122 MOZAMBIQUE 



systematically cultivated, so no records are avail- 

 able to show the yield per hectare, but its 

 enormously sprawling habit of growth would 

 probably reduce the yield to a low figure, and 

 make the cultivation of this product at the 

 present low price of the seed an enterprise of 

 very doubtful success. The seed is valued at 

 ^7 per ton at Inhambane, but as it is one of 

 the richest oil seeds known to commerce, it 

 would probably command a much higher price 

 than this but for the difficulty of decorticating 

 it. The kernel is protected by two shells, the 

 outer one tough and fibrous, the inner one hard 

 and brittle. The outer covering could only be 

 removed by peeling or by burning ; the inner 

 one splits with a blow. I do not think that 

 any machine exists for decorticating the nut, 

 though experiments are believed to have been 

 made in Marseilles. A simple decorticator that 

 could be used on the spot, getting rid of the 

 useless husk and shell, upon which freight 

 now has to be paid, might make this product, 

 which at present offers no encouragement to 

 the producer, a valuable source of wealth for 

 Inhambane. 



In 1910, Messrs. Lever Brothers, Limited, 

 analysed some seeds of Telfairia pedata, with 

 the following results : — 



