30 COCONUTS, KERNELS, AND CACAO. 



covering the yellow oil from the pericarp, by establishing 

 modern plants within the area in which the oil palm 

 flourishes. These modern plants offer one of the most 

 favourable opportunities for the investment of capital, 

 as the native labourer will soon find that the collection 

 of fruit for these establishments is easier and more pro- 

 fitable than attempting to extract the oil himself. At 

 the same time, users of palm oil in Europe will be fur- 

 nished with a product which, on account of the large 

 proportion of glycerine it contains and better average 

 condition, will be of greater value than the variable 

 and uncertain product that is now shipped by the West 

 African native. 



The cost of extraction by the native methods is from 

 10 to 12 a ton. Half that estimate should cover the 

 cost by machinery under European management. 



The problem of the mechanical extraction of palm oil 

 has been approached from two standpoints (1) the 

 construction of small, cheap, portable machines capable 

 of being worked by hand and of being transported from 

 place to place as required ; (2) the erection of central 

 factories dealing with large quantities of palm fruit by 

 means of heavy, power-driven machines. 



At least two hand-operated machines, very similar in 

 principle, have been patented for the preparation of 

 palm oil, in both of which the palm fruits are placed 

 in a cylinder with hot water and submitted to the action 

 of beaters, the oil and water being afterwards run off 

 through a grid or sieve. The " Gwira " machine patented 

 by Eglen (English Pat. 3357/1909) has been experi- 

 mented with on the Gold Coast. The other machine, 

 in which the palm fruit is beaten in hot water for extrac- 



