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Notes on the Cultivation of Corton in the “YORUBA Country,” 
Western Coast of Africa; dy the late Dn. E. G. InviNG.* ` 
` Y. On the species and varieties of Cotton cultivated or growing wild 
in or around Abbeokuta. 
The Rev. Mr. Crowther— Native Missionary of the church in Yoruba 
—gives the following “kinds” of Cotton, under the head of Owü 
Cotton (see * Yoruba Grammar and Vocabulary’), viz. : 
l. Ow: Cotton, thread, wick.—2. Owú-Akese (pronounced Akeh- 
sheh), a kind of very fine white cotton, bearing small pods.—3. Owu- 
ügodo, a kind of cotton bearing large pods.—4. Owu Fauwure, a kind of 
very white cotton used chiefly by the Fulahs, with red flowers and 
small seeds. 
The Egbas name and are acquainted with five sorts of Cotton, viz. : 
1l. Ow (2godo of Mr. Crowther, a name only used in Yoruba, and 
also the name of a disease, I believe a kind of boil, which the capsules 
of this cotton are supposed to resemble). This is the common cotton 
of the country, and that universally cultivated and manufactured into 
Caps, cloths, trousers, etc.— 2. Akese, woody, with dark purple-pink 
flowers, and green-seeded silky cotton. Said to be cultivated (but 
sparingly) for the finer articles of chiefs’ dresses.—3. Akese, with yellow - 
flowers, fine silky cotton, and seeds covered with grey, silky, close fuzz. 
—4. Pón (pronounced Kpwong): the word in Yoruba means * to 
ripen, get yellow, or be red." With yellow flowers, lobed and very. 
oblique-angled small leaves, smooth habit, and brown or nankeen- — 
coloured cotton enveloping the seed.—5. Fedofa. . 
I shall now give the characters of these different kinds of cottons, 
comparing the descriptions in Dr. Royle’s work, with the actual exami- 
nations of living specimens. __ 
1. Owú (Yoruba and Egba). Gossypium Barbadense, Linn. 
Character.—Perennial, shrubby, 4-9 feet high. Stem angular and. 
furrowed, smooth and shining. Branches all primary, at nearly right 
angles with the stem. The petiole, peduncle, outer calyz (external bracts 
* The notes on the Cottons of Western tropical Africa, here published, accompa- 
nied by specimens and excellent drawings (we may add, too, by a rich general mE 
cal collection), were scarcely received by us, when the unweleome news arrived dope. 
death of this amiable and accomplished gentleman, at Lagos. The latter part of his — 
life had been devoted to the amelioration of the African people: and in his death — 
science and the cause of humanity have experienced a loss which cannot easily be — 
repaired.—Ep. 
VOL. VII. 20 
