14 THE GAMBIA 



ance, accessible for felling for export, although Gambian 

 mahogany (Khaya senegalensis) and Gambian rosewood 

 (Pterocarpus erinaceus) occur in many parts of the country. 

 In some remote districts the former tree is said to attain 

 large dimensions (Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, vol. viii. 

 (1910), p. 244). 



TRADE. The following extracts from the Colonial 

 Reports show the diversion of destination of Gambian 

 exports which has occurred in recent years. For this 

 purpose groundnuts are regarded as representing the 

 whole of the trade, of which they normally constitute 

 about 90 per cent. 



PERCENTAGES OP EXPORTS FROM THE GAMBIA 



100 100 100 100 100 100 100 



From the above it will be noted that Germany began 

 to appear in the market in 1912, and, in 1913, had taken 

 nearly one- quarter of the output. This is probably 

 accounted for by the rapid growth of the vegetable oil 

 industry in Germany and the attempt on the part of 

 Hamburg crushers to capture the Gambia trade from 

 Marseilles. It will be seen that a proportionate decrease 

 occurred in exports to French ports coincident with the 

 increased shipments to German ports. The European 

 war put Germany out of the market, and in 1914 France 

 took nearly her normal share. In 1915 and 1916, how- 

 ever, Great Britain felt the lack of imported vegetable 

 oils to such an extent that factories for their extraction 

 sprang up in the country ; thus it is seen that in 1915 

 Great Britain took nearly 40 per cent, against France's 

 4SJ per cent., and in 1916, Great Britain, for the first 

 time in the last fifty years, took a larger portion of the 

 Gambian groundnut crop than France. 



