442 



Adaiison considers the Baobab to be indigenous nowhere but in 

 those places on the western side of Africa which have been mention- 

 ed above ; and states that the negroes, wherever they go, are in the 

 habit of carrying with them the seeds of such plants as they make use 

 of in cooking, or for other purposes. He enumerates many of these 

 plants, among which are the Baobab, two kinds of cotton, the tama- 

 rind, several sorts of beans, the water-melon, &c., and observes that 

 all these are now found in America, where they have every appear- 

 ance of being indigenous, although many of them have not received 

 American names. In support of his opinion that the Baobab is a na- 

 tive neither of the American continent nor of any of the West-India 

 islands, he cites the works of Plumier, Sloane and Browne, in which it 

 is not mentioned. He also observes that M. Thiebault de Chanvalon, 

 an inhabitant of Martinique, speaks of a single tree growing on the 

 island, as being the only one he had ever seen in that region. This 

 was a young tree at the time Adanson received his information from 

 M. Thiebault, although it had then, for some years, borne flowers and 

 fruit. Dr. Roxburgh does not consider it to be indigenous in India, 

 where he says it is scarce and of small size, observing that a few only 

 have been found of any size at Allahabad, Masulipatam, on the coast 

 of Coromandel, and in Ceylon. After reading Adanson's remarks on 

 the custom of the negroes in transporting the seeds of the Baobab, it 

 is not difficult to account for its introduction into Asia, and other 

 parts of the world where it is now met with. 



As a genus Adansonia seems to be chiefly distinguished from Bom- 

 bax (whose habit it has, and to which Linnseus and Cavanilles say it 

 is too nearly allied) by its deciduous calyx, its numerous stamina and 

 its smooth shining seeds, those of Bombax being downy or woolly. — 

 Among other and more obvious marks of agreement with other genera 

 of the alliance Malvales, such as the extreme lightness of its wood, the 

 large and handsome flowers, &c., may be mentioned that of the pollen 

 grains being round and covered with minute points, as in our common 

 Mallows. From the position of the Baobab in the system, we should 

 expect to find its properties similar to those of its natural allies the 

 Malvaceae ; and the various uses made by the negroes of the different 

 parts of the tree confirm this expectation. The mucilaginous emol- 

 lient quality common to the tribe, resides principally in the bark and 

 leaves ; these are dried in the shade, in a fi'ee current of air, then re- 

 duced to a powder of a beautiful green colour and nearly tasteless ; this 

 powder is kept in a dry place in calico bags, and is called lalo. The 

 negroes make daily use of the lalo in their food, for the purpose of 



