240 
The first arrivals of this fibre took place about a year ago, the scarcity 
l 
and shipment of substitutes. The early imports realized from 367. to 
427. per ton, against West Coast African Piassava 557. to 65/.., but with 
faller supplies of these brush-making fibres asta split "a 
market values have receded, and Palmyra ranges to-day from 22 
to 33. 
The chief objection to Palmyra by crear a is that it lacks 
straightness, but experiments are being made this country to 
overcome this defect, and should they prove duocoisita, it ts claimed 
y importers and dressers that Palmyra should, for wear, then, be found 
equal to the best Brazilian. 
We are, &e. 
(Signed) IDE AND CHRISTIE. 
D. Morris, Esq., M.A., F.L.S., 
Royal Gardens, Kew. 
LXXIV.—OIL PALM FIBRE. 
(Eleis guineensis, Jacq.) 
[K. B., 1892, pp. 62-67.] 
The African z isga is probably the most valuable of the iT gen ne 
West Afri i 9i); 
i ree stry has ee since 1790, if not before, the valuable palm kernels 
“ on the Gold Coast did not attract attention until 1842 or 1843, when also 
“ the ground-nut industry, at least in the Gambia, had its birth.” The 
palm oil received in this country during the year 1885 amounted to 
e 
uring the period am 
406,8567. We h ee therefore two important products from the African 
oil value of the quantity reaching the United Kingdom 
agents er about one million and a half sterling yearly. To these we 
e 
ay, 
pepee "i this new orim are not very hopeful, The fibre is extracted 
a laborious manner by the natives, and it is not, as yet, produced in 
Seiten quantities. 
Its extensive use locally for fishing lines ste sud purposes requiring 
great strength shows that it is one of the most valuable and lasting of 
tropical fibres. — little, if anything, has hake been publish 
respecting this fibre. Kew i is i ndebted for the first specimens received 
Government of Lagos. mall specimen was received from Mr. Scott- 
iot from Sierra Leone, Tinaas 1892, 
