FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 175 



America, but the precise country of its origin cannot 

 now be determined. Martius considered it introduced 

 in Brazil, and it is nowhere known in a truly wild 

 state." 



These views are supported by the experience in the 

 tropical part of the continent of Dr. Schweinfurth, who 

 in his ' Heart of Africa ' states : " It is a great indi- 

 cation of the foreign origin of this plant* that there is 

 not a tribe from the Niger to the Nile which has a 

 native word of their own to denote it" 



He further has stated : " Its introduction and growth 

 found its way into the Old World since the discovery 

 of America." 



Virginia tobacco, he found, in Xiam-niam, " called 

 Eh Tobboo, its name betraying its American origin." 

 In his conclusions I find Dr. Schweinfurth is also, 

 so far as I have been able to gather, supported along 

 the West Coast. 



The following information on the names in different 

 West African languages and dialects by which tobacco 

 is known may be here inserted with interest In 

 Mandingo, tabak ; in Bambara, a dialect of Mandingo, 

 smoking tobacco is called tanibtcdakha or didaklia, 

 while that used for snuff, sira or doli ; in Serere or 

 Kasink, tahaka ; in Sarakhole or Soninke, tankoror ; 

 in Jola, abaka ; in Manjago, tobako; in Laobe, 

 tankoro ; in Foulah (Peul or Phoul, &c.) its people 



• Two kinds, the Virginian tobacco {Nicotiaiia tabacum) and 

 the common {N. rustica). 



