22 SIERRA LEONE 



as though walking up it. On reaching the crown, 

 a number of dead leaves have to be removed in order 

 to get at the fruit stem. These are cut by means of a 

 " cutlass " or " machete," which the climber carries, and 

 are thrown to the ground. Only one head ripens at a 

 time upon each tree, and the time occupied in climbing 

 and cutting out the fruit head is estimated at about 

 eight minutes. A photograph showing a native climbing 

 a palm tree is reproduced (Fig. 11). 



Both the Mendi and Timani races distinguish the fruit, 

 at different periods during the advance towards maturity, 

 by special names given with regard to the appearance. 

 Identifications of the same series of fruits by different 

 individuals have shown that these names are widely 

 used. 



Although it will be seen that in the Gold Coast and 

 Nigeria the natives recognise a number of different 

 varieties of fruit, this does not appear to be the 

 case in Sierra Leone. The thin-shelled forms, so well 

 known to the natives of the former countries, appear 

 unknown, except around Sherbro, where there are a few 

 trees recognised as productive of this type of fruit. In 

 the appearance of the mature fruit, the presence or 

 absence of black at the apex seems to be of equally 

 common occurrence, but no importance is attached to 

 this feature. 



The Sierra Leone form appears to be at a disadvantage 

 with regard to the proportion of oily pericarp covering 

 the nut, as well as in the great thickness of its shell. 

 Comparing it with the varieties obtained in the Gold 

 Coast, it is probably nearest to, if not identical with, 

 that called " Abe pa." 



When the percentage of oil extracted from the fruit 

 of the Sierra Leone trees is compared with that from 

 other parts of West Africa, it at once becomes apparent 

 that the amount is small. The results of three series 

 of experiments, made in different parts of the country, 

 showed that the fibrous pericarp, which contains the 

 oil, constituted only about 30 per cent, of the whole, 

 the nut containing the kernel being large and approxi- 

 mating 70 per cent. Palm oil extracted by native 

 methods gave 1-201, 5*47, 5'637, and 8*326 per cent, 

 respectively in four tests. If these results are compared 



