102 THE WHOLE ART OF RUBBER-GROWING 



Funtumia elastica is of the order Apocynaceae. It 

 is generally found in clumps averaging 250 to the 

 acre. A large glabrous tree, 50 to 60 feet high, it 

 is a veritable aristocrat among forest giants, possess- 

 ing as it does a stately beauty all its own, refusing to 

 be influenced in the slightest by the sprawling 

 clumsiness of its neighbours. 



Prior to the discovery of the Funtumia little or no 

 rubber was exported from Lagos, and one may trace 

 the beginning of that short but marvellous trade 

 in the following notice issued by Sir Gilbert T. 

 Carter, K.C.M.G., the Governor of Lagos, in 1894 : 

 " His Excellency the Governor desires to notify to 

 the mercantile community of Lagos that he has been 

 able to induce a party of natives from the Gold Coast 

 experienced in rubber collecting to come to Lagos 

 with a view to the development of this important 

 and valuable industry. The men have already in- 

 spected certain districts, which they report to be 

 rich in rubber-producing plants, and it is confidently 

 hoped that Lagos will shortly be able to compete 

 ivith the sister colony of the Gold Coast in the great 

 export of the product." 



Immediately following this announcement came 

 the intelligence that whole forests of a new rubber 

 plant, which the natives called the " Ire " tree, had 

 been found in the interior, and a general exodus 

 began in search of it. 



In April 1895 Captain Denton, the acting 

 Governor, was able to send some specimens of the 

 tree to Kew. He informed the authorities there 

 that a very large trade was being done in the pro- 



