260 MR. W. p. HIERX Oy THE PECULIARITIES 



Economic xsv Superstitious Uses. 



Edible fruits are supplied by the genus SarcocepTialus and bj 

 species of Tangueria and OxyantTius. SarcocepTialus Riisseggeri 

 produces a gum ; and, according to Dr. Scliweinfurth, from the 

 wood of the latter plant, which is called " damma," little four- 

 legged stools are made and employed in Xiamniam-land on occa- 



sions when the augury is consulted. 



Afzel 



is employed at Sierra Leone in the case of sAvelled legs. The bark 

 of Crossopteryx is employed as a febrifuge ; for an account of the 

 medicinal virtues of this plant, see Winterbottom, ^Account of 

 Sierra Leone,' vol. ii. pp. 45, 46, 243-253 (1803). 



In Niamniam-land and Monbuttu-land, and in other interior 

 parts of Africa explored by Schweinfurth, the sap of Randia maU 

 leifera, locally called " blippo," is employed to dye the human 

 body with black marks in stripes or elaborate patterns. A red 

 dye is derived from JJi^ophyllum rubens by the natives in the 

 island of Fernando Po ; and madder, Buhia tinctorum^ is culti- 

 vated in Abyssinia for economic purposes. 



A resinous secretion issues from Gardenia resinijlua. The 

 wood of Mitragyne africana is good for carving, and in the country 

 of the Niger is used for writing-tablets. The timber is good of 

 CorynantJie and Gardenia Jbvis-fonantis. Lances in Bongo-land 

 are made from Randia dumetorum, the wood of which is very hard, 

 80 much so that it has been designated by the name of ebony : 

 see the figure given in Petherick's ' Travels in Central Africa,' 

 vol. i. p. 164 (1869). The last-named species and Morelia are 

 said to be used as fish-poisons. Gardenia Thunhergia forms 

 capital fences, which are sufficient to resist the inroads of elephants, 

 according to Colonel Grant; and a decoction of its root, boiled 

 in Sorghum flour, is used by the native doctors at Madi to cure 

 hsematuria. 



The following note with regard to Gardenia Jovis-fonantis is 

 taken from Wei witsch, * Apontamentos,* p. 579 (1859). This 

 little tree enjoys a great reputation among the natives of Angola 

 because it is regarded as a preventive against thunderbolts ; and 

 they usually, on this account, put branches of it on the top of their 

 dwellings. The name which the natives give to it is ^'N-day^^ or 

 ^'TInday\^^ and its wood, which borders a little upon yellow, is of 



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