476 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



8. Amount of Produce Used, Eaten, and Amount Growing. — 

 There is probably onlj^ 5 per cent., or at most 15 per cent., 

 of the total possible trade done in this product from West 

 Africa. 



The amount of the oil used by the natives per annum is as 

 follows : 



Three gallons of oil per head per annum for food. 



Half-gallon of oil per head per annum for illuminant in 

 the Eastern Circle, according to Gilman, and half-gallon used 

 mixed with camwood for rubbing on the skin per head per 

 annum. 



Allowing this amount for the total population of 8,000,000, we 

 have a total of 32,000,000 gallons used locally per annum. This 

 means the produce of at least 128,000,000 trees, taking into 

 consideration the very poor or underbearing state of many of the 

 trees. Some also are immature and not in full bearing when utilized. 

 Even so, this represents only a part of the total possible crop, which 

 might be 100,000,000 gallons and 500,000 tons of kernels. Although the 

 above small percentage of the amount of trade done will eventually 

 prove to be an exaggeration, partly owing to the cutting down of Oil 

 Palms in making farms, there is nevertheless clear evidence that a 

 great many more palm kernels especially could be obtained if there 

 were an increased number of plants available for cracking the nuts 

 in various parts of the country. Then, too, in those places where 

 the trees stand too closely together, an increased yield would be 

 obtained after they had been thinned out. Allowing for an area of 

 about 7,000 square miles in the dry zone, where the Oil Palms are 

 not found, and 12,000 square miles for mangrove swamps, rivers, 

 roads, railways, town and village sites, also where there are no Oil 

 Palms, and about 10,000 square miles of heavy evergreen and mixed 

 deciduous forest areas where there are few or no Oil Palms, this leaves 

 an area of about 50,000 square miles on which they are found growing. 

 The density varies from over 200 per acre down to only one, or in 

 isolated cases to one to ten acres. With the increased amount of the 

 tapping of the Oil Palm, as well as cutting it down both to get the 

 palm wine and for making farms for food as well as cocoa crops, there 

 is a great danger of the total amount being reduced. Everywhere on 

 the West Coast of Africa where other produce has been introduced, such 

 as in the Congo and in the Gold Coast, the export of palm produce 

 tends to fall very rapidly. Owing to the fact that such a large amount 

 of palm oil is used for alimentary or other purposes locally, and a great 

 deal is exported to the Northern Provinces, the export of palm kernels 

 to Great Britain and Europe generally forms the better basis in calcu- 

 lating the amount of palm produce now actually produced in the 

 country. The small number of kernels used for making an oil for 



