FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 71 



In the Portuguese Possessions the ground-nut is 

 largely cultivated. Monteiro, in his ' Angola and the 

 "Congo,' describes the industry eis follows : — 



" The native name for it is ' mpinda ' or ' ginguba,' 

 and it is cultivated in the greatest abundance at a few 

 miles inland from the coast, where the comparatively 

 arid country is succeeded by better ground and climate. 

 It requires a rich soil for its cultivation, and it is 

 chiefly grown therefore in the bottoms of valleys or in 



the vicinity of rivers and marshes." 



***** 



" The greater part of the several thousand tons of 

 nuts that at present constitute the season's crop in 

 this part of the country is grown in the Mbamba 

 country, lying parallel with the coast at a distance of 

 from thirty to eighty miles inland, or at the first and 

 second elevation." 



So as to attract attention, I give here from 

 Cameron's ' Across Africa ' his account of the Mpafu 

 tree of Tropical Africa, which is described in Kew 

 Report, 1880, as an oil-producing tree of great value : — 



" On this march (through the Uguhha country W. 

 of Lake Tanganika, long, 29° 30') I first saw the 

 • mpafu,' from which the scented oil is obtained. It 

 is a magnificent tree, often thirty feet and more in 

 circumference, and rising to eighty or a hundred feet 

 before spreading and forming a head, the branches of 

 which are immense. The oil is obtained by soaking 

 the fruit, which has some resemblance to an olive, 



