one or both of us.

While I was leading the way, with great caution fol-
lowing stealthily the now well defined track, my follower
suddenly caught at my shirt sleeve bringing me to an
abrupt standstill. With every muscle tense he silently
drew himself close up to me. I could feel his heart beat-
ing as, intently peering over my shoulder, he raised his
chin slightly protruding his lips to indicate the direc-
tion of the quarry. There, not ten paces away, stood the
King of the herd — the man-killer. Although we were so
close to him my view was obscured by the dense scrub

62

THE MAN HUNTERS

and all I could clearly see were his nose and the tips of
his horns which indicated that they were enormous. For
the rest, all that was visible was the merest outline of his
huge body.

The instinct of self-preservation caused me involun-
tarily to look around for a tree behind which to shelter,
but a glance showed that there was nothing of the kind
in the immediate vicinity. It was indeed a tight cover.
In my endeavour to get a shoulder shot a twig snapped
and our lives hung in the balance for the next few mo-
ments. There was a terrific snort and for a terrible two
seconds it seemed as though the whole herd were charg-
ing down upon us, but what actually happened was that
they most unexpectedly cleared off in the opposite di-
rection.

I got up from my crouching position and measured
ten paces from where I had been to the foot marks of
the front feet of the buffalo. Apparently his cow had
been lying in front of him and the remainder of the herd
on the other two points of their triangle. It is a well
known fact that in these forests buffalo, when they lie
up for the day, always make this formation, one of them
taking turn to stand and be on guard at his point of the
triangle until relieved by another, so that from whichever
way an enemy may approach he will be observed by one
of the three standing animals and the alarm will be given.

I was unwilHng to return to camp after having been
so close to the quarry without having fired a shot. How-
ever, the brother of the dead boy protested that it would

63

MEN OF THE TREES

be impossible to get another chance of coming close to
the herd again that day, so I decided to return to camp.
The bereaved mother came to welcome me as a victor
and it was hard to have to confess myself defeated. Some-
how I felt I had failed her, and I determined then and
there that I would not return a second time without hav-
ing made the buffalo pay the penalty for the killing of
her son.

That night I could not sleep, and the next morning the
hunt started even earlier than before. It was an easy
matter to reach the water-hole and pick up the new spoor
from there and follow up the buffalo into the forest. This
time I had made up my mind that I would shoot if only
I saw so much as a square inch of him at which to aim.

After a wonderful exhibition of tracking on the part
of my guide we eventually came upon the herd, and this
time good fortune was on my side, for my bullet found
its mark. As we followed up, after a few minutes' pause,
we came upon the blood spoor which proved that al-
though the herd had vanished the buffalo had been
wounded. I continued in hot pursuit for about an hour,
though fully conscious that I was taking big risks, for
a wounded buffalo is prone to circle round and hunt the
hunter.

By this time the sun was high in the heavens and soon
we were tracking in great discomfort owing to the in-
tensity of the heat. It was now several hours' journey from
water, and in a part of the forest which was quite un-
known to me.

64

THE MAN HUNTERS

"^ "^ ^"y y

Anxious lest I should get hurt, four of my men had
taken upon themselves to follow me at a distance, and
as we were slackening our pace these men came up to
me and at once suggested that it was high time to give
up the chase and return to camp. In the circumstances
it seemed foolish to continue the pursuit, but I would
not listen to them, for I was determined to get the
buflfalo.

We had now come to a small opening made by a wind-
felled tree, and here we sat down to rest for a few min-
utes, all the time with ears strained for any sound of
breaking twigs which might indicate the whereabouts of
the buffalo. Just then a little bird burst into song. It
seemed to me that he was singing "Embali kidogo, Em-
bali kidogo" (a little farther on, a little farther on) .
Turning to my followers I whispered, "Do you hear
what the little bird says? Embali kidogo, Embali kidogo.
Shall we continue or return?"

These good fellows just looked hard at each other and,
after a slight pause, by general consent decided to con-
tinue the chase. Once more we pushed on along the same
old trail, with the sun all the time getting hotter and
hotter.

Another hour passed and although I felt that we must
now be very close to our prey my followers again began
to talk of camp, one of them reminding me that we were
travelling all the time in the opposite direction. For the
second time we sat down to rest, and I quietly told them
that whatever happened, for my part I was determined

65

MEN OF THE TREES

to catch up with the wounded buffalo and finish him off.
Secretly I was in a quandary, for I knew that unless I
could persuade them to continue with me there would
be very little chance of my ever being able to get back
to camp. On the other hand, what seemed to me more
important than anything else at the moment was suc-
cess, for if I had returned unsuccessful, I felt that I
should have lost my chance of making good with my
friends, the forest dwellers. Not knowing the country,
I reahzed my entire dependence upon the knowledge of
these four bushmen, and yet I hardly dared to give them
a direct order to continue when it might be a question
of life or death for them.

While I was turning over the situation in my mind
one of them picked up something from the ground, and I
said, "What is that?" It was a tiny tick. The boy knew
that it had been brushed off the buffalo's back by an
overhanging branch. I placed it on the open palm of my
hand and in a flash I had an inspiration. Looking into
their faces I said, "Let the tick decide. If, when I place
it on the ground, it walks in the direction of camp we
will return but if it walks in the direction of the buffalo
we will continue." With brightened faces all agreed that
this was a very good idea, for it was "Shauri ya Mungo"
(God's business) to decide.

I put the tick on the ground and all eyes were turned
upon the oracle. The insect remained motionless for a
moment and then, in the intense silence, it seemed that
he deliberately made off in the direction taken by the

66

t^

THE MAN HUNTERS

buffalo. Without another word each man rose to his feet
and the chase was continued.

We had not gone very far when we reaUzed that we
were close upon our quarry. In the distance I heard a
breaking twig and simultaneously a gentle pull at my
sleeve made me look round cautiously. My hunter friend
was staring back on our track where there was an ominous
crashing of bush as the buffalo, who had circled round,
suddenly turned and charged down upon us. Dropping
on my knee I fired just in time. The shot staggered him,
he swerved from his course and fell, but was instantly
on his feet and with lowered head again dashed onwards
towards me. There was not a moment to be lost for he
was now almost on top of me. I had no time to take care-
ful aim, but as good fortune would have it my shot found
its mark and the great "King" of the herd lay dead at our
feet.

The news of the kill spread far and wide in the mys-
terious wilderness way, and the forest dwellers hastened
from their remotest fastnesses to meet the returning
hunters. For my part I hastened back by the forest track
and found the bereaved mother reclining with her back
against the trunk of a giant tree, her hands folded in
front of her in quiet contentment; with eyes glistening
with tears of joy she welcomed us back from the chase.
No mere words were spoken, but her "Thank you" was
none the less eloquent for all that.

67

Chapter VII

KATOOTERO AND HIS HONEYBIRD

I HAVE related this adventure at length because the shoot-
ing of this buffalo was the means of finally establishing
my friendship with these proud and elusive tribesmen.
I gradually got to know them as intimately as any white
men can know a black, and some of my happiest and
most profitable days in forest work were spent with
them.

These people are natural scouts; the most skilful man
among them in the use of the bow and hunting is voted
Chief. They are, generally speaking, very healthy people
and have no recourse to medicines or witchcraft. They
keep themselves fit by regulating their diet and taking
strenuous exercise, which they get quite naturally in the
course of their hunting. They do not cultivate the
ground, but manage to vary their diet alternatively, by
using meat and green food, wild fruits and nuts, tree
seeds, roots of plants, wild yams, and a certain number
of forest weeds which take the place of vegetables. Sting-
ing nettles, when they can be found, are valued as a food.
They are first boiled lightly and afterwards pounded to
pulp. Honey takes the place of most sweets. This they
collect from the hollow trees, of which a number are

68

KATOOTERO AND HIS HONEYBIRD

allotted to each family. No family would think of tres-
passing on another's honey preserve. They prefer the
honey in the comb, while the unhatched grubs at a cer-
tain stage of incubation are considered a great delicacy.

These forest folk live so close to nature that they make
even the birds their allies. I have seen a honey bird lead
a hunter to a hollow tree in which there is honey ready
to be taken. It was fascinating to watch one of these
little birds trying to get the attention of Katootero, the
lad who used to hunt with me sometimes. We had been
out for a hunt in the early morning and he was now
resting, and I was taking this opportunity of discussing
the prospect of an expedition that I was planning. Pres-
ently one of these tiny honey birds came up close to
him and perched on the bough of a nearby tree, and
started chirping noisily. He told me that this was one of
his honey birds that was anxious to show him some hollow
tree with honey for the taking.

To me it seemed perfectly ridiculous that this tiny
bird should make such a fuss and be so insistent on Ka-
tootero following him. I later discovered that the honey
birds know well to whom to go, for it is the unwritten
law of the forest that each dweller has his own territory.
Now that the honey bird had got the lad's attention, it
flitted from bough to bough in the direction of the hol-
low tree, returning every now and again and perching
quite close to the lad as if to make quite sure that he was
following.

On leaving camp Katootero had picked up a piece of

69

MEN OF THE TREES

burning wood and when next we encountered an old
fallen tree that had rotted he collected several pieces of
touch-wood and tied them round the smouldering stick
with a small creeper cut from the forest. This delay
seemed at first to agitate the little bird who made more
fuss than ever. But once the hunter was ready again for
the trail the honey bird flew on ahead. We did not have
to go very far along the game track that we were fol-
lowing, for soon the little bird stopped and then flew
into the denser part of the forest. About two hundred
yards from the trail there was a clearing where a giant
tree had fallen, thus letting in the sunlight through the
canopy of the forest. To the north side of the clearing
was a tall tree and looking upwards Katootero's sharp
eyes immediately spotted a small hole from which bees
were flying. They must have been from ninety to a hun-
dred feet up, and to this height the boll of the tree went
up clean, without a branch. For my part, I could only
just see the position of the hole and it was only when the
light caught the wings of the bees, as they flashed in and
out of the hollow, that they were obvious to me.

It looked as though it was impossible to climb this tall
tree and I waited to see what Katootero would do. He
was looking around, and at the same time, every now and
again, blowing on the touch-wood to get it well ahght.
Another way he had of getting a good smoke going was
to swing it backwards and forwards. Suddenly it seemed
as though he had an inspiration. About twenty-five feet
away from the big tree was a tall thin one which could

70

KATOOTERO AND HIS HONEYBIRD

■'r V fr w w ^ ■r w-r t ^ ^ f' w ■r ^ w 9 ■w ^ -r ■r WT T ^ -r' w ■WW w ^ -r ^ -r ^ w V w ^ ^ wr ■r y"*^

be climbed. It was slender and whippy, and not more
than twelve inches in diameter at breast height. Produc-
ing a long leather strap, or mukwa, Katootero rapidly
climbed to the top, and when the tree started to sway
with his weight, he swung it over in the direction of the
big tree and seemed to be rapidly falling, but, with a
quick motion, caught the main stem, held onto it, swung
his mukwa around it and bound the two trees together.

He now mounted higher and presently reached a posi-
tion just below the hole from which the bees were swarm-
ing. He next blew some smoke into the hollow, using the
same means of subduing these insects as the modern bee-
keeper. The only difference being that he hadn't bellows.
He just puffed the smoke in with his breath. In a few
minutes he plunged his hand into the hole and brought
out a supply of honey in the comb, which he deposited
in a leather bag swung from his shoulder. Having got as
much as he wanted he cautiously climbed down to where
he had tied the thinner tree and with great care released
it. I held my breath when he kicked off from the big tree
and slid down the slim one. It had been a remarkable per-
formance, and I was glad that he came down without
being damaged.

All this time the little bird had been waiting patiently,
and now he rewarded it with a liberal supply of grubs in
the comb. It is one of the fascinating facts of the forest,
that these small honey birds live in symbiosis with the
forest dwellers.

In regard to marriage customs my friends of the forest

71

MEN OF THE TREES

are content with one wife. The usual dowry paid at the
time of marriage is a pair of elephant tusks, which are
not so much appreciated for their intrinsic value, but
rather because they are a proof of the skill and bravery
of the bridegroom. If a maiden is beautiful and skilful
she will command a very large pair of tusks, and the
young man who is fortunate enough to win her may have
to hunt many months before he can find ivories worthy
of her.

The girls and women wear their hair long and plaited.
They are well set up, with boyish figures. They carry
themselves gracefully when walking, and yet have the
stride of a man. The woman is far more the comrade of
her husband; she is treated as an equal and will often
hunt with him, or take her turn to hunt alone, while the
man will stay at home and mind the baby. It is even quite
a common thing to find a brother and sister hunting to-
gether, for at an early age the equality of the sexes, both
as regards responsibility and usefulness, is recognized,
and the young lad of seventeen or eighteen does not re-
gard it as infra dig to be seen about with his sister, whom
he will often take with him on a long hunting trip.

When hunting together, the forest dwellers have a
code of signs and sounds which closely resemble the notes
of birds or the noises made by animals common in their
particular part of the jungle. Their imitation of birds
and animals in the forest is so accurate that it deceives the
animal that they are tracking, and yet can be recognized
by their clansmen. Once, for my special entertainment,

72

KATOOTERO AND HIS HONEYBIRD

a forest dweller imitated the call of distress such as might
be made by a female baboon so realistically that the "Old
Man" of the troop rushed out into the clearing, right in
front of us, prepared to defend his mate. When he real-
ized that the cry had come from a mere man he gave
grunts of anger which quickly changed to sounds of al-
most human laughter when the suspense was broken, and
then he trundled oflf back into the bush.

These forest folk do not live in villages nor do they
make permanent buildings. I have never seen more than
four or five booths together in one place and these would
belong to the same families. There is no defined path
leading up to such a camp. A stranger might pass quite
close to a group of shelters without realizing their exist-
ence, for great care is taken to obliterate any apparent
road of access. It is usual for these shy forest people to
return to their camps by different routes, so that they
shall not betray their presence to strangers by leaving
worn trails.

They live their lives with proud reserve in the great
solitudes of the forest strictly secluded. They are highly
intelligent, and while shy yet in the face of personal
danger they are absolutely fearless.

The hunters have been the friends of the forest for
their wants were meagre and easily satisfied without the
necessity for tree destruction for making farms. A few
dead sticks gathered from wind- fallen branches provide
sufficient fuel. Within the spell of the forest they guard
their own domain from all intruders, for no rival would

73

MEN OF THE TREES

risk their poisoned arrows. Just as the honey preserves
are defined, so in the jungle each dweller has his own
territory. To the white man the origin and observance
of this law are inexplicable except as the survival of the
past, but to its power is due the preservation of many of
the existing virgin forests.

These then are my friends the forest dwellers, and as
I came to know them better they began to render me
valuable assistance in forestry work; for a bond between
us had been established and with a very little training I
was able to use them as forest scouts. They entered en-
thusiastically into the work of collecting tree seeds, or
any other useful work which I might suggest.

It is true that these primitive folk were not conscious
at the time of the far reaching results of their work, but
were merely doing what I asked in order to please me.
To them it seemed just a whim of mine which, however,
they were delighted to gratify. They could see no more
profit for themselves in collecting seeds than in climb-
ing a tree for a botanical specimen; but nevertheless in
time they became some of the most enthusiastic Men of
the Trees. By reason of their close association with nature
they were well adapted to render me valuable assistance.
They had an intimate knowledge of the forest and I was
able to reach even the most inaccessible parts under their
guidance and thus to carry out valuable survey work.
This was not all, I was able through them to obtain many
botanical specimens which were of considerable value,
being used for identifying timbers of economic im-

74

KATOOTERO AND HIS HONEYBIRD

portance. They were natural forest protectors and it was
their great concern that the forest had already been in-
vaded by neighbouring tribes and whole areas cut down
and burnt. I was anxious, if possible, to prevent this de-
struction, and my forest friends were only too willing,
on their part, to co-operate with me. Without their assist-
ance it would have been impossible to have started many
of the forest nurseries or to have raised the trees with
which to plant abandoned farms. Their voluntary service
was of particular value at the time because my depart-
ment was sadly under-staflfed and the demand for forest
seeds was far beyond the supply available.

When the time came for me to leave their forests, I
parted from them with real regret, a feeling which evi-
dently was reciprocated by them as, for the first time
in their lives, a number of them accompanied me on my
way, leaving the shelter of their forest homes to bid me
farewell.

Looking back upon the time spent with these children
of nature, and having with deep interest entered into
their joys and sorrows, I am convinced that in spite
of their precarious existence in the jungle, they have
managed to arrive at and retain many of the joys which
we hold dear. For there in the heart of the forest they
live their care-free lives and enjoy each other's comrade-
ship, with sufficient food and shelter, even though their
home may be but a primitive bower of leaves and
branches.

75

Chapter VIII

HOW THE COCK BECAME KING OF THE BIRDS

Many a night I have sat by my camp-fire to be enter-
tained by old chiefs and head men. When I got to know
their language it was a continual source of delight to me to
listen to their folk-lore and nature stories. I always found
that there was a subtle sense of humour underlying their
presentation. They reminded me of my experiences with
those delightful peasants of France, who live in the moun-
tain villages along the Riviera. They invariably had a
jest which they were always ready to share with their
camp-fire friends. Some of the stories they told to me
took as long as five nights to recite, for we always ad-
journed our gatherings before midnight, so as to turn
in and be ready for an early start on the following day.

"How the cock became king of the birds," lasted for
five nights. It started like this as most stories do. "Once
upon a time all the birds of the forest quarrelled amongst
themselves as to who should be the greatest. At length it
was suggested that they should present themselves before
the lord of the forest, whose special title I have now for-
gotten, to ask him to decide. This he agreed to do. First
of all the eagle came and the lord of the forest said to
the eagle, 'What have you got to say for yourself?' And

76

HOW THE COCK BECAME KING OF THE BIRDS

the eagle replied, *I can fly higher and see farther than
all the other birds. Surely I should be king of the birds.'
And so the lord of the forest replied, *I hear what you say.
Stand to one side. Call your wife.' And so Mrs. Eagle
came, and she spoke in the same language. And the lord
of the forest replied, *I hear what you say. Stand to one
side.' Next came the Bird of Paradise, who said, 'I am
more beautiful than all the other birds, surely I should
be king of all.' Again the lord of the forest spoke as be-
fore, 'Stand to one side, call your wife.' And so the fe-
male Bird of Paradise presented herself and spoke in the
same manner."

I must explain that the reason why the story took five
nights to relate, is because my African friends paraded
every known bird for judgment. Often I failed to recog-
nize the bird about which they were speaking and then
I would have to stop them, for I would not let them
continue until it had been made clear to me about which
bird they were speaking.

Finally, on the fifth night we came to the end of the
story. "At last the cock came to the lord of the forest
and he said, 'Cock-a-doo-del-do.' And the lord of the
forest replied, *I hear what you have said, stand to one
side, call your wife.' And so the hen came, and she said,
*Tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk.' And the lord of
the forest turned to the cock and addressed him, as fol-
lows, 'My friend, you have won the day. You are more
clever than all the other birds of the forest, because you
have taught your wife a different language from your

77

MEN OF THE TREES

own. And, moreover, now that I have decided that you
are king of the birds, by reason of this, all the birds of
the forest will be your enemies and so you had better
stay right here with me.' That is why it is, cocks and hens
always stay with men."

At times I suspected that their stories subtly alluded
to the relation of the black and white races. There were
many inferences regarding the strong and the weak, or
the strong and the cunning. Such was the story told of
the fox and the wolf. At this length of time and writing
from a different continent, I cannot recall how the quar-
rel started or why the wolf began chasing the fox. I only
remember the story took a whole evening to relate be-
cause all the country through which they passed was
described in minute detail. But the story ended like this.
"At last the fox rushed into a great cavern where there
was an overhanging rock. He was dead beat and put his
front paws up against the rock and called, *help, help, the
rock is falling.' And the wolf, who was hard behind him,
afraid of being crushed by what he thought was a falling
rock, stood up on his hind legs and pressed against the
rock with his fore feet as hard as he could, when the little
fox doubled back and escaped, leaving the wolf expend-
ing all his energy in a futile task."

Again, there was a story of the elephant and the canary.
It was never clear to me why they fell out or became such
rivals. But it seemed that the canary generally got the
better of the elephant and although the greatest animal
of the jungle challenged the little bird on many an occa-

78

bo

1

HO\r THE COCK BECAME KING OF THE BIRDS

sion he was generally defeated in the end. Once the ele-
phant said to the canary, "Look here, we must once and
for all decide as to who is the greater," and so the canary
agreed to submit to any suggestion which would prove
the superiority of either of them. The elephant there-
upon took the canary to the seashore, and said, "Which-
ever of us can drink the most water will be chief once
and for all." And the canary agreed to compete in the
contest and abide by the result. Just then the tide was
coming in and the canary said to the elephant, "As you
are the bigger you may begin to drink." So the elephant
put his trunk into the water and started drinking for all
he was worth. Presently he had to stop from sheer ex-
haustion for he felt that he must burst. The canary sang
his praises and congratulated him for his marvellous per-
formance and the elephant was carried away with pride.

When the tide was about to turn the canary went to
the water to drink, dipped his beak into the sea and went
sip, sip and waited. Again he walked forward and went
sip, sip, and waited. And the elephant was perfectly
amazed, and presently it seemed that the canary had
been responsible for reducing the volume of water.
When the tide had gone right out, the canary flew back
to the elephant and said, "See, what I have done." And
the elephant had to agree that the canary had won the
contest.

Such stories made me think of the destiny of Europeans
in Africa and it was through these proverbs that I be-
gan to get back of the black man's mind. Whatever may

79

MEN OF THE TREES

have been the animating impulses which led to European
colonization in Equatorial Africa, whether right or
wrong, it cannot be questioned that the contact of West-
ern civilization with the primitive methods of compara-
tive savagery, has resulted in a state of flux and change
for which the white man is responsible.

East Africa, and in fact the whole of the tropical area
surrounding the Equator, may in time and with wise
guidance, become capable of self-government; but that
time has not yet come, and we who have aroused the
tremors of what was once a nation, cannot hold our-
selves guiltless until and unless, we have satisfied our own
consciences and wisely assisted to their legitimate end,
the aspirations of a people who are in the early stages of
a great awakening.

That great Social Anthropologist, Professor Bronislaw
Malinowski, has said, "The clash of Western culture with
the older civilizations of mankind is the greatest drama
that history has ever chronicled." Improved means of
transportation and the advance of medical science have
opened up vast opportunities for development. Many
countries have been invaded by the white men in the
past, to the detriment of the aborigines, but here in Africa
the new invasion should result in a considerable increase
of the population by reason of the advancement of medi-
cal science. Whereas in the past there was sufficient virgin
soil in the forests to suffice for the sparse and shifting
population, this is no longer the case, and the little that
remains of the original forest must be conserved both in

80

HOW THE COCK BECAME KING OF THE BIRDS

the interests of agriculture and of climate. With the in-
troduction of improved methods of agriculture, living
in fixed localities will become possible, and village life
will develop and and become better suited to modern
conditions.

Africa is at last awakening from an age-long inertia,
and there is a slow but sure movement in which one can
already recognize the beginnings of a race consciousness
amongst millions of people who have up till now been
regarded as the most backward of mankind. But a closer
study will show that these peoples, cut off from the rest
of the world, have evolved a social system and moral code
which is well suited to their requirements. The tendency
with those of us of Western Civilization has been to re-
gard them all as savages, because their attitude towards
life has differed from our own. We have frequently been
inclined to pity or patronize them, and have often en-
deavoured to impose upon them our brand of civiliza-
tion without stopping to think for a moment whether
it suited them in such a different environment, or
it would alleviate their lot or make their life the happier
for them. These countries have been invaded first by the
explorer, then by the trader and missionary, followed
in rapid succession by the administrator, and in some
cases the settler, and we have taken upon ourselves great
responsibilities which we like to call "the white man's
burden."

All this has been accomplished so quickly that we have
not had time to get to know or understand the African

8i

MEN OF THE TREES

point of view. Moreover, just as we were flattering our-
selves that with our advent inter-tribal warfare had van-
ished, the European war obtruded itself into the heart of
Africa and showed the Africans that what they had be-
fore regarded as war, was, in comparison, merely child's
play. If we stop to think seriously and take this — the war
factor — into consideration, we might find it difficult to
decide whether from the African point of view the ad-
vantages of our presence have not up till now been out-
weighed by the disadvantages. It is even open to argu-
ment whether the many privileges of Western civilization
justify our replacing simplicity by complexity, or en-
deavouring to substitute an industrial system which when
all is said and done, is not always effective. A return to
slavery would have less horrors for the African native
than the treadmill routine of factory wage-slaves who,
having sunk their individuality in a number or a letter,
ring on and off as if they were merely cogs in the wheel
of a great heartless machine.

It is difficult to estimate the damage to European pres-
tige resulting from the Great War, in which many thou-
sands of Africans came into conflict with each other.
The exigencies of warfare necessitated the recruiting of
carriers from the African Highlands, who were taken
from their natural haunts and transplanted hundreds of
miles away, where they fought in low-lying lands for
which they were constitutionally unfitted. Again, sol-
diers were recruited from the tropical coast and subjected

82

HOW THE COCK BECAME KING OF THE BIRDS

to exposure in the cold Highlands ; in both instances caus-
ing colossal loss of man power.

If the war had to be so far as Europe was concerned,
it adds to the tragedy that it should not have been kept
out of Africa; however, what has happened, has hap-
pened, and we must in consequence face profound and
disturbing changes. No one can tell what the outcome
may be. The fact is that Africa is awakening — but to
what?

83

chapter IX

FLOGGING A SHADOW

To understand we must first learn and this is ever true
in relation to the dealings of the white man with the
African. The success of The Men of the Trees may be
largely attributed to the fact that this movement is based
upon an idea which could be understood by the people.
In the heart of Africa today, wherever its ideals have
penetrated, it affords a valuable means of training in ini-
tiative and responsibility.

As life in Equatorial Africa becomes more settled,
villages will spring up and village life become the order
of the day. If we can only succeed in giving the African
a new interest in home and village life, first perhaps in
arousing liis interest in tree-planting, we shall lead him
to sink his old individual interests in the new ones which
will soon become too precious to be jeopardized when-
ever his inclination turns to the old improvident ways.
He will be industrious in spite of himself, as he recognizes
himself as a part of the new order unfolded before him.
Docs not the solution of African problems lie in first
aiding the African to adjust himself to this new order,
beginning with home life, which must ever be the most
important factor in the growth of any nation? The ideal
picture of the African future is that of the native who

84

FLOGGING A SHADOW

has created a home of which he is proud, combining with
his fellows to improve the conditions of their small vil-
lage. He will profit by the lectures and advice of trained
farmers of his own race, who will cultivate demonstra-
tion crops in little groups of allotments throughout the
reserves, and plant forest belts which will assure a con-
tinuous supply of wood for all purposes while protecting
his harvests.

The Men of the Trees are paving the way for new
methods of development, especially needed where tribal
practice has become ineffective as is often the case where
the contact with Europan civilization has been sudden.
In many cases tribal uses have been broken down, and
the African has had little time in which to adjust his
vision to the changing order of things. His reaction has
been something akin to that of a man, who, after being
confined for a long time in a dark room, is suddenly
brought out into the full glare of the mid-day sun where
he is dazzled and blinded, and in consequence is bewild-
ered. Dark as the room may have been, at any rate he was
able to find his way about in it with little or no difficulty,
by reason of being accustomed to that environment. The
change is a devastating revolution in his domestic, social
and spiritual life in that he leaves his home and tribal life
to take a new religion. To him it is entirely destructive of
everything that he has held near and dear. It is difficult
for us to realize what a colossal upheaval it has been for
him in every sphere of life. But whether we realize it or
not, it still remains a fact that, through the centuries he

85

MEN OF THE TREES

had evolved a social system which he regarded as being
suited to his requirements. From what I have gathered in
the course of conversation with many of the chiefs and
elders, they have a sense of being hustled. They accept
the idea that a change in the order of their life must
come about, but at the same time they are reluctant to
surrender everything connected with the past at once,
and cling tenaciously to many old ideas. The popular
attitude of the thinking men in the tribe was vividly
brought before me on one occasion when I had invited
a missionary to address a meeting of elders at my camp.
It was their custom on certain days to come and con-
sult me regarding current affairs concerning the wel-
fare of their people. Thus they came together this Sun-
day morning in the same spirit, prepared to consider
seriously whatever matters were brought before them.
In a few words I introduced the missionary, telling
them that he had come to bring a good message for
them all. The missionary, who could speak the local dia-
lect fluently, then addressed his audience for about
twenty minutes, ending up with an earnest appeal to
them to send their sons and daughters to the Mission
School. Immediately he had finished speaking, the eldest
of the chiefs rose to his feet and said most courteously,
"We thank you for your good words to which we have
listened carefully. If you will excuse us we should like
to withdraw and go into council on these very impor-
tant matters." So saying, he bowed low in salute, and
walked out, followed by the whole gathering. In a few

86

FLOGGING A SHADOW

minutes they returned and again took their places, sit-
ting down as before. Again the old chief rose to his feet
and addressed the missionary and myself as follows,
"Sirs, your words are good, this we do not doubt. But
we are old men and would ask you to have patience
with us. You are going too fast for us, old men as we
are. Behold, what you say may be good for our sons, but
not for us. For ourselves we will follow the beliefs of
our fathers. What was good for them and for their
fathers, must be good for us. As for our sons, it is for
them to choose what they will do. If you wish them to
go to your Missionary School and that is their desire, we
will not hold them back, but one thing we pray you,
spare us our daughters. If you take them away from
us you break up our family life; when they have gone,
there is nobody to tend the young children. We beg you
to listen well to this request which we make, and of
your mercy grant it."

That speech both sums up the attitude of the passing
generation and opens before us the pressing problems
of today.

In the case of the Arabs the great change that has
come to them is the abolition of slavery. If the invasion
of Western ideas amongst the Highland tribes of Africa
created amazingly difficult problems, it came as a catas-
trophe to the coast Arabs who in many ways are the
greatest sufferers from the new ideas and conditions.
The Arabs were the aristocrats, dependent upon their
slaves, without whom they were helpless. Although

87

MEN OF THE TREES

many old slaves refused to forsake their masters, the
temptation was too great for the majority who were
attracted by the high wages paid in the rapidly develop-
ing Port of Mombasa. This growing centre of com-
merce drained dry almost all the labour from along the
coast.

The change came about so quickly that the Arabs
were incapable of adapting themselves to the new sys-
tem of labour whereby slaves were being replaced by
wage earners. Their fields and gardens became dereHct
and in many cases all that remained to them were a few
palms which sufficed for a bare existence. In the town
of Lamu on the East Coast, I have seen an old Arab liv-
ing in the corner of one room in the ruin of his ances-
tral home, protected from the glare of the sun or tropi-
cal downpour only by a makouti mat made of palm
leaves.

Although on account of his inability to adapt him-
self, the coast Arab is unable to retain his old position
in the new order of affairs, his philosophical nature
seems to stand him in good stead and prevent him from
becoming embittered. He modestly retires from public
life and lives quietly, usually spending much time in de-
votions, for they are devout followers of the Prophet.

On looking back on my days spent on the Coast, I
consider myself fortunate in having had the privilege
of knowing intimately some of these older Arabs. They
have much charm, and are always courteous and hos-
pitable, even though all they may have to give the trav-

88

FLOGGING A SHADOW

eller in the shape of hospitaUty is a M'dafu, or cocoanut.
Indeed, on a hot day after a long tramp in the sun,
nothing could be more acceptable than a long drink
from a young cocoanut. In spite of all that they have
suffered in recent years, they seem to harbour little or
no resentment, and even if they feel it, they do not
show it. It is only by their proverbs or stories that one
can get a glimpse into the thoughts at the back of their
mind.

As an example of a story with proverbial significance,
I will endeavour to recite one told to me at Mambrui.
The following is a literal translation as nearly as I can
render it.

"Once upon a time there lived a rich man and a poor
man in the same village. The rich man was very, very
rich, and the poor man was very, very poor. It was the
custom of the rich man to partake of his meals on the
verandah of his house, and the poor man having noth-
ing to eat, would come and sit on the side of the rich
man's table some distance away, but near enough to be
able to inhale the scent of the viands. He enjoyed the
aroma and, not having a morsel to eat, drew in his
girdle, returned to his poor abode, feeling as though he
had partaken of the sumptuous repast. This continued
for several days, but finally the rich man became en-
raged and took the poor man before the Judge, asking
him to administer suitable punishment. The Judge held
court and tried the poor man and found him guilty of
having stolen the aroma of the viands wafted by the

89

MEN OF THE TREES

breeze from the rich man's table. And the Judge called
for his tallest and strongest askari and ordered him to
make ready the great whip with many tails, and take
the prisoner before the Court House and to flog it with
twenty-five mighty strokes when the sun cast the pris-
oner's shadow on the ground.

"The same day, towards four o'clock, a crowd gath-
ered before the Court House, and in front of all was the
rich man who was greedy to see the punishment in-
flicted. Exactly at four o'clock the prisoner was brought
forth, followed by the askari carrying the great whip
with many tails, and as the prisoner stood, the sun cast
his shadow on the ground and the askari raised his
mighty whip with the many thongs in the air, and
brought it down with a crash on the ground by the side
of the poor man. Again he raised his whip, and again he
brought it down with equal strength, and so he did
twenty-five times. The rich man, standing near by the
poor man, was choked with the dust raised from the
ground by the crashing thongs, and he went off to the
Judge in a great rage, choking all the time with the dust
which he had swallowed, and said to him, *See here, I
called you to punish this man and you are making a fool
of me; your askari is merely beating the ground and
making a great dust.' And the Judge said to the rich
man, 'Did this poor man steal your food?' The rich man
replied, *No, but he stole the scent of my food.' And
the Judge said, 'Very well. I do not flog him. I flog his
shadow.' "

90

chapter X

THE BUNDI SPEAKS

In my experience I have found that the uncomplain-
ing poverty is the result of their philosophy. I have
never once found them embittered in spite of the hard
times with which they have had to contend. I came
across an Arab town on the borders of Tanganyika Ter-
ritory, which, during the war, was completely destroyed
by the two invading armies. On the side of this Arab
village there had been many a battle. At one time it had
been occupied by the British, then it was captured by
the Germans. Counter attacks there were and many a
ding-dong battle razed this town to the ground. After
the war it was impossible to gather sufficient material
out of the debris to build new houses. As the result of
the war, over two hundred and fifty inhabitants were
homeless. Being penniless for three years, they lived as
best they could, amidst the ruins of their town, all the
time seeking to obtain sanction to cut forest material
for the rebuilding of their homes. Their helplessness in
this delay was a test even of their great philosophy. But
before the strain reached the breaking point and dis-
affection spread, the forestry officer in this district was
fortunate in hearing from the Provincial Commissioner

91

MEN OF THE TREES

the facts of their distress. It was important to act im-
mediately not only for human relief, but for the es-
tablishment of better understanding. There was no
shortage in the neighbourhood, for everyone knew that
quantities of wood were being cut from their mangrove
swamps and exported to India.

It seemed only natural that the urgent needs of those
in the adjacent towns should be first supplied. He in-
vestigated the case of each family and issued permits
according to their requirements, and thus a condition
of growing despair among these helpless war victims
was changed into hopeful activity.

The vital importance of a capacity for perception of
local requirements and the power for immediate action
on the part of the man on the spot cannot be overes-
timated.

Side by side with the Arabs, just back of the coast
line of East Africa, is the Nika, or desert country. To
the inhabitants of this territory before the advent of
the white man, life was a continual struggle for exist-
ence. While the women tilled the fields, the men played
their part in foraging raids, for their time was continu-
ously occupied in war or hunting. Under the new re-
gime the tribes are practically immune from the attack
of hostile neighbours, and it is no longer the necessity
to spend time in sharpening spears and making shields.
There is a serious attempt being made today to substi-
tute the plough for the spear and it is good that this
should be done, however dull the process may seem to

92

TPiE BUNDI SPEAKS

young warriors. But the common round and daily task
in actual practice does not furnish all they ask. What
the African can use is vocational training. He needs the
knowledge that Western civilization can give him to
enable him to turn to full account the marvellous po-
tential wealth of his land.

In the past the women tilled the soil under the pro-
tection of their men folk who were generally there ex-
cept when they were engaged in counter raids upon
their neighbours. But today, slowly the warrior class,
born to fighting and members of a military caste are
being led to adapt themselves to modern agriculture. A
new spirit is being created by practical training and
their natural gifts are being developed in a constructive
direction.

This problem of adjustment is not as difficult as it
seems, for they can soon be taught that the successful
agriculturist of the new order is truly a warrior who
fights daily. He must learn to apply the tactics of war
to defeat the enemies of his crops. He must marshal his
forces to save his harvests; he must gather ammunition
for the seeding of his farm; he must collect an armoury
of tools to develop his possessions to advantage; he must
fortify himself against the besieging drought. He must
again prepare outlets for attacks by flood, sharpen his
ploughshares in place of his spears, and shield his prod-
uce at all seasons of the year.

Though the transition from the warrior to the agri-
culturist has not yet been completely established, on

93

MEN OF THE TREES

account of lack of local training, the change is as vital
a necessity for the welfare of the indigenous tribesmen
as for that of the incoming settler.

From superficial knowledge of the problem, it would
appear that some form of compulsion by means of tax-
ation is necessary before such a race could be induced to
labour productively and provide the necessary quota of
raw material for the world markets. But a more thor-
ough examination of the question will, I am convinced,
reveal the fact that the present system by means of
which labour is recruited must be modified, rather than
intensified, if we are to get lasting results.

The African is very loyal and easily led by those who
win his confidence. He is prepared to work, but we
must be equally prepared to give him a fair share of
the profits of his labour. If we deal honestly with him —
if we give him what we should — the scientific knowl-
edge that we have been fortunate enough to gain and
he has not — if we teach him certain systems of organi-
zation which he badly needs, there will certainly be en-
couraging results. In his life on the land lies the basis
of his sound development and we must show him, by
the rotation of crops, the use of manures and other
methods, how he can increase his resources abundantly
and economically. If he does this with our assistance,
he will be very glad to share with us the wealth pro-
duced, in exchange for the services we render.

Co-operation for mutual benefit, and, over and above
that, the spirit of willing service for the public good

94

THE BUNDI SPEAKS

and the good of posterity, are conceptions to which the
African is quick to respond if they are put before him
in the right way, that is, in a way which he can under-
stand.

One day, while I was camping on the edge of the
Nika desert, I held a Baraza. Chiefs came from distant
villages, because I wanted to talk to them about tree-
planting and show them how they could build a forest
barrier and thus stop the desiccation and the advance of
the desert.

When evening came and they had had their meal,
they wanted to hear more. As I was sitting in front of
my tent they appeared out of the darkness, one by one,
and gathered about my camp fire. For a long time no
word was spoken beyond the ordinary greeting, and as
I finished my coffee, I passed around the native snuff
which I kept for their harmless delectation.

The snuflF box was in the form of an ebony owl, and
having gone the round of all the chiefs it was returned
to its usual place on my table. This little ebony owl had
come to be regarded as my camp mascot, and there he
sat looking out towards the night shadows and my audi-
ence.

"Do you know who that is?" I questioned, placing
my finger on the head of the owl. They at once assented.
Of course, they all knew the Bundi, the wise old bird
of the forest. "Do you know why he is so wise?" I next
enquired. "It is because he has big eyes and can see all
that is happening; he has big ears and can hear all that

95

MEN OF THE TREES

is going on around him, and only a little mouth so that
he need not speak foolishness."

I translated for them the rhyme about the owl

Kuluikua fta n'dege m'zee

Aliyeka katiga tegaa

Kwa zuidee aliona

Kwa upungufu alisema

Kwa zuidee alisema

Kwa upungufu alisikize

Huyu twa mafanu na huyu n'dege

merevu m^zee

This is my best Kinika for

"There was an old bird who sat in an oaky
The more he saw the less he spoke,
The less he spoke the more he heard,
So take a tip from the wise old bird."

I went on to tell them if they would take a lesson
from the wise old bird they would see and hear more
and keep silent. This caused great merriment and much
nudging of elbows. Just then a gentle breeze sprung up
and began to rustle the leaves of two large trees in front
of my tent and I said, "Listen, do you hear those two
trees? They are talking to each other. If the wise old
bird could only speak now, he would be able to tell us
what they are saying. He might inform us that the

96

THE BUNDI SPEAKS

w WW » yy-yy^^

Wembi^ was saying to the M'gandi,^ "What a fine tree
am I. See how I sheltered the Wazee^ from the KiU^ sun,
and kept them cool under the shade of my branches."
"Ah, that's nothing," replied the M'Gandi. "Didn't you
see whom I was protecting from the Kali sun? It was no
other than the Bwan ya Miti M'kubwe." ^

"All honour be to you," said the Wembi, "but all the
time he was sitting under the shade of your branches he
was telling the Wazee to plant Wembi, for," said he,
'Wembi's heart is good for timber. Wembi's arms are
good for charcoal. Wembi's fruit is good for food. Plant
Wembi. Plant Wembi."

"Yes," said the M'gandi. "That's true, but you are
only a stranger in this land; you came here but yester-
day. You were only brought here by the Arabs, whereas
I've been here from very long ago."

"True," said the Wembi, "But I was brought here be-
cause I was of use to man; because my heart was good
for timber; because my arms were good for charcoal
and because my fruit was good for food, whereas you
are but a parasite; you climb up other good trees and
hug them to death, and you are neither good for timber,
fruit nor food."

"Softly, softly," said the M'gandi. "Remember, my
young friend, that in the old days before the coming

^ Wembi — ^mango.

2 M'gandi — parasitic fig.

3 Wazee — elders.
■* Kali — fierce.

* fiuan ya Miti M'kubwe — Great white chief of the forest.

97.

MEN OF THE TREES

of the white man, when the people of this village
fought with the people of that village yonder, when-
ever peace was made, it was made under the shade of
my branches."

At this point the Chiefs looked up from the ebony
owl and eagerly questioned me. "Does the Bundi really
tell you all that? For all you say is true. Tell us more."
Because I was speaking what they knew to be true I
won their confidence and was enabled at this stage to
continue my forest instruction and drive home the
lesson.

We talked long into the night, for they seemed loath
to part and ever anxious to hear more. Months later I
returned to find how well the story of the Bundi had
been learned, for without further supervision they had
voluntarily planted many Wembis in the abandoned
farms with lasting benefit to their country.

98

chapter XI

THE GATEWAY TO KENYA

When I left the Nika country I came down the Coast
by dhow and encountered a terrific storm. Our cockle-
shell of a boat was driven before the wind and in spite of
the efforts of my able Arab seamen, we were driven far
off our course. For two days and nights we battled with
the elements and I shall always recall with what delight
and genuine relief I arrived at Mombasa, the gateway to
Kenya.

It must not be imagined that Mombasa was a small
village on a mud flat with no history. On the contrary,
it was a port of repute with a record then dating back
for more than four hundred years. It had a walled fort,
which frequently changed hands, and had been subject
to the attacks of many invaders. There had already been
super-class and secondly a Portuguese domination. The
constant clash between these had left the island a vivid
history of revolt and carnage. In spite of this there had
been an enormous trade in slaves running into many
millions of dollars, chiefly by dhow, with the Persian
Gulf and the Malabar Coast which was materially re-
stricted by the abolition of this traffic.

The history of the coast of East Africa goes back long

99

MEN OF TPiE TREES

before the Christian era, though Uttle was known of the
interior until well into the Nineteenth Century. Vasco
da Gama visited Mozambique, Mombasa and Milindini
in 1498, being the first European to sail in those waters,
after which a long period of strife ensued between
Portuguese and Arabs.

The British first appeared on the scene in 1798 fol-
lowed by Americans, who arranged a friendly commer-
cial treaty with the ruler of Zanzibar in 1833.

The hoisting of the British Flag at Mombasa, just over
a century ago, affords an attractive story by reason of
the fact that it was first flown by the inhabitants with-
out permission from the British Government, surely a
very rare circumstance in the history of any nation.

In 1833 there was published a narrative of voyages to
explore the shores of Africa, Arabia and Madagascar,
performed in His Majesty's ships "Levan" and "Barra-
couta" under the direction of Captain Alexander T. E.
Vidal, and W. Fitzwilliam Owen. In this interesting
publication were extracts of the diary of Lieutenant
Boteler of the "Barracouta." With the kind assistance of
the Admiralty Librarian in London and the Master of
the Rolls, I have been able to look up the story as told
in this old diary. As I saw the musty looking bundle be-
ing unwound, I was conscious of a sudden thrill of emo-
tion. Carefully the knots were untied and the outer
wrappings removed, and then in the centre of the bun-
dle was disclosed the actual log of the Master of the
"Barracouta." It was with keen interest that I turned

100

THE GATEWAY TO KENYA

over the pages until I came to an entry recording the
arrival of the "Barracouta" at Mombasa on 3rd Decem-
ber 1823.

At 3.^0 abreast of Mombasa. Hauled to the wind,
sent a boat in to sound . . . at 4 brought up in 11
fathoms. Showed our colours . . . was anstuered by the
fort on shore. They hoisted a red flag; came off a boat
from the shore and sent two boats to examine close in
shore. As the boats returned up and down Royal yards
and struck the masts.

4th December 1823.

Light airs with lightning at daylight — sent the
Ramsden and Portia with Lieut. Boteler to survey the
reefs. Later came on board, some of the grandees from
the Town, bringing with them^ some fruit and two
sheep.

"British prestige had already reached Mombasa," says
Lieut. Boteler in his diary, and the inhabitants welcomed
the white men who "although differing so widely in
religion and customs yet ever protected the oppressed
and respected the shrines of liberty."

The probability is that when Lieut. Boteler was sent
on shore by his Captain he so endeared himself to the
natives by his straightforwardness and uprightness of
character, that when he departed they said, "This is a
good man, his flag must be a good flag; we must hoist

lOI

MEN OF THE TREES

it." Before the British ships departed the Sheikh, or Sul-
tan, begged Captain Vidal to authorize them to hoist the
British Flag and place the town and territory in the
hands of his Britannic Majesty. For some unknown rea-
son this request was not granted, and on the 7th Decem-
ber 1823, the two ships sailed away. Whether some of
the local inhabitants persuaded the crew to sell them a
flag, or whether they made one or stole it, is unknown,
but, mystery of mysteries, on the return voyage the
British colours were found to be flying on the Fort of
Mombasa. Captain Owen went on shore and the Arabs
acknowledged having hoisted the British colours without
authority, but unanimously craved permission to place
the whole country under the protection of the British
Nation. It is said that Captain Owen informed them
that provided they would assent to the abolition of the
Slave Trade, he would transmit their proposal to his
Government for their decision, and that he would have
no objection to holding the place in the meantime.

"To these conditions," states the historian, "they read-
ily assented, and made a formal cession of their island
Pamba, and the country reaching from Malindi to Pan-
gani." The Third Lieutenant, Mr. John James Reitz, was
made Commandant of Mombasa.

Such is the story, as we may be tolerably certain that
no sooner had His Majesty's Ships "Barracouta" and
"Levan" sailed from the Port of Mombasa on 7th De-
cember 1823 than the British Flag was hoisted.

There was a notable gathering inspired by a suggestion

102

THE GATEWAY TO KENYA

from His Excellency, the late Sir Robert Coryndon, to
celebrate the centenary of this voluntary hoisting of the
Flag on 1 2th December 1923. Over sixty people, rep-
resenting every interest in the Colony, met in London at
luncheon in a quiet little restaurant in Jermyn Street.
The occasion is memorable for the fact that this was
probably the first time in the history of the Colony that
so large a number of people representing widely varying
interests, forgetting politics and their differences of
opinion, came together in a disinterested way to com-
memorate a purely historical occasion.

But to return to the history of Mombasa. It was not
for another fifty years that the British India Steam
Navigation Company established regular communica-
tion with these parts. In 1887 the Sheikh Sayyid Bargash
granted to the Imperial British East Africa Association,
a concession of his mainland possessions between Imba
and Kipini. This Company, whose Chairman was Wil-
liam MacKinnon, was largely animated by humane mo-
tives and a desire to enforce the law against slave trading.
This Company also started industrial missions, built
roads and administered justice, and in 1894 surrendered
its charter to the Imperial Government who assumed the
Protectorate when Sir Arthur Hardinge was appointed
Commissioner and Consul General.

There was steady progress in the development of gov-
ernment at Mombasa and in 1896 the construction of
the Uganda Railway was started. Four years later Sir
Charles ElHot succeeded Sir. A. Hardinge as Commis-

103

MEN OF THE TREES

sioner. The close of the South African War brought a
large influx of settlers, and in 1903 the Planters' and
Farmers' Association was formed. This organization
represented all the settlers, who had at that time no
voice in the administration.

On I St April 1905 the administration of the Protec-
torate was transferred from the Foreign OflSce to the
Colonial Office, and settlement steadily progressed.

On his death, Sir Donald Stewart was succeeded by
Sir J. Hayes Sadler, and two years later a Legislative
Council was constituted on which the settlers were rep-
resented by nomination, though the Government still
retained a permanent working majority of officials, and
the Commissioner was henceforth styled Governor. The
first to assume this position was Sir Percy Girouard,
under whose regime the Protectorate showed decided in-
dication of increased prosperity.

In 19 10 Lord Delamere, a prominent settler, co-
ordinated the settlers' interests in the Convention of
Associations. This body, to which all local Associations
send delegates, meets twice a year.

To the next Governor, Sir Henry Belfield, fell the
difficult period of the War, and during this time there
was a general set-back to farming.

The Armistice was the starting point of a new era of
reconstruction, and to Sir Charles Bowering, when Act-
ing Governor, fell the task of dealing with the difficulty
which had arisen over the currency. It was under the
rule of Sir Edward Northey that the Highland area was

104

THE GATEWAY TO KENYA

formally annexed and proclaimed a Colony, and the
official designation of the whole Territory became
Kenya Colony and Protectorate.

In August 1922 Sir Robert Coryndon was appointed
Governor of Kenya Colony and High Commissioner of
the Zanzibar Protectorate in succession to Sir Edward
Northey. His task in Kenya was not an easy one, for he
was immediately confronted with the serious problem
of the conflicting Indian and European claims, while
having to keep in mind all the time the interests of the
Native African on whose behalf he was constantly ex-
erting himself. Besides being an exceptionally able of-
ficial, especially in native administration, he was a keen
sportsman and a beautiful rifle shot. His wide experience
in different parts of East and South Africa had well
equipped him for his arduous task. His sudden death in
1925 was a great loss to the Colony. He was mourned
by every section of the community who well knew that
he always put their interests before his own. He was
succeeded by Sir Edward Grigg.

Even according to present day standards Mombasa is
regarded as one of the most marvellous harbours of the
world. The Island is only just over 3,000 acres in extent,
but is the neck of the bottle through which everything
must pass which is required by the hinterland of some
500,000 square miles, with a native population of per-
haps 10,000,000 and is today served by a railway system
of about 1,250 miles together with a system of lake
vessels numbering about a dozen craft of various sizes.

105

MEN OF THE TREES

It would be difficult to find another port in the whole
of British territory which is the sole link with the out-
side world of a hinterland as fertile, populous and po-
tentially wealthy as our sphere of influence in Eastern
Africa. Added to all this it is famous for its own natural
resources, depth of water, freedom from contrary winds,
and, though land-locked, it is nevertheless accessible at
all periods of the tide.

This, then, is the Gateway to Kenya, and the outlet
of all the trade for the countries that surround the Vic-
toria and Albert Lakes and the headwaters of the Nile.
The commerce to and from the races that inhabit these
countries and that must pass through the Port of Mom-
basa, is obviously impossible to foretell. Those of us who
live in the old world, are becoming more and more de-
pendent upon the wonderful land of Africa for our
many wants and at the same time the inhabitants of
these vast tracts are developing an increasing need for
more imports from the old world. In proportion to the
increase of trade so will the Port develop, a challenge to
industry and adventure.

106

chapter XII

THE LURE OF COFFEE

To the man or woman who dreams of a Ufe in the open,
unfettered by the many drawbacks of modern civiKza-
tion, Kenya unfolds herself as a veritable fairyland.

How can I describe this country to those who have
never seen it? — to those who look at things through eyes
accustomed only to Northern scenery? Try to conjure
up in your imagination the scene which opens out be-
fore you as the train wends its leisurely way from Mom-
basa ever upwards towards the delectable highlands of
this last and best land of promise.

The gari ya moshi, steam engine, has at length arrived
at the crest of the table-lands and with half a dozen
long drawn out puffs the train, with one great effort,
straightens itself out to speed across the Athi Plains on
the last lap to Nairobi. If in your mind you would con-
trive to paint this ideal picture you must think of the
largest and most beautiful pleasure park you have ever
seen, magnify it an hundredfold and populate it with
every kind of wild animal life you can imagine.

Those who have been so fortunate as to see Major
Dugmore's "Wonderland of Big Game" or Mr. Martin

107

MEN OF THE TREES

Johnson's delightful films of hunting in Kenya, may
have gained a very good impression of what big game
looks like close up. These hunters with the camera have
made thousands of folk on five continents intimate with
these fascinating people of the plains. Those who have
seen them on their way to drink or grazing in some
shady nook unconscious of the camera man behind his
blind ^ and those familiar with these remarkable film pro-
ductions have already a very good notion of the animals
and their ways. But the picture is incomplete without
its setting. One must sense the very atmosphere of the
plains, with African sunrise and sunset. To complete it
all one must take in the whole perspective, — the dis-
tant forest and the lone mountain, with its foothills
shrouded in mist, while high about the cloudy film the
great white snow cap of Mount Kenya glistens in the
sun.

Forgetting the noisy, shaking train, let your eyes wan-
der over this great expanse and then return to the near
view — the "close-up" wild life — bunches of plump
zebras with shining coats tautly sleek; hundreds of
"Tommy," those delightful little gazelles who, forever
on the alert, never stop wagging their tiny tails. A little
farther on you will see herds of kongoni, loping along
in their comical "dot-and-carry-one" gait, while every
now and again an old buck will stop to stare laconically
at the, by now, familiar train. Is he suspiciously spotting

^ N. B. "Blind," a screen of bushes beliind which the cincmatographer hides
himself and camera for the purpose of recording "close-ups."

io8

THE LURE OF COFFEE

the old-time "Sportsman" with guns on rack? If for-
tunate you may see some hons on the hunt slowly stalk-
ing or a cheetah perhaps standing agaze while a stately
giraffe is nibbling the top of a thorn bush, and aloof
from the rest, the ostriches strut about in dignified de-
tachment. Other things too numerous to mention will
compel your attention for one brief moment and then
pass out of sight. You will be fascinated, spellbound, and
perhaps a great longing will come over you to become
better acquainted with all this wonderful wild life. You
will begin to dream of days of "Safari" — of the camera
hunts and the sport that awaits you, when suddenly you
are rudely awakened from your day dreams, for the
train is jolting into a station and before you have time
to realize it you have arrived at Nairobi, the capital city
of the country of your dreams.

But Kenya is not merely a pioneer's hunting ground.
It has important towns and district centres. Nairobi, the
capital, is a busy commercial centre, with a widespread
residential area. The early explorers of East Africa little
dreamt of a colony on the Equator where the European
could settle and engage in profitable agricultural pur-
suits, and at the same time enjoy the ordinary amenities
of English country life. Kenya is to-day an established
Colonial settlement in the fullest sense of the word. Im-
proved means of communication have opened up a ter-
ritory potentially wealthy, with a vast native population
who are generally amenable to reason, and readily take
to the ways of the white men. Side by side with the white

109

MEN OF THE TREES

man's development of the country there has been a
considerable advance in the productivity of the native
reserves, which come within the well known Highlands,
surrounded by the mountain groups of Kenya, Kiliman-
jaro and Elgon.

The basis of white settlement is agriculture. Kenya's
soils are among the richest in the world; its coffee is
now world-renowned, being used on every continent.
The would-be settler has a varied choice of agricultural
operations, but he will find that coffee planting, by
reason of its perpetual interest, stands out as one of the
most attractive and entrancing of enterprises.

The cult of coffee is an ancient one, and in origin is
African. The story is told of a religious order which,
about the fourth century, fleeing from persecution in
Egypt, settled in Southern Abyssinia. There, in the High-
lands, they carried on their good work, introducing
better methods of agriculture, and demonstrating by
their practical industry the fruits of the gospel which
they preached. One day, while herding a flock of goats,
one of the brethren was somewhat surprised and alarmed
to find a number of his charges frisking about in a man-
ner which was abnormal even for goats. With visions of
devil-possession, and many other dire calamities, he
crossed himself and tried the efficacy of prayer, assuredly
believing that before nightfall the bewitched flock
would recover. By evensong, however, the goats were, if
anything, even more lively, refusing to go to rest in their
fold. For days the untoward behaviour of the monk's

no

o

THE LURE OF COFFEE

charges occasioned much perturbation of spirit in spite
of prayer and exorcisms.

The Prior, who had attained the position of head of
the community not only as the resuh of his wisdom
and godhness, but by reason of his practical ability,
hearing of their behaviour from the perturbed brother,
determined, at last, to herd the goats himself. Observing
carefully the herbage on which they fed, he finally sus-
pected that their liveliness and sleeplessness might be due
to the consumption of the leaves of a beautiful green
bush. Taking some of the berries of this shrub, he
chewed them himself, ascertaining as a result of his
experiment, that their properties conveyed a sense of
exhilaration and well-being. Not only so, but during the
long night watches of his religious exercises, he found
himself much more capable of keeping awake, and with
a clearer mental vision than usual. Thus was the use of
coffee made known to mankind by the alluring attrac-
tion that it had for goats.

The coffee plant is indigenous to Africa. I have often
found it growing in the forest, between the altitudes
of five and six thousand feet. It has been found that the
cultivated coffee grows best at from four to six thou-
sand feet where the nights are always cool and the days
are never unpleasantly hot. At such altitudes the white
man can go about his daily work clad in ordinary clothes
all the year round. For the man who loves open life there
is perhaps no profession more attractive than the cult
of coffee.

Ill

MEN OF THE TREES

Kenya coflfee is shipped to America, Asia, Australia
and Europe, and the annual export has grown from a
few hundredweight to many thousand tons. It fetches
a higher price on the market than any other, owing to
its superiority of flavour. Little is sold unadulterated, for
it is mostly used to blend with other varieties. In the
trade it is known as a liqueur coffee.

The present price of land in Kenya compares favor-
ably with that of similar quality and capacity in other
parts of the world. Anyone who feels drawn to Hving
in Kenya Colony and can afford an experimental visit,
would find that a year could be spent very advan-
tageously with a coffee planter acquiring practical
knowledge of the conditions before launching out to
plant on his own account.

I have estimated that the minimum amount of capital
required to engage in coffee planting with a reasonable
hope of success is about $25,000. From this investment,
after five years, a man who is prepared to settle on his
estate and look after its development, might anticipate
a net income of about $5,000 per annum.

The coffee planter must always remember that it is
essential to be able to afford to wait. The man with
$25,000 to invest should have, at the very least, an in-
come of, say, $2,000 per annum, to cover living expenses
during the years in which the plantation is being brought
into profitable bearing. If the plantation is within
twenty miles of a railway, catch crops such as maize,
can be grown to help to tide over the early years.

112

THE LURE OF COFFEE

Reputed cofifee land, in Its virgin state, in districts
remote from the railway can be bought in the open
market for twenty-five dollars per acre. It might be
found a better investment to pay a little more for the
land and keep nearer the railway because distance from
the railway does not materially affect coffee. This crop
is so valuable that it can stand the expense of transporta-
tion over a long distance and a small estate man with a
capital of $25,000 who does not mind going oflF "into
the blue" reaps many advantages by so doing, which are
not always apparent on the surface. In the first place,
he can procure cheaper labour, therefore his clearing and
planting will not cost him so much; that fact may
compensate him for the extra cost of transport. Besides,
he can live on his gun and dispense with his butcher's
bill, and, taken all round, his expenses will be much
lower than if he were living within ten miles of the
Nairobi clubs.

Let us suppose that the settler buys one hundred and
fifty acres at twenty-five dollars an acre, provides him-
self with some stock, a cultivator, cart, plough, imple-
ments and tools, clears and plants twenty acres, and
constructs temporary buildings; by the end of the first
year he will have invested about seventy-five hundred
dollars. In the second year he will plant another twenty
acres and in other ways spend about one thousand two
hundred and fifty dollars on the estate. In the third year
he will again plant twenty acres, carry out repairs and
renewals in the Plantation, and begin to sec the fruits of

113

MEN OF THE TREES

his labours in about a ton of coffee from the first twenty
acres planted. His expenses will again be about the same.
In the fourth year he will plant twenty acres, pur-
chase and erect a pulper and vats, provide himself with
trays and mats, prepare and transport about four-and-a-
half tons of coffee, and in all spend about twenty-five
hundred dollars. In the fifth year again twenty new acres
will be planted, and it may be found necessary to purchase
another wagon and extra oxen, and more implements
and tools.

He may now erect a small permanent house in the
slack season. He will transport and market about fifteen
tons of coffee, and his expenses this year will be about
forty-seven hundred. From the sixth year onwards he
will reasonably expect to make a steadily increasing
income, up to, say, five thousand dollars, when the one
hundred acres of coffee will have come to full bearing.
The value of such an estate at the beginning of the sixth
year would be about thirty-five thousand.

For my part I have found the country full of fascina-
tion and variety. It is fertile in the extreme, capable
of producing all kinds of fruit. In one garden I counted
thirty different kinds of fruit, fifteen of which were
bearing simultaneously.

The policy of past governments has been to encourage
white settlement and accordingly certain areas have
been set aside entirely for white occupation. Today
many Americans and Europeans are availing themselves

114

THE LURE OF COFFEE

of this land. Such land is quite distinct from the native
reserves.

There is no reason why the interests of the white
settler should conflict in any way with those of the
indigenous population; indeed the prosperity of the one
largely depends upon the other. Every farm which is
developed whether in the white or native areas is for
the good of the whole community. The newcomers who
have made the Highlands their home are determined to
develop this new country along the lines of the best
colonization.

Generally speaking there is little difficulty in obtain-
ing sufficient native labour. I would always advocate
that careful study be made of the local dialects, although
Ki-swahili is the lingua franca of the country and
will generally suffice to see one through. When shortage
of labour is experienced it is generally due to misun-
derstanding and ignorance of local dialects. All have
not the same gift for dealing with natives. To under-
stand the natives we must first learn their language.
Those who fail to do so are undoubtedly greatly handi-
capped in the labour market.

This country always seems to exercise a tremendous
attraction for those who have taken part in its life.
If occasion arises to return to the homeland, one leaves
with regret, and is always glad to return to this land of
sunshine. Kenya welcomes those who go out prepared
to co-operate with the early settlers who, as the result

115

MEN OF THE TREES

of a long struggle, are at last beginning to reap their
reward, having built the foundations of a colony which
in their dreams fulfils all their desire of what a home
may be without many of the increasing disadvantages
of life in Western civilization.

ij6

chapter XIII

MWININYAGA, THE GREAT WHITE SPIRIT

The old conception of Africa as the great dark Con-
tinent peopled with savages "dwelling in the shadow
of death" is an extravagantly false conception. Never-
theless it is a conception which too often still exists. It
may be that in the past we have failed to understand
because we have not taken pains to study things from
the African point of view. We have had too many Stan-
leys and too few Livingstones; too many men of the
dashing explorer type ready to cater for a sensational
public, and too few quietly observant scientists and
practical students, intent upon knowing the country,
its people, and their religious and social outlook upon
hfe.

The simple inhabitants of the Highlands of Kenya,
some of whose religious beliefs I will now tell you, live
very close to nature, and if you want to understand
them it is absolutely necessary to put yourself in their
place and try to regard things from their point of view.

Little is known to us of the origin of these peoples
and still less of the source of their religious beliefs, and
since invasion of Western ideas it is difficult for the
student to separate the indigenous beliefs from the ex-

117

MEN OF THE TREES

otic. In recent years thousands of white men have settled
in their midst, bringing with them an entirely different
brand of civilization. A few decades ago they were liv-
ing in primitive simplicity, when suddenly Western civ-
ilization burst upon them. The consequent change of
affairs has been so rapid that they have not had time
to adjust their vision. There was no intervening half-
light but the dawn of Western ideas burst as suddenly
as their own tropic sunrise. Quickly a condition of af-
fairs was thrust upon them which speeded up their ev-
olution very rapidly.

It is only the casual observer who would fail to see
that the change is only on the surface. Side by side with
the new state of affairs, old tribal customs and beliefs
still hold sway. The coming of the automobile has not
usurped the authority of the witch doctor. Sacred trees
and a belief in ancestral spirits still play a very great
part in their lives. They attribute the existence of the
world to the great spirit god N'gai, and him they wor-
ship. But their religion is very simple and matter-of-
fact, and probably there is a tendency for those of us
who have been brought up in countries where the teach-
ing of religion has been elaborated, to read into cere-
monies as practiced by these people possible meanings
which actually do not exist. We must not forget that
these are extremely primitive people, with a very simple
and practical outlook upon life. They have no literature,
but stories of the past have been handed down from
father to son, and form a rich store of folk lore.

ii8

MWININYAGA, THE GREAT WHITE SPIRIT

Often when the day's work is done, the old men will
call their sons together round the camp fire and relate
tales of the past in story or song. Most of the stories
would appear to be purely secular, but they often have
a hidden meaning and are intended to convey a moral
lesson. This mixture of the secular and the religious is
so prevalent that it is not easy to say where one begins
and the other ends. It is equally difficult for us to dis-
criminate between their religious and social customs,
so closely are these interwoven. The ceremony of Ko-
chi-a-ru-o-ke-ri, meaning literally "being born again,"
sounds as if it might have purely a religious significance
and might be thus easily misinterpreted, but, in reality,
it is a secular custom which consists in killing a goat
and going through a certain ceremonial that entitles the
participant to be admitted into the family.

I will now describe what happens at the ceremony.
When the children become old enough to mind the goats,
which they do at a very early age, perhaps four or five
years, this ceremony takes place. The mother sitting on
the ground sets her child between her knees, imitating
the sounds of distress which a woman might make when
giving birth to a child, whereupon the child is handed
forth and is presented with symbolic ornaments, and
henceforth has become a member of the family. With-
out being born again, the young Kikuyu is not in a
position to be admitted to the later ceremony of cir-
cumcision, which is the outward sign of admittance to
the tribe. Great stress is laid on this ceremony also,

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MEN OF THE TREES

and both male and female are operated upon some time
between the ages of ten and fifteen. Such later cere-
monies are not only of secular but religious significance.

Indeed a close knowledge of the A-Kikuyu people
shows that they are deeply religious. They believe, as
I have shown, in the existence of N'gal — the Great
White Spirit who dwells beyond the snows of Mount
Kenya. Towering over their country this lofty moun-
tain which in that clear atmosphere is visible from a
great distance is the Great Controller of their destinies.
Enshrined in its heights is the Great White Spirit God,
which always has been and ever will be, sees, hears and
knows all. He is addressed in solemn sacrifice as "Mwinln-
yaga" or Possessor of Whiteness, while the mountain
where he dwells is called "Kirinyaga," meaning Place of
Whiteness. The sun, the rain, and lightning are all mani-
festations of him and they are sometimes worshipped as
such. There are also sacred trees under which prayers
are offered up and sacrifices made, for they have no tem-
ples other than clearings in the forests, with the blue
sky above. This makes their devotions none the less
sincere, and to be present and witness a solemn gather-
ing is an experience which could not fall to Impress the
most skeptical of persons.

On one occasion I was lecturing before an American
audience, when I referred to the fact that I was deeply
impressed by their belief in prayer. Strange to relate,
I found that in certain quarters I had deeply offended

1 20

M^O^NINYAGA, THE GREAT WHITE SPIRIT

some people who regarded belief in prayer as the monop-
oly of Christians.

It has been my privilege to witness many religious
rites while in equatorial Africa, and as a member of the
Kiama, whose functions I will later describe, I was gen-
erally accepted wherever I went. It was obvious to
me that they took it for granted that even while they
were praying, their prayer was already answered. The
A-Kikuyu have no cringing fear of God, but ask frankly
for what they desire. To them, God is a God of Love,
though he punishes those who disobey him by disease or
even death. In time of national distress, such as famine
or drought, sacrifice is reverently offered up for divine
acceptance.

Nothing but good comes from God, say they. But
how, it may be asked, is it that some people are suffering
and in distress? This has been a problem for less prim-
itive peoples than the A-Kikuyu. How is it that there
is so much that is unpleasant in the world? One tribe
explained it to me in this way. They said that although
God is good and wishes good for everybody, unfortu-
nately he has a half-witted brother who is always in-
terfering with what he does. This half-witted brother
keeps on obtruding himself and does not give God a
chance.

The A-Kikuyu ascribe the ordinary ills of life to the
bad spirits of the departed, but after all, these ills are
not without their remedy.

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MEN OF THE TREES

I have said that sacrifices are offered to God, but
it must not be imagined that the A-Kikuyu do this
for the purpose of propitiating the Supreme Being. They
have no sense of sin, but they offer up sacrifice as a
present to God, in order to win his future favour. I have
already mentioned that these people show no cringing
fear of God, and I cannot too strongly emphasize this.
He is not angry, therefore does not need to be pro-
pitiated, but, like all of us, he does love presents.

When a sacrifice is made to N'gai, the best is given.
If a man has not a very good sheep or goat, and he wants
to offer a sacrifice, he will sell two or three of his goats
and buy a perfect one from a neighbour, "one without
blemish." Such a present makes it possible for him to
ask for something really worth while in return — "O
God, you who have many things, give me some, please.
Listen. I want goats; I want sheep; I want children.
Listen, I want plenty of them, O my father, that I may
be rich. Do you hear, O God, my father?" There is some-
thing delightfully frank and open about this prayer,
which is quite typical.

Those who officiate at the solemn sacrifice are hered-
itary chiefs or elders who hold tribal office. Here again
we see that the religious and secular institutions blend
into one — the Church and State are identical. In addi-
tion to this there is a body of medicine men — a kind of
medical profession — who are credited with being en-
dowed with special power from God. However, these
latter are practitioners rather than instructors, as the

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MWININYAGA, THE GREAT \gTilTE SPIRIT

work of religious instruction is left to the elders and
fathers of the tribe.

The sacrifice to N'gai is most impressive and is cal-
culated to convey an awe-inspiring sense of the near-
ness of the Creator. This ceremony is performed in the
open under a sacred tree, which, so far as I have ob-
served, is generally a Mugumu, or Parasitic Fig.

The Kikuyu sacrifices remind one very much of the
Hebraic sacrifices described in the Old Testament. The
meat offering and drink offering both enter into it, and
often take place at the same time, prayer invariably
being offered to N'gai, the High God.

The drinking of N'johi, or native beer, made from
the sugar cane, follows the sacrifice two days later, one
day being given up to the brewing and preparation of
this drink. It is of interest to note that only the old men
take part in this religious rite, which is far more like
a parochial prayer meeting than anything else I have
seen. The participants sit round in a circle in the se-
clusion of a hut, and each in turn offers up prayer,
while at intervals all the company respond "N'gana,
N'gana" (Amen, Amen) . The N'johi is passed round
in a cup which is replenished from a large calabash. The
prayers offered on such occasions have a very close re-
semblance to certain of the Psalms. For instance, a com-
mon form of request runs thus: — "That our flocks and
herds may be increased, that our wives may be fruitful,
and our children be healthy and that we may become
rich in the land." That they may have children is a very

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MEN OF THE TREES

common request. To them children spell prosperity. A
male child is wished for in order that he may be able to
lay the ghost of his father when his time comes to de-
part this life, but amongst the agricultural tribes that I
have come across, after the birth of one son, female
children are more popular. This is readily understood,
as each girl at marriage brings a dowry of about thirty
goats.

I think people generally have a false impression of
the position of African women. They imagine that the
African woman is merely a slave and treated as one of
the many goods and chattels. This idea may result from
the fact that women are responsible for the cultivation
of the crops, and that they fetch wood and water for
the household. In truth, the position of these African
women is relatively higher than that of a woman in other
countries, by reason of the fact that she is head of her
family.

Once I happened to interpret a conversation between
a Kikuyu woman and the wife of a District Commis-
sioner. In discussing her position, the native woman had
taken pains to show the white woman that her position
in tribal life was superior to that of the white woman.

Because a man has two or more wives, he does not
necessarily think less of them. Each wife is head of her
own family and has her own establishment, and her
children depend on her much more than upon their
father. It is considered a great honour to be the first
wife, but there is no jealousy when the others enter the

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M^^ININYAGA, THE GREAT ^HITE SPIRIT

establishment. The second and subsequent wives are al-
ways acquired at the primary suggestion of the first
wife. A man may be married for a year, and his wife
will go to him and say, "My man, I think it is about
time you married again. Do you not realize that I have
a lot to do?" The husband may protest, "I am perfectly
content, and I do not want anyone but you." Besides
he may add, "I really can't afford it." If she persists
the husband may ask her if she has anyone in view for
him, and she will perhaps remember a friend who had
cultivated the next shamba or garden to her own before
she was married. After considerable persuasion on the
part of the wife and if there are a sufficient number of
goats — that is to say, if funds permit — the husband will
ask her to see the girl's father and arrange the marriage.

Later on, the original wife may again approach her
husband, pointing out that the fields are increasing in
size and the herds and flocks are multiplying, and she
must have still further help. Again she is instructed
to make an application. There is no jealousy, for they all
live in tranquillity in their own houses, and they each
have their own tasks. As their respective families grow
up, the girls assist them in the fields, while the boys herd
the cattle and sheep.

I do not wish to give the impression that the A-Kikuyu
love for offspring is merely economic. They have the
same love for ancestors. Ajnong the people who live in
the Nika or Desert country, a tribe on the coast, there
is an interesting custom. At the death of his parent

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MEN OF THE TREES

the son carves an effigy on a post varying from three
to six feet in height, and plants it in the neighbour-
hood of his hut. This is called a Kikango. Once a month
it is his religious duty to sleep outside the hut hard by
this post. If a stranger were to ask him why he did it,
his only explanation would be that it was "Dasturi,"
or the conventional thing to do. After being some time
amongst these people, and gaining their confidence, I
learnt from them that this was a ceremony of deep
significance, for they assured me that when they slept
by that shrine of their departed ancestor, he came back
and spoke to them and was able to give them help to
carry on their life. In other words, they gained inspira-
tion in their communion with the departed.

This raises the much discussed question as to whether
these people believe in life after death. To me, the
foregoing is sufficient evidence to conclude that they do
believe in a future existence. The A-Kikuyu talk of
good spirits and bad spirits. They say that if a man has
done evil in life, he is liable to continue doing harm
after death, and as I have already explained, such evil
spirits are blamed for many of the maladies which af-
flict the living.

Judged from our point of view, these Africans pre-
sent a very curious mingling of qualities, both good
and bad, but, unhappily, it must be admitted that
hitherto contact with the white man has tended to
develop more their weak points than to strengthen

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African Walnut Tree

M^^NINYAGA, THE GREAT ^^?^liITE SPIRIT

the good of their character. They are naturally self-
indulgent and improvident, for they live in the pres-
ent without taking careful thought for the morrow.
And yet, strange to say, regarding them from the ma-
terial standpoint, wealth per head of population is far
greater than it is in any of the countries of Europe.
They are superstitious and credulous, but eager to un-
derstand and quick to copy the ways of the white man,
which do not always benefit them. In the matter of things
supernatural, they show a vivid imagination. Kind and
hospitable to each other, they will share the little lux-
uries as well as the necessities of life. If a man has two
corn cobs and meets another who has none, he will give
him one. Lovable and trustful, yet unstable of char-
acter, they are naturally inclined to be lazy, but when
once given a taste for work, they Hke it.

But to be in a position to help them, it is necessary
to have, first, a thorough knowledge of their spiritual
and mental attitude towards life. These peoples do not
need our pity. They want our understanding. To un-
derstand them we must divest ourselves of our preju-
dices. We must realize that in their present state they
are comparable with other peoples at the same stage of
development. Because their mode of life is different
from ours, it is not necessarily unsuitable for them.
"We must eliminate that smugness which is too often a
characteristic of our attitude towards African races.
We must be prepared to go with them into the forest,

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MEN OF THE TREES

and in its tropical depth amongst its ever changing
beauties, learn what is for them, as for us, the secret
of life, the love of "Mwininyaga," The Great White
Spirit.

128

chapter XIV

THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA

Alone on Safari, travelling from place to place, often
pitching one's tent on a new site from night to night,
one naturally gets to know a people and their country.
For those who are not familiar with the term, I must
explain that Safari, means a journey — it is the East
African expression for the West Coast word trekking.
You have but to say the word over to yourself two
or three times. Safari, Safari, Safari, to appreciate its
beauty, and life on Safari in the Highlands of Kenya
offers many attractions. In the old days journeys were
always made on foot and in the course of my work in
the forests other means of transport was generally im-
practicable. Thirty or forty porters carried my loads
and sufficient food for everybody. I liked to set out at
dawn and halt for breakfast after two or three hours
on the trail, afterwards continuing until lunch time,
which was a variable meal, but generally speaking by
two o'clock my tent was pitched on the new site. In
the choice of my camp proximity of water was a first
consideration and I preferred to pitch my tent on high
ground on the outskirts of a forest facing the direc-
tion of my next day's journey so that I might look over

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MEN OF THE TREES

the country which I intended to travel on the following
day.

Within half an hour of reaching the new site of a
camp, the tent was pitched and a meal prepared. After
lunch a siesta was welcome and at three-thirty I was
ready for some fruit or tea. At four o'clock I usually
started off with my camera and gun to make pictures
and shoot for the pot. On Safari one is dependent on
the gun for meat and the carriers would not be happy
unless their ration of posho ^ was supplemented. At sun-
down or just after dark it is a welcome sight that greets
one on return to camp; a blazing camp-fire with a hot
bath is always a pleasure and after the evening meal it
is then one is imbued with a sense of contentment.

Then it is that dark forms appear from the night
and creep up to the blaze, squatting in a friendly circle
to relate the doings of the day. Sometimes there is a
professional story teller who is the cause of mirth. At
other times the camp singer will recite in song what hap-
pened in the chase.

I found it always paid to have a fool in the party, —
a buflFoon who would prompt a laugh when the carriers
were tired. Such an one was Tumbu Impera, which lit-
erally means, Rubber Belly. He always seemed to enjoy
being the centre of a joke. How he got his name was
this. One evening he came to me with a complaint that
one of the other boys had got more food than he had.
I remembered a story I had heard as a child of my

^ Posho — maize meal, which is the principal of these carriers when on Safari.

130

tin

THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA

grandfather, who was Honorary Chaplain of a Work
House. When one of the inmates had complained sim-
ilarly that another had gotten more than he, he was told to
divide the portions as he considered fair. The complain-
ing man piled all the choice morsels on his own plate,
leaving little for the other. When he had finished he
was asked, "Are you quite sure that the food is now
fairly divided?" and upon acquiescing the plates were
exchanged. I think that this must have been back of
my mind when I told the greedy carrier to divide the
posho as he saw fit, whereupon he delightedly heaped up
his kababa ^ leaving the others very much depleted.
In the same way I asked him if he was quite sure that
the portions were equal and when he protested that
they were, I changed the measures and gave the other
fellow the heaped portion. Thereupon ensued violent
protests from the greedy man. He was a huge fellow,
with an abnormally large stomach. I wanted to teach
him a lesson so my only reply was, "Run away Tumba
Impera.*' From then on he was known by this name
amongst all the carriers who considered him a good joke.
On one occasion we had tramped over twenty miles
on a very hot day and at four o'clock in the afternoon
the carriers set down their loads and told the head man
that they were not going any farther. This was a serious
matter for we were five miles from water. I made no
comment but just walked along the line closely inspect-
ing each man to see if they were really fatigued or

2 Kababa — measure.

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MEN OF THE TREES

just in a bad humour. They had had a very heavy meat
meal the evening before and I decided that their be-
haviour was the outcome of excess. As I approached the
buffoon of the party he rose to his feet and asked me
to give him an advance on his pay. I asked him why
he wanted this and he repHed, "To buy food." My re-
tort was, "You're always thinking about your tummy,
Tumbu Impera," whereupon everybody laughed and the
carriers who had apparently been so tired a few min-
utes before, without another word picked up their loads
and gaily finished their journey to the lilt of a merry
song.

Once, doing a three months' Safari, I had thirty-six
different camps and travelled over twelve hundred miles,
but the most strenuous journey covered two weeks when
I made a new camp every night, travelling over three
hundred miles.

But it was at Kikuyu that I had some of my most
pleasant experiences when the day's work was done.
Chiefs and headmen would gather around the friendly
fire for they love to recite the history of the past which
had been handed down to them by their fathers. On
one such an occasion I was becoming more than ever
interested, when, suddenly, the recitation stopped. I
said, "Go on, I want to hear more." The story teller had
mentioned something about an ancient kingdom in
the heart of Equatorial Africa. My curiosity had been
greatly aroused and I wanted to hear more. A venerable
chief at this stage interposed this remark, "Shauri ya

132

THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA

Kiama." I gathered from this that what the man had
been saying was to do with the Kiama. I then queried,
"What is the Kiama?" and gathered that it was a secret.
After a httle persuasion I was informed in confidence
that it was a society to which only the oldest and wisest
members of the tribe belonged. That night I gathered
little further information, but on the following day I
saw one of the headmen who had been present and pri-
vately asked him to tell me more about it. Previous to
this there had been occasion upon which my keen in-
terest had been aroused by reason of the fact that often
when talking freely and frankly they would suddenly
become conscious of my presence and lapse into silence.
I felt there was a barrier which must be overcome be-
fore I could enter intimately into the history of the
past.

I had known this headman for a long time and he
was greatly respected by the other chiefs and elders.
I said to him, "May I not join your Kiama? I should
like to know all about what happened in the old days
before the coming of the white man." I could plainly
see that my friend was greatly perturbed. He was en-
countering a situation for which he was completely un-
prepared. For several moments he did not speak and
I continued asking him what was the difficulty. I said,
"Am I not your friend, do you not trust me?" And
every moment he seemed to become more and more
embarrassed. Finally, looking me straight in the eyes
he said, "Bwana, no white man has ever become a mem-

133

MEN OF THE TREES

ber of the Kiama. It is very old. It began in the days
when all our people were as one." He went on to tell me
that he could not answer my question, but that he must
consult with the older chiefs.

Three days later he returned to say that my request
had been granted and indicated that my initiation would
take place three days later if I still desired it. I was
to provide the usual initiation fee in the form of two
sheep and one goat and when the day arrived I sent on
two of my men ahead of me with the fee and later rode
over to the scene of the ceremony. When I arrived at
the appointed place I found a clear space in the forest
and a gathering of two or three hundred Chiefs and
Elders. It was evident to me that this was a very special
re-union. Many of the members had come from dis-
tances of two or three days and there was much for
them to talk about. I was, of course, known to most of
those present, for I had travelled through their villages
within the previous year or so. There seemed to be no
hurry to proceed with the ceremony and as I was due
in Nairobi for lunch I indicated that I was ready for
them to begin. My headman who had made this possible
was about to take charge of the proceedings but a mur-
mur of dissent arose so he quickly retired into the back-
ground. Next the paramount chief came forward, for
surely he was the obvious person to take charge on this
occasion. Again there was dissent from the gathering. It
was then that the oldest man present rose to his feet.
He seemed to be bent double with age, but as soon as

134

THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA

the staff of oflSce was handed to him a transformation
came over him. He straightened up and rising to his
full height, presented an air of dignity, seeming fully
ahve to the spirit of the moment. He was next handed
a bunch of Muchoraway leaves which he raised above
his head. This was a sign to all to attend to the busi-
ness in hand. Before this there had been a hum of con-
versation but now in an instant all was silent. The only
sounds to be heard were the twittering of the birds in
trees and the distant bleating of the lambs.

A sense of solemnity at once pervaded the gathering
and as this oldest father of the tribe raised the bunch
of Muchoraway leaves above his head I felt that all
were engaging in silent prayer. He now called upon
N'gai, the High God, to assist him in the ceremony that
he was about to perform. The whole company remained
seated, all save the solitary veteran who had been chosen
High Priest for the day. In a clear voice he invoked the
deity to witness that the white man before him was
a fit and proper person to be admitted into the Kiama.
At the end of each sentence he brought the bunch of
leaves down in front of him and everyone present re-
plied, "Thai," meaning. Hear, or. So let it be.

A series of short invocations followed. "That he may
have long life." "Thai." "That he may live long with
us." "Thai." He then continued, "I call you all to wit-
ness that in time of war his voice shall be heard and
there will be peace." "Thai," replied the three hundred
elders. "I call you all to witness that the staff of office

135

MEN OF THE TREES

which I now give him will be his passport and that he
will be received by all other Kiamas. "Thai," repeated
the three hundred. "I call you all to witness that the
Matati Stick wants him." "Thai, Thai, Thai," said the
elders. Upon this the staff of office was handed to me.

The whole ceremony was deeply impressive. I had
gone prepared to be interested, but I was now deeply
moved by the general feeling of good will, concentrated
upon me. I stood there in their midst holding the staff
of office and the bunch of Muchoraway leaves, while
the oldest veterans gathered around to salute me accord-
ing to the tradition of the Kiama.

I did not wait for the after sacrifice as I had an
important engagement in Nairobi, but bidding them
farewell until another day I stepped into my car which
was now waiting for me and drove the remaining seven-
teen miles to the capital town. Upon my arrival at the
Hotel where I was lunching with friends I found an
interested crowd had gathered. The news of my initia-
tion had gone ahead of me and interested tribesmen
had gathered to greet me. At the entrance of the hotel
four or five hundred had lined up on either side of the
steps and again I experienced a renewed feeling of good
will which from then onwards, wherever I travelled in
Equatorical Africa, accompanied me, for such is the
power of the Kiama.

The Kiama is actually an ancient inter-tribal insti-
tution which closely guards the secrets of the past
handed down by word of mouth through its members

136

The secret of The kiama

for many generations. The order represents the com-
bined intelhgence of the wisest native Africans. It would
seem to be the remnant of a "League of Nations" in East-
ern and Central Equatorial Africa. Even when shorn of its
executive power, nevertheless it continues to be a re-
pository of information. These peoples have no written
history of the past which we can study, and the only
means of gaining an insight into their ancient records
is to become one of them and sit with the fathers of
the tribe and listen to their recitations. This is what I
did and although at the time I was subjected to much
criticism, from the official powers that were, I have
never once regretted the action that I took, and time
has now justified it, so that my severest critics in the
past have modified their view to the extent of supporting
me. It is now generally regarded that a man in govern-
ment service should be fully trained in the knowledge
of native custom, mentality and social organization and
since my initiation into the Kiama I am glad to see a
much more sympathetic attitude towards the so-called
"subject races."

It is a deplorable fact that the invasion of Western
civilization and European methods of education are
threatening to extinguish local tradition, and in a few
years if such methods continue, the romantic story of
the past will be entirely lost, for the young African is
at the present moment so intoxicated by the new West-
ern learning that he has come to discredit the old men
and their traditions.

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MEN OF THE TREES

The Africans possess certain fine national traits which,
in the interest of the future well-being of the people,
should be handed on. The young African of today too
often has the idea that to be successful he must make
a clean cut with the past. There is no doubt that our
present system of education in Africa is very largely
to be blamed for this, for we are forcing upon them the
European curriculum, which, by the way, has not proved
itself to be an unqualified success even in the countries
of its origin. This curriculum we are imposing ready
made, with all its defects, upon the African peoples,
without sufficiently attempting to modify or adapt it
to their requirements, with the result too often that
the young African scholar begins to discredit everything
that belonged to his fathers. In his enthusiasm for the
new he is apt to forget the old, and often fails to re-
alize that there are things in his own past worthy of
remembrance. I am confident, however, that this state
of affairs will quickly change when the young enthusiast
has pursued his studies a little farther. But it is im-
portant that in the interim the secret of the past should
not be lost.

Now that I am writing for the first time of my ex-
perience of the Kiama, I find myself in a quandary. I
am torn between two ideals; on the one hand I am
loath to betray any secrets entrusted to me for keep-
ing, and on the other hand for the future welfare of the
race and a better understanding of their customs and
beliefs I feel myself compelled to speak. Undoubtedly

138

s

I

Q

'a
bo

THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA

many of the blunders and mistakes which we made in
the past could have been avoided by a better acquaint-
ance with the history of the race as handed down
through the Kiama. My sincere desire is that what I
reveal may reach those who are in sympathy with my
ideals or who are prepared seriously to study the secret
of the past in the ever growing interest of Africa and
humanity as a whole.

It is believed that the ancient Kingdom of Equatorial
Africa comprised a territory, which was, as nearly as I
can discover, more than half the size of the United
States. Some romanticists might conclude that the con-
ception of this ancient kingdom is founded on the
preaching and teaching of Prester John. Be that as it
may, the idea almost universally persists, although the
Kiama is all that remains today of its pristine glory.

In the past the functions of the Kiama have been
many. Not only has it safeguarded tribal history and
acted as a standing court of justice, but it has exerted
didactic functions, it has taught the people. It has even
been to them their Bible, and here we find African
versions of the stories of the flood and the building of
the Tower of Babel. It was with keen interest that I
listened to an ancient sage unfolding the story of what
must surely be the African version of the story of the
Tower. The following is a literal translation of the tale
as told to me.

Once upon a time there was a king, and he called
all his chiefs together, and spoke to them as follows,

139

MEN OF THE TREES

"Lo! I am a great king, past all the other kings that
came before me, and I want to build a great palace very
high, past all the palaces of all the kings that came be-
fore me." And the great men answered the king and
said, "What the king says shall be done." So all the peo-
ple were brought together from every part of the king-
dom, from the North, from the East, from the South
and from the West, and the King arranged to give them
a "Kdbaba ^ of corn every day. And they worked all
of them together for many days cutting down great
trees and dragging them to the building and they all
worked very hard.

Many moons passed by, and the palace was built, and
the high part of it mounted higher and higher. But the
people began to complain that the "Kababa" had be-
come very small, and that they were hungry, for there
was not much food in that country. All the people
worked on the building and ceased to make new farms.
But the king shut his ears to their complaints. After
many moons the people began to make a great tumult,
complaining yet again that the "Kibaba" of corn was
very small, and they said "We must return to our own
country and to our farms, for in this place there is not
enough food to fill our bellies." But all the time the king
was deaf to their words, and every day he urged them to
build the palace and to make it very high. And he be-
gan to be angry when the people complained, and called

^ Kibaba — a measure, about a pound and a half in weight.

140

THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA

for his askaris ^ and commanded them to beat all those
who murmured, for a great madness had seized him.

But one day one of the great men came near to the
king and spoke to him softly, softly, and said, "Do you
not see that the people are very tired, for they have
worked many years and are all becoming old men at the
work? You said, "Make a great palace. Behold and see
with your eyes that it is truly a great one and is higher
than any palace that man has made." But the king was
very angry and drove him away, saying all the time,
"Make it very high, very, very high."

Not many days afterwards, he again called all the
people together and said, "Look! do you see yonder
mountain?" And all the people looked towards the
mountain, at whose top was Mwininyaga, the Great
White Spirit. For this reason it was a holy mountain, and
all the people loved to pray to Mwininyaga who lived
even in the highest place. And the king drew himself up
in his pride, and spoke many words, saying, "I want a
place like that; I want a high place, even higher than
that mountain, where you say dwells your god." And
the king walked up and down laughing to himself at
his own fine speech, but the people knew that the king
was mad, but they were afraid, and worked on for
many more moons, the king urging them every day, and
saying, "Get on with it, get on with it."

But the people were exhausted and were losing cour-

* Askaris — native police.

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MEN OF THE TREES

age because there was little food, and by this time the
forest whence they cut the trees for the work of build-
ing was far away, for all the trees that were near had
been cut down for the purpose of building the palace.
But still the king kept on saying, "Get on with it, get
on with it." And he said to all the people, "Listen. I
want a throne so that I may sit on top of the high place
and be greater than the God you call Mwininyaga.

And there came a great famine in the land and many
of those who worked died, and those who remained
were now too feeble and old to go to the forest. Yet all
the time the king kept on saying, "Make haste, be
quick." And those that were alive and remained on the
work spoke amongst themselves and said, "Surely the
king is mad; let us not be mad also. If we go to the for-
est to carry wood to make the throne we shall surely
die before we can return, for the forest is now distant
many days. Behold! here is much wood underneath the
building, and the beams are very strong; let us not go
then to the forest, but let us take just a little bit of wood
here and there underneath, for no man will see us." And
they all agreed that this would be a very good way. And
they consented among themselves to keep their plan
secret.

After many days they arose very early before it was
light, and took the wood which they had cut from un-
derneath the foundations of the palace, and carried it
out a little way. And when the king, as was his custom,
came to see the work and to enquire if his throne was

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t>0

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THE SECRET OF THE KIAMA

finished, they made as though they had just come from
the forest after many days' journey. Their bodies were
covered with dust and they fell down at the feet of the
king under their burdens, saying, "Behold, see the wood
that we have cut down this last that remained." And
the king said, "It is good. There is enough for my
throne." And he said to the craftsman, "Make me a
throne very quickly and set it on top of the high place."

And the craftsman made a throne on the highest
point of the palace which was so high that a man stand-
ing on the ground could not see it. And all the time the
king was urging them on till it was finished.

Then the king said, "See now my throne is very high,
even as the mountain and throne of God." So he called
all his great men and people together, and there was a
vast multitude of people and he went alone to sit on the
new throne that the craftsman had made. And the mul-
titude of people looked, but the king could not be seen,
for he had gone up beyond their sight. And they began
to say, one man to another, "Surely he is great, even as
God." Only the workmen were not deceived, for they
remembered his harsh words and actions, and remem-
bered their brothers who had died at the work of mak-
ing the high place and the new throne.

Only the multitude gathered by the order of the king
began to worship before the high place. Suddenly a
very great storm arose, and the wind beat upon the high
place, and the sand blinded their eyes, so that they could
not see. And all the time the wind blew harder and

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MEN OF THE TREES

harder and some said, "Look, look, the high place is
broken below. It falls, it falls!" And they ran from the
place quickly but the sand blinded their eyes, and while
they were running into each other, the high place fell
upon them with a great noise, and killed many. And
those that remained alive were speechless, and fled, each
man his own way by himself, not knowing whither he
went.

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Chapter XV
THE STORY OF MUNYAI

Besides recording the story of the past, the Kiama
cherishes prophecies which have been uttered by its
members. It is to this organization that the early British
pioneers owed the friendly welcome they generally re-
ceived at the hands of tribal Chieftains. Although at
the time they may not have been aware of the fact, it
is true that these people, whom they regarded as bar-
barians, had been prepared from their youth to look for
the coming of the White Man. Indeed few realize how
much the Kiama has assisted British colonization in East
and Central Africa.

To understand why the early British explorers were
welcomed and taken right into the hearts of the people,
one must have access to the prophetic teachings of the
Kiama. More than two centuries ago according to their
seers coming of the White Men was foretold. Such
prophecies have been handed down in story and song
until they were rooted deeply in the minds of the peo-
ple. There is that of Munyai which is one of the many
that particularly bears upon the subject.

A long time ago there lived a wise and honoured
member of the Kiama, whose name was Munyai. He had

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MEN OF TPiE TREES

been given credit by the people for successfully combin-
ing the offices of physician, detective, priest and rain
bringer. One day, after a prolonged drought, when all
the streams were dried up and food was very short, the
Elders and Chiefs of the people came to Munyai to re-
quest him to use his power to bring rain. Munyai lis-
tened to their request, and agreed to pray for rain and
ordered the sacrifice to be brought. The fatted ox was
slain and Munyai stood with hands outstretched towards
the great mountain and prayed to N'gai. Soon dark
clouds gathered and even while the sacrifice to N'gai
was being made, the heavens opened and the rain came
down in torrents. Thereupon Munyai dismissed the
Chiefs and Elders and ordered them to return at once
to their homes. This they did, in spite of the torrential
downpour.

After they had all departed Munyai again prayed
and then slept. In the middle of the night he had a
dream which so moved him that in the early morning,
before it was light, he arose and sent messengers to
fetch back his visitors of the previous day. About noon
they started to arrive and he took them on to a little
hill under the shade of a great tree, and when they had
all seated themselves on their stools in a circle around
him, he began to talk and said as follows.

"You all know me well, for I am an old man now.
Was I not also known to your fathers before you? If
any man present has anything against me, let him speak

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THE STORY OF MUNYAI

when I have finished talking. Listen all of you well
to my words and answer me. Have I not served you well
as a member of your ancient council? Not only so, but
when you have brought your sick to me, have I not
healed them? When evil-doers have stolen your cattle
and sheep have I not sought out the culprits and brought
them to justice?" And to all his words, the Chiefs and
Elders answered "Namega," meaning good.

And Munyai went on to say, "Yesterday you came to
me to ask me to pray to N'gai for rain, and rain has
come. Last night after you had returned to your homes
I prayed and slept, and in the middle of the night N'gai
appeared to me in a vision and he spoke to me and he
said, 'Munyai, your days are far spent, and very soon
you will pass on to sleep with your fathers. But after-
wards there will come into your land a strange people,
a people luith pink cheeks and pink ears, and when they
come the Kiama must listen well to their words, for
they are a wise people and will bring you good.' "

Soon after delivering this prophecy Munyai died, and
was buried in the Katinga, a sacred grove, a little way
above his farm, and was granted all the honourable
rites due to his office. An unceasing pilgrimage was made
to the grove of his burial place, and his dying words
were treasured in the hearts of the people for they all
loved Munyai and believed in his teaching.

Years afterward, when Sir Samuel Baker and Speke,
the first British Explorers, arrived in the country, the

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MEN OF THE TREES

members of the Klama met, and when they had con-
ferred together, they agreed that these were the very
people referred to in the prophecy of Munyai.

It was such prophecies, as these handed down by word
of mouth, through the members of the Kiama, that
paved the way for the coming of the white man. Im-
bued with the teaching of the past, they look back upon
a golden age, and have a profound belief that the British
are the chosen means to assist them in their ultimate re-
turn to prosperity. It can be readily understood why
it was that our early explorers made such a good impres-
sion upon the indigenous tribes. Did they not represent
a great white sovereign over the seas who stood for
order and justice? In their vivid imagination the Af-
ricans began to conjure up pictures of a great future.
Here was something akin to their own ancient throne
surrounded with all its regal power. Herein, I venture
to suggest, lies the secret which enabled Great Britain
to establish a reign of peace among these tribes which
for a time had apparently lapsed into barbarity.

But what of the Kiama today? To the casual observer
it would appear that the Kiama had ceased to function
in any but local, civil and religious duties. Its members
settle boundary disputes, try cases of murder, theft, se-
duction, and officiate at the sacrifices to "Mwininyaga"
the Great White Spirit. In spite of the fact that the
Kiama is represented today by many of the sons or
descendants of the very seers who, by their favourable
prophecies, prepared the way for the coming of the

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THE STORY OF MUNYAI

white man, it is, however, often discredited by those who
have not penetrated its secret. But there are already in-
dications that a more reasonable attitude is being
adopted towards native usages, and it may well be that
in the near future, this ancient Institution will be turned
to better account under future administrations.

It is to certain members of the Kiama that I owe
much of my opportunity for making friends for the
Forestry Service and the planting and care of trees. Al-
though many of their tribesmen had become Forest
Destroyers, yet by reason of their traditions they were
at heart lovers of trees which they regarded as animate
beings rather than inanimate things and to which they
always referred as persons. Their sympathy for trees is
proved by the fact that whenever they cut down a
forest to make a farm, one tree is left in each area to
collect the spirits of the others trees that had been felled,
so that they might not feel uneasy or go wandering
about without a home.

Although the young men were not allowed to enter
into the secret of the Kiama, the instruction given to
them by its members must of necessity have been af-
fected by its sacred law. It was the elders of the Kiama
who first responded to my appeal and made it possible
for me to inaugurate The Men of the Trees, and it was
their influence in the first instance which led the youth
of their tribe to cooperate in voluntary forest protection
and tree-planting.

149

Chapter XVI

DANCING ON THE EQUATOR

To the millions living on the Equator dancing is not
only a most important national pastime, but it should
be recognized by all those who seek to do constructive
work in Africa, that this ready exposition of rhythm is
an infallible indication of the thoughts and moods of the
people.

The sense of rhythm so pulsates through the African
that he is incapable of effectively doing anything with-
out it. For example the simple act of picking up a weed
from the ground among certain tribesmen will call for
a little song and dance in preparation for the physical
effort. As in small things this rule applies also in the case
of movements of far reaching importance. The trend
of these rhythmic records of current actions are always
signs of the mental attitude of the actors in the drama
of everyday life, and are as easily read by one who
knows how to observe, as a fever chart would be by a
skilled physician. For instance, the dance which indicates
such a thing as an impending strike is very diflferent to
the dance that is performed before renewed or increased
effort, such as in a lion hunt, a tribal raid, or the initia-

IJO

DANCING ON THE EQUATOR

tion of a new movement — as was the case in the Dance
of the Trees.

Dancing not only takes the place of sport, but it is
the great means whereby expression is given to the emo-
tions. Throughout Equatorial Africa from East to "West
all along that imaginary line we call the Equator, danc-
ing has its votaries. It is indulged in by everybody capa-
ble of movement, whether they be tiny tots or quite old
men and women; each and all have their own particular
forms of dancing for every period of life and for every
possible occasion, reUgious or secular, for funerals or
weddings.

To the baseball fan or the golfing enthusiast it may
seem strange that dancing should take the place of
sports, but on the East Coast of Africa amongst the
Swahili in the sword dances it becomes a really lively
sport. These strenuous duels are swayed by rhythm.
During recent years sticks have been substituted for
swords but the same actions of parrying and thrusting
are carried out to the lilt of the rhythm.

It is a great sight to witness such duels. The Swahilis
in their long white flowing robes, or "Kansu," enter the
circle of dancers and challenge anybody who may be
prepared to encounter them. Trained from youth in the
art of fencing, the standard is very high. The object of
each opponent is to tear the Kansu of the other while
protecting his own garment. Such duels may always be
seen at wedding dances. All the time that the duel is in
progress a kind of orchestra is provided on a raised dais,

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MEN OF THE TREES

by a company of girls, who sing and beat together buf-
falo horns, raising and lowering their heads and bodies
in rhythmic ecstasy.

Among the absolutely illiterate peoples who live only
with fellow natives in the jungle, I can see the most
elaborate methods of self-expression embodied in their
dancing. But the dancing of those who for generations
have come under European influence seems to me to be
little more than a shuffle and I fail to detect purposeful
expression in their movements. It is interesting to ob-
serve that as the African becomes book-sawy his power
of expression in dancing deteriorates.

Generally speaking, the African bush native is the
most cheerful person. He is inherently light-hearted, in-
consequent and happy. He seems to be bubbling over
with the joy of life, and this national exuberance is ex-
pressed in his dancing which plays such an important, if
not the most important, part in the lives of these care-
free children of nature.

I shall always remember with keen delight many of
the dances held at my camps in the Highlands of British
East Africa. Many of these were given to entertain the
white man, but it seemed as though no excuse is too triv-
ial for a dance.

They dance in the day-time, beginning about noon
and proceed until sundown, then they retire for their
evening meal. Two hours later, they are freshly decked
out with new war paint for the evening performance.

A different dance is provided for each season of the

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DANCING ON THE EQUATOR

year. They would not dream of dancing their equivalent
of the fox trot in the summer, if it was recognized as a
springtime dance. They do not vary their program as
we do ringing changes on the waltz, fox trot, one step
and tango, but are faithful to the same dance through-
out its proper season.

Sometimes the men dance alone, and at others they
join the damsels in a kind of Highland Reel. There are
more intimate dances which only take place in the se-
clusion of their villages. There are, of course, ceremonial
dances which are closely connected with religious festi-
vals, in these even the old men and Chiefs participate
and many a time I have watched them become rejuve-
nated and intoxicated with the sheer thrill of it. On such
occasions they often break away, forming small groups,
and perform a little dance by themselves.

In Kenya, whatever the dance may be, it is always
called N'goma; indeed N'goma is a word which can be
applied also to any form of amusement — a musical in-
strument, a drum, or a toy for a child. It might even
mean a jazz band, for these are not unknown amongst
Westernized Africans nowadays. So strong is the fas-
cination of new instruments that young men have been
known to sell all their most treasured belongings to ac-
quire them.

The night N'goma of the A-Kikuyu, which I shall
describe, is known as the "M'goiyu," and is by far the
most fascinating dance it has yet been my pleasure to
witness. This dance is peculiar to the Highlands of

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MEN OF THE TREES

Kenya, where thousands of Europeans have settled, but
it generally takes place far away in a secluded village out
of sight, if not out of hearing, of the white man. At the
beginning of the season this dance starts in a small way
in one of the Kikuyu villages, and on the first night there
may not be more than fifteen or twenty couples taking
part; but after the performance, notice is given of the
next meetings, with the result that the number of the
attendance may be doubled. As the M'goiyu progresses
from village to village, the company of dancers contin-
ues to increase. This accession of dancers was the method
of the Morris dancers so well known in olden time in
England. Whereas most of the dances are for men only
or women only, the M'goiyu is a mixed dance, and early
in the evening, often before dark, one may see arriving,
parties of shy maidens who, if it so happens that they
have no male escort, squat in groups at a distance from
the village. Here they anxiously await the arrival of their
partners, who may be coming from an opposite di-
rection.

The men make elaborate preparations for the dance,
smearing their bodies with a mixture of animal fat or
oil and red earth, and decking themselves out in fan-
tastic designs, which give them the appearance of being
tattooed. As a distinguishing mark, the older Morans,
or fighting men, wear ostrich feathers on their heads.
This is a warrior's emblem of which they are naturally
very proud. A narrow beaded strap is tied tightly below

154

DANCING ON THE EQUATOR

the breast, or round the waist, and sometimes bells are
worn on the ankles. Much time and care is devoted to
decorating their persons before the dance takes place.
The older a Moran, the more care he takes over his ap-
pearance, and in consequence he generally arrives some-
what later than the younger members of the party. As
for the women, their costume is exactly the same as that
which they wear at their work. The relationship of dress
represents the same priority to dance partnership as with
us but it belongs to the opposite sex. The male is as
highly decorated as the tropical bird while the woman
is content with her workaday goat skins.

On the day previous to the M'goiyu dance, the women
folk collect a huge pile of firewood. These are generally
chips which have been formed when cleaving slabs of
Mutarakwa for the walls of their huts. This fuel pro-
vides warmth, light, protection and incense. The wood
is stacked in the centre of the village and as soon as it
is dark a circle of camp fires is lit. This is always in pro-
portion to the number of people who have assembled.

In the middle of the M'goiyu season, a huge circle of
camp fires — perhaps twenty in all — is often kindled.
Five hundred couples may take part in this dance. First
the younger men form a circle round the camp fires,
while the girls walk round and come to a standstill in
front of the partners of their choice. The woman
chooses her partner, the highly decorated male seeking
to make himself as attractive as possible to the opposite

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MEN OF THE TREES

sex. The Master of the Ceremonies and Leader of Song
begins to chant. The song is first sung alone by the solo-
ist, and then it is repeated in chorus by all the dancers.
Such songs are generally quite short, and are repeated
over and over again. Often they sing of the doings of
the day, or of the prowess of a favourite chief, or of
their white master in the hunting field. If such songs
relate to the white man they generally contain the most
exaggerated forms of flattery, which in many cases are
as insincere as they are extravagant. They are particu-
larly fond of singing of Englishmen and of England.
England is to them a romantic country, representing all
the greatest and best ideas that can be conjured up in
their imaginations. For instance, there is a popular song
about England which they never tire of singing, and it
runs something like this: -

In England the rupees are

as stones upon the grotind
In England the rupees are

as stones upon the ground

Such words may be repeated twenty or thirty times, and
to those who have never heard Africans chant, it would
seem that a song like this must get monotonous, but in
practice, however, the variations of time and rhythm are
so many that although the same words may be sung for
half an hour or more, the interest is always maintained.
As the evening proceeds the older Morans arrive on
the scene, bringing with them their partners, often their

156

DANCING ON THE EQUATOR

wives, who take their places in the ever widening circle,
while they themselves inspect, with critical eyes, the as-
sembled throng. At first the arrival of the senior dancers
is marked by a wave of formality, all the couples sud-
denly putting on their best behaviour. After the inspec-
tion is completed, they join their partners in the dance,
leaving the senior Captains and Master of Ceremonies
in charge.

In the Highlands of Kenya, amongst the A-Kikuyu,
in the dance which I am now describing, there is no foot
motion. Each man stands perfectly still, the lower limbs
are kept rigid, and the feet are not moved from the
ground, but the dancing is performed by a sinuous
movement of the shoulders.

Each man stands with his back to the fires, while his
partner stands on his feet, and clasps her hands round
his waist. Like other customs in Africa, there is an un-
derlying reason which is obviously practical to the inter-
ested observer. The men, in spite of their many decora-
tions, wear no clothes, hence their naked backs are
turned towards the fires, while their partners who are
more warmly dressed in skins, protect them from the
cold night air. In turn, the men keep their partners' feet
warm by allowing them to stand on their insteps. In the
dance the men place their hands on the shoulders of
their partners and the only movement is a weird rhyth-
mic motion of the shoulders, which keeps time to the
song. There is no progression and the position of each
couple in the circle does not change. The girls, for their

^^7

MEN OF THE TREES

part, join in the song, but are otherwise passive. From
my description of this dance the reader may be led to
imagine that it is purely sensuous, and it may be so, but
throughout all I always observed that there was a strict
sense of propriety and etiquette, which is not always
found in the ballrooms of our much vaunted Civiliza-
tion.

I am here reminded of a story that was told of two
old dowagers in London just before the War. They had
heard of the modern dances and the Englishwoman was
anxious that her Austrian friend should see them; espe-
cially the fox-trot, which in those days was an innova-
tion. After watching one of the dances for some time
the Austrian remarked, "My dear, I see nothing very
modern about this, only when I was a girl we waited
until we went to bed."

Before I left the Highlands of Kenya, a M'goiyu
dance was held in my honour. It was the end of that
particular dancing season, and as the tribesmen had de-
cided to pay me a visit, I suggested that the final dance
should be held at my camp. Volunteers had collected a
pile of Mutarakwa chips, and when night came a huge
circle of fires was kindled and before long the dance was
in full swing. A general feeling of goodwill pervaded
the atmosphere, and everybody was in a festive mood.
Songs had been chosen which were thought to be ap-
propriate for the occasion. This night, in their desire to
make me happy, they were singing songs of the forest
and tree-planting. This was an innovation, for not many

158

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DANCING ON THE EQUATOR

weeks before, when attending a similar dance I listened
to a monotonous song, the words of which, translated
are: —

"The Morans have put up their standards
and the English have pulled them down."

Then, as out of sheer perversity, they would ring a
change: —

"The English have put up their standards
but the Morans have pulled them down."

After listening to this dirge for about twenty minutes
I had ventured to suggest that I should like a change. I
was tired of this song. Could they not sing me some
songs of the forest? My request had met with immediate
response, and their first child-like effort was; —

"Vsuri ku pandu m'begti kataka sanduku
V'suri ku pandu m'begu kataka sandtiku."

Which quite literally interpreted means: —

"It is good to plant seeds in a box
It is good to plant seeds in a box."

Later their soloist let go his imagination, and improvised
a song which met with the heartiest response as there
were present many members of the Watu wa Miti (The
Men of the Trees) . A part of the company would join in

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MEN OF THE TREES

the questions, and another part would reply. The song
opened with a questioning verse:

"In the old days
Who cut the trees}
Who nit the trees?"*

Back came the reply:

"Don't you know?
Don't you know?
The Kuksy the Kuks, cut the trees"

Again the question was asked by the leading songsters:

"To-day who lead the way
To plant the trees
To plant the trees?"

Once again came back the reply:

"Don't you know?
Don't you knaiu?
The Kuks, the Kuks,
They lead the way
To plant the trees
To plant the trees."
1 60

DANCING ON THE EQUATOR

The whole company then joined in the final chorus:

''When the rain comes
We plant trees
We plant trees."

They had remembered these improvised songs, and
sang them with their hearts in a way that delighted me.
This night, as the evening proceeded, the dancing be-
came livelier and the excitement increased, and finally
about midnight, the evening's entertainment ended in
a grand finale. Torches were kindled from the dying
embers of the fires, and the whole throng began to dis-
perse, each man escorting his favourite partner to her
home.

Sitting in my camp, it was a picturesque sight to
watch the many little parties breaking up to wend their
ways in single file, carrying lighted torches along the
winding trains. As the moon dipped behind the distant
hills, again the final chorus was taken up and echoed
across the valleys:

"When the rain comes
We plant trees.
We plant trees"

When the last string of flame had disappeared, once
again all was silent save for the night's weird calls and
the forest sounds. But in my mind still rang the memory

i6i

MEN OF THE TREES

of their song that voiced what, as a Forester, I had tried
to teach:

''When the rain comes
We plant trees.
We plant trees"

i6z

Chapter XVII

FOREST MAGIC

All those whose work or interest has taken them into
the Tropical Forest must feel the spell of its magic. Even
the most unsensitive matter of fact traveller is conscious
of this spell, but those who are destined to dwell in its
solitudes for long periods out of touch with any life save
that of the forest, learn to read its story.

Anyone who stands alone under the dense canopy of
the Tropical Forest is overcome with a sense of individ-
ual hmitations, for in the teeming life of the Forest man
seems but a pigmy for the control of that urge of
growth which is here continually finding expression in
the development of these colossal tree giants.

Here in the Forest one sees the battle of species which
has waged eternal war. There is something inexplicably
gruesome in this bloodless conflict where forever the
weaker are being suppressed in their constant struggle
for light. Here an ancient decaying giant of the Forest
has fallen, thus for a time breaking the canopy, which
allows fresh growth, and in turn this takes up the piti-
less battle.

In the study of vegetation the outcome of this strug-
gle is known to Ecologists as the "Forest Climax." This

163

MEN OF THE TREES

is the limit of uncontrolled natural growth, in this riot
of species, for in all such virgin forest which remains
unexploited, the growth but keeps pace with decay, and
it is not till man assists nature by cultural operations
that there is a surplus of valuable timber assured for the
future use of civilization.

For countless generations in the past these vast forests
of the Southern Provinces of Nigeria have provided
food and shelter for primitive man, whether he lived by
his bow, or his hoe. Fearless in the face of the dangers
from wild beasts, yet fearful of the unknown mysteries
that to him lie hidden in the Forest, he has thus eked out
his precarious existence.

The hunters have been the friends of the Forest, for
their wants were meagre, and easily satisfied, without
the necessity for extensive tree destruction. A few dead
sticks gathered from wind-fallen branches provided suf-
ficient fuel. In the spell of the Forest he guarded his own
domain from all intruders, for no rival would risk his
poisoned arrow. Led by his honey-bird he extended his
arboreal apiary, but always within his mysteriously de-
marcated province. It is the unwritten law of the For-
est that each dweller has his own territory. To the white
man the origin and observance of this law is inexpli-
cable, except as a survival of the past, but to its power is
due the preservation of many of the still existing virgin
forests.

In these forests are the giants of the tree world. I have
measured great mahoganies girthing over thirty feet,

164

5
\

FOREST MAGIC

with a clean bole running straight up clear of branches
a hundred feet from the ground. Anyone who stops to
contemplate these victorious tree warriors who have sur-
vived the age-long struggle for supremacy, triumphantly
forcing their way through the densely closed canopy,
must marvel at Nature's devices. In its early youth this
same monarch has combated the raids of rodents, the rav-
ages of fungoid and insect pests, destruction by game,
and the greatest danger of all, entanglement by woody
lianas. These enemies overcome, new dangers threaten the
growing tree as it pierces the canopy of the forest. When
it mounts supreme in its victory over the lesser growths,
it must withstand the force of the sudden pressure of tor-
nadoes, while far below its stately bole is ever imperilled
by the menace of fire from the encroachments of man.

Below the giant trees, tier by tier, are those of lesser
height, and last of all, a mass of shrubs interspersed with
herbs great and small, all inextricably bound together by
the tangled woody lianes and vines.

When the sun is at its height, there is still gloom in the
Forest, for its rays scarcely pierce the thickly matted
leaves. And when the sun is obscured by the rains there is
a sombre sameness that deepens the sense of mystery that
ever pervades the Tropic Bush. There is a miasma rising
from the soil, which can be seen and felt. The moisture
and heat which promotes such rampant growth is often
death to man.

When I was on a Forest Survey cutting a line through
what appeared to be untouched virgin forest, yet without

165

MEN OF THE TREES

the warning that comes through change in topography,
the nature of the forest suddenly altered into what was
obviously Secondary Bush. Although equally dense as the
original forest, it contained a greater percentage of infe-
rior species of little economic value.

Whilst pondering this problem, I stumbled over the
top of a bank into a deep ditch, which though densely
covered with scrub, suggested the ancient excavations of
a city wall. Cutting my way along the bottom, I found
that it described the arc of a circle, and was, without
doubt, part of the surrounding wall of some deserted
city. Further cutting away of the bush for archaeologi-
cal research was at that time impossible. However, on
questioning an old man of the district, I discovered that
there was an established tradition of an ancient city that
once existed on that spot, which had been abandoned ow-
ing to the ravages of some mysterious malady. This with
other Forest mysteries I leave for future research.

In spite of the dangers, the spell of the Forest is broken
by the sound of the swinging axe as man invades its
depths. Feeling his way along game paths in search of the
big mahoganies, he stakes his life on his chances, as a pros-
pector on his claim.

He is under the spell of the Forest in his quest for the
gold that comes from a successful find. The mottled ma-
hogany log is often an illusive dream, though the ordi-
nary giant is turned to account and, once felled and
shaped, begins its long journey from the forest to the
sea. Even here the spell of the Forest controls; in the same

166

FOREST MAGIC

quest for gold, native workers swarm to the ropes to
urge it on its way.

The treasure of the Forest is ever in danger from the
native farmer, and when he clears for successive cultiva-
tion, by matchet and fire, the equilibrium is destroyed.
The silence of the forest is broken by the fierce crackling
of the burning bush, and above the sound of weird in-
cantations it rises into a roar as of an artillery bombard-
ment, the shock of which, once heard, is unforgettable.

In the Rain Forests the Bush will not burn unless first
cut by man. After two months' drying, when ignited
it burns fiercely, on account of its richness in combus-
tible oils and resins.

These fires so destructive to the Forest, are regarded
as a necessary evil, if evil at all, by the primitive farmer,
and are a striking example of the appalling waste of na-
ture's resources due to the lack of foresight which still
exists in their world today. Without the fire there would
be no farm, for the native farmer has not yet discovered
the use of natural or artificial fertilizers. He only com-
prehends that the virgin forest will provide the richest
soil in which to grow his yams.

In the forest region this crop is of more importance
to him than the preservation of beautiful forest areas.
To this cause may be attributed the spreading desicca-
tion of Africa, and the vanishing resources of food
supply in worked out areas. I have calculated that the
cost of production of a white yam to the native in terms
of value for timber destroyed for its cultivation is far

167

MEN OF THE TREES

beyond the price paid by gourmets at the Ritz for the
rarest of deUcacies out of season. In his turn, the African
must have his yam. From its harvesting he measures
time, and each day of its marketing records another
week in the progress of the season.

At the Forest Market one becomes aware of the hu-
man Hfe which at other times is hidden. As the sun
mounts high, the women folk gather from all directions
to display their yams to prospective buyers. They sit by
their loads under a crazy booth made from a few palm
leaves and begin to trade. Of course there are other ar-
ticles of commerce exchanged. Just as in other parts of
the world today business magnates sit serene behind ma-
hogany desks weighing the pros and cons of purchase
and sale, so these children of nature, under the shade of
the growing mahogany, demonstrate according to their
environment the same capacity for barter. Here in the
tropic bush are displayed the usual attributes for busi-
ness— judgment as to values, and an unconsciously dra-
matic sense of enjoyment in bargaining, and decisions
in purchase which display the subtleties of an almost un-
canny craft. This is the social life of the women who
travel with their weighty wares astonishingly long dis-
tances, often bearing a baby on their backs while fol-
lowed by quite young children.

The fixed site for the Forest Market in any given area
may be several miles from the nearest village, and the
animated scene that presents itself during the appointed

1 68

The Sacred Tree of Benin

FOREST MAGIC

hours of market, contrast with the silence of the de-
serted pitch when once the busy buyers have dispersed
to their homes; for, hke frightened children, they waste
no time in their homegoing, fearing to be alone and lost
in the dark.

Just as the deserted market when in use is the centre
of their social life, so the solitary shrine seen by the trav-
eller in the Forest is in the time of ceremony the centre
of their mystic life.

At a lonely ju-ju place it has been my privilege to
see a Forest-dweller make his offering, unconscious of
observation, while on a great feast day I have encoun-
tered a gathering of Chiefs and elders clad in their rega-
lia, who showed in every act, even as the old man alone
before the forest shrine, their sense of devotion to the
Great Spirit to whom it was their wont to turn. In the
Forest today there is a silent appeal to the thinking
white man who with them will penetrate its depths and
seek to be in tune with its life. But without local knowl-
edge of men and trees, it is impossible to lay sure foun-
dations for useful service.

In the Forest comes the desire for the best utilization
of its wondrous resources, and the perpetuation of its
usefulness through the recurring years. One sees clearly
a place for man to cooperate with struggling Nature,
and with his knowledge of science direct the growth
into the highest use.

Eager to learn, and ready to follow the guidance of

169

MEN OF THE TREES

one whom they trust, the forest-dwellers are the first to
sense the spirit of the man who would aid them in their
life by giving them the results of applied science in
terms intelligible to their experience.

Unguided in the past, the native farmer has invaded
the best of the Forest. I have travelled along hundreds
of miles which suggested uninhabited impenetrable For-
est, for so perfect is the instinct for the wild in the
forest-dweller that his skilful concealment of the ap-
proaches to his farm are often impossible to detect. The
explorer might pass a hundred times within call of these
approaches, yet have no consciousness of the hidden
clearing. It may be only by chance that he will discover
that vast areas he regarded as virgin forest are honey-
combed with farms.

The formation of Forest Reserves is doing much to
limit their wholesale destruction, and native farmers
are now being taught, to their advantage, to plant trees
in their cultivations between their yams, so that when
their food crops are reaped, they will leave behind them
on the land a potential forest.

In the world today, whether in Equatorial Africa or
elsewhere, people are increasingly realizing the depend-
ence of men upon trees for their future welfare and
comfort. By the act of planting trees, man is forever
safeguarding the future.

The sons of the forest are exploring new ways and
means of livelihood, and as the trees yield up their treas-
ure to civilization, the scientist as a factor in civilization

170

FOREST MAGIC

is safeguarding future supplies, while the forest destroy-
ers are being trained to become tree-planters and true
custodians of Nature's lavish and often recklessly dis-
sipated gifts for the future welfare of the world.

171

Chapter XVIII

ADVENTURES IN THE MAHOGANY FORESTS

The average American seldom realizes all that he owes
to Tropical Africa. Yet it is a fact that it is impossible
for him to go through a single day without using many
things produced in the tropics. He has slept between
sheets made from cotton. In his morning bath he has
used soap manufactured from the oil of the palm. The
copra of cocoanut, and oil from other palms finds its
way on to his breakfast table, disguised as butter. The
sheaves of corn from which his bread is made, if not
grown in Africa, have probably been tied with binder
twine from the sisal fibre which grows there. Flax comes
from the highlands of Kenya and provides the raw ma-
terial of the best linen. Ground nuts from Nigeria are
often used in the manufacture of confectionery. Gin-
ger, spices, gum, sauces, pickles and a hundred and one
of the little luxuries of life, are produced on the equator,
not to mention rubber, which directly or indirectly
plays a very great part in modern industry.

The mahogany forests, which provide timber so
greatly sought after, also yield countless supplies of
other products which are both cultivated and also found
naturally. The average person already realizes that his

172

ADVENTURES IN THE MAHOGANY FORESTS

dining-rooin table has been made from mahogany, but
has he ever thought for one moment that he actually
depended for his transport on Equatorial forest prod-
ucts? It may never have struck him that his automobile,
or the train in which he travels to business each day
might not have been possible but for mahogany. But he
will perhaps ask how this can be. Certainly motor cars
and locomotives are not made from wood, but many of
the component parts are made from castings and the
patterns are in turn made from mahogany. Mahogany
is the best known wood for pattern making. For this
reason, a continuous supply of mahogany is vital for
many of the key industries. The man in the street merely
looks upon mahogany as a good furniture wood. Indeed,
mahogany is used as a trade name covering a large range
of species used in the manufacture of furniture which
possess no characteristic of mahogany but are capable
of taking mahogany stain. The largest part of the so-
called mahogany furniture sold today is not mahogany.
It may be stained American white wood, kauri pine,
beech, plane, lime or the bass wood of America, and
sometimes even deal. True mahogany is becoming in-
creasingly difficult to obtain. Today we have to go far
afield for the best wood, and it is obvious that the far-
ther one has to go from floating rivers or other means of
transport, the more expensive it becomes.

One of the last best mahogany forests of the world
is in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria. As Conservator
of Forests under the Government, the writer has been

173

MEN OF THE TREES

in charge of seventy-five timber concessions there, rang-
ing in size from four square miles to two hundred square
miles each and has issued permits for one hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of mahogany a
month, belonging chiefly to the botanical family known
to foresters as the Meliaceae. This family provides the
main bulk of timber at present commercially utilized.
Of this family, the genera of Khaya, Entandrophragma
and Guarea provide the huge trees which yield the ma-
hogany and scented mahoganies, as well as the African
walnuts of trade. One giant tree, which the writer
photographed, an Entandrophragma or scented ma-
hogany, known locally in Nigeria as a Sapele wood,
named after the place from which quantities of its logs
are exported, actually measured 34 ft. 7 in. in girth.

The mahogany forests belong to the type of forest
known as the Tropical Evergreen Forests. They owe
their existence to the high tropical rainfall. These forests
form most of the forest belt of Nigeria. Owing to de-
structive methods of farming employed by the natives,
vast inroads have been made and the diminishing sup-
plies of timber on the one hand, and the increasing de-
mand on the other, is now beginning to cause serious
concern. Every year the forests have to be penetrated
more deeply to obtain the best trees, and it will not be
long before these same forest veterans will become al-
most indispensable, and their continued destruction will
begin to affect some of the most important key indus-
tries of western civilization. In the past, these trees were

174

ADVENTURES IN THE MAHOGANY FORESTS

^ ^ ^ r ■r ^ w w * w -r ■r w ^ ■r ^ V w w ^ -wT-r ■vr ■r w ■r ■» T ^ -r ^ ■r ■r V ■^ '^■■r ■wr ■r f T r'f

easily accessible along the banks of floating rivers and
the logs could be put into the rivers at a very small cost,
but now, light railways have to be constructed and the
logs have to be dragged miles before they can be placed
on the internal waterways.

How little does the average person, living in civiliza-
tion, realize the risks and privations that the white man
has continually to undergo in his search for the big ma-
hoganies. So much has been said recently of improved
conditions of living in the tropics that many people who
know nothing about the country, look upon Nigeria as
being almost a health resort. It is nevertheless a serious
fact that these forest regions of the Southern Provinces
are still extremely unhealthy. Sanitation has been im-
proved in the towns, and thanks to the Medical Depart-
ment the deadly anopheles mosquitoes have been almost
entirely banished from certain parts, but it is impossible
to alter the insidious climate of the tropical bush, or
completely destroy its insect pests. The towns may have
been cleaned up, but the rain forests which produce the
best mahoganies are still the "white man's grave." Every
timber prospector has to take his chance in the fight
against fever and a hundred and one risks too numerous
to describe.

Native tree-finders are employed to do the prelim-
inary prospecting — men born in the bush and who are
uncannily familiar with their own immediate surround-
ings, and are well acquainted with the trees required by
the White Man. These native tree-finders are specialists,

^75

MEN OF THE TREES

for that is their one job. They have nothing else to do
but to find the trees, and when they are found, return
to camp and lead their master to them.

If the tree has big buttresses, a platform consisting
of sticks fastened with tie-tie (creepers cut from the
forest) is constructed ten or fifteen feet from the
ground, and upon this the ax-men mount to fell it.
When the tree is ready to fall there is an ominous crack,
which is actually its heartbreak, and this gives the la-
bourers time to get away before the giant of the forest
crashes to earth. When a big mahogany comes to earth
there is a dull thud which sounds like the firing of a
mine, and the ground trembles, the vibrations being felt
for a long distance away.

After the tree is felled, it is cut into logs i8 ft. in
length. A good tree will yield two or three logs at least.
In one case a mahogany tree yielded seven logs, because
at about thirty feet from the ground it forked; thus
one big log was obtained near the ground, and three
smaller logs were converted from each branch of the
fork.

Scoring, which is accomplished by about twenty
labourers lined up on either side, with sharp axes, who
make V-shaped notches at close intervals all along the
log, is not a lengthy process. As soon as this first opera-
tion is completed the adzing gang follow, chipping away
the sapwood and bark in between the notches. The log
is turned and squared in this fashion until each of the
four sides are smooth. The end of one side is bevelled

176

ADVENTURES IN THE MAHOGANY FORESTS

sledge fashion, so that it may more readily slip over
the corduroy road.

A track is now cut through the forest from the stump
of the tree to the nearest trolley line. Hundreds of other
smaller trees are then requisitioned to form a corduroy
track.

Extracting the logs is the hardest work of all, and
now that the mahogany is getting more scarce logs often
have to be hauled six or seven miles before they meet the
trolley line which will take them on their way to the
nearest floating river.

"When the logs have been pass-hammered by a Forest
Guard, they are ready for extraction, "potter-potter,"
or mud, is fetched from the river bank and dozens of
small boys run on ahead, smearing this on the corduory
track, so that the logs may slip more easily on their way.
The small boys precede just in front of the log, carrying
the "potter-potter" on large trays made from tree bark.
When the track is ready, long steel cables are fixed round
the back end of the log, and a hundred or more laborers
take up their positions along the road, and encouraged by
a head man and song-leader, they strain every muscle as
the great log begins to move on its way to the coast.
When the going is good, the song of the haulers is gay,
but when the log sticks, its cheerful lilt changes to
staccato curses. Squared logs weighing up to ten tons
are shifted in the way described without mechanical ap-
pliances for a distance often of several miles, until they
are brought to a floating river. I have measured an ex-

^77.

MEN OF TPiE TREES

ceptionally large log which weighed twelve tons and
required 150 labourers to haul it, even on level ground.

It may be asked, "Why are such primitive methods
employed?" The fact is that caterpillars and tractors
have been tried out and since abandoned as being im-
practicable. The ground is generally very soft, and a
large tractor has a tendency to embed itself in the soil.
The logs are too large to be transported on overhead
ropeways. Again, the trees are very much scattered, and
the cost would be prohibitive if a light railway were
taken to each one.

It may be in the near future that elephants will be
trained to assist man in the laborious task of hauling
these huge logs over the soft parts of the forest. For a
long time it was imagined that the African elephant
could not be tamed, though it is generally granted that
it was the African elephant that Hannibal used in his
campaigns. In the Congo forests, the Belgians are now
successfully training the elephant for forest work. Ma-
houts have been brought from India — men accustomed
from their boyhood to train and work with these noble
allies, but their task is a difficult one, and many months
elapse before the African elephant allows himself to
submit to being mounted and pressed into forest
service.

When the logs are brought to the trolley line, one
end is raised by jacks, sufficiently high to allow the trucks
to be run underneath. The log is then lowered into posi-

178

s

^

o

f-.

ADVENTURES IN THE MAHOGANY FORESTS

tion on the truck, care being taken to see that it is
properly balanced. When once the log is on the truck,
it is a comparatively easy matter to run it to the water-
side. In places where the banks of the river are steep,
the log is tilted oflF the truck, and allowed to plunge
down the slip way into the water below. It is a grand
sight to witness a big log taking the water. The one
recorded by my kodak was only of medium size, weigh-
ing perhaps six or seven tons, but even this has made a
big splash.

With regard to the labourers employed in the conces-
sion, many of them come from the surrounding villages.
But often they will travel a distance of forty or fifty
miles and take up their abode for a period of four months
in the forest camp. Some stay on or return year after
year, but the usual contract of service is for four months.
Each week they draw sustenance money and their main
wage accumulates and is paid at the completion of their
work. The men work in gangs and choose their own
foreman or supervisor who is generally a great wag. He
does little or no work himself, but laughs and jokes and
leads the song and dance. He is, of course, the most
important man and no gang would be complete without
a cheery leader.

When a new concession is opened the first thing to
do is to issue tools. Each man is supplied with an Ameri-
can axe weighing about five pounds, and a native
matchet. The camp is then constructed. Simple huts

179

MEN OF THE TREES

generally, near the waterside. Labourers bring their wives
and families, and some of the boys are employed in carry-
ing food up into the forest to the men at their work.

My series of photographs was obtained with consider-
able difficulty. It can readily be understood that in the
dense tropical forest, the light is extremely bad, and,
even with a very rapid lens, a long exposure is required.
And as the logs are more easily moved in the rainy sea-
son, the whole series, with two exceptions, was taken
while it was raining. I was specially fortunate in obtain-
ing some pictures of mottled mahogany. Occasionally
the timber prospector is rewarded by finding a tree with
a figure or mottle. Such mahogany is much sought after
for veneers, and is very rare. During my recent tour of
service, when I was in charge of the Benin Circle,
Southern Provinces, Nigeria, I issued a permit for a tree
which afterwards proved to be particularly well figured.
When a plank was cut and smoothed, it had the ap-
pearance of a rippled lake in a setting sun and was really
very beautiful. One log of this fetched ten thousand
dollars in the open market at Liverpool. Such a find is
a great reward for industry, but it may be that there is
only one such tree in five, or even ten, thousand, and
there is no outward indication of the inward beauty.

Life in the mahogany forests is fraught with danger
and crowded with adventure. It is all the same whether
you are a prospector, in charge of concessions, a native
tree-finder in search of the big mahoganies, an ordinary
labourer, cutting the road of a corduroy track or felling

i8o

ADVENTURES IN THE MAHOGANY FORESTS

the giants of the forest. The men who go in search of
"Red Gold" stake their Uves on their chances. In the
undisturbed virgin forest there is an ever-present risk
of being attacked by poisonous snakes that He concealed
in the stump of a hollow tree and resent the intrusion
of man. Hard by the great mahoganies are trees from
which a splash of sap will blind a man for many days.
The ax-men are in constant risk from falling trees,
and what is often worse because unexpected, a dead
branch will suddenly crash to the ground, slaying or
maiming the victim, who, unconscious of his danger,
was driving his axe into a living tree. There are other
hazards to which the adventurer in the mahogany forests
is constantly exposed. Without warning, he may en-
counter a tiny thorn, the prick of which will maim a
man for life, or cause his death from lockjaw and fever.
To all such perils the forester is never immune. With
others, he takes his chance, for his duty is to control the
felling and see to it that future supplies are forthcoming
to meet the demands of Western civilization.

i«i

chapter XIX .

GROWING GOLD

The precious product of the forest is conserved and the
feUing is controlled by issuing licenses conveying ex-
clusive rights to cut timber over specified areas. These
are granted to Africans of any nationality under the
conditions set forth in the Forestry Ordinance of Ni-
geria. Felling is controlled by a minimum girth limit,
and for each tree felled fees and royalty are paid into the
Forestry Department. A proportion of this goes to the
maintenance of the Forestry Service, while the royalty
is divided between the Oba Chief and the head men
responsible for the tribal land in which the trees are
felled.

Included in the amount paid is a re-planting fee for
the purpose of re-forestation. Before planting fees were
introduced, concessionaires undertook to plant trees in
the place of those they removed from the forest. The
results were not very satisfactory, as seedlings were gen-
erally rooted up from the bush and planted along the
timber hauling tracks, or in scattered irregular planta-
tions around the labour camps.

It was in 1925, with a view to solving the problem
of increasing the supplies of mahogany and other species

182

GROWING GOLD

of economic value, that I initiated Silvicultural experi-
ments at Sapoba. I selected an area in the most important
forest, where I demarcated a Working Area of about
six hundred acres. It was in the heart of the Rain Forest
within the Jamieson River Forest Reserve. I divided the
Working Area into four blocks, each containing five
compartments of thirty acres each. The systems under
experiment within this Area were:

The Transition Method
Uniform System
Periodic Block System
Walsh's System.

In the case of the Transition Method the treatment
preceded felling operations, with a view to securing
natural regeneration of as large a percentage as possible
of better class species. Under this system the following
species have been treated: Khaya sp., Entandrophragams
sp., Lovoa Klaineana, Guares sp., and Iripiochiton sp.

Under the Uniform System thirty acres are being dealt
with annually, and excellent results have already been
obtained. There are healthy groups of young regenera-
tion of Khaya sp., Lovoa Klaineana, Guarea sp., and
Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum.

The importance of these Silvicultural experiments
cannot be overestimated, and their significance will be
obvious not only to my many Forester friends in the
United States, but to importers of mahogany and the
Captains of Industry, whose enterprise is so dependent

183

MEN OF THE TREES

on being able to obtain a continuous supply of this valu-
able wood.

I therefore venture to include the results of my first
experiments.

The permanent Quadrats showed the following per-
centages of regenerated species after the first season:

Permanent Quadrat Chart No. I

Per Cent.
Gossweilrodendron balsamiferum 69

Guarea sp. 14.5

Khaya sp. 12.5

Lovoa Klaineana 1 1

Entandrophragma 1 1

Ricinodendron africana i

Chlorophora excelsa .j

Pentaclethra macrophylla .5

This quadrat was made under fairly close canopy, and
the natural regeneration resulted in 200 seedlings, or
2,000 to the acre.

Permanent Quadrat Chart No. 2

Per Cent.
Gossweilerodendron balsamiferum 96.8
Khaya sp. 1.6

Guarea sp. 1.2

Lovoa Klaineana .4

This quadrat showed 500 seedlings, to 5,000 to the
acre.

Under the Periodic Block System, Khaya sp. were

184

GROWING GOLD

planted in lines cut through the viring forest which
had been heavily exploited during the last twenty years.
The planting showed good results, 95 per cent, suc-
ceeding.

Wherever pure plantations of Khaya species mahogany
were attempted, they failed. It proved that this valuable
species needed nurse trees through the whole of its life
to bring it to maturity.

Under Walsh's System thirty acres were dealt with,
but owing to an incomplete burn over, results were not
as satisfactory as might have been expected. As this
system entails the felling of all the inferior species, the
cost is consequently high in a forest where few other
species than those provided by the melliaceous group are
utilized.

In addition to the experiments carried out within
the Working Area, thirty blanks caused by felling in an
adjoining concession are being treated annually under
the Selection Group System. All the species before men-
tioned were also treated under this system, and although
it is too early to draw any conclusion from the results
obtained, it is interesting to observe that in thirty groups
treated there are only four failures. The natural regen-
eration was more often from seed from neighbouring
mother trees surrounding the blank than from the tree
which had been extracted.

Perhaps one of the most interesting experiments at
Sapoba is the introduction of Chena Cultivators.
Twenty-six acres of inferior bush was chosen for this

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MEN OF THE TREES

experiment and divided into half-acre plots, each of
which was cleared and cultivated by one farmer in his
spare time.

The following species were planted by the forest culti-
vators in between their food crops, 6 feet by 12 feet;
while oil palms, Eloeis guineensis, were planted to de-
marcate boundaries between farms: —

Tectona grandis. (Burma Teak)

Khaya sp. (Mahogany)

Guarea sp. (Mahogany)

Guarea Thompsonii (Mahogany)

Lovoa Klaineana (African Walnut)

Ricinodendron africana (Useful timber — soil improver)

Pentaclethra macrophylla (Useful timber — soil im-
prover)

Triplochiton sp. (Soft wood for making ply-wood ex-
ported under the name Obeche)

Cassia siamea (An exotic, used as nurse tree and ground
cover)

An inspection of the farms at the end of the planting
season showed an average of 300, while the largest num-
ber of trees growing in any individual farm was 3 66.

The farm crops grown in between the forest trees
were corn, yams, ground-nuts, gourds, okra, beans, pep-
pers, and ikpogie. A bonus is given to those farmers who
succeed in establishing not less than 500 trees to the acre.
Each year a new farm is allotted to the successful culti-
vator and in time he will build up a valuable additional

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GROWING GOLD

revenue to his ordinary income obtained as a forest
worker.

Amongst the most valuable substitutes for mahogany
is Mitragyne macrophylla, the Benin name for this is
Ebben and the Yoroba name is Aburra. Although lighter
in colour to the mahogany experiments in wood tech-
nology show that the mechanical properties are very
similar to the true mahogany.

This thrives best in areas that are periodically flooded,
so I selected a swamp area which I clear felled, leaving
only mother trees to provide seeds. This resulted in pro-
viding a wide belt of thick natural regeneration, seed-
lings growing from four to five feet during the first year.

My Silvicultural experiment included the demarcat-
ing of a number of sample plots, the trees on which were
measured annually. In the first plot of Tectona grandis
the girth increment averaged over two inches for the
growing season, consisting of six months, thus showing
that it thrives better in the Southern Provinces of Ni-
geria than in Burma. Of course it remains to be seen
whether the wood is equally valuable.

Up to the present very few species in the mahogany
forests are being utilized, and under such circumstances
the introduction of cultural systems are bound to be
costly, for they entail the removal of those species up till
now regarded as worthless owing to the absence of a
market.

It may be that the next step towards assisting the

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MEN OF THE TREES

economic introduction of cultural operations is to dis-
cover markets for the secondary timbers.

The results of a complete survey of all the timber
over 3 feet in girth standing on 90 acres now being treated
under the Periodic Block System in the Silvicultural
Working Area at Sapoba show the great preponderance
of lesser known timbers at present utilized.

Area: 90 Acres of Rain Forest at Sapoba

TOTAL no.
girth commercial unutilized of trees

3-5 ft.

98

926

1,024

5-8 "

52.

623

675

8-12"

57

232

289

Over 12 ft.

10

36

46

217

1,817

2,034

So far only the plums have been picked. Perhaps one
tree per acre is utilized, while the great mass of trees is
left standing. The best trees are taken by the conces-
sionaires while the dead and dying together with timber
of unknown value are left on the ground. When I say
that only the plums have been picked from the pudding,
I do not wish to imply that the trees that are left are
useless or that the forest pudding ought to be left.

I have found in my experience that observation of the
native use of any timber is full of suggestions as to ways
and means of utilization and of indicating the com-

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GROWING GOLD

mercial possibilities of unknown timbers when once in-
troduced to the market.

The soft woods have been left untouched, though
many of them would make excellent paper pulp. There
are also woods which might be utilized more extensively
in the manufacture of plywood; they might also be
used for veneers and matches. There are many soft wood
trees of a normal size found throughout the Rain and
Fringing Forests. The cotton tree may be taken as repre-
sentative of this class.

Apart from the soft woods there are numerous hard-
wood trees of excellent quality, such as Lophira procera
and Afzelia africana. There is also an intermediate class
of Medium soft woods represented by Triplochiton sp.
This has recently been exported for the manufacture
of plywood, and for a time there was a considerable
demand for it in Hamburg. I would suggest that this
wood would also do for backing furniture. There are
large supplies to be had near floating rivers.

If Silvicultural experiments are to be introduced on
any extensive scale it will be necessary to find markets
for all such wood, for be it ever remembered that an
unutilized forest is unproductive, the growth merely
keeping pace with decay. It is only by economic harvest-
ing, the introduction of silvicultural systems, and by
planting that we are able to perpetuate the forest for
generations to come.

Looking back over the last eight years of my work
as Forest Officer in Equatorial Africa, I regard my silvi-

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MEN OF THE TREES

cultural experiments in the mahogany forests of Nigeria
with more satisfaction that I do the collection of millions
of dollars of revenue which went to swell the surplus mil-
lions of the Colony. Out of seven different systems which
had proved successful in India, Burma and other places,
I found three which, if adopted, throughout those forests
in Nigeria, will be the means of perpetuating their use-
fulness for all time. The benefit which will be derived
from these experiments is not at the outset apparent
to others than trained Foresters, but it is only by close
observation and scientifically recording results that these
experiments and their utility can be observed.

The careful training of the native staff must be de-
veloped and they must be given an intelligent interest
in the cultural operations, so that when the time comes
to extend the work over the whole of the mahogany
forests, they may be able to train and supervise the many
gangs which will have to be entrusted with the actual
Forestry practice.

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chapter XX

THE FEAST OF THE TREES

Trees have always held an important place in the im-
agination of primitive man. This special regard for trees
is not restricted to African races, but appears in the
art and mythology of almost every nation. In the growth
of a tree man saw a resemblance to his own life. Their
age long existence was to him a symbol of immortality.
It is not surprising therefore that tree worship goes back
to the earliest times, and one of the established traditions
among the ancients was that of a World Tree.

The relation between an Ideal Tree and Paradise is
so consistent that we may conclude that there would
have been no Paradise without the tree. Mahomet had
his paradise which was set in the seventh heaven, where
grew a marvellous tree whose boughs bent of their own
accord so that the people who were lucky enough to be
in Paradise could pick the fruit without having to climb
up for it. In Indian tradition, the garden of Indra con-
tained as many as five miraculous trees, "that sheltered
the gods and provided them with ambrosia."

The ancient Gaels conceived of a paradise where there
were many unfading trees and a Sixth Century Irish
poem describes how Bryan voyaging to the Isle of De-
light saw

191

MEN OF THE TREES

^'Branches rich with fruit and blooin
Breathing forth the vine's perfume;
Woods moulder not, tho* olden,
Faultless, with foliage golden.'*

In Genesis we read "Out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the
sight and good for food ; the tree of Hf e also in the midst
of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and
evil." The Chaldeans recognized a sacred Cedar which
was both tree of life and a tree of knowledge that knew
"The secrets of Heaven and the magical arts that benefit
or injure." Sir James Frazer has pointed out that whilst
the initiated were allowed to partake of the wisdom of
the Cedar, to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Eden was
a sin punishable by death.

Georgina Mase, who is a Man of the Trees, in her de-
lightful tree anthology, has shown that as regards the
nature of the two trees in the Garden of Eden, Rabbinic
tradition holds that the Tree of Life was supernatural
and not unlike the World Tree of the Scandinavians.
The same idea is found in early English literature, when
Seth, describing what he saw within the gate of Paradise,
says:

"It is a tree,
High with inany boughs;

But they are all bare, without leaves.
And around it, bark

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TliE FEAST OF THE TREES

There was none^ from the stem to the head
Ml its boughs are hare.

And at the bottom, when I looked,

I saw its roots
Even unto hell descending,

In the midst of great darkness.
And its branches growing up.

Even to heaven high in light."

There are many references in Hebrew literature to
trees as a manifestation of Jehovah.

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof
Let the field be joyftd, and all, that is therein;
Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
Before the Lord.

The trees of the Lord are full of sap;

The cedars of Lebanon, which He has planted;

Where the birds m^ake their nests;

As for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats;

And the rocks for the conies.

From time immemorial the Jewish nation have cele-
brated annually what they call the Feast of the Trees.
It falls on the Fifteenth of Shevat. It is that time in
the year in Palestine when the first signs of Spring ap-

193

MEN OF THE TREES

pear. Myriads of wild flowers bedeck the hillsides and
the country clothes itself in holiday garb.

During the long years of the Dispersion, this Feast
has been kept up by eating the fruit of the trees that
grow in Palestine, but now that the Jews are returning
to the land, this Feast has been revived with all its
national feeling. During a recent visit to that land of
historical interest and future prospect, where I was
privileged to set on foot a tree planting movement and
inaugurate the Society of The Men of the Trees, I was
greatly impressed with what I saw. At Biyet Vegan the
House and Garden suburb of Jerusalem, I took part in
a tree planting ceremony on the day of the Feast of the
Trees in which four thousand school children came out
from the City to plant avenues along the new roads
of this residential quarter. Such was the interest that
sixteen thousand grown-up persons attended the cere-
mony. Tlie young planters were welcomed by the Rabbi
of that quarter, and speeches were made emphasizing the
importance of trees to the country.

In Palestine, tree planting is closely associated with
possession of the land. There is a saying amongst Jews
and Arabs that *'Fie who plants in the land shall possess
the land." There is no wonder, then, that on the Feast
of the Trees school children throughout the country
should be taught to plant for posterity. In the same way
that Arbor Day has now become associated all over the
United States with patriotic and aescetic, as well as
economic, ideas.

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THE FEAST OF THE TREES

Amongst the more highly developed races in Equa-
torial Africa, such as the Bantu, all religious ceremonies
take place at the foot of a sacred tree. Strange to say the
tree that is almost invariably chosen is of little or no
value, economically speaking, in their domestic life.
Wherever I witnessed ceremonial gatherings they were
held under some variety of Ficus, and here it is interest-
ing to note that the title of the Tree of Life has been
claimed for the Hindu World Tree — the ficus religiosa.
The Africa ficus was generally of the parasitic variety
of fig. The one thing that it did yield was good shade.
The branches were widespread. There could indeed be
no better Church or Temple in tropical Africa than
the shrine of the sacred tree. Such trees have in time
past been religiously guarded. Often as a Forest Officer
I came across them when I was creating a new planta-
tion, and before I knew the significance of the Ficus
I gave orders for such a tree to be cut. Naturally
labourers were reluctant to touch it, and it was only when
a direct order was given that such trees would be felled.
Owing to the enormous spread of the branches yield-
ing dense shade, young trees of valuable species would
not thrive underneath them, and in creating a uniform
forest it was obviously necessary to dispose of those that
were interfering with the new plantations. However I
was always careful to respect such trees that I knew
were used for ceremonial gatherings.

I do not wish to convey that the only trees protected
or venerated in Equatorial Africa are useless. In the

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MEN OF THE TREES

Katinga, or sacred groves, which provide the burial place
for respected Chiefs and Elders, are a variety of valuable
species. These groves have their own protectors. In the
Highlands of Kenya the work of conservation may be
confined to the members of the Ethiga Clan who deal
with the Spirit of the Forest. This order became one
of the recognized guardians of sacred groves when the
surrounding forests were destroyed and to them we owe
the preservation of frequent patches of trees seen on
the hill-tops in what would otherwise be a barren coun-
try. When the powers of this Clan were invoked for
protecting any forest they took an earthenware pot and
collected water from each and all of any streams or
springs within the area to be protected. In the very
centre of the forest a tiny clearing was made for a
miniature altar consisting of three stones, upon which
was placed the earthenware pot. Fuel was collected from
dead sticks, a fire was kindled underneath, and the water
was brought to a boil while appropriate invocations were
made. The boiled water was then returned to the various
streams, care being taken that each of the sources from
which the water had been collected should receive back
a share of that which had been consecrated. The pot was
then brought back to the scene of the ceremony, and
there shattered on the stones of the altar.

The Ethiga Forest-Protector then blows his ceremonial
horn and proclaims that if anyone offends by cutting
down one of the trees in this forest his life shall blow
forth and be lost, even as the breath through the horn.

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THE FEAST OF THE TREES

To the respect paid by succeeding generations of in-
habitants to this spell, the very existence of the undis-
turbed forest is due.

In West Africa amongst the negro and negroid
peoples, similar conservation methods are employed, but
in the latter case, instead of specially protecting the trees
on the hills, they devote their attention to preserving
the vegetation surrounding the source of a stream. So
strong was the taboo placed upon some rivers that no
inhabitant would dare pass by the source. What cere-
mony is employed in this case I am unable to relate.
Whatever it is, it proves to be most effective.

One of the most interesting tree ceremonies it was
my experience to observe was the Amofi Festival. This
mysterious ceremony is of great importance to the
people of Benin and takes place in the early part of
each year.

It originated in this way. It was a past Oba or King
of Benin who when fleeing from his enemies in the dense
tropical forest was being pressed hard and was about
to be captured when, as their tradition tells us, he grasped
a forest creeper or woody liane which caught him up
and enabled him to be magically concealed in the upper-
most boughs of the tree. The pursuing enemy passed
by and the Oba was able to return to his walled palace
in time to rally his followers, saving them and himself
from destruction.

To commemorate this miraculous escape by the aid of
the tree the Oba of that day inaugurated this ceremony,

^97

MEN OF THE TREES

a celebration of which it was my good fortune to wit-
ness.

A sacred tree — a cotton tree in this case — is kept for
the scene of this annual ceremony. It is situated about
a quarter of a mile from the residential part of the
present Oba's palace and before it is a clear expanse of
grass upon which the multitude assemble each year to
witness the significant performance.

The Oba himself plays a leading part in the ceremony
and it is one of the few occasions during the whole year
when this great Ju-ju Chieftain openly shows himself
to his people.

For the actual performance of the Amofi ceremony
only two young men are employed though they have
understudies who are ready to take the place of either
who for any reason whatever may be indisposed. These
Amofi performers are carefully trained for months be-
fore by head men and they all receive sustenance from
the Palace and allowance, generally in kind, for their
keep.

On the occasion of this year's performance I was
early on the scene and noted that the tree had been pre-
pared with fine ropes made from local fibres. These were
hanging from two of the upper branches and separated
from each other by several feet. The grass on the open
expanse in front of the tree had been cut and although
there were groups of young people scattered about, the
main crowd had not yet gathered.

I had work which needed my attention for an hour

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THE FEAST OF THE TREES

and when I returned in the cool of the evening a vast
concourse of people had gathered and were waiting the
arrival of the Oba. Near the foot of the tree were the
Amofi performers putting the finishing touches to their
make-up. They had an elaborate set of mirrors adjusted
on their backs, the purpose of which was not at first
obvious to me.

The arrival of the Oba was the signal for the begin-
ning of the first event. Quickly two of the young men
clad in their ceremonial costumes mounted the ropes
and suspending themselves mid-way between the earth
and the uppermost branches began to swing round on
the rope winding themselves up until the spring of the
rope forced them to unwind, which they did slowly at
first then spinning faster and faster until the rope began
to wind itself up in the reverse way. This was repeated
several times while the multitude held their breath, in-
tent on the dangerous looking performance. The light
was not good and from the direction of the onlookers,
the ropes supporting the performers were invisible,
creating the impression that they were circling in space,
as if by magic.

Presently, they mounted higher and plucked leaves
from the tree and scattered them upon the assembled
crowd, who eagerly grasped them as they fell. Those
successful in obtaining a leaf congratulated each other
on their good fortune.

The spell created by the early part of the performance
was now broken by the scramble for the leaves and

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MEN OF THE TREES

at once there was a general rejoicing, and while the
younger members of the crowd indulged in games and
various antics, their elders jostled each other in their
eagerness to give their greetings to the Oba.

It was a pictureque sight to watch these young athletes
trained from their youth for this brief annual ceremony
— their white robes decorated with many reflectors
which threw back flashes of light from the setting sun as
they swung on the ropes and scattered the lucky leaves
on the assembled populace. The spirit of the moment was
infectious and as the Oba rose from his temporary throne
to return to his Palace, a glad procession was formed,
which followed at a distance until he had re-entered the
Palace walls.

To his loyal subjects the Oba is as God — the arbiter
of their fate and destiny, and the Amofi ceremony com-
memorating the salvation of a past Oba by means of
a forest tree is indelibly recorded on the minds of the
Benins as they annually witness this spectacular signifi-
cant performance.

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Chapter XXI

MORE AFRICAN FRIENDS OF THE FOREST

To arrest the desiccation coming down from the north
I found it necessary to estabHsh forest barriers. This was
no easy matter, for the land was owned by many dif-
ferent Chiefs who were not always friendly amongst
themselves and often regarded each other with suspicion.
But without the willing cooperation of every one of
them along the line of my proposed barrier my work
would not have been completely successful.

With the friendly cooperation of responsible Political
Officers and District Commissioners I was able to ar-
range palavers with many district heads and finally, hav-
ing in each case obtained their confidence, I brought
them together and they all agreed to contribute a strip
of forest and thus I was able to bring forward proposals
for a Forest Reserve approximately four hundred miles
in length which contained over a quarter of a million
acres of trees. Inside this area, farming was to be re-
stricted and the Forest maintained and added to as op-
portunity occurred.

In all my work I was greatly assisted by my native
staff, and I cannot speak too highly of their splendid
devotion to duty. There was dear old Igabon, my faith-

20I

MEN OF THE TREES

f ul interpreter, who could speak seven different dialects.
He always accompanied me on my big treks and assisted
me in the Forest Palavers. I have often been alone with
him in many a tight corner, but there is one occasion
which indelibly impressed itself on my mind. My loads
had gone on ahead in the early morning by canoe to a
distant rest house, and as I had work to do in some of
the Forest concessions I had to travel by a circuitous
route and took with me Igabon who rode in my side
car. Late in the afternoon, when we were still ten or
twelve miles from our destination, an unexpected tropi-
cal downpour began. The rain came down as it only can
do in those Rain Forests of the Southern Provinces of
Nigeria. I was already late keeping an appointment I
had with Chiefs at my destination. Just when I was in
a particular hurry, and already drenched to the skin in
the storm which continued without abating its fury,
my motor bicycle stopped. I repeatedly worked the self-
starter, but nothing happened. I carefully examined the
machine for any trouble, but everything seemed to be
in perfect order, and yet it positively refused to go. All
this time the storm was getting worse, and now it burst
with all its fury right overhead. Vivid lightning lit up
the canopy of the Forest and deafening thunder, peal
upon peal, became incessant. The narrow Forest trail
had turned into a raging torrent, and still I struggled
unsuccessfully to make my machine respond to my
urgent call. We were indeed in a perilous condition,
miles from camp and any sort of habitation, soaked to

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the skin, with no food, fire or shelter. I told Igabon to
get out of the side car and walk away a little distance
and wait till I called him, as I wanted to ask my God
to help us. He moved away twenty yards or so, and for
my part I challenged the Almighty, "For Heaven's Sake,
don't let me down now — if I have failed, I'm sorry, but
O God, prove Thy power now." I waited a moment,
and then again tried the self-starter, and, wonder of
wonders, the engine went like a bird. I called Igabon
back and said, "You see, my God is great?" "Truly, mas-
ter," he replied, "your God be big past all."

Within a couple of hours we turned up at what was
to be my camp for the night. The Chiefs had long been
waiting and I told Igabon to salute them for me and
explain to them why I was late. He then dramatically
described the storm and what had happened, and then
how I had called on my God to help me. He ended his
dramatic recital with the words, "You see the White
Man's God be great past all Gods. He is fit even to make
the motor go." From then onwards, whenever I went
to a fresh district and was having Palavers with the
Chiefs, upon introducing me and explaining why I had
come, Igabon would always have to tell them the story
of the storm and why the White Man's God was big
past all. Thus, this dear old Pagan became one of the
greatest missionaries in the land.

One day, I was sent down to Lagos on duty and re-
turned ten days later to find my old Forest interpreter
desperately ill in the hospital. The doctor could not be

203

MEN OF THE TREES

certain that he would live another day and as a last
hope he had decided to operate on the patient that night.
When I entered the hospital ward and went to Igabon's
bed, he at once brightened up. I said, "Tell me, where
does it hurt most?" and when he indicated the place, I
took off my ring mounted with a stone which had been
owned at one time by Abdul Baha, the Persian philoso-
pher, and had been given to me by a mutual friend. I
now made the Sign of the Cross with this stone on the
affected part, and in a few minutes relief came. I left
Igabon clasping my ring and that night when the doctor
returned he decided not to operate, for he recognized
such great improvement in his patient. But the time was
drawing near for me to return on leave, and three weeks
later, as my homebound ship left the Quay, at that very
moment my faithful old interpreter passed on his way
to his last rest.

Another faithful African friend was Belo. To give
him his full title, Sergeant-Major Belo Akure was one
of the finest orderlies that any Forest Officer could wish
to have. He was always cheerful, and however early it
was in the morning, he was always ready for the trail.
*'Good morning, Sar," was his invariable greeting. Fie
always put the emphasis on the word "Good." You
simply had to be cheerful, however threatening the day
politically or atmospherically. I always liked to take
him with me when I had any particularly difficult task
on hand. He was a tower of strength and his good humor,
combined with a strong sense of discipline, made him in-

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MORE AFRICAN FRIENDS OF THE FOREST

valuable if occasion arose to deal with the truculent
Chief or Headman.

In the War, Belo had won a double D.C.M. Once he
swam a river with a rifle between his teeth and drove
out an enemy picket on the other side. After he had
successfully completed this task, he found himself under
fire from another direction, which was out of his con-
trol, so diving back into the river, he swam to the bot-
tom, hid his rifle behind a rock in the bed of the stream,
and came up again on the side of his own camp. Upon
his return he voluntarily put himself under arrest for
having lost his rifle, and spent the night in the Guard
Room. The next morning he was brought before the
Colonel, who said, "Belo, I am very sorry to see you
in trouble, is it true that you have lost your rifle?" "Yes,
sar," said Belo, "but I know where to find him. If you send
two canoe boys to the middle of the river, and one dives
down, he will find it behind a big rock down at the bot-
tom." The Colonel followed Belo's suggestion, and soon
the canoe boys returned with the missing weapon. This
event only added proof to the fact that Belo was the
gallant Sergeant, who had accounted for the enemy
picket, and for this he won his first D.C.M. Belo was no
fool, and by this tactful manoeuvre he made sure that
he got credit when it was due. Belo's exploits are well
known to all on the Coast, and I could tell many a thrill-
ing anecdote of our adventures together, but exciting as
these were, none of them equal an occasion when he was
alone in the East African Campaign. He was out scout-

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MEN OF THE TREES

ing in the hills and seeing an enemy detachment ap-
proaching his direction and climbing the mountain trail,
he took cover behind a big rock just below the sky line.
Here he coolly waited until the enemy arrived within
a few paces of the spot where he was hiding. He then
sprang out with his rifle leveled on the Officer who
was leading the detachment, challenged the party
with such spirit, "Halt. Down 3^our arms, March to
the rear," that immediately his order was obeyed and
the Officer, with thirty followers, downed their arms
and did as they were told. The last few men were
then ordered by Belo to tie up the rifles in bundles,
which they did under cover of Belo's solitary rifle. In-
stead of walking into Army Headquarters immediately,
several miles had to be travelled, and alone Belo escorted
his prisoners to his Colonel. Upon arrival at Battalion
Headquarters, it was on the recommendation of the Ger-
man Officer that Belo got his second D.C.M.

At the end of the War, Belo came before his Colonel
once again, for he had a complaint. The Colonel ad-
dressed him kindly and said, "I'm sorry, Belo, what's
your trouble? I hear you have a complaint to make."
"Yes, sar," said Belo. "What is the trouble?" demanded
the Colonel. "Isn't the food good?" "Yes, sar," said Belo.
"Aren't you getting enough of it?" said the Colonel.
"Yes, sar," replied Belo. "Well, tell me, Belo, what is
your complaint?" continued the Colonel. "You see, Sar,
I be soldier man — I be good soldier man." "Yes," agreed
the Colonel. "We all know you are a splendid soldier,

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Belo, but tell me, what is your trouble?" Again Belo ex-
claimed, "Please, sar, I have a complaint. You see, I be
soldier man, I be good soldier man, and you now say
'No kill men,' that is why I have a complaint." In fact,
that very morning news had arrived that the Armistice
had been signed.

When engaged in demarcating a new Forest Reserve
near the banks of the Niger, I heard of a mysterious lake
which was cut off from the surrounding country by a
circular swamp extending, in the narrowest part, a dis-
tance of approximately two miles. This mysterious piece
of water I learned was the centre of an ancient tradition.
When the people of Agenebodie were fleeing before their
Fulani invaders from the North they took refuge on
the banks of this lake, skilfully crossing the swamp on
bamboos cut from palms, in the very same manner that
I had to employ in order to reach the lake. The last
man to leave the firm ground collected the bamboos and
passed them along to the next, so that by the time all
the inhabitants of the village had passed over the swamp,
there was no bridge left behind on which their pursuers
could cross. The enemy, not knowing the dangers of
the bottomless swamp, rushed in and were sucked under.
In this way, they all disappeared. This is the tradition,
and it is a historical fact that the people of Agenebodie
were never conquered by the Fulani.

The lake upon whose banks these refugees from
Agenebodie found safety, contained a crocodile, which
they worshipped and to whom they brought offerings.

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MEN OF THE TREES

The keeper of the crocodile acted as intermediary be-
tween the people and their deity, and when an offering
had been made, would stand on the bank of the lake
and call to its sacred occupant to come and eat.

It was a long and arduous experience crossing the
swamp on flimsy bamboos, exposed to the risk of slipping
into the engulfing mire, but at length solid ground was
again reached on the banks of the lake, and I questioned
the custodian of the crocodile, "Why do you call this
lake sacred?" And he replied, "Because the sacred croco-
dile lives there." I then asked, "Tell me, why is the croco-
dile sacred?" And he said, "Because the lake is sacred,"
and that was as far as I could get. I thought he sensed
my disappointment, for he now quickly volunteered to
summon the crocodile and said, "If I call the crocodile,
he will come and eat"; so I agreed that I should like him
to call his charge for my inspection and, looking out
across the water, he exclaimed in a loud voice, "Isamore,
Isamore, Isamore, je-je," meaning, "Come and eat, come
and eat, come and eat quick!" I watched this serious
looking fellow intently calling on their deity for my
entertainment, and as nothing apparently happened,
urged him to call louder, and yet again. I then began to
chide him, but he assured me that the crocodile was now
looking, and pointed to a distant speck on the water,
which might have been anything. He then continued to
call, and after a long while I said to him, "Why does not
the crocodile come?" He thereupon turned to me quite
solemnly and said something like this, which was trans-

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MORE AFRICAN FRIENDS OF THE FOREST

lated by my interpreter into the colloquial pigeon
English: "This crocodile be no fool. He savvy too much.
You got no goat for him to eat, so he be not fit to come."
This African wit, like all of his kind, was undefeatable.

209

chapter XXIl

TREKKING IN THE TROPICS

Trekking in the Tropics is no longer the arduous busi-
ness that it once was. In the early days of exploration
and travel journeys were made on foot at considerable
risk and at the mercy of the tropic sun and torrential
rains. When one looks back on what our fathers ac-
complished, handicapped as they were by lack of motor
transport, their endurance seems astonishing. Even on
foot they did much, but their journeys were of necessity
restricted on account of time and cost. Later the bicycle
was some saving in certain types of country, but so long
as loads had to be carried on the heads of labourers, the
distance travelled was restricted to the marching distance
of the carriers. But whether on foot or on bicycle, the
person trekking in the tropics was limited to his own
power which was often reduced by the exacting cli-
mate.

The coming of the light car and motor transport has
now largely solved the problem of transport and today,
thanks to the opening up of new roads, the explorer,
settler, trader, or Government official can travel in com-
parative comfort in spite of the exigencies of the climate.

2IO

TREKKING IN THE TROPICS

The record of British colonization of Equatorial
Africa has been that of peaceful penetration; and when
its history comes to be recorded, we shall learn how
much of its success in recent years has been due to the
internal combustion engine. Although development had
taken place up rivers, it was essentially restricted. The
hinterland was never easily accessible until the coming
of the motor car. Today, improved roads have opened
up to the motorist vast tracts of territory which were
previously inaccessible except to a few.

At first sight the motor car called forth wonderment
in peoples who had not then reached the wheel-barrow
stage, but in the course of a short decade the use of the
motor car has become almost universal.

In pursuance of my work it was the exception rather
than the rule for me to use the best roads, and the light
car with which I replaced my motorcycle, proved itself
invaluable in trail-breaking. So fine was its performance,
and so entirely useful to me in my work, that it gives
me pleasure to state my satisfaction in the ownership
of a car that has successfully met a variety of arduous
tests. In the course of a ten thousand mile trek I was
not once delayed through breakdown or defect in its
mechanical response to the calls made upon it. Through-
out the whole of my journeys the only damage other
than that necessitating tire replacement, was a bent
starting-handle and a few dents to a wing. The bent
starting-handle was the result of a spectacular drop,
which, although unsought for, actually provided a test

211

MEN OF THE TREES

for the chassis and springs, which could not be beaten,
even though it had been carefully devised.

The sight of my Morris taking a drop over a steep
embankment and landing fifteen feet below in thick
bush would have gladdened the eyes of a cinematog-
rapher, but the actual experience was an ordeal both
for man and car alike.

I was driving from Lagos to Ibadan in the Southern
Provinces of Nigeria, and when rounding a sharp bend
on the side of a hill, I met a loaded lorry coming towards
me, completely out of control. To my right was a steep
drop over an embankment, and to my left, the side of
a hill, and, at that portion of the road, it was barely over
the width of a single track, so that it was impossible
for me to pull to one side. It seemed that nothing could
prevent a head-on crash. An instant's delay meant posi-
tive disaster, so that almost automatically I decided to
take the leap over the sheer edge, and dropped into
thick bush fifteen feet below the level of the trail. The
African Jehu whose lorry had got out of control, little
dreamed as he dashed on down the hill, that he, by neces-
sitating the leap of my car over the bank, had created
so remarkable an opportunity for proving its worth.
It would be impossible to devise a more severe test, and
if I had been asked beforehand to make such a dive,
nothing would have induced me to attempt it.

As I was unhurt, and my car intact, I look back upon
that adventure with gratification, because it gave me
confidence in my car, that it would carry me through

212

TREKKING IN THE TROPICS

the most arduous treks which would be inevitable in
my pioneer work.

After having cut away the bush to make a path by
which to enable me to extract the car, I found, to my
pleasure that the engine was in order, and the car un-
damaged, except for a bent starting-handle. So with
little delay, and the help of friendly villagers from a
couple of miles away, I was able to bring the car up the
bank, a gradient of one in three, on its own power.

It was a surprise to me, and a source of wonderment
to those around me who had witnessed the performance
of the car. The story spread throughout the provinces,
and from then on, in the course of my journeys, there
were many inquiries as to the stunts of the car.

The model I chose for my big trek was the ordinary
standard four-seater Morris-Cowley, which was used,
not only to convey myself and servants, but also for
carrying camp kit, supplies of food and petrol, and in-
struments needed in my work, in all weathers. Experi-
ence proved that when it was more heavily loaded, the
greater was the comfort in going over the rough.

Throughout the whole of my tour of service this
little car was in constant use when making surveys and
cutting trails through the denser parts of the rain forest.
During this time she was exposed to all weathers night
and day, and even when under a temporary roof shelter,
was subjected to the force of tornadoes and driving rain.

In the first four thousand miles of use registered, with
the exception of removing the speed-washer at seven

213

MEN OF THE TREES

hundred and fifty miles, there was nothing done to the
engine. At this mileage, four thousand, I considered it
necessary to remove the plugs and decarbonize.

In the course of one of my tours, I conducted a party
of Chiefs and Headmen to the Calabar Exhibition across
the Niger. A convoy of Morris cars and vans carried the
Chiefs, their retinues and exhibits. I thoroughly enjoyed
the keen and intelligent interest in the driving of my
car shown by the Ashodi of Benin, who was my pas-
senger. The readiness of the Chiefs and big-men in adapt-
ing themselves to the use of the motor is shown in their
increasing tendency to demand a high-powered car
which will become practicable as the roads improve.
Already, during the past few years, thanks to the Public
Works Department, and to the policy of the Govern-
ment, there have been great developments in road-
improvement and construction. This is especially notable
on the road from Lagos to Ibadan and long stretches of
it are now equal to any first-class roads in other parts
of the world. Incidentally, the bend on the side of the
hill and scene of my adventure has been more than
trebled in width, and now there is a splendid sweep upon
which one can speed without fear of mishap.

Occasionally during the tornado season in the rain
forest region, one comes across a fallen tree, but delays
need not be long, for no motorist in these parts would
be without a sharp axe, and when a number of sturdy
tribesmen arrive on the scene, little time is lost in cutting
a way through.

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TREKKING IN THE TROPICS

W ^ W * '

In some parts of Africa travel is very difficult, if
not impossible, during the rains, but this by no means
applies to the whole, and then only for a short season
during the rains. In Nigeria, for instance, with a light
car, one can trek right through the rains. In the case
of newly-cut trails, these are improved and hardened
by the heavy downpour, and in consequence going is
made easier. It is safe to say that on laterite and sandy
soils the roads are equally good all the year round. On
the low-lying grounds where almost pure sand is met
with, the roads are even heavier in the dry season —
though here I might mention that in such country the
large tyre which is usually fitted to the Morris is an
improvement on the old high pressure type. I have heard
it argued that the semi-low-pressure provides a larger
vulnerable surface, and many people still prefer the
high-pressure car for African travel, although latterly
I invariably used the former.

One of the most thrilling experiences I had was in the
rain forests on the road from Satoba to Benin by the old
trail by way of Agbor. I had paid out my labourers at
the end of the week, and was hastening into Benin to
meet members of the Colonial Office Commission who
were then visiting the Southern Provinces. In spite of
a severe tornado, I started out and was making a short
cut by a narrow forest trail. I was speeding along as
fast as the bends would permit, when I saw just ahead of
me a tall forest tree falling across my path. I was travel-
ling too fast to pull up, and so I stepped on the gas and

215

MEN OF THE TREES

just got under in time for the forest giant to crash down
across the trail behind me. I quickly pulled up and got
out of my car, thankful to be alive; and after saying a
heartfelt "Te Deum," I proceeded on my journey, only
to find round the next bend a still greater obstacle in
the shape of a larger tree, which had also fallen directly
across my trail. This is the only time that I was actu-
ally trapped between two trees, and my thankfulness
at having escaped alive prevented my annoyance at not
being able to meet my friends from England.

In the African Tropics the hinterland is rapidly being
opened up and bringing prosperity through opportuni-
ties for the transportation of raw products to the coast.
Automatically, cars that prove their merit will be in
increasing demand, not only by the Chiefs and Headmen,
but by others as they prosper. The primitiveness of the
African's environment does not prevent his discriminat-
ing most wisely and when once convinced of the in-
tegrity and service rendered his natural conservatism
makes him loath to change.

Indeed the motor car is having a civilizing influence
in many instances, which missionaries. Government Of-
ficials and others have failed to instil. It is not too much
to say that rapid transport is one of the finest blessings
which the white man has brought to the African race.

A time is coming when every Chief and person of
standing in a village will expect to maintain a car as
a matter of course. History is repeating itself in Africa,
and motoring must assuredly pass through the phases

216

TREKKING IN THE TROPICS

with the indigenous peoples that it has elsewhere. It be-
hooves us, therefore, to give them of our best.

Whatever the season of the year, whether in torrential
rains or glaring sun, in towns or trekking along tropic
trails, one's car is a means of protection, and that not
only from trying elements. It has largely eliminated
human strain, and enabled long journeys to be accom-
plished often in less numbers of days than it took months
before. It is a fact that the man without a car in Africa
today, whether he be native or European, in Government
employ or prospecting in business, is severely handi-
capped. This is generally recognized by all who have
had first-hand trekking in the Tropics.

217

Chapter XXIII

A LESSON FROM THE ELEPHANTS

The forests of Kenya cover about four thousand square
miles. They include extensive areas of bamboo, which
only grows in commercial quantities in the Highlands.
The forests naturally divide themselves into the High-
land areas, which are sub-tropical, and the coast or low-
land areas, which are all entirely tropical. There are
also large mangrove forests along the tidal creeks of the
coast.

The Highlands of Kenya may not for a long time ex-
port timber in bulk owing to the lack of rivers large
enough for floating the logs, and the present high cost
of freightage over a long railway journey, but manu-
factured timber may be economically exported. Indeed,
attention should be paid to such varieties as are avail-
ble and might be used for special purposes. As the old
sources of well-known woods of high commercial value
become exhausted, fresh means of supply are sought. In
some cases where the original species are being depleted
or at present come from uncertain sources, suitable
substitutes are often found which serve equally well,
provided that they correspond in weight and texture

218

A LESSON FROM THE ELEPHANTS

and possess the same mechanical properties. The colour
is not always such an important factor.

The wood originally used in the manufacture of the
popular cedar pencil was Juniperus virginiana, an Amer-
ican species of juniper; this is the well-known pencil
cedar of commerce. Many substitutes outside the juni-
per family have been tried, but invariably manufac-
turers, for preference, fall back on the so-called pencil
cedar. Until recently the bulk of this has been provided
by America, but that source of supply is dwindling, and
today there is little indeed of the original juniper avail-
able. There is, however, an excellent substitute for this
in the East African pencil cedar, Juniperus procera,
locally known as Mutarakwa. This is to be found in
most of the Highland forests of East Africa and is
shipped from Mombasa. It is a handsome reddish brown
soft wood with a fine even grain, it saws, planes, and
works up well, is rather brittle, very fissile and, like the
original pencil cedar, it is aromatic. But above all, it
possesses that quality known to the pencil making trade
as "whittling," which is indispensable, both to the pencil
maker and pencil user.

Juniperus procera is said by some to be somewhat
harder than Juniperus virginiana, but this quality varies
not so much according to species, but rather depends
upon the manner of growth, soil, situation, not to men-
tion seasoning and many other factors which cannot be
gone into here. Although the total area covered by this
species in East Africa is not even approximately known,

219

MEN OF THE TREES

from personal observation I should estimate that there
are sufficient supplies available to keep up a sustained
export in pencil slats until such time as forests which
might now be planted will be ready for exploitation,
say forty years. Unfortunately, owing to the ravages
of a fungus, Fomes uniperinus, which has not yet been
brought under control, logs of the East African pencil
cedar are often hollow, or contain pockets which have
rotted out; accordingly large dimensions of timber are
more scarce than they would otherwise be. Apart from
the consequent wastage this is not a serious drawback,
for the most convenient sizes for export are either slats
or billets.

When in charge of the Forestry Headquarters in
Nairobi soon after my arival in the Colony, specimens
of this wood were sent to the School of Forestry, Cam-
bridge, and it was favourably reported upon. Keen
interest was aroused both in England and America, and
today thousands of slats and billets are being exported
and a considerable revenue to the colony is being de-
rived from this source.

A parallel case is that of the Boxwood, which has
been, and still is, popular for turnery purposes, and the
making of printers' dyes. There is a shortage of the sup-
plies of this wood from the old sources, and we might
well find a substitute for this amongst the Coast woods.
Again, Ebony has its well-known uses and the demand
for this never flags. There is a substitute for this also in
the well-known African Blackwood or Kenya Ebony.

220

A LESSON FROM THE ELEPHANTS

Although this is not the true Ebony, botanically speak-
ing, nevertheless it is equally good and Herbert Stone,
the well-known timber expert, when he examined my
specimen, declared that in some ways it was preferable
to true ebony, "for it took a natural polish from the
tools."

It is difficult for me to select from the many valuable
species a few that I may discuss for the interest of forest
enthusiasts and other serious readers, but I will mention
a few which are of the greatest importance.

Among those that are available for export is Podo-
carpus gracilior, it is known locally as Musengera, or to
the trade as Podo. It is a soft light yellow wood, with
fine even grain, saws and planes well, is not very fissile,
takes nails well, and polishes and works easily. It is
moderately durable and seasons in a fair manner. Lo-
cally it is in great demand for all kinds of building and
interior work, such as flooring or ceiling boards, but
will be interesting to importers as a furniture wood. It
is obtainable in lengths up to twenty-five feet squaring
eighteen inches to twenty-four inches. Podocarpus
milianjianus is another variety also known to the trade
as Podo, but it is obtainable in rather smaller sizes.

Dombeya mastersii, known locally and to the trade as
Mukao, is a timber worthy of note, which up to the
present has been overlooked. Much of this is sold lo-
cally under the name Podo, and although it may not be
quite so durable, it is easy to work, seasons well, and in
certain respects may be preferred to the afore-

221

MEN OF THE TREES

mentioned Podo. If converted on the quarter, the radial
surface often shows a deHcate and very attractive
figure, similar to that of the French plane.

Ocotea usambarensis, known locally and to the trade
as Muzaiti, is to be found on the Kikuyu escarpment
and in the forests on the southern slopes of Mount
Kenya, also in Tanganyika territory. This may be com-
pared with teak; it polishes, saws and planes well, its
colour is light yellowish-brown when freshly cut, aging
to a handsome dark brown. The tree is large and capable
of giving balks up to thirty feet, squaring twenty
inches to twenty-five inches. The Uganda Railway Lo-
comotive Department reported that it was far the best
of the local timbers and that there was no reason why it
should not be used for coach building. They used it for
a great variety of work, such as coach pillars, panels,
stretcher poles, and have not yet had any cause for com-
plaint.

I am particularly interested in Olea chrysophlla, lo-
cally known as Mutamayu, or the Brown Olive. It was
under this species that I found valuable natural regen-
eration of Mutarakwa, the pencil Cedar, for it was in
this tree that the pigeons perch at night and by masti-
cating the seed make it possible for it to germinate. The
Brown Olive I regret to say is largely used for fuel, al-
though it might be utilized for turnery and many other
purposes. It is very hard and heavy, light brown in
colour when freshly cut, darkening with age and has a
characteristic olive grain.

222

^

A LESSON FROM THE ELEPHANTS

These are but a few of the many Highland timbers
which might be economically imported into America
for special purposes as soon as their value becomes
known or as existing supplies of similar timbers from
other sources become exhausted.

Although the coast forests are not so extensive as
those of the Highlands, they may be of even greater in-
terests to the intending importer of African woods, for
here there are several forests within easy access of the
sea. Many species could be readily exploited by the local
Fundis, native sawers, and transported by dhow along
the coast to the main ports. It might even be possible to
re-open export trade along the old routes by dhow
from Arabia, Persia and the Malabar Coast.

One of the most interesting coast woods of high value
is Dalburgia melanoxylon, locally known as M'pingo.
This is an excellent substitute for ebony. Following my
suggestion it has been called, "African Blackwood" and
has met with some success in Europe and America.

Apart from the land forests, there are very extensive
mangrove forests along the tidal creeks. Mangrove
flourishes between high and low water, and if seed trees
are left, readily regenerates itself from embryo plants
which drop from the branches of the mother trees. The
chief species is known locally as M'koko, this is Rhizo-
phora mucronata. It affords the main supply of build-
ing material and fuel for the coast towns and villages.
A very considerable quantity of this species is exported
in the form of borities, poles, annually to Arabia and

223

MEN OF THE TREES

Persia. There are many other varieties which I was able
to identify with the kind assistance Dr. E. H. Wilson of
the Arnold Arboretum when he stayed with me at
Mombasa. I shall always look back with pleasure, even
to my expeditions in the most unattractive mangrove
swamps, when accompanied by Ernest Wilson. He was
a great Man of the Trees and his vast knowledge was a
constant source of admiration to me. His tragic death
was indirectly due to his personal sacrifice in his work
and in him America, and indeed the world, has lost a
great tree lover.

At present all too little is known of the forest re-
sources of Kenya Colony. This knowledge is not only
lacking to importers of other countries, but also locally.
As an example of the ignorance which exists, I may cite a
case of the Government harbour at Kilindini, for which
foreign woods were imported, while a little way up the
coast suitable timbers were available. Again up in the
Highlands a government railway was actually laid
through a timber forest on steel sleepers through a creo-
soting yard which had been specially constructed to
treat timber sleepers, of which a large number were
available. One day on Safari on the Mara River my at-
tention was drawn to the remains of a bridge that had
been constructed from Baltic pine. This wood had first
been shipped to London and then by devious route to
Kilindini, the port of Kenya, from there it had been
shipped by the Uganda Railway up the line to Kijabe,
some four hundred miles or more, from here it was car-

224

A LESSON FROM THE ELEPHANTS

ried on the heads of porters by easy stages for another
hundred miles. Three months after the bridge had been
built from it, dry rot set in and a few months later
what was left over from the dry rot and the subsequent
attacks by termites was cleaned up by a herd of ele-
phants who thoroughly enjoyed themselves, pulling the
rest of it to pieces. All the time, within a few hundred
yards, there had been available a sufficient supply of
termite-proof trees which would have provided an ex-
cellent trestle bridge well serving the purpose required
and would not have attracted the destructive instincts
of the playful herd of elephants. Along the river a little
farther, my friend, Rupert Hempsted, Officer Com-
manding the Masai Reserve, had successfully erected
trestle bridges as described which must have evidently
conformed to the aesthetic taste of the herd and in
other ways met with their approval, for these bridges
still stand as evidence of what can be done with local
timber products.

Although East Africa may not for a long time ap-
preciably affect the world's timber supply, the forests
will more and more become a vital factor in the future
of the Colony itself. The proportion of forests to the
whole area of the Colony is all too small, and if there is
to be a continuous supply of timber available it will be
necessary to take steps to increase the productivity of
the existing forests by proper scientific management;
above all, scientific research is urgently needed, whether
from the point of view of perpetuating the existing

225

MEN OF THE TREES

forests or that of possible future commercial exploita-
tion. As better methods of utilization are adopted there
is no reason why Kenya should not supply a valuable, if
not bulky, quota to the world market.

226

chapter XXIY

IN THE ABERDARES

Trees are needed in the world today as never before.
For every substitute for wood there are about ten new
uses found for forest products. The tremendous ma-
terial strides made by Western Civilization during the
last few decades, have been largely responsible for bring-
ing about a shortage of wood. The virgin forests of the
world are no longer adequate for supplying the ever
increasing demands made upon them. Great inroads are
being made to supply the growing need for wood pulp
for newsprint and other purposes. One metropolitan
edition requires over twenty acres of forest every time
it is printed. Another middle west journal requires sixty
acres a week. Already Canada's biggest customer, the
United States, is being driven back on other countries
for supplies.

The United States and Canada, with one-twelfth the
world's population, use one-half the forest products of
the world. The United States utiUzes or in other ways
accounts for the consumption of four and a half times
as much wood as is grown every year.

The amount of forest products that any country uses
is some indication of its civilization. On the Northern

227

MEN OF THE TREES

■▼ ▼ ▼■▼ V ▼ V

American continent the standard of living is higher
than in many other countries, and therefore the de-
mands made upon the forests are proportionately
greater. This is the age of paper. Our civilization is
built largely upon the use of paper and this is one of
the main products of the forest.

Although considerable attention is now, at length, be-
ing given to reafforestation, it will be many years before
the trees which are now planted become mature and
ready for utilization in the form of pulp.

To provide for the interim period it may be necessary
to seek for substitutes for the manufacture of paper
pulp from other sources. Such substitutes will generally
be found to be dearer. Take for example Savanna Grass.
A large area has to be covered to obtain any consider-
able bulk. It has to be baled and it cannot be floated
down rivers, for it would rot in transit. It therefore has
to be sent by rail which is more costly. Trees are the
ideal material from which to make paper. They grow
high and considerable bulk can be obtained over a small
area. The fibres of the tree are packed tightly by nature
and when the tree is felled it can be floated at little cost
to the pulping mill. There may, however, be an interim
period, in which it will be necessary to seek for substi-
tutes to be used in the manufacture of paper-pulp. The
uses for paper-pulp are rapidly increasing. As an ex-
ample of their wide range one might cite the increas-
ing popularity of beaver-board, which finds it way into
the manufacture of a very wide range of articles, from

228

The Men of the Trees Challenge Shield

IN THE ABERDARES

an omnibus to a saucepan, or from the lining of the
walls of a departmental store to a hat-box. We are even
clothed in the products of the forest today. Celanese,
which lasts longer than silk, is made from spruce, and a
good spruce stocking will outlast a silk one, for it is not
so liable to ladder. Besides there is a growing shortage of
pulp for the manufacture of paper proper, and with
the continually increasing demand resulting from the
larger circulation of newspapers, journals and books in
many countries, this shortage may become acute.

At present the great bulk of this raw material has to
come from outside the States. In Arundinaria alpina,
the bamboo of Kenya Colony, we have an excellent sub-
stitute for wood in the manufacture of the better qual-
ities of paper-pulp. There are vast tracts in the High-
lands of Kenya covered with this species, which is really
a giant grass with a hollow culm and solid joints, or
nodes. The growth is very rapid, and the shoot almost
reaches its full thickness immediately on emerging from
the ground. It grows very rapidly and reaches its full
height in about three months.

Unlike any other species of bamboo, which grow in
clumps, the Arundinaria alpina covers the ground in a
continuous manner. About three-quarters of the lower
portion of the culm is unbranched. When the branches
are fully developed the culm has reached maturity. Cer-
tain species of bamboo flower gregariously over exten-
sive areas at long intervals of time — variously stated at
from thirty-five to fifty years. This is the case in some

229

MEN OF THE TREES

parts of India where, having flowered over the whole
area, the old culms die, and in the course of a few years
a new generation springs up from seed and takes the
place of the old culms once more. Such an occurrence
might upset the working of a pulp factory, and it is
reasonable to inquire whether there is any chance of
such gregarious flowering in the bamboo of the Kenya
Highlands. Having visited all the main bamboo forests
of the Highlands, I have come to the conclusion that
there is little risk on this account, as the largest area
of this Arundinaria that I have seen flowering simul-
taneously was about four acres in extent. Here, then, is
an advantage over the bamboo grown in India, where
the seed year involves a large area, holding up supplies
for a considerable period. Areas affected by the seedling
of the Kenya species are so small that as an adverse fac-
tor they need hardly be given consideration.

In the absence of a proper survey it is very difficult to
estimate accurately the vast areas of bamboo forests in
the Highlands of British East Africa, which may
amount to nearly a million acres. Many of these forests
are at present quite inaccessible owing to lack of rail-
ways and navigable rivers, but of the more accessible
areas I estimate that there are eighty thousand acres.
With the further extension of railways which may be
possible in the near future, an area of similar extent
will become available.

The most extensive areas are found at an altitude
ranging from seventy-five hundred to ten thousand feet.

230

IN THE ABERDARES

The rainfall over these forests is generally high, and there
is always plenty of water available. Where the bamboo
forest joins the hardwood forests it would seem that
there has been a battle of species, the bamboo striving to
suppress the timber forests. If the history of the past
were known we might find that this conflict has been
going on for many generations, sometimes one gaining
ground, sometimes the other. For the greater part it
would seem that the tendency has been for the bamboo,
Arundinaria, to spread, though in some cases it has
found an equal in a timber from Mukeo, Dombeya
Mastersii.

Surrounding the Aberdare Range roughly in the
form of an ellipse with a large bulge to the northeast is
a belt of bamboo ranging from four to eight miles in
width. As one climbs over an altitude of seventy-five
hundred feet there is a tendency for the high forest to
end and the bamboo forest to begin. For about one mile
the forest is mixed with bamboo, but as the bamboo re-
gion is penetrated few but suppressed and partially sup-
pressed trees are found. In some places it is possible to
travel for a whole day without seeing anything but
bamboo. In these regions progress is slow and if it were
not for the paths trampled by elephants the diflSculty of
travel away from the existing roads would be intensi-
fied. It was just off the main road running west from
Nyeri that I found some of the largest bamboos in the
Highlands. Many of the culms were sixty feet in height
with a diameter up to five inches. During my tour of

231

MEN OF THE TREES

inspection I crossed the Aberdares four times in differ-
ent places and always found this same great belt circling
the open moorlands. With the extension of the railway
to Nyeri this great belt of bamboo could be tapped in
several places. Throughout many parts of these areas
there is water in abundance and fuel is available in suffi-
cient quantities.

Yet another extensive area is approached from Njuro
on the Mau escarpment. Here the bamboo is generally
smaller but there is a tendency for the walls of the
culms to be slightly thicker, and at the same time the
yield in the number of culms to the acre is greater. An
excellent road has been constructed through a part of
this forest and taps an extensive area.

Much farther on and inaccessible at present is a huge
forest of bamboo of high quality. Here I travelled for
three days along elephant trails, constantly through
bamboo. The potentialities of these regions almost sur-
pass comprehension. The key to the situation is the
question of transport, for only by the extension of rail-
ways can these resources be turned to account.

One of the most promising areas in the Colony is the
Kikuyu escarpment. Here the bamboo could be readily
exploited as it is within easy reach of the railway and
everywhere there is a certain amount of forest growing
either near the bamboo areas but at a slightly lower ele-
vation, or scattered about in the bamboo forest proper.
The water supply, if not abundant, is sufficient to meet
all requirements. Where the culms are smaller in size the

232

too

I— H
o

1

IN THE ABERDARES

quantity is made up by the larger number of culms
found to the acre.

In many of the areas that I visited I felled experi-
mental plots to ascertain the number of culms to the
acre and estimate yield. Care was taken to select only
typical plots for the purpose of measurement and fell-
ing and in cases where a particularly good stand had
been chosen, another stand of inferior type was selected
to balance results, so that if the whole be totalled, it
should give a fair estimate of the yield over the main
area. During two months' safari, it is estimated that over
a thousand miles were traversed, while twenty thou-
sand culms were felled. My experience leads me to esti-
mate that the average number of serviceable culms to
the acre is about forty-five hundred with a maximum
number of seventy-five hundred, while the average use-
ful length of culms is about fifty feet with a girth
breast high of nine inches, or average diameter of two
feet five inches, maximum, four feet five inches. The
number of air dry culms to the ton is in the neighbour-
hood of one hundred and ten. My observations lead me
to believe that clear felling will improve the stand of
culms if not repeated too frequently. From three to five
years may be the most economic period for felling and
even at this it will be readily seen that the yield of pulp
from bamboo forests will be many times more than that
from a timber forest, which may have taken a hundred
and fifty years to mature.

Laboratory experiment gave thirty-seven per cent

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MEN OF THE TREES

of air dry pulp when treated with a solution of caustic
soda. This pulp bleached well and yielded white paper
of good quality. The yield, including loading and size
was forty-one and twenty-three per cent of the weight
of the bamboos, which is considered satisfactory.

The Kenya bamboo has a distinct advantage over the
Indian bamboo in that the knots are soft and do not re-
quire to be removed before pulping. This means a sav-
ing not only of labour, but also of material.

For the manufacture of air dry pulp other raw ma-
terials in the form of fuel and soda and lime are re-
quired. Wood is available in sufficient quantities in near
enough proximity to the bamboo, while soda and lime-
stone are to be found in the Colony.

Freight of pulp on the Uganda Railway from the
area indicated would be seven and a half dollars per ton,
provided pulp is compressed to twenty-five pounds or
over per cubic foot, and packed in bales so as to enable
eight tons to be loaded into a ten ton truck, but it is
not only from the export point of view that the ex-
ploitation of the bamboo forests is of interest. There are
numbers of local industries which might be begun if
once pulp were available, besides the fact that Africa
could be made self-supporting from the point of view
of paper for all purposes.

The areas fitted for exploitation are all in the High-
lands where the climate is healthy and where Europeans
and Americans can live with their families and enjoy
the ordinary amenities of life. It is not often realized

234

IN THE ABERDARES

■ ▼ -y y "y ▼■ '

that here is a region which although situated right on
the Equator is sufficiently cold to make it necessary to
have a fire every night. Above the bamboo regions are
open moorlands and towering over all is the snow-
capped mountain of Kenya. There is no reason what-
ever why these vast bamboo forests should not be eco-
nomically exploited. So long as they are untouched the
natural decay keeps pace with the growth except on
the outskirts in the lower regions where this giant grass
is gradually suppressing the more valuable virgin forest.

235

chapter XXV

SOME FOREST SECRETS

The prosperity of any country in Equatorial Africa
largely depends upon its forest resources. This is a fact
which slowly but surely is beginning to be recognized
by Governments. The continuance and increase of the
forests is essential for the well-being of everybody. The
forest problem requires concerted action by the respec-
tive Forest Departments, the Administration, the Set-
tlers and the Natives.

It requires a clear definition of public and private re-
sponsibilities as to land suitable for growing timber
with an equitable sharing of the cost. There is no phase
of our perpetual supply of fuel and timbers that can-
not be met by simple and obvious measures once the
constructive effort and capacity for organized co-
operation of the settlers and natives have been put be-
fore them.

I cannot do better than to quote Sir. F. D. Lugard,
who, in "The Dual Magnate," says "The preservation
and control of the forests of Africa is of vital and eco-
nomic importance. . . . The Forest Officer is con-
cerned both with the afforestation of existing forests
and their 'organization,' so that different age classes of

236

SOME FOREST SECRETS

trees are evenly graded and occupy equal areas and the
forest may return its full annual interest on the timber-
producing capital."

The part taken by the Colonial Governments in the
preservation of the Forests consists mainly in the ad-
ministration by the Forestry Departments of large For-
est reserves, in which no timber can be cut without a
government permit. To illustrate the multiplicity of
the ways in which the forests affect the prosperity of
the country, I mention seven of the purposes which the
forest reserves are intended to achieve, namely, to sup-
ply forest produce continually for local use (railways,
buildings and native requirements) and for export and
to add to revenue; to conserve the water supply and
control the "run-oflf" from the hills, thus regulating
waterfalls for power, maintaining irrigation and the
flow of springs, ensuring a higher level in the rivers in
the dry season and preventing floods which deposit large
quantities of barren soil in the valleys and ruin them for
agriculture; to increase the humidity of the atmosphere,
and so promote the growth of crops. Experiments here
and abroad prove that forests increase rainfall by
twenty-eight per cent; preventing land slides and ero-
sion, silting of rivers and shifting sands; they also act
as barriers against the spread of insect and fungoid pests
from one cultivated area to another; they conserve and
improve the qualities of the soil, until required for cul-
tivation by the increase of the population while provid-
ing a sanctuary for game and grazing in time of famine.

237

MEN OF THE TREES

Outside the forest reserves it is very important that
all land-owners should give heed to the rapid disappear-
ance of forest trees in the neighbourhood of their farms
and should do their part, in however small a way, to
offset the scarcity of trees. There are few farms without
some corner where crops cannot be raised, but which is
most suitable for trees, whether ravine or untillable
land.

In Kenya particularly a comparatively early return
could be realized. Then too, the planter could reap the
benefit in the form of conservation of rainfall, and
could indirectly assist his other crops, be they coffee or
grain.

If the forests in any part of Africa are allowed to be
permanently destroyed, a bitter reckoning will have to
be faced. Already in some parts of the Native Reserves
there is a fuel famine.

The subject must be approached from a scientific
standpoint and advantage taken of the lessons learnt by
others. It is true that there are many very excellent For-
esters whose only school has been the lonely woodlands,
but their ability is, nevertheless, the result of observa-
tion— an unconscious scientific study. It is equally true
that without knowledge of local conditions any amount
of scientific training cannot be well applied. Unlike the
agricultural crop, which, if a failure, can be replaced
the next year by something else, the forest crop has to
stand for many years, and its speedy renewal becomes

238

Lumbwa Girls, in the Highlands of Kenya —

SOME FOREST SECRETS

quite impossible — human life is far too short compared
with that of a tree.

The pioneers in forestry have had, from lack of all
sources of information, to learn by costly experiment
and failure, but now the planting owners of today can
easily avoid the unfortunate errors made by the pio-
neers. The forestry service is for the benefit of all.

The economic importance of forests and the desira-
bility of putting down a certain area of land in trees,
may be considered under two headings, the effects of
woodland areas upon local climatic conditions and upon
the locality and the fijiancial return.

The existence of areas of woodlands has an appreci-
able effect upon the temperature of the atmosphere
within each area. The average temperature throughout
the year is less within woodlands than in the open and
extremes of heat and cold are lessened. Within wood-
land areas the night temperature is practically always
warmer, and never falls so low as the temperature in
the open. During the day time the average atmospheric
temperature within woodlands is always less than the
average temperature in the open.

The reason for these differences can be ascribed to the
fact that the canopy of the trees prevents the soil from
being rapidly warmed by the sun's rays; and also when
once the soil has become warmed, the canopy of the
trees prevents any rapid radiation of heat from the soil.
The influence of the forest will be due mainly to its

^39

MEN OF THE TREES

action as a cover protecting the soil and air against iso-
lation and against winds. That the nature of a cover, its
density, thickness and proper position, has everything to
do with the amount of protection it affords, everybody
will admit. A mosquito net is a cover; so is a linen sheet
or a woolen blanket, yet the protection they afford is
different in degree and may be practically negligible
when the wind blows. It will also be conceded that it
makes all the difference whether the cover be placed be-
fore or behind the wind. Just so with the influence of
the Forest; it makes all the difference whether we have
to do with a dense or open, young low, or an old high
growth, or what position it occupies with reference to
other climatic conditions.

Soil moisture is due to canopy provided by the close
crowded branches and also to the dead leaves below. It
is an undisputed fact that the flow of water in most of
the rivers, and in many cases from springs, and the
height of the sub-soil water, have been most seriously
reduced by the removal of the forests, and deforesta-
tion is evidently a cause by which our water supply suf-
fers most severely.

As regards the moisture in the atmosphere, whether
forest areas are, or are not, capable of appreciably in-
creasing rain within their limits or upon neighbouring
ground, is still a matter of dispute, and the complexity
of the factors which must enter into the discussion has
so far baffled solution based upon definite and strictly
scientific observation. Yet new evidence is accumulat-

240

SOME FOREST SECRETS

ing which shows they may increase at least the amount
of precipitation over their own immediate neighbour-
hood.

Woodlands are often of the greatest value in exposed
locations as affording shelter and protection from storms
to agricultural crops and plantations.

Generally trees improve soil; an unproductive area
of land which is incapable of bearing an agricultural
crop may sometimes be made fertile by planting trees.

The value of the forests in assisting agriculture, can
never be overrated; the one is the complement of the
other.

It is often found that in virgin forests there is no in-
crease, the annual growth being about balanced by the
annual decay.

In dealing with this subject in my research, I was at
first greatly handicapped because so little information
about annual wood increment of the trees was available
and I was forced to rely largely upon data obtained in
other countries where the forests have been under close
observation for many years.

In South Africa and elsewhere it has been proved by
long experience that more timber is grown per acre and
that growth is much more rapid, on land where some
attention is given to systematic forestry than on that
which is left to itself. This would only appear to be rea-
sonable when we consider that much of the energy of
trees may be expended in fierce competition with neigh-
bours which may weaken them all and perhaps bring

241

MEN OF THE TREES

about unhealthy conditions and that virgin forest land
is often stocked with trees, many of which are decayed
or defective, and often with those that are not the most
profitable kinds to grow.

In the cultivated forests, unnecessary crowding is
prevented by judicious thinning and the land is kept
evenly and completely stocked with the most profitable
kinds.

Regeneration or the renewal of forest trees on the
land may either be by natural seeding, artificial seeding,
sprouts and suckers known as coppice, planting seed-
lings or planting cuttings.

The method of regeneration best adapted for one
place may not at all be fitted for another under differ-
ent conditions. In Europe natural regeneration by seed
is often found to be the most economic method. It can
be assisted by breaking the soil surface in good seed
years. The methods adopted to secure natural regenera-
tion by seed may be divided into three systems, each of
which may be adapted to some special conditions. These
are known as the selection method, the strip method
and the group method.

The selection method should be by the cutting out of
mature and the removal of inferior trees to make room
for the better trees. On the other hand the strip method
is that which may be applied to the system where the
trees are removed in narrow strips across which the
older trees can easily scatter their seeds. Care is taken to

242

SOME FOREST SECRETS

clear the strips on the opposite side of the seed trees to
the prevaihng wind. The group method consists of cut-
ting strips successively on the inside of certain groups.
We can begin with one group or several groups. In my
opinion this is the best method for use, whether we re-
gard it from the point of view of the forester or saw-
miller. The group method is a combination of the selec-
tion method and clear-felling.

In this case an area is selected rather than an individ-
ual tree and this area is clear-felled. Where squatters are
to be employed for replanting the size of the area selec-
ted must be controlled by two factors; the area capable
of being replanted at once and the capacity of the mill
which is converting the timber from the given area.

The advantages of this method are quite obvious. In
the first place this method does not destroy the forest as
a catchment area. Secondly, the young trees can grow
up under the protection of the older ones.

From the miller's point of view the method has all
the advantages of clear-felling. The area to be cut over
each year can be increased in proportion to the capacity
of the mill. The nurseries will be getting better organ-
ized year by year and will be capable of raising trees for
planting larger areas.

Regeneration by artificial seeding, under certain con-
ditions, may be desirable in the forest, but owing to the
density of undergrowth, is not generally practicable.
Seeds may be sown in sites amongst the native crops,

243

MEN OF THE TREES

but constant supervision is necessary to prevent the
squatters from "jembying" them up when they clear
the shambas.^

Regeneration by planting seedlings is the most eco-
nomical way of securing a stock of trees on the land.
Under the conditions which frequently prevail on cut-
over land there is very little chance for natural or arti-
ficial regeneration of desirable kinds by seed, owing to
the fact that all the seed producing trees were cut out
when the land was logged, or have since been destroyed
by fire and the ground covered by a growth of brush-
wood and inferior trees.

With the employment of squatters such planting can
be done at a minimum cost of about two dollars per
acre. It is not too much to expect that a gang of ten
trained natives will plant five thousand seedlings in a
day of ten hours.

There are few useful timber trees that can be grown
in general practice from cuttings. There are some, how-
ever, that can be raised by this means when seed is not
available.

In order to get the best growth by means of regener-
ation by sprouts and suckers, the trees should be cut
close to the ground and the stumps left highest in the
centre, so that they will tend to shed water and not rot.

Thinning is the most important part of the forester's
art in securing good timber and in reproducing the
forest. Trees must be crowded in their early stages, so

^ Shambas — farms.

244

SOME FOREST SECRETS

as to promote straight growth and stems free from
branches up to a useful timber height. When this
crowding has gone far enough, the less valuable and
weaker trees should be removed to give the better trees
sufficient room for their crowns to develop.

These remaining trees in the course of a few years
will again crowd one another too severely and this
process of removing poorer trees must then be repeated.
In certain cases a percentage of suppressed trees are left
to give covering to the soil and prevent the undergrowth
from spoiling the forest floor.

Are the indigenous forests of Kenya worth perpetu-
ating?

This is the question often asked by those who have
the interests of the Colony at heart. Undoubtedly
amongst the indigenous varieties there are very valuable
timbers. Although timber in large bulk may never be
exported, there are many varieties which are unique in
their way, and grow only here. Many of these timbers
might be utilized for special purposes on the European
and American markets as a substitute for well-known
woods in which there will soon be a world shortage. As
soon as it is known that Kenya is capable of supplying
substitutes for these well-known and well-nigh in-
dispensable woods, an export trade will be established.

Probably the immediate export trade of wood from
Kenya Colony will be confined to the choicer varieties
and manufactured timber, but it is essential to have a
continuous supply to meet the increasing demand.

^45

MEN OF THE TREES

There is a danger that having estaWished markets out-
side Kenya, the supply will become exhausted if steps
are not taken to reproduce the virgin forests.

After my tour in the forests of Kenya, I spent my
leave in the Mau, where I tried to learn more about the
indigenous forests and the secret of their existence and
reproduction. Here, at an altitude ranging from nine to
ten thousand feet on the slopes of steep mountains and
deep valley, is the domain of some of the best forests.

These forests have not been touched by man, and of
late years have not suffered from fire. The lonely n'der-
obo forest dweller has done little or no damage. Here
one can learn to the best advantage what has happened
in those forests in the course of past centuries for our
benefit and guidance today.

It has been suggested that these forests were exploited
at a remote time and that the great old beautifully
graded road which runs throvigh them was used for the
transport of Cedar logs northwards.

It would seem that a continuous battle of species had
been in progress for centuries, first one species pre-
dominating for a time, only to be crowded out and re-
placed by another. The present forest is constituted
mainly of the following trees. Cedar, Podo, Olive,
Musharagi, with a few scattered Muchoroway. While
on the outskirts of this forest bordering on the higher
Bamboo forests may be found Mukeo looking at its best.

Although the tendency for the greater part is for the
Bamboo to gain ground and suppress the neighbouring

246

SOME FOREST SECRETS

forest, yet in Mukeo the Bamboo finds its equal. So far
as I have been able to observe, Mukeo is the only species
of timber which successfully combats the oncoming in-
vasion of Bamboo. Sometimes, at certain altitudes,
Mukeo is defeated, but generally it has the advantage
and persists till the Bamboo is subjugated.

In this forest I saw the most perfect Cedars it has yet
been my fortune to discover. Straight, clean boles,
towering up to eighty feet or more in height, without a
side branch, or a single flaw.

Would that it were possible to discover the secret
of the past! We can but surmise what has happened to
bring about conditions favourable to such perfected
growth. Here there is a giant Cedar surrounded by
Podo, Mueri and Olive, while close by is the bole of
what remains of an old Musharagi, decayed and broken
oflf twenty feet from the ground. The question we
naturally ask is, what existed there before? Was some
old Olive tree responsible for sheltering the pigeon that
brought the Cedar seed from which sprang our giant
of today?

That was the secret and its discovery was a source of
real satisfaction, for natural regeneration of Cedar in a
pure forest where the ground has not been either burnt
over, the humus removed or the sub-soil exposed in
some other way, simply does not exist. Strange though
it may seem, despite the fact that thousands of seeds
are lying under the mother trees, there are no seedlings.

The Olive provides the ideal humus for the germina-

247

MEN OF THE TREES

tion of Cedar. It may be that the OHve has tapped the
minerals needed by the Cedar, and by a natural process
of absorption followed by leaf fall, has produced the
ideal conditions.

There may be other possible solutions to the problems
under discussion which will throw further light upon
the subject. It is to be hoped that all those who live
close to Nature and are able to observe, will record
their observations for the benefit of others.

248

Chapter XXVI

TREE HERITAGE

People often ask me, "What gave you a love for trees?"
Or, "What took you to Africa?" These questions are
better answered by giving my readers some insight into
my personal background and early experience.

My father was a great tree lover and from his youth
upwards devoted his life to the culture and care of
trees. For many generations my family have been land-
owners in England. They sprang from Kentish stock,
their lands in the first place being granted to them by
Henry I. One of my ancestors had a remarkable record,
being Lord Chancellor of England during three suc-
cessive reigns. The family estate was lost when a later
ancestor stood surety for his wife's brother, and was
thrown into a debtors' prison, where he wrote Baker's
Chronicles of England, dedicated to Charles II, which
was the recognized standard work for over a century.
In addition to his monumental history he wrote a
book on the Psalms which was frequently quoted by
Spurgeon, the well known Evangelical Preacher who
referred to the writer as brave Sir Richard, Knight of
the Flowing Pen.

My great-uncle, another Richard Baker, after having

249

MEN OF THE TREES

coached his younger brothers for Cambridge, went in
for farming on commercial lines, much to the disgust
of his very respectable family. His father was Rector
of Botley in Hampshire, and it was there he had caught
the love of the soil when farming the Rectory Glebe-
lands. Tired of family opposition to the work he loved,
he went oflf to Canada, where he cleared the bush and
shot the bear. This was in the early days, over a century
ago. His nearest neighbour was seven miles away and on
Sunday afternoons his only entertainment was to ride
over and call on him. His letters home to my grand-
mother were full of the adventures of a pioneer, and as
a great treat when, at the age of ten, I had been a good
boy, on Sunday afternoons my father used to read me
letters which his mother had read to him when he was
twelve. Many of these letters were full of religious sen-
timent and of little interest to a small boy of ten, but
patiently I listened to my father's reading of this old
time settler's dealings with the Almighty, because every
now and again there would be some spicy story about
bears. There was one such story which specially im-
pressed itself on my childish mind. His neighbour had
been aroused in the night by a terrific noise coming from
the barnyard. He got up, pulled his sheepskin coat over
his nightshirt, went out and found a big brown bear
trying to lift the fatted hog over the sty. He had no
rifle, but picked up the nearest weapon, which was a
spade. Armed only with this agricultural implement,
he tackled the bear, with the edge of the spade, killing

250

TREE HERITAGE

him outright. And when I was ten, I wanted to go to
Canada, and I, too, wanted to kill bears with spades.

Later on, when I was twelve, I went to Dean Close
School, Cheltenham, and I remember a lecturer coming
to talk about Canada. I recalled little of v/hat he said,
but there was something he did that vividly impressed
itself on my mind. He was dressed in a tail coat with
stiff front, stiflf collar and white tie, and at one stage in
the lecture he caught hold of his collar and shook it
savagely and said, "Out in Canada we don't have to wear
these durned things, we can wear soft collars, or no
collars at all." At that age I had to wear a stiff collar,
which I strongly resented, and I wanted to go to some
country where I could wear a soft collar, or, better, no
collar at all. That was my second call to Canada.

It was not until I was seventeen that the final appeal
to go there came to me, and the decision that I ul-
timately made as the result of this has affected my
whole life's work. An old time pioneer, Bishop Lloyd,
returned from the Western Prairies. He said he wanted
men who would go out there and throw in their lives
with the lives of the Canadians and build a little bit of
the old country over the seas. He said Canada wanted
men who would go ahead of the railway and blaze the
trail.

As a youth of seventeen, that sounded fine to me.
There was something romantic about blazing the trail,
though at that time I knew little of what it really meant.
I went home and told my people that I wanted to go

251

MEN OF THE TREES

to Canada. The news came as a blow to them, but when
they found that I had set my heart on it, they showed
great fortitude as I packed up and set out on my first
real adventure, which I have never since regretted.

For three and a half years I was in the hard school of
the open spaces, but it proved the best sort of char-
acter training. I homesteaded South of Saskatoon and
pitched my tent on Beaver Creek, where in the small
hours of the morning I took delight in watching the
beavers and their interesting ways. It was then that I
had my first experience of stalking these timid folk.
They worked with great caution, and it was some time
before I became skilful enough to be able to creep up
close to them without being observed. I was impressed
with their industry, which resulted in the beneficial
control of the stream flow, for they catch and save
from loss tremendous quantities of the earth's best plant
food. They appealed to me as real little forest conserva-
tors. There, on Beaver Creek their work continued for
many weeks, and I watched it with increasing interest.
Finally they constructed a dam across which I could
walk. It was over forty feet in width across a stream
which had been less than a dozen feet wide when they
started building. In the winter I returned and was
thrilled to find a large beaver house, whose top pro-
truded above the ice to a height of three or four feet.
This looked like a miniature crater of a volcano, with
hot air and steam instead of smoke exuding from the
summit, upon whose fringe the snow had melted to

252

TREE HERITAGE

"y^''y^"y^r^

freeze again in the form of icicles as it trickled over the
edge. How many beavers were inside I never knew, but
their dam had flooded about twelve acres of meadows
in the upper reaches of the Creek.

Day after day, in the Spring of the year, I would sit
on a gang plough, breaking virgin prairie with a six-
horse team. For blankets I traded green cayuses from
the Indians, broke them in and made them quiet to ride
and drive. These were my broncho-busting days which
provided many excitements. Once, when calling upon
a farmer who had just had a round-up and had corralled
a hundred and fifty wild horses that had been ranging
on the prairie, a challenge came to me. One of the bunch
of mustangs had given the cow-punchers the slip, hav-
ing taken a seven-foot corral at a standing jump. For
two days much time had been wasted in trying to catch
the beast. He was a beautiful creature to look at, with
splendid action. Pointing him out to me the rancher
said, "Say boy, if you can ride him, you can have him as
a present." I eventually got him lassoed and tied up to
the corral, pitched my stock saddle on his back which
was immediately bucked clean into the air. I picked it
up and again pitched it on his back, only this time I
cinched it up, took him out into the stubble and pre-
pared to mount. I had no sooner got my left foot in
the stirrup and was swinging myself into the saddle
when he gave a terrific forward and sideways buck,
sending me flying, smashing the bit on the off side and
leaving me with one line in my hand. After getting him

253

MEN OF THE TREES

fixed again, I made another effort to mount and reached
the saddle, but this time he reared high in the air and
I only just had time to slip one side and allow him to
come backwards and fall clear of me. As soon as he got
to his feet, I caught the horn and threw myself into
the saddle, this time managing to retain my seat in
spite of a display of bucking fit for any competition.
He then went oflf at a gallop, so giving him the rein, I
concentrated on keeping my seat and rode him that
same Saturday afternoon a distance of twenty-five
miles, when I put up with a friendly farmer for the
night. The following day, I rode him home and from
then on never had any more trouble with him, and he
proved to be the best horse I've ever ridden.

It was in the lumber camps, near Prince Albert, when
working as a lumberjack and swinging the axe that it
tore my heart to see the colossal waste of trees, and it
was then that I decided to qualify myself for forestry
work. I was one of the first hundred students at Sas-
katchewan University at Saskatoon in Canada, and in
19 1 3 after three and a half years in the Northwest I
sold my ponies, buggy and sleighs, returned to Winni-
peg and travelled down to Chicago on the Big Potato
Train. This was my first time of entering the States.

Here I was delighted to renew my childhood friend-
ship with my old nurse and governess, who had preceded
me to Canada, where she had won the gold medal in
training for hospital nursing, and afterwards migrated
to Chicago, where she was nursing for one of the lead-

^54

bo

<i

O

TREE HERITAGE

ing physicians. I found her comfortably settled in a
sumptuous apartment in the Sherman House, which was
then one of the leading hotels in the City. After a few
delightful days I came on to New York, where I
boarded the Olympic for Southampton and was met by
my father on Christmas Eve. The following Spring I
went to Cambridge to continue my studies, and later,
as a trooper, joined King Edward's Horse.

The World War found us in camp at the old Cavalry
Depot at Canterbury. Two days before War was ac-
tually declared we were having annual Regimental
Sports. Having been picked to tent-peg for my troop,
I had just carried my first peg with a flourish when all
the sports were stopped. We were then paraded and
mobilized, and given a chance to volunteer for service
overseas. To a man, everybody came forward and we
expected to proceed to France on the following day, but
instead of that we had to hand over our trained horses,
as Remounts for the regular Cavalry. Next we were
sent to commandeer young hunters in the home Coun-
ties. At some hunting stables in Essex I found a Uttle
blood mare which must have been worth at least fifteen
hundred dollars. Her charming young mistress was
loath to part with her and shed bitter tears, although I
tried to console her, telUng her the War would be over
in a few months, that I would take great care of her
pet, always ride her myself, and bring her back when
the frightfulness was over. This promise I was unable
to keep, for this same little mare came to grief in a

2-55

MEN OF THE TREES

▼•▼■■▼■'▼ ▼▼▼■▼

stampede at Alexander Palace, and it almost broke my
heart when the Vet had to shoot her, since she had
broken her cannon bone.

Our commanding oflScer, Colonel Sanderman, had
been shot through the lung in the South African Cam-
paign, and his doctors at the outbreak of War had given
him eighteen months to live. He was now determined
to die leading a charge, and the whole Regiment en-
tered into his spirit and wanted to follow his example.
The spirit created by our old Colonel and my beloved
Major speeded up our training in a phenomenal way
and by the beginning of November we really thought
that we were ready for the Front. But alas, one morn-
ing, the Major had a letter from Lord Kitchener, asking
him to recommend as many of us as were efficient for
commissions, as we were better suited to be Officers.
At that time there had been heavy casualties in the
commissioned ranks, and the life of an Officer at the
Front was but ten days.

We were paraded in the form of a square. The Major
paced up and down with the War Office letter in his
hand, trying hard to summon courage to break the
news to us. It had been his great ambition to take us to
France as a unit, and like the Colonel, he, too, wanted
to lead us in a charge. I shall never forget the tension
of those moments, for after pacing up and down several
times trying in vain to pull himself together, the Major,
gallant fellow that he was, the Major who could curse
us like a trooper if occasion necessitated, became a big,

256

TREE HERITAGE

blubbering child, burst into tears and had to retire. In
a few minutes, however, he had collected himself suf-
ficiently to be able to address us. He read the letter,
which explained the seriousness of the situation, and the
urgent need for Officers. When he had finished this he
said: *'You have to decide what you wish to do. For my
part, as you know, it has long been my ambition to lead
you in a charge and die with you. But it seems that
Cavalry as yet is not wanted. We are to be kept in re-
serve. It may be that the call has come to you to die a
different way. The decision rests with you. Parade will
now dismiss and reassemble in half an hour's time, when
you will all have to tell me what you intend to do."

Upon this we silently broke up, and joined our col-
lege friends in little groups. It was obvious that we had
to make a momentous decision, and this very quickly.
Few of us wanted the responsibility of being officers,
and all of us had made up our minds that we would die
together. That was the supreme idea. We knew that we
must die sooner or later, and we preferred to stick to-
gether. On the other hand, a fresh and unexpected call
had come. We realized it was no time to be sentimental
about the Regiment or even our dear Major and Colo-
nel. If Kitchener wanted us as officers, we should have
to go.

Within half an hour we were paraded again and one
hundred and thirty of us handed in our names for com-
missions. Within a few hours we had joined through our
respective O.T.C.'s at Oxford and Cambridge, and I

257

MEN OF THE TREES

was sent to 5 B Reserve Brigade. My commanding of-
ficer was Colonel John Harvey, who had been famous
in India as commanding the Tiger Battery. My acting
Major was Lieut. Fletcher, who within ten days of my
arrival was forced to go into a hospital as the result of
an old hunting accident. I was now left in command of
the Battery, which consisted of eight hundred Irish
Reservists, six hundred horses, and two guns. In addi-
tion to these responsibilities I was made Riding Master,
and the only time I had for working up my Field Ar-
tillery Training was at night time, after dinner, which
I did with an old Sergeant Major who had just returned
from the Battle of Mons. Before going to France my-
self, I passed out five hundred Drivers for the Front.
Those were happy days that I spent at Ballincollig. In
spite of my strenuous duties I generally managed to
hunt two or three times a week with the United, Mus-
kerry or Duhallow. I found that following the hounds
was the best sort of training for my Drivers, and we
often fell in with the hunt when they were in the
neighbourhood.

In the early days of 191 5 I proceeded to France and
after a brief stay at Harfleur, the base camp, I went up
the line to fill the first officer casualty in the 115th Bat-
tery, 25 th Brigade, thus becoming First Temporary
Officer in the First Division of the Old Army.

But I am not going to fight my battles anew, for I
recall the lines written by a brother Officer in my
Division.

258

o

TREE HERITAGE

"Some fight their battles all anew.
And paint the role in vivid hue.
My sweetest memories are of you.
My Dug-out."

Suffice it to say that I was three times smashed up and
was finally invaUded from the Army in April 191 8,
when after spending the summer doing welfare work
and paving the way for the Ministry of Health I re-
turned to Cambridge to complete my Forest studies,
while at the same time lecturing for the Army School
of Education. For this purpose I was attached to Horse
Guards Headquarters Lecturing Staff and during the
vacations from Cambridge I visited many camps where
soldiers were waiting to be demobilized. I found that as
the result of reading an eminent politican's speeches
about "Homes for Heroes," many of them were under
the impression that they would never have to do an-
other's day work in their life, but they would be given
ten acres and a cow and a little house, where they could
live happily ever afterwards. It had not occurred to
them that when they returned to civil life they might
again have to work.

The memory of many fine gatherings remains vividly
with me. On one occasion when I arrived at a great
Military Depot, where I had been advertised to lecture
on "Reforestation in Great Britain and How to Obtain
Posts," over a thousand had turned up, although attend-
ance was voluntary. Of course, first of all, I had to in-

259

MEN OF THE TREES

form my hearers that I was not responsible for the
advertised title of my lecture. Although certain recom-
mendations had been made to Government, the Foreign
Policy was not at that time known. Already there had
been seventeen thousand applications for a possible forty
or fifty posts. The first two rows in the lecture hall
consisted of Staff Officers. Behind them were other of-
ficers of all ranks, perhaps as many as forty or fifty in
number. Non-commissioned officers and men completed
the interested gathering. They had evidently come in
search of a short cut to the simple life. I explained the
qualifications of a Forestry Officer could not be acquired
without arduous training, although many thought that
all that it was necessary to do was to put on a tweed
jacket, smoke a calabash pipe, sit on a log in the forest
and watch the trees grow. I told them that the training
of a Forester was a long and difficult process, demanding
many years of concentrated work. First of all, he had
to take honors in a Science Trip, then on the top of that
it took two years to collect a Diploma in Forestry. After
that, practical work had to be done for at least from one
to two years and a probation period would have to be
served. It was not to the would-be Forest Officers that
I had come to talk that afternoon, but to those who had
thought of taking up small holdings. I wanted to show
them how they could turn a precarious existence into a
living by working during the winter months in Govern-
ment Forest Plantations and thus supplement anything
that they might glean from their holding. I had to break

260

TREE HERITAGE

it gently to them that they might possibly find it neces-
sary to work again even for private owners. Forestry
was a task in which any man might engage with pleas-
ure and profit. In planting trees man was forever safe-
guarding the future, and the woodlands that we enjoy
today were our heritage to be handed down, unspoiled,
and if possible, improved, for the happiness of posterity.
Generally at the conclusion of such gatherings a lively
question period ensued and much interest was aroused.
I regard those days and the reconstruction work accom-
plished with real satisfaction, for today, thousands of
families have settled on the land and extensive reaffores-
tation work has been carried out with lasting benefit to
the people.

Becoming a fully trained Forestry OflScer, again the
wanderlust seized me. This time the call came to Africa.
Just as Richard Baker had influenced me towards Can-
ada, so another great pioneer explorer drew me in this
direction. Samuel Baker had been a very successful coffee
planter in Ceylon, but he was an explorer by nature.
He dreamed of discovering the source of the Nile and
he eventually set out from the Sudan with three hun-
dred carriers and after many adventures arrived at
Masindi, where he made friends with King Kabaraga
and other Chiefs, and eventually reached Ripon Falls
where the Nile tumbles out of Lake Victoria.

As a small boy I was brought up on his hunting stories
and I always wanted to get to know his country, but it
was not until now that the chance of my life came.

261

MEN OF THE TREES

Upon being appointed Assistant Conservator of Forests,
I proceeded to Kenya in November 1920 and after my
first tour of service, with the Governor's permission,
spent my leave going over this same territory covered by
Samuel Baker. It was a real pleasure to meet Dohaga II,
the Omukama wa Bunyoro who was reigning in the
place of his father Kabaraga, who for many years had
been banished to the Schelles for political reasons. Two
years previous to my arrival Dohaga had approached the
Government with a request that his old father should
be allowed to return and the announcement that his
request had been granted was made to synchronize with
my visit to his kingdom. That day I preceded Dohaga
into the House of Parliament and sat with him on his
throne of leopard and lion skins when the resident
opened the session and announced that the old king
would be allowed to return and be at peace once more
in his own land. This was the signal for great rejoicing
and Dohaga and his people loaded me with presents and
tokens of their affection. I found he guarded in his
palace most religiously three souvenirs, the first was a
blue Venetian vase and bowl, which was a present from
Samuel Baker. The second was a sword which had been
sent to King Kabaraga by the Calipha at Khartoom,
who had murdered Gordon, with the request that Kaba-
raga should cut the white man's throat. Kabaraga sent
back a message to the Calipha to the effect that he would
keep his sword to remind him of his bloody ways, but
he would not raise it against his friend Bwana M'devu,

262

TREE HERITAGE

meaning the Master with the Beard. The third heirloom
was an ordinary commercial almanac, with a picture of
Baker, which the old exiled King found in an Indian
shop. He had acquired it and sent it as a present to his
son. All these three mementos were shown to me with
great pride, for they all loved the old explorer and ad-
mired him even as I had done from a child.

Amongst my presents was a lucky emblem, a pair of
leopard claws mounted and beautifully worked with
fine beads. This beautiful ornament had been made by
one of the Princesses and Dohaga presented it to me
with the words, "Great White Chief, this will bring you
great good fortune." "When I was thanking him I said
I was curious to know what kind of a fortune it would
specially bring me, that I might look out for it and
recognize it when it arrived. His reply was, "Great
White Chief, you will have many children." That was
indeed encouraging news for a poor bachelor who had
never been fortunate in love. At dinner that night upon
showing my new present to my hostess, the wife of the
resident, she exclaimed, "I'm green with envy. My hus-
band has been here fifteen years and has never yet had
one of those presented to him."

A day later I passed on my way to Butiaba on Lake
Albert, and went on board the old "Samuel Baker"
which was then used for crossing the Lake to the Bel-
gian Congo side. Sentiment and associations made me
sleep on board, although we were to sail at dawn on the
"Livingstone." This latter boat was much smaller but

263

MEN OF THE TREES

with deeper draft, and quite unsuitable for the upper
reaches of the Nile. That night we stuck on a sandbank,
and all efforts proved fruitless to get her off, so there
we had to stay, high and dry, in midstream. With me
on the "Livingstone" were other people who had come
on board at Butiaba. There was an English Bishop, two
elderly American ladies who had been round the world
and were getting material for the last chapter in their
book. They had with them a precious parrot they had
brought from China. There was a South African woman
who had an estate in Kenya. She was accompanied by
her farm manager, a New Zealander. Last, but not
least, was Ching, my Scrval cat who looked lovingly
on the parrot. By morning, the party was beginning to
realize the dire plight that they were in. The "Living-
stone" could not go backwards or forwards, and re-
newed efforts to shift her proved worse than futile, for
she was becoming deeper and deeper imbedded in the
sand. It looked as though she would have to remain
there until the Nile rose, which would not be for some
months. After a conference we decided to take a lighter
which we had been towing. It was a heavy iron craft,
which would well accommodate us all, together with
our boys. We took six oarsmen and a coxswain, spread
a bit of sailcloth over the stern roughly tied to four
oars, to make an awning, and set out on a journey which
was something under two hundred miles. The sun was
beating down and was pitilessly hot.

It was obvious from the very start that the oarsmen

264

TREE HERITAGE

were not relishing their task, and in truth this was really
more than they had bargained for. After an hour we
were making very poor headway and being able to make
myself understood I was commissioned by the party to
take charge and come to some agreement with them.
This I now did with the result that they soon dug their
oars in and bent their backs to cheerful song. All that
morning they rowed without stopping and in the after-
noon we went ashore and gave them twenty minutes'
rest after which we returned on board and continued
our journey downstream. When night came, camp beds
were set up and everybody retired under their mosquito
nets. Being responsible for our progress, for my part I
did not undress, but lay resting quietly enjoying the
starry night. Presently the oarsmen slackened off, and,
one by one, came to rest on their oars. They must have
been terribly tired, and it was obvious to me that it
would have been less than futile to have peremptorily
ordered them to continue. I waited for twenty minutes,
during which time I was able to recall the lilt of one of
the songs they had been singing that morning. Then I
got up, took one of the stroke oars myself and started
rowing while singing the song I had learned that morn-
ing. It went like this

Fun-gu-la na-sana
Hi-fun-gti-la
Fun-gu-la na-sana
Hi-fun-gu-la
26^

MEN OF THE TREES

^

^

Fun

gu - la

Hi fun

gu

la

i

h. It I h

W

^- .» J^ T^

Fun - gu - la na - sa - na

^

Hi

fun - gu

la.

This had a magic effect on the tired boatmen. One after
another they woke up and started to row again, keeping
time to my song, in which they lustily joined. As soon
as the five men were working, I handed back the bor-
rowed oar to its owner and for a whole hour they sang
and rowed with good spirit. By this time I had remem-
bered another song which I suggested they should sing
to me. The rhythm was altered, but the rowing con-
tinued. So on, all through the night they kept going,
and at dawn I woke the Bishop and the New Zealander,
and got them to take a turn stroking the boat. For my
part I took the helm and sent the coxswain to take an-
other oar, while the other three were manned by the
strongest of our servants. Thus we were able to give
the tired oarsmen some rest and refreshment. The Bishop
had stroked at Cambridge and the New Zealander was
a good oarsman, but twenty minutes exhausted them

266

TREE HERITAGE

both, and they were glad to hand their oars back to the
boys. For two and a half days we continued without
stopping except for a few minutes twice a day. We
reached Nimule in record time and after a trek of
ninety-five miles across country caught the Nile steamer
at Rajaff.

When I returned to London I carried a message of
greeting to the Chief Boy Scouts from The Men of the
Trees, which at the request of the Dominion Secretary
I broadcasted from Marconi House, and from that time
onward increasing interest has been shown in Forest
Conservation and Tree-Planting. Later I started teach-
ing by Radio and gave the first talk on trees. I con-
cluded by saying that if any boys and girls cared to
write essays I would correct them and mention the
name of the best essay writer the following week. The
result was that thousands of essays arrived and a special
staff had to be detailed to cope with them. The experi-
ment was at once voted to be a success and from then
onwards teaching by radio has continued. Amongst the
many essays there was one that came to my notice writ-
ten by a small child from the county of Essex. With
it she sent a covering letter which ran something like
this:

"Dear Sir,

"I live in a small village in Essex. There are only fifty
children in vty village and on hot days Teacher lets us
sit in the boy's porch. This afternoon we had the loud

26-/

MEN OF THE TREES

speaker for the first time and as yoic said yoii would
correct our papers, I tho2igbt 1 would like to try and so
here it is.

"Yours respectfully,

"Winifred Bailey."

The essay started :

"Of all the trees in the forest I think the Tropical
trees are the most beautiftd, but in the desert there are
no trees to rest the tired eyes of the wandering Arab
and so he mounts his steed and rides axvay ever in search
of trees."

I had said nothing about tired Arabs in search of trees
but the child had let her imagination go in a dehghtf ul
manner. Later she had remembered quite a lot of what
I had told them of the oak and the ash — the old oak that
had been strangled to death by an ivy that was climbing
up him and how a forest scout, knowing the language
of trees and realizing that the old oak was in distress,
came up and with a few well-aimed blows from his
sharp axe cut the ivy asunder so that once again the old
oak could breathe freely and tell the story of the forest.
Winifred Bailey had remembered a lot of this and then
she started to ramble on in her innocent childish way.

"Sometimes in England you see tired women lying
tinder the shade of an oak . . . and sometimes men."

268

TREE HERITAGE

Altogether it was a delightful essay, and it reminded me
of the story of the frivolous Don at Cambridge, who,
when the serious minded Undergraduate, with a poetical
turn of mind, said, ''On a summer's day I love to lie on
the grassy sward near a shady tree with a book," the
Don retorted, "Why with a book?" However, Winifred
Bailey was mentioned on the radio the following week,
as having contributed the best essay and since those days,
teaching by radio has become a firmly established insti-
tution and, by it, millions of people both young and old
have been made tree-minded.

269

Chapter XXVII

WHAT WILL THE WHITE MAN DO NEXT?

Radio has stirred the imagination of millions of people
in both Europe and America, and opened up unexplored
possibilities quite unrivalled in the history of science,
amongst masses of people to whom the world of books
was before almost unknown. But in Africa Radio is a
voice in the wilderness, heralding a new order of edu-
cation in the evolution of the African. The significance
of the new science of radio-telephony as a means of
distributing news and for the purpose of providing
recreation is already well known, but when radio is
fully applied to countries where reading is almost un-
heard of, it will have a new and deeper significance.
There are vast tracts of land in Equatorial Africa where
newspapers do not exist, and where the only news is
carried by word of mouth, or by drum signals from hill
to hill. Millions of the inhabitants are entirely illiterate,
so that even if it were possible to print and distribute
newspapers, they would be useless.

Broadcasting, although it does not supplant journal-
ism, acts very much in the same way. If that is true,
even to a limited degree, in the countries of Western
civilization, imagine how broadcasting will affect vast

270

WHAT WILL THE WHITE MAN DO NEXT?

populations, widely scattered, with few and inadequate
means of communication.

The dream of every idealist is a state where harmoni-
ous human action exists, and anything which tends
towards bringing about such a state of affairs, calls for
careful consideration. It seems inevitable that broadcast-
ing will assist materially in knitting together widely
differing peoples and bringing about better under-
standing.

The coming of the "iron horse" has joined town to
town, while motor transport has connected villages and
far distant parts with the railroads and waterways. But
improved means of transport cannot be turned to full
account so long as other means of communication are
inadequate. Vast tracts of country remain unproductive
despite the fact that a railroad often passes through
them; the wilderness cannot be made to flourish, blos-
som, and bring forth fruit merely by making a road
through the heart of it. Moreover, improved facilities
for transport cannot be turned to full account so long
as language barriers remain. It is a fact that one of the
great difficulties presenting itself to administrators and
colonists in many parts of Africa, is the enormous num-
ber of different dialects. How can the advantages of co-
operation in agriculture and the marketing of products
be shown to the indigenous tribesmen so long as these
great language barriers remain? The people must be
taught how to grow food and turn to account the
latent resources of their country. And having learnt the

^71

MEN OF THE TREES

art of production, they must be given a common lan-
guage to enable them to carry on both internal and ex-
ternal trade along the new roads and railways to the
outside world, and so turn to the best account their
local products.

The subject of education in Africa is receiving a great
deal of attention by many interested students in the
United States, and the present systems are under severe
criticism. Much valuable work, however, has been car-
ried out by Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones of the Phelps-Stokes
Fund and his committee in cooperation with the Inter-
national Education Board. In a recent report on Educa-
tion in East Africa this great student of education sum-
marizes the situation as follows:

The trusteeship of Europe for Africa is shown in col-
ony, protectorate and mandated territory, where Great
Britain, Germany and Belgium have contributed to the
development of country and people. The railway has
opened the country from coast to lake. Already the cot-
ton fields of Uganda count in the trade of the world.
Triumphs of medical research are conquering tropical
disease. A new day for Africa has begun to dawn. Alike
among the wild Masai, the virile Kavirondo, the re-
sponsive tribes of Uganda, on the Highlands of Kenya
and on the shores of the Lake, education is preparing
the African for life and for leadership. Christian com-
munities are developing into ordered life. Missionaries
and governments are jointly at work. As the Africa of
today has moved far from the Africa of yesterday, so

272

WHAT WILL THE ^HITE MAN DO NEXT?

the Africa of tomorrow begins in fuller measure to
emerge.

But one great drawback to the present system of edu-
cation in agricultural communities is that, in the great
majority of cases, it necessitates the removal of the pu-
pils from the land. It crowds the young people together
in the towns where food is dear. In their spare time they
have little, or nothing, to do, and often take to thieving
as an easy means of existence. But the greatest disadvan-
tage of the present system is that once the African
youth has left the land to attend school, he rarely, if
ever, returns. All family ties are cut; he begins to dis-
parage his honest old parents. Stealing to him is no longer
a crime, unless he happens to be caught. Now that he
is "book-savvy" he can live on his wits. He may write
letters for his bush brother on payment of enormous
fees, and some day he might even have the chance of
getting a job as a clerk in a Government office. Even the
most casual observer cannot fail to see the innumerable
defects in the present system, especially in agricultural
communities, where the prosperity of the people de-
pends upon the cultivation of the land, and the pros-
perity of Africa is essentially bound up in agriculture.

It will be my purpose to show how wireless telephony
could be used to supplement, if not to replace, the exist-
ing system, and at the same time to remedy some of its
worse defects and assist the people to increase produc-
tion and utilize the other improvements in transport
and communication. When once the Africans can be in-

273

MEN OF TPiE TREES

spired with confidence in the loud-speaker, it will be-
come a very valuable aid in the administration of their
country.

Under present methods, when promulgating orders,
it is often necessary for the Political Officer to call a
"Baraza" or "Palava" — a meeting of headmen or
Chiefs — at which verbal instructions are given. In the
first place runners have to be sent out to summon the
Chiefs and Headmen, or District Heads, who may have
to come a considerable distance, with consequent waste
of time. Often it takes a week or ten days to assemble
the members of this meeting, and when it is over, the
members have to return again to their own Districts
and the whole business of sending out runners has to
be resorted to, only this time the people to be called
together are the members of the village councils. These
old men may not have to travel so far as the Chiefs, or
District Heads, but considerable time is lost before all
the Chiefs have held all their Councils. When the Coun-
cils break up, the members return to their villages, where
they summon together the heads of families, who in turn
instruct their followers. Finally, perhaps after a month
has elapsed, the message of the Political Officer may get
through to the people. The probability is that it never gets
through to them in its original state. It is hardly necessary
to comment on the possible inaccuracies and perversions
which may arise in consequence of the message having
been passed through so many people.

Obviously the introduction of broadcasting should be

274

t-H

ft.

WHAT WILL THE WHITE MAN DO NEXT?

able to remedy all this, and transmit orders with ac-
curacy and speed.

But will the African take to this new invention? To
answer this question it may be necessary to remove some
prevalent misapprehensions with regard to Africa and
the Africans. In spite of vast unsettled areas mysteri-
ous and unknown, the native dweller is for the most part
an intelligent human being. Illiterate certainly, in the
vast majority of cases, but with a store of folk lore and
music of his own, many useful and often artistic handi-
crafts, considerable linguistic abilities, and a very defin-
ite code of morals. It has too long been the fashion of
Europeans to disparage the customs and beliefs of na-
tive Africans, and dismiss them airily as relics of bar-
barism, whereas it is a matter of fact that the African
native has truly adapted himself to his natural surround-
ings. What we have in the past lightly dismissed as bar-
barism is really a highly developed "naturism." An ade-
quate study of the tribal customs and capacities of
those who are still thought by some people to be in
"barbaric" and primitive stages, will more and more
reveal the fact that the present condition of the masses
of the African peoples is normal and comparable with
that of other peoples at the same stage of development.
Their folk-lore, their handicrafts, their native music,
their forms of Government, their legislative powers, all
are substantial evidence of their adaptability to their
environment.

To understand how broadcasting will be accepted

275

MEN OF THE TREES

by native Africans, we must recall what tremendous
changes have taken place in the lives of the tribesmen
of Equatorial Africa in recent years. A few decades ago
they were living in constant fear of hostile neighbours;
their time very much occupied in intertribal manoevres
and skirmishes, when suddenly Western civilization
burst upon them and hundreds of white men came into
their midst. Upon the rest of the world civilization
dawned slowly, and built itself up by imperceptible de-
grees. But upon the "Great Dark Continent" western
ideas burst as suddenly as its own tropic sunrise. At
once they were invaded by the latest means of trans-
portation and communication. Bicycles and motor cars
may well have seemed the materialization of some devil's
magic to peoples who had not yet arrived at the wheel-
barrow stage, and the telephone a truly supernatural
form of communication to races whose news had hith-
erto been transmitted by means of drum taps from hill
to hill. But Africa has taken with amazing rapidity to
these, at first terrifying, innovations. The native boy
loves to chatter with his far-distant friends over the
telephone.

There are, however, vast tracts of Africa where the
telephone does not penetrate. It is then in these regions,
which form so formidable a problem for the administra-
tion, that our new and fascinating toy, broadcasting,
might be utilized, not merely as it is in many coun-
tries, for an evening relaxation — an amusing fireside
hobby, an agreeable and easy complement to the evening

276

WHAT \)7ILL THE WHITE MAN DO NEXT?

paper, theatre or cinema, but as a tremendously power-
ful means of disseminating Government orders and in-
formation, news, and, above all, agricultural instruction.

When the first news of radio reached Africa, I was
camping in the Highlands of Kenya, and after the day's
work was done, as was their custom, several of the
Chiefs and Headmen were sitting round my camp fire.
My English mail had arrived that day, and I had been
reading a copy of "The Times," which described the
more recent wireless happenings. My native companions
were talking of the doings of the day and had come to
receive instructions for the morrow.

In their own language, I explained to my campfire
audience this latest invention. At first they were mys-
tified, but when the real meaning began to dawn upon
them, now and again one of their number would ejacu-
late, ''Quali shauri ya Mungu" (Truly it is the work
of God.) Then, after a lengthy explanation, when they
were really beginning to understand, I told them that I
was going away from them, but that I might be able
to send them an instrument which they could fit up ac-
cording to my directions, so that wherever they might
be each night, as they camped in the forest, they would
be able to hear me speak. I said, "My voice will come to
you, but I shall be far away. If you listen well you will
know what to do on the morrow."

This they unanimously agreed was a good "Shauri,"
and again and again they repeated, "QuaU shauri ya
Mungu. Quali shauri ya Mungu."

^77

MEN OF TPiE TREES

This remarkable attitude towards what was so new
to me, convinced me that they knew far more about
quick inter-communication than I had given them
credit for, in spite of my knowledge and personal ex-
perience of many instances of their mysterious methods
of transmitting messages. Many people who have lived
in Africa have wonderful stories to tell of news that has
travelled hundreds of miles in an incredibly short space
of time. This was brought home to me very forcibly on
one occasion. When I was leaving Nairobi for England,
on the platform I suddenly decided to return overland
by way of the Nile instead of the ordinary sea route. To
my astonishment, all along the route I was met at the
stations by natives who had in some cases walked long
distances to reach the line of the railroad, to bring me
greetings and bid me farewell, showing that my change
of program had reached them much quicker than by
train. Taking into consideration the fact that the dis-
tance between Nairobi and the place of my last farewell
to the natives of my district, was greater than from
London to Edinburgh and my arrival unsignalled by tele-
gram or telephone, there can be but one explanation.
It was evident that messages had been sent, for they
knew my movements and were acquainted with my
news. As the train drew into the station, my friends
were waiting on the platform and walked along the
train until they came to my carriage, where they stood
until I presented myself at the door and exchanged
greetings with them. I had previously had many experi-

278

WHAT >Xn[LL THE WHITE MAN DO NEXT?

ences of the miraculous way in which messages were
transmitted over long distances. Often, when a well
known Chief or White Man has died, within twenty-
minutes or half an hour one of my boys has brought
the message to me. Perhaps four or five days later I
would receive an official communication by runner who
had started off to bring word to me soon after the event
happened. But the explanation of the means by which
the African performs this rapid and spontaneous trans-
mission of thought and feeling through great distances,
has yet to be adequately shown.

For a long time it has been thought that in Africa a
definite drum code was used, but those who have taken
pains to study carefully and investigate the mystery of
rapid communication, are coming to the conclusion that
the drumming is used primarily for signalling or for
creating an atmosphere in which the reception of the
messages is possible.

There is still a mystery surrounding the whole ques-
tion; but it must of course be borne in mind that the
messages which the African has to transmit are of neces-
sity limited to the scope of his primitive necessities. But
with this inherent capacity for the transmission of mes-
sages, I am convinced that all that African natives need
is proper instruction and direction in order to become
experts in this great modern invention, and when once
established as a means of communication, there is no
reason to doubt that it will be accepted as just another
example of the white man's magic, and good "Ju-ju."

MEN OF THE TREES

At the outset it will of course be necessary to gain the
confidence of the people, and to overcome any possible
suspicion of the instrument itself and to arouse in them
an interest in the subject, A program could be arranged
consisting of native folk-lore, interspersed with a musi-
cal selection. The whole would be broadcast in the lan-
guages of the people as well as in English, and in time
we might have the African prototype of the people
who tell "Bedtime Stories" to the children throughout
America. From this stage the program could be gradu-
ally developed. Extracts from JEsop's moral stories —
which are already translated into some local dialects —
might be included, and in a very short time broadcast-
ing could be used not only for entertainment, and for
promulgating orders but for direct instructional pur-
poses.

Not only could broadcasting be used as a means of
providing instruction in agriculture, but it should be
possible to give the African smallholder hints on what
to grow, and seasonable instruction as to the best mar-
kets for the disposal of his produce. Wireless thus used
would not only uplift the African, influence his sur-
roundings and make life more attractive for him, but
it should speed up his production of such raw materials
as are of vital importance to us all.

As for the technical consideration of wireless, it is
only necessary to see how readily the African takes to
any kind of mechanics. He is enormously interested in
the engine of a car, and although at first the wirings of

280

WHAT ^WniLL THE WHITE MAN DO NEXT?

a two-valve set — or any other kind of wireless apparatus
— may be more intricate, it will not be long before he
can be taught its manipulation. Let it be remembered
that the practical use of such things comes before the
knowledge of construction. They may not at present
understand how to make a gramophone or a telephone,
but this does not prevent their using these instruments.

To the illiterate African, wireless will hold a peculiar
significance. In future it will not be necessary for him
to waste months or years in a foreign school amongst
strangers who, although meaning well, often violate his
most cherished customs and beliefs. He will not have to
become an inferior type of Karani (clerk) before he is
instructed in better methods of agriculture, but right
from the commencement of the introduction of the
loud-speaker he will be able to put into practice the les-
sons learned, which will materially assist him, without
delay; for the evening bulletin will include orders which
he will be able to put into practice on the following
day under the supervision of trained native farmers of
his own race.

Much has been said and written about British trustee-
ship for Africa and the Africans, and I submit that the
introduction of radio telephony in Africa is not merely
an interesting experiment, but a moral responsibility.
As colonists in Africa, and trustees for its country and
people, it is manifestly a duty to assist them to open
up the country and to render their environment more
suitable to their future existence. Just as roads must be

281

MEN OF THE TREES

constructed, and trees planted, so other means of de-
velopment must be improved, and every eflFort made to
carry out our responsibilities by the use of this, and every
other possible means to interest the African in the
natural resources of his country.

These lands contain virile populations who are anx-
ious and willing to follow any sound leadership which
will tend to build up prosperous communities, and im-
prove their surroundings. There is no doubt that under
proper management broadcasting could become a val-
uable aid to this African development, and by the com-
mon use of English, side by side with native dialects, it
will knit more closely together those great peoples striv-
ing for the light of day, for it is only as we can banish
primitive suspicion through mutual understanding that
diflSculties created by language barriers will be removed.

As it can be readily understood, broadcasting in
Africa has great potentialities both for good and for
evil. Under wise guidance it should become an ines-
timable aid in the development of the country and pro-
vide just that point of contact with their white "bwana"
which will maintain interest in work and provide that
moral support of daily direction so much needed.

It will not be long before these same people who have
taken so readily to many other inventions will welcome
wireless as a further step in their development and pros-
perity.

When my native boys first saw the aeroplane, it
called forth exclamations of surprise, but soon they

282

Okweii Tree in the Mahogany Forests

WHAT ^ILL THE ^HITE MAN DO NEXT?

ceased to marvel. Looking skywards, they exclaimed,
"Quali indegi m'kubwa sana," meaning, "Surely a very
big bird," but after a pause for thought, they realized
its significance and murmured admiringly, *'Mjunga
n'fanya nimi sasa," "What will the white man do next?"

283

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