438 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



when they go into the hills of Sierra del Crystal to 

 procure the rubber. For this purpose they select the 

 extremities of the stem, cutting off the leaves to 

 make the bundles more portable ; when required for 

 use they simply roast the whole in the fire and then 

 eat the soft central part, which is, however, rather 

 bitter and tough to persons not accustomed to such 

 primitive fare. — 'On the Palms of Western Tropical 

 Africa,' Mann and Wendland (as above), p. 425. 

 Distribution : Upper Guinea. 



Palmyra or Black Run Palm, Sibboo Colono of 

 Gambia, etc. [Borassus flabelliforinis, L. \B. (zthiopum. 

 Mart.]). — Tree attaining from sixty to seventy feet 

 high. The uses to which this palm is applied are 

 manifold. The young germinating bud- is cooked 

 and ea£en as a vegetable by the Nupe people, who 

 call it Morintshi ; and it is likewise used in Ceylon 

 under the name of Kelingoos. Toddy is procured 

 from the spathes in very large quantities in India, 

 and also in Ceylon, where it is extensively used as 

 yeast by the bakers ; large quantities of it are also 

 converted into vinegar, but by far the greatest quan- 

 tity is boiled down for jaggery or sugnr. The leaves 

 and cuticle of the leaves are used wherever the tree is 

 found for thatching purposes and for making baskets, 

 mats, hammocks, and various other articles. The 

 hollowed-out stems are used in India as water-pipes, 

 and split in half, for gutters and open water channels. 



