FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 8r 



sighted commercial policy resorted to at the beginning 

 of this industry. Fluctuations in the industry and a 

 bad article have been the consequences, which we must 

 hope are but temporary and removable. Competition 

 and rivalry are so rife among commercial houses, 

 that it seems merely a case of every one for himself 



Notwithstanding, rubber has been within my know- 

 ledge refused at Bathurst, and had to be taken to 

 and was accepted by French trading branches of the 

 same Firm outside the River Gambia, where bulk, not 

 profit of business, was seemingly aimed at. The best 

 Gambia rubber, viz. " tawl," when clean, is now worth 

 in European markets from is. 8d. upwards per lb. 

 The local price at which it is purchased is is. 4d. 

 to IS. 6d. per lb. The inferior kind, viz. "' maddah," 

 hovers as to price around is. per lb. 



The process of collecting, as regards the reckless 

 tapping of the trees at the Gambia, is somewhat 

 similar to practice elsewhere, either by wounding by 

 direct and deep incisions, or by slicing the bark to 

 any depth, or by removing wholesale lengths of the 

 vine. As the juice exudes, salt water (sea-water 

 weakened to a known strength by the addition of 

 fresh water) is sprinkled on the same from a bottle (of 

 o-lass, or a gourd— "calabash") by experienced hands, 

 with the result of bringing about rapid coagulation, 

 and subsequent rolling off in a ball (as twine) of the 

 coagulated matter. Where sea-water is not available, 

 a solution — one part salt, and three parts water — is 



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