of the same 

 genu 



o7() $4$S INDIA BUTTER- TREfc. 



whole groves of them, on high, and sandy grounds, where 

 no other fruit trees will grow. 

 Flowers eaten 12th. We may add, that the owls, squirrels, lizards, 

 by animals. dogs? and jackaj^ take a share of the flowers ; but the 

 vulgar belief is, that the latter, especially in the time of 

 blossom, are apt to grow mad, by too much feeding ow 

 them, x 

 Basi>ia obovata. Bassia obovata, Forster's Prod. No. 200 r a native of 

 the Isle of Tanna, in the South Sea. Of this species I 

 possess no other account than the definition, which cor- 

 responds with the habit of the genus. If Forster has left us 

 no account of the uses of the tree, it may be worth while 

 to make inquiry, when an opportunity offers. 

 Shea a species Park's shea, or butter tree of Africa, we have reason, 

 from his description, and figure, as well as from analogy, 

 to suppose a species of this same genus. At page 352 of 

 his travels in the interior of Africa he says, u The appear- 

 ance of the fruit evidently places the shea tree in the natural 

 order of sapotae, (to which bassia belongs,) and it has 

 some resemblance to the madhuca tree (bassia latifolia,) 

 described by Lieutenant Charles Hamilton, iu the Asiatic 

 Researches, Volume I, page 300. 

 Park's account " The people were every where employed in collecting 

 °f & the fruit of the shea trees, from which they prepare a 



vegetable butter, mentioned in the former part of this 

 . work *. These trees grow in great abundance all over this 

 part of Bambarra. They are not planted by the natives, but 

 are found growing naturally in the woods; and in clearing 

 woodland for cultivation, every tree is cut down but the 

 : shea. The tree itself very much resembles, the American 

 oak ; and the fruit, from the kernel of which, first dried in 

 the sun, the butter is prepared, by boiling the kernel in 



* This commodity, shea toulou, which, literally translated, 

 signifies tret-butter, is extracted, by means of boiling water, from 

 fKe kernel of the nut, has the consistence and appearance of butter, 

 and is in'truth an admirable substitute for it. It forms an impor- 

 tant article in the food of the natives, ahd serves also for every 

 domestic purpose in which oil would otherwise be used. The de- 

 lnaud for it is therefore great. Fork's r l ravels in Africa. Page 20'. 



water 



