THE WEST AFRICAN COAST. 411 



the numerous tribe of Acacias, which form vast forests in the districts 

 north of the Senegal, and yield the gum-arabic of commerce. The 

 best known species of this important and useful group are the Acacia 

 Arabica, or Red Gum-tree, the Acacia Adansoni, the Acacia vera, 

 and the Acacia verek. 



We also meet at Senegal with a tree which I ought, perhaps, to 

 have ranked of right among those of India, and which, like many 

 others, belong rather to the whole zone of the Tropics than to any 

 particular country ; I refer to the Tamarind (Tamarindus I-ndica}* 

 whose well-known name is supposed to be derived from the Arabic 

 Tamar, signifying "dates," and Indus, in allusion to its original habitat. 

 There is only one species of the genus, but .the East Indian variety 

 has long pods, with six to twelve seeds, while the West Indian has much 

 shorter pods, containing one to four seeds. It is a tree of graceful 

 appearance, with elegant pinnated foliage and numerous racemes of 

 fragrant flowers. The pods are slightly curved, and consist of a brittle 

 brown shell, enclosing a soft, acid, brown pulp, traversed by strong 

 woody fibres ; a thin membranous covering wraps up the seeds. The 

 pulp has a savour at once acid and sugary, and acts as a gentle 

 laxative. The timber is useful for building purposes, and furnishes 

 excellent charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder. 



The Sterculiacece have numerous representatives at the Senegal. 

 These tall and handsome trees remind the traveller in their appear- 

 ance of our English oaks. The seeds of the Sterculia acuminata 

 and tomentosa are masticated by the negroes until reduced to a 

 fluid paste, in which form they employ it to dye their cotton- 

 stuffs yellow. The dye is very bright, and, it is said, extremely 

 durable. 



We know that a great part of the Gaboon is occupied by virgin 

 forests, where Fig-trees are predominant, and in marshy soils the 

 Mangle or Mangrove trees (Rhizophora mangle), which must not be 

 confounded with the savoury-fruited Mangoes of Eastern India. The 

 Mangroves form, in the family of the Rhizophoras, a genus distributed 



* Order, Leguminosx. 



