80 



pence per pound in May. 1918, is so great, that it can only be the 

 result of a vastly increased demand, coupled with a higher grade of 

 the nuts shipped to Europe. This is borne out, I think, by the 

 description of the nuts marketed since 1915, which are no longer 

 catalogued merely as " dark, mouldy or wormy," but as " good 

 bright halves/' or " fair dried halves." 



How far this increased demand will persist after the war, the 

 future will decide, but it is not unlikely that when the valuable 

 properties of Cola are better known in Europe, the demand for it 

 will expand more and more. 



But, be this as it may, the chief mainstay of the prosperity of 

 the Cola planting industry will yet remain, for a long time to 

 come, what it is now, — viz': the Native African consumption, which 

 far exceeds the boundaries of the Countries of production; for the 

 use of the nut is fast spreading to all the Mussulman lands of 

 jSTorthern Africa and it has found its way to Morocco — Algeria — 

 Egypt — Tripoli and as far as Turkey and Malta. 



The figures below show tliat the trade in Cola nuts is taking a 

 greater extension every year. It stands, now, second (after Cocoa) 

 on the list of the exports of the Gold Coast, the figures for the last 

 six years given by the Report of the Government of the Gold Coast 

 being as follows : 



1910 5,156,500 pounds value £ 77. 716 or 3.6 per lb. 



1911 



1912 



1913 



1914 



1915 



The last figures for Sierra Leone that I can find relate to the 

 year 1909 when (exclusive of exports to Europe) the exports to the 

 neighbouring French and Portuguese Colonies amounted to 1444 

 tons of a value of over £100,000. 



Cola nuts also occupy the second place, after palm-kernels, in 

 the exports of Sierra-Leone. 



In his book " Sierra Leone : Its People and Products," Osman 

 Newland states tliat at Freetown, the price of the nuts varies from 

 £6.10 to £13 per measure of 176 pounds, which corresponds to a 

 price of H|r/ to 17|r/ ])er pound and lie adds: " tlie annual value of 

 "the Kola luits exported exceeds £]00,0()(), but only the throw-outs 

 " and undersized nuts reach Liverpool or London, wliere, selling at 

 " 2| to id per pound, they are used as an adulterant for cocoa." 



In Lagos, according to Dudgeon (Imperial Institute hand- 

 books) the ))rice i)ai<l for nuts varied from l.s\ 3d. to 5 sliillings per 

 hundred i.e. from 3d to lid per pound, but in 1907 the value reach- 

 ed £150 per ton, i.e. 16 pence per pound. 



The higher prices must be understood to aj^ply to fresh nuts 

 which are used locally by the natives, and by the neighbouring 

 colonies where a huge and constant demand exists, keeping pace 



