THE OIL PALM 



145 



i The productiveness of the Elseis may be inferred from its 

 ij bearing clusters of from 600 to 800 nuts, larger than a pigeon's 

 ;i eggf and so full of oil that it may be pressed out with the fingers. 

 As long as the slave trade reigned along the coast of Guinea, 

 these vegetable treasures remained unnoticed ; but since Eng- 

 land began to raise her voice against this infamous traffic, they 

 i have become the object of a great and constantly increasing 

 ii commerce. 



Liverpool, which was principally indebted to the slave trade 

 for its rapid increase during the last century, now almost mo- 



Oil Palm. 



nopolises the palm-oil market ; as, with the exception of a few 

 vessels from Bristol, and now and then a solitary sail from 

 liondon, almost every ship under the British flag that makes its 



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