FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 383 



— ^Woody climber. This beautiful species, originally 

 described in the Niger Flora by Bentham, appears to 

 be distributed over the whole of Central Tropical 

 Africa. On the Niger, according to Barter, the fruit, 

 which is very sour, is eaten by the natives under the 

 name of Aboli. According to Monteiro, who 

 collected specimens in Angola, the india-rubber of 

 South-West Africa is derived from this species. L. 

 florida is said to yield the best rubber of any of the 

 species of Landolphia. The natives make playing 

 balls of it, and consider it to be the most adhesive 

 known. The milk if rubbed upon the skin adheres 

 like birdlime, and can scarcely be rubbed off. 



The form in which West African Rubber comes 

 into commerce is somewhat peculiar. It is ac- 

 counted for by the method of collection, which has 

 been described as follows : — Every part exudes a 

 milky juice when cut or wounded ; but this will not 

 run into a vessel placed to catch it, as it dries so 

 quickly as to form a ridge on the wound, which stops 

 its further flow. The blacks collect it by making 

 long cuts in the bark with a knife, and as the milky 

 juice gushes out it is wiped off continually with the 

 fingers and smeared on their arms, shoulders and 

 breast, till a thick covering is formed. This is peeled 

 off their bodies and cut into small squares, which are 

 then said to be boiled in water. In the English 

 market it appears as more or less agglutinated masses 



