12 THE GAMBIA 



as those experienced in Sierra Leone. The local demand 

 for raw cotton precluded it from being obtained at a 

 sufficiently low price to leave a margin of profit to 

 exporters, and in addition to this, labour was not suffi- 

 ciently abundant, nor were the natives familiar with 

 labour-saving methods in cultivation. Attempts to 

 establish an interest in the matter produced a fair amount 

 of raw cotton in 1904, but since that year the exported 

 quantity rapidly diminished and has now ceased alto- 

 gether. For reports on the quality of the cotton pro- 

 duced in the Gambia see Professor Dunstan's British 

 Cotton Cultivation (Colonial Reports Miscellaneous Series, 

 Cd. 3997, 1908), p. 26, and Bull. Imp. Inst., 1921. Sam- 

 ples may be seen in the Imperialjnstitute Collections. 



GRAIN CROPS. No grain is exported, as owing to the 

 work of the scanty population being so largely applied 

 to the cultivation of groundnuts, scarcely sufficient food- 

 stuff is grown for their own requirements. Guinea-corn 

 (Sorghum vulgar e), the two most important varieties of 

 which are known as " Bassi " and " Kinto " in the 

 Mandingo language, are commonly used for food, but 

 during recent years, owing to the repeated annual attacks 

 on the crop by Aphis sorghi t maize-growing was sub- 

 stituted in some parts of the country. White maize 

 seed was obtained from Lagos, and yellow maize seed 

 from the Canary Islands, but the grain is not appreciated 

 to the same extent as Guinea corn. Pennisetum typhoi- 

 deum, the large millet, of which the commonest variety 

 is known in Mandingo as " Sannio," is alternated with 

 Guinea corn or maize, but is often badly affected by a 

 "smut fungus" (Ustilago sp.), which also attacks the 

 " Kinto " variety of Guinea corn. A small grass is 

 often grown in the millet fields, yielding a crop of fine 

 seed which is made into flour for the preparation of 

 a kind of porridge. This is termed " Findi " locally. 

 Rice (Oryza sativa) is somewhat extensively grown in 

 the swamp lands, but the success of the crop is very 

 largely dependent on the distribution of the rainfall. 

 Whole tracts of rice fields are destroyed in some years, 

 owing to excessive floods, as no precautions are taken 

 to guard against them. It is chiefly on account of the 

 uncertainty of the grain crops, that a large quantity of 

 rice has to be imported annually to supplement that 



