212 THE BANANA 



realize less than 60 clear per year per feddan (a little 

 over an acre), and from one plantation of 25 feddans the 

 owner has this year made a profit of over 2000. . . . 

 Egypt is more favourably situated than any other country 

 for a banana trade with the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and 

 Black Sea ports. As compared with the Canary Islands, 

 the cost of transport from Egypt is in most cases less than 

 half. The export trade of Alexandria and Port Said is 

 served by numerous lines of fast up-to-date boats, which 

 daily leave these ports for all parts of the world." 



WEST COAST. It is possible that both the French and 

 British colonies on the West Coast of Africa can success- 

 fully compete with tropical America for the European 

 trade, and experiments in the cultivation of various kinds 

 are being carried on by all the agricultural departments 

 as to their value. 



FRENCH GUINEA. In point of accessibility,* and in the 

 possession of suitable soil and climate, as well as cheap and 

 abundant labour, the littoral of French Guinea immediately 

 north of Sierra Leone is considered by the French colonial 

 authorities to be one of the most promising regions in 

 West Africa for the development of a fruit trade, and it 

 is believed that French Guinea will be able to compete 

 with British importations from the West Indies, and even 

 to replace them on the London market. 



French Guinea possesses a hundred miles of railway, 

 carrying fruit at a special rate, and terminating at a 

 convenient port capable of accommodating ships of 4000 

 tons. The cost of land is insignificant, and there is an 

 abundance of good and cheap agricultural labour. The 

 coast regions are well watered with innumerable creeks. 

 There is a wet and dry season, each of six months' duration, 

 the wet season lasting from May to October. Farther 

 inland fertile valleys, the soil being laterite, penetrate the 

 high plateaux which separate the head waters of the 

 Gambia from those of the Niger. 



* " Bananes et Ananas." By Yves Henry. Paris. See Bull. Imp, 

 ., iii. 62 a 905V 



