110 
the smoke of palm nuts is intrinsically not so good as Fine Para. 
This is evidently not the whole story. It is possible there is a 
certain amount of prejudice existing against Hevea rubber in any 
other form veh that in which it has always been received in € 
country. In any case it is desirable to institute a comparativ 
chemieal investigation of the value of Brazilian rubber as pane 
that obtained from cultivated trees. So far it would appear that 
no Hevea rubber obtained from cultivated trees has reached the 
highest prices atdained by Amazon rubber. 
ZANZIBAR. 
n the “Shamba,” the Journal of Agriculture for Zanzibar 
(october, 1897, p. 2), issued by Mr. R. N. Lyne, F.L.S., the 
irector of griculture, the following inter —— note appears 
sene a fine tree of Hevea brasiliensis growing at Mbweni. 
This, originally received from Kew, was planted in the Botanical 
Garden established by Sir John 'Kirk when he was Consul- 
General.at Zanzibar (see Kew Bulletin, 1896, pp. 80-86) :— 
“The cultivation of rubber is beginning to occupy ine 
here now. At Mbweni, there is a Para rubber tree 50 feet i 
height and over 6 feet in girth. It is a beautiful tree, clean iid 
straight in the trunk, with not a branch : prone p its tapering 
symmetry till the crown is reached. It is now flowering. We 
believe that this tree has not beeu tappe ii but a casual stab in 
passing induced a flow of milk which suggested a good reserve. 
alluvial. At Mbweni, the Para rubber tree is found on a porous 
sandy ridge within 100 yards or so of the sea cliff. And yet it 
has grown on this apparently uncongenial locality with His 
greatest vigour. In the ric cher and damper soils it ought t 
thrive as in its native country.” 
MOZAMBIQUE. 
In the report on the trade of Portuguese East Africa for the year 
1889 (F. O. Annual Series, 1890, No. 742), forwarded by Sir H. H. 
Johnston, Mr. Vice-Consul Ross at Quilimane records the existence 
of trees = Hevea brasiliensis as follows (p. 10) :—‘‘In a private 
en the bank of the Chinde River I was shown half-a- 
dozen ad healthy Para rubber trees a year - and some 15 feet 
high. 'They had fruited well, and the own r had sown in the 
neighbourhood most of the seed they had born 
WEST AFRICA. 
Gambia.—In the report on the Botanie Station at the Gambia 
for 1897, the Curator reported (Kew Bulletin, 1898, p. 41) : *a 
few plants of this are at the Station, es bud do not pod to be 
growing well, owing to the ap dry se 
Sierra Leone. e Firs p d eport on the Botan 
Station at ioci. Mr. Willey, the late Curator, states : * cono 
plants of the Para rubber, the premier rubber of the world, are 
growing here, but wid are too — yet to express ^ en as 
to their ultimate success. They will be reported on la: 
