January i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



537 



INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY EXHIBITION AT 

 EDINBURGH. 



The importance of the study of Forestry to the nation 

 at large, and indirectly to pharmaceutical chemists, is best 

 illustrated by a reference to the results obtained in India, 

 Jamaica, and Ceylon, where the cultivation of the cinchona 

 lias become a prominent industry. It is largely owing to 

 the strenuous endeavours made by the pioneers of the For- 

 estry Department in India that the valuable febrifuge al- 

 kaloids of cinchona bark are now brought within the reach 

 of even the very poor in India. 



But many other remedies used in medicine besides cin- 

 chona are forest products, and the visitor to the Inter- 

 national Forestry Exhibition now being held in Edinburgh 

 need not be surprised to find that drugs form a prominent 

 feature in several colonial departments. It is proposed, 

 therefore, to give in these columns some account of the 

 principal drugs exhibited and of such products as seem 

 capable of being more extensively used if better known. 



Taking the exhibits in the order in which they will be 

 seen by visitors to the building, the first to be noticed 

 are Stands Nos. SI and 32, where the forest products of — 



THE GAMBIA AND SIEERA LEONE 



are shown. These are naturally somewhat similar in char- 

 acter, and as those from the Gambia are accompanied by 

 a very voluminous report, from Capt. 0. A. Moloney, C.M.G., 

 the Governor of that colony, relating to the products of 

 Sierra Leone as well, the products of the two provinces 

 can be most conveniently treated of together. Much in- 

 formation concerning these exhibits has been derived from 

 the abovementioned report. 



The chief articles of export from Gambia which can be 

 classed as drugs are palm kernels, palm oil, indiarubber, 

 and camwood. From Sierra Leone, in addition to the above, 

 there are exported ground nuts (Arachis hypogcea), copal, 

 Benne seed (Sesamum indicum), ginger and red pepper, and 

 in lesser quantity Calabar beans, melon seed, arrowroot, 

 and Shea butter. Of these Shea butter can scarcely be 

 called a native product, being produced much more abund- 

 antly on the banks of the Niger, and melon seed, which 

 is used as food in Gambia under the Mandin^o name of 

 " sarroh," appears to be imported from Abbeokuta. The 

 latter is, however, also exported from Sierra Leone, to a 

 limited extent (£131) in 1882). The seeds yield about 30 

 per cent of a pale limpid oil, which dries slowly. It has 

 been shipped to France, but seems unknown in this country 

 as a commercial product. 



The specimens of palm from Gambia include the ordinary 

 yellow kind and white and black palm kernel oil. The 

 yellow oil is obtained from the fleshy pulp of the drupa- 

 ceous fruit, and the kernel oil from the seed. The manner 

 in which these oils are obtained is described in Capt. 

 Moloney's Report, and may be summarized as follows : — 



The Yellow Oil. — The bunches of fruit are allowed to 

 dry for a week or ten days in the air, until the fruits can 

 easily be detached by beating, when the scales at the base 

 of the fruits are removed by rubbing them in the hands 

 in a windy place, by a rough kind of winnowing. The 

 nuts are then buried in a hole in the earth about four 

 feet deep and lined with plantain leaves, in which they are 

 allowed to remain until the pulp is as soft as if boiled, 

 which is in from three to twelve weeks. The fruits are 

 then removed to a similar hole in the ground lined with 

 flat stones and beaten with wooden pestles till the flesh 

 is removed from the fruit stones. Portions of the mass are 

 now boiled in water, the fruit stones being removed, until 

 the oil runs out. The marc is then pressed in cylindrical 

 nets twisted by means of sticks inserted at the ends. 



The process of fermentation in the ground injures the 

 quality of the oil, and the shorter that process the sweeter 

 and more liquid the oil. 



For home consumption the natives make a better pre- 

 paration by boiling the fruits in iron pots instead of fer- 

 menting them, then working the pulp into a paste with 

 tepid water, passing it through a sieve and boiling it with 

 water until a bright red oil floats on the surface. It is 

 then strained and heated to drive off any water it may 

 contain. 



Falm Kernel Oil.— The white oil is prepared from the 

 k ernels. To obtain these the stones or endocarps are al- 

 o wed to dry until the kernels become so tough that they 

 68 



are not crushed when the shells are broken between two 

 stones. The kernels, after removal from the shells, are 

 pounded in a mortar, then ground more finely between 

 grinding stones, and the resulting mass put into cold water 

 and stirred with the band until a straw-coloured oil rises 

 to the surface in lumps; this, on exposure to light and 

 air, becomes perfectly white. 



The black oil is obtained by heating the kernels iu a fry- 

 ing pan, when the oil runs out and is collected and strained. 

 It has an empyreumatic odour, and is not easily decolor- 

 ized ; hence it is of little value. 



Specimens of the wooden mortars and pestles used for 

 the purpose of pounding the seed are also exhibited. Iu 

 size and shape they resemble a large iron mortar. They 

 are made from a hard wood kuown as "gree-gree." 



The palm trees are said to commence bearing when from 

 seven to twelve years old, and to yield during thirty-five 

 or forty years. A single tree affords 20 pounds of the 

 fruit during each season, when in full bearing, the size and 

 fruitfulness of the tree being dependent, however, upon the 

 nature of the soil. The harvest is chiefly collected during 

 the rainy season. Several varieties of the oil palm are 

 known on the Gold Coast, under the names of royal, white, 

 red and black palm, differing chiefly in the character of 

 the fruit. 



Some idea of the importance of this industry to the 

 ■\Vest African Colonies may be gathered from the fact that 

 the exports in 1882, from Sierra Leone alone, were, palm, 

 nuts £101,105, palm oil £17,217, besides larger quantities 

 from the Gold Coast, the total imports of nuts and oil 

 into the United Kingdom being estimated during the same 

 year at £484,309. 



Specimens of the oil of the ground nut (Arcichis hypogrca) 

 of native manufacture are placed side by side with others 

 imported from this country and France anil compare favour- 

 ably with the latter, both as to colour and brilliancy. The 

 amount of nuts (botanically legumes) exported from Sierra 

 Leone in 1882 was valued at £15,217. 



The Benne seed (Sesamum indicum) exhibited is the white 

 variety. This seed, which yields Gingelly oil, appears to 

 be exported almost exclusively to France, and although some 

 comes back to the colony in the form of oil, it does not 

 appear to what purpose the larger proportion of oil is ap- 

 plied. The value of these seeds exported from Sierra Leone 

 in 1882 was £10,002. 



A white fatty oil is also exhibited together with the 

 fruit Ili/phirne crinita? kuown in the Jolof language as 

 "sippe," and in the Mandingo as '• kalo." This solid fat 

 is stated to be used for cooking purposes, and the pulp 

 of the fruit is eaten by the natives. The kernel of the 

 fruit is hard and horny, like that of the vegetable ivory 

 nut (Phytelephas macrocarpa) and gives no evidence, in the 

 state in which it is exhibited, of containing any oil. 



The Tooloucoonah or Coondee seeds (Carapa guineensis) 

 and the oil obtained from them are also shown. This oil 

 is worthy of note as a product which might be developed 

 into an important industry, as the seeds could be obtained 

 in unlimited quantity. In French Guiana, where the tree 

 also grows, the trees are said in some places iu the forest 

 to cover the soil a foot deep. The oil makes excellent soap, 

 and is said to be valuable as a lubricant, protecting iron 

 ami steel from rust in a remarkable degree. It is used 

 in British Guiana under the name of crab oil, and is em- 

 ployed to anoint the person in order to keep off the mos- 

 quitoes, for on account of its intense bitterness it repels 

 all insects. A soap made from this oil might possibly serve 

 the same purpose if used iu washing. Iu this country the 

 oil is a soft solid. Although Tooloucoonah oil was awarded 

 a prize iu the International Exhibition of 1851, it seems to 

 have been undeservedly neglected. The kernels are valued 

 in the Gambia at about two shillings a bushel. 



Some interesting specimens of indiarubber are exhibited, 

 both from the Gambia and Sierra Leone. The latter are 

 accompanied by specimens of the leaves and stems of some 

 of the plants yielding it. In the Gambia indiarubber is 

 comparatively a new industry, the exports haviug only 

 commenced iu 18S2, when their value reached only £114. 

 The quality of the first export was so good that in 1883 

 the amount had increased to £5,107, the greater proportion 

 of which was taken by France. The adulteration practised 

 by the natives in consequence of the increased demand 

 led, however, to a subsequent decline in its value and in 



