ij i II UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARIES COLLEGE COLLECTION c^'P--^ ^^ iW./7^/ MEN OF THE TREES E Uw 3 < r- ^ -^ 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 I O N N. Y. BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., B N G H A MT , 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.