FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



127 



tion of potash, in order that the dirty coating may be 

 touched ; for newer resins (unfossilized), such as Sierra 

 Leone "copal," "ogea," &c., a solution of English soda 

 will suffice : to them potash would be injurious. It is 

 recommended that new resins should be subject to a 

 rough sifting and rousing in common soda-and-water 

 (if lukewarm, so much the better) : they should after- 

 wards be washed in cold clean water, to remove any 

 exterior effect caused by the soda. Such a course will 

 improve the appearance and vahte considerably. 



I have failed to ascertain that any gum has reached 

 the English market from the Gambia. The article is 

 not mentioned among the exports from that Settle- 

 ment, although, on either side of that grand navigable 

 river, viz. in the Settlement of Sierra Leone and in 

 Senegambia, a considerable export trade is effected. 

 It is as well to mention this fact, for the statistics of 

 the Board of Trade on imports of this article into the 

 United Kingdom from the West Africa Settlements 

 (Gambia and Sierra Leone) are as follows : — 



On enquiry, I find no one has of late years turned 

 his attention to the development in the Gambia of a 



