378 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



leaves form some of the finest soil found in the forest. Natural 

 regeneration is not usually very good, because the seedlings 

 have little or no light, growing as they do from seeds which 

 have fallen under the parent tree. Duika and various other 

 animals spread the seeds in old farms where the trees have 

 a chance of growing up. The timber has occasionally been 

 shipped to Europe and has been sold at Hamburg as pearwood at 

 6d. per superficial foot, but the more rosy and figured wood has 

 also found a sale in Liverpool, as it sometimes looks almost like 

 a pinkish mahogany ; it is, however, by no means well known, 

 and further trials with the wood should certainly be made. 

 Small consignments of the nuts have been exported from the 

 Cross River and sold in Liverpool as a substitute for Shea nuts ; 

 they are found to be of a similar nature and of similar value 

 for making an edible oil. The original cost was rather 

 high, so that the nuts did not yield a profit on the transaction ; 

 however, with greater quantities being brought the cost should 

 not be so high, and also, since this first experiment was made, 

 the price of all oil nuts has risen enormously, so that at the 

 present time there is an ample margin between the cost of 

 production and the selling price. In the Cameroons the Balong 

 natives dry the nuts, which they split open in two pieces, pick 

 off the thin shell and boil out the thick buttery-like substance, 

 which is used for cooking. 



On our tour through their country we also tried it in place 

 of lard, and found it quite suitable and quite pleasant to the 

 taste and only about half the cost. In Nigeria, only the Oban 

 people apparently know anything about making this butter 

 from the nuts ; in other parts it is quite unknown. The 

 tree is not felled, but, on account of its size and all-inspiring 

 form, is considered "Ju-ju"; pieces of the bark are 

 chipped off and used as medicine to increase a person's 

 strength. 



By the way, the constant cutting away of the bark at the 

 base of the tree and the continual struggle of the tree to overgrow 

 these wounds causes the grain to grow quite unevenly and 

 wavering, thus forming figured wood. 

 Mimusops lacera. Benin Pearwood. Aganokwi (Benin). 



In 1906 samples of this timber were sold in the Liverpool 

 market as mahogany of a good, rich colour. It is found in 

 the swamps near the Osse and Cross Rivers, 

 Dumoria Heckeli (A. Chev.). Oban Mahogany. 



It is found in Tropical West Africa. It yields a fair timber. 

 An immense tree of the Oban Reserve, similar to Mimusops 

 Djave. 



