Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/79

 the reckless destruction of forests along the coast continually diminish the natural resources of the land, and give a correspondingly greater relative value to the products of human industry. Ivory, which next to slaves was formerly the most valuable commodity exported from Angola, tends to disappear, while the tusks obtained from the more inland regions are forwarded by the Congo route.

In the same way the supply of caoutchouc, which was at one time exported to the yearly value of from £120,000 to £160,000, will necessarily fall off when the lianas from which it is extracted shall have disappeared from all the districts near the seaboard. The orchilla moss used in dyeing, which hangs in festoons from the branches of the baobab and other large forest trees, has already become much scarcer than formerly; gum copal, however, which is annually forwarded from the Angolan ports, is still found in abundance on the coastlands, and is supplemented by large quantities of wax brought down from the interior by the natives. The modern industrial arts have, moreover, imparted a special value to numerous natural products of Angola for which hitherto no use could be found. The palms yield their oils, fibre, and fruits; the acacias offer their gums and resins; the euphorbias supply their sap, the so-called almeidina, or starch extract; while from the baobab are obtained the bark and bast, which serve for the manufacture of cordage, paper, and even cloth. And how many vegetable growths are still met in the forests, whose wood, leaves, gums, or fruits might be utilised for their industrial or medicinal properties! Amongst these plants there are some the timber of which is proof against the attacks of the destructive termite.