FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 159 



Although, according to Messrs Heckel and Schlag- 

 denhauffen, this tree is to be found in all the West 

 Coast of Africa comprised between 10° N. L. and 

 5" S. L., yet I was much amused, in making myself 

 conversant with the traditions of the Peoples of the 

 Gambia, 1 3° N. L., and their views, to find a Mandingo 

 account to me for the absence, in his knowledge, of 

 the cola-tree among their Flora, that his countrymen 

 and their neighbours lied too much to admit of its 

 growth there : a country rich in lies proved, accord- 

 ing to his lights, barren for the cola. Among the 

 Mandingoes, the credit for the introduction into the 

 world of the cola and calabash [Lagetiaria vulgaris) is 

 given to one Avuesoo Dekarananee oi tradition ; they 

 are supposed to have come into existence together : 

 hence when the natives give a present of cola-seeds, 

 they are invariably enclosed in a calabash. 



With reference to Sierra Leone, however, with a 

 considerable Mohammedan population, connected with 

 a wide-spread Interior also largely Mohammedan, 

 there must be a considerable home consumption and 

 Interior trade which do not affect the above statistical 

 return, so that the figures given may be viewed as 

 representing merely the export trade from that Settle- 

 ment. 



The cola-nut tree is to be found all along this coast, 

 viz., at Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gold Coast Colony, 

 Niger, Fernando Po, St. Thomas, Prince's Island, 

 Gaboon, Congo, and the Portuguese Possessions. 



