298 DR. T. WELWITSCII OJS' THE GTJM COPAL IN ATJGOLA. 



having described one of tliese kinds of Copal he adds, '' The tree, 

 independently of the ordinary Copal, affords other inferior sorta 

 gathered from the trunks and branches of young or immature 

 production;" and of these inferior sorts he says again in the 

 next few lines, " It is not improbable that different species of 

 Ouihourtia may yield this resin, which, however, at present remain 

 undiscovered." 



Leaving the reader to form his own conclusions from the 

 passages I have quoted, I cannot help drawing attention to 

 another passage in the same author's statements, where he 

 speaks, of the Copal which is brought by coasters from the rivers 

 Malaeuzi and Pongas to Sierra Leone, in the following manner : 

 " Considerable quantities, the accumulation of years, are regu- 

 larly washed down by the heavy currents of the rainy season 

 from the mountain-slopes, in the soil of which they were im- 

 bedded, and are consequently gathered in the bed or on the banks 

 of rivers"*. 



This passage clearly proves that a considerable quantity of the 

 Gum Copal exported from Sierra Leone is not gathered from 

 trees, but is washed to the surface of the soil by the heavy rains, 

 and is found on the banks of rivers or streamlets. Thus, like the 

 Gum Copal of Angola, its origin is unknown, and, according to 

 the author's own admission, it is (like the Gum Copal of An- 

 gola) much clearer than the Copal resin said to be gathered off 



trees .„ ^ 



D 



My 



Sierra Leone was, to my regret, too limited, and I had no oppor- 

 tunity of making the necessary researches respecting the origin 

 of tlie Copal resin exported from that colony ; but what I heard 

 about it from several natives, and also from a German merchant 

 settled there, quite agrees with the statement of Dr. Daniell just 

 cited. Although I have not the slightest doubt that the Gui- 

 lourtia copallifera really furnishes a Copal resin valuable m 

 trade, still it is clear, from the last quoted passage of Dr. Daniell's 

 paper, that a considerable portion of the Gum Copal of Sierra 

 Leone is found stored in the earth, of which the origin is as yet 

 totally unknown. 



If the foregoing statement of Dr. Daniell respecting the origin 

 of the Sierra-Leone Gum Copal is considered insufficient, his asser- 



will 



time 



information 



X. c.p.37l. 



