154 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



used extensively everywhere for dyeing, but to the 

 extracted dye material, which so far has had as an 

 industry but little growth in West Africa, and is used 

 mostly for mixture with butter from cow's milk or 

 "Shea" {Butyrospermuni Parkit) as a pomatum for 

 colouring grey hair. The world's vanity, how general 

 it is! 



The process of extracting the dye material is as 

 follows. In a large country pot, earthenware, of 

 some fifteen gallons, a strong extract of the leaves is 

 made, the water covering them until fermentation sets 

 in. The liquid is then strained off and submitted to 

 a mode of aerating by rapid agitation promoted by 

 taking calabashes full of it in quick succession, and 

 allowing contents to flow back from a height of two 

 or three feet into the pot. After a short time preci- 

 pitation to the bottom of the dye matter in small 

 grains sets in, and when it is concluded that separa- 

 tion has been completed, the water is poured off, and 

 the sediment — indigo — is allowed to set, after which it 

 is mixed with a little gum, when it is made into small 

 shapes, balls, cones, &c. Specimens in this form are 

 obtained from Gambia, Lagos, the Niger, and the 

 Yoruba and Houssa kingdoms. 



For purposes of dyeing articles — cotton usually, of 

 country manufacture — the cloth is dipped into the 

 extract unaerated, then freely exposed to the air : 

 repeated dippings and drying fix the colour and 

 make it lasting. Where striped or other designs 



