1 86 J-QRESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



" Mr. Routledge said he had seen this fibre bleached 

 and spun in the usual manner with admirable result, 

 and expressed a strong opinion in favour of this 

 extensive climber coming into European Commerce. 



d. " For the purposes of upholstery, the kapok or 

 the floss or hairs from the seeds of Eriodendron 

 anfractuosum, and from the floss of Cochlospermum 

 Gossypitnn, were viewed as hopeful, the latter par- 

 ticularly so, provided the supply could be uniform 

 and large, and the article cheap. It was, however, 

 the floss of Calotropis gigantea which seemed to be of 

 most interest." In the advocacy of the experimental 

 cultivation of the last-mentioned it was said : " The 

 supply from the wild plant is too irregular to be 

 depended upon, and hence it was thought that, if 

 it could be cultivated on semi-waste lands at a 

 moderate rate, by this process, a uniform supply 

 could be maintained. Should this anticipation be 

 realised, the fibre would be largely employed in place 

 of cotton and for new purposes." 



And for Paper-making, "the only Indian fibres 

 that seemed hopeful were bamboo {Bambusd) (grown 

 extensively on the Gambia), plantain {Mitsa para- 

 disiacd) (groves by the mile may be seen on the Gold 

 Coast), jute,* and sunn waste,* and the long stems of 

 the Bauhinia creeper.* 



"The practical result of the Conference may be 

 briefly stated to be, that fibres that are good enough 

 * Vide my remarks on fibres suitable for textile purposes. 



