FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 429 



natives of Sierra Leone to render sweet and palat- 

 able an acidulated kind of bread called Aggade, 

 prepared from maize, sour fruit and bad palm wine. 

 The seeds are enveloped in a thick viscid mucilage, 

 which contains the dulcificant property ; when this 

 substance is placed in contact with the tongue an 

 indescribable yet intense degree of dulcidity is im- 

 mediately conveyed to the palate, the influence of 

 it remaining unimpaired for a considerable period. 

 Under this abnormal effect sour oranges and every 

 species of unripe fruit, however acid or austere they 

 may be, become transmuted into a pleasant and 

 delicious sweetness. — ' Pharmaceutical Journal,' vol. 

 xiv., 18SS, p. 159. 



Distribution : Upper Guinea. 



Banana (Musa sapientum, L.). — Perennial, with a 

 stem four to fifteen or more feet high, and usually 

 marked with purple spots. The fruit is three to 

 six inches long, with yellowish flesh, a thinner skin 

 and a more fragrant odour than that of the Plaintain, 

 and fit to eat without cooking. In many parts of the 

 world this fruit forms the chief article of food and is 

 very nutritious. The leaves afford a valuable fibre, 

 which is fine, white, silky, long, light and strong, and 

 is said to make a good paper and to bear ink without 

 being sized. The quality of the fibre depends in a 

 very great measure upon the mode of cultivation and 

 preparation. — ' Spon's Encyclopaedia of the Industrial 



