GUMS AND WOOD OIL 89 



spp. Sweet potatoes, okra, capsicum-peppers, sorrel- 

 hibiscus (H. Sabdariffa), and the Fra-Fra potato (Plec- 

 tranthus, sp. } " Tumuku" of the Haussas) are also grown. 



Fibre. Plants belonging to two species of Hibiscus are 

 used for the extraction of fibre for the preparation of 

 cordage, the cleaned fibre being similar to jute. These 

 plants grow, with perfectly straight stems, to eight or 

 ten feet in height, bearing short thin branches with 

 axillary flowers. 



Tobacco. The tobacco grown is used for smoking or the 

 manufacture of snuff in many parts of the Northern 

 Territories, and is prepared in a special manner. For 

 smoking tobacco the green leaves are pressed into small 

 gourds until a quantity of juice exudes, the mass being 

 rolled in this until it assumes an oval form, in which it 

 is sold in the markets before drying. For snuff it is 

 ground up between heated stones until the requisite 

 fineness has been obtained, and is then mixed with a 

 small quantity of the powdered seeds of Monodora 

 myristica. The tobacco fields are usually confined to 

 small patches near houses, and wood ashes as well as 

 sweepings are applied as a top dressing. This appears 

 to be the only crop to which manure or fertiliser is given. 

 The leaves always seem to be stripped off the stems at 

 one operation, whereby old and immature leaves are 

 mixed with mature. 



GUMS. Two species of Acacia (A. arabica and A. 

 Sieberiana) are found, especially in the uninhabited tracts 

 in the centre of the country, and the last named appears 

 to yield a large flow of gum, which, however, is not 

 collected. Examination of this at the Imperial Institute 

 has shown it to be about equal in quality to inferior Sudan 

 grades ; A . arabica does not seem to yield gum with such 

 frequency in this locality as elsewhere. Burkea africana 

 and Pseudocedrela Kotschyi produce a quality of gum 

 comparable with " Talh " from the Sudan. (Cf. Selected 

 Reports from the Imperial Institute, Pt. II., Gums and 

 Resins, pp. 153, 165-7.) 



WOOD OIL. By cutting deeply into the base of a tree 

 known as " Neou " (Dagomba), and " Kawa " (Haussa), a 

 rather copious flow of resinous liquid is induced, which, 

 when solidified, is a resin somewhat similar, but in- 

 ferior, to copal. The tree from which this is procured 

 is botanically known as Daniellia thurifera, Oliv., and 



