OR EAST INDIA BUTTER TREE. 505 



flowers ; but the vulgar belief is, that the latter, 

 especially in the time of blossom, are apt to grow 

 mad, by too much feeding on them. 



Bdssia obovata, Forster's Prod. No, 200 : a 

 native of the Isle of Tanna, in the South Sea. Of 

 this species, I possess no other account than the 

 definition, which corresponds with the habit of 

 the genus. If Forster has left us no account of 

 the uses of the tree, it may be worth while to make 

 inquiry, when an opportunity offers. 



Park's Shea, or butter tree of Africa, we have 

 reason, from his description, and figure, as well 

 as from analogy, to suppose a species of this same 

 genus. At page 352 (of his travels in the interior 

 of Africa) he says, " The appearance of the fruit 

 evidently places the Shea tree in the natural order 

 of Sapotce, (to which Bassia belongs,) and it has 

 some resemblance to the Madhuca tree (Bassia 

 laiifolia), described by Lieutenant Charles Ha- 

 milton, in the Asiatic Besearches, Volume I, 

 page 300. 



*' The people were every where employed in col- 

 lecting the fruit of the Shea trees, from which 

 they prepare a vegetable butter, mentioned in the 

 former part of this work *. These trees grow in 

 great abundance all over this part of Bambarra. 



* This commodity, Shea toulou, which, literally translated, 

 signifies Tree-butter, is exlracled, by means of boiling water, 

 from the kernel of the nut, has the consistence and appearance of 

 butter; and is in truth an admirable substitute for it. It forms 

 an important article in the food of the natives, and serves also 

 for every domestic purpose in wliich oil would otherwise be used. 

 The demand for it is therefore great. Park's Travels in Africa, 

 Page 26. 



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