440 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



from nuts gathered during the rainy season. The 

 kernels now form a distinct article of trade not less 

 important than the oil itself 27,873 tons were 

 shipped from Lagos in 1878 ; 100,000 tons from 

 Sierra Leone in 1870; 104 tons from the Gambia 

 in 1877, and 87 tons and 91 bags in 1878. The meal 

 left after the expression of the oil from the kernels 

 is one of the most valuable fat-producing foods for 

 cattle. The industrial applications of the oil in 

 Great Britain are for the manufacture of candles 

 and soap, and in the manufacture of tin-plate in 

 South Wales and elsewhere. For this latter purpose 

 its non-drying qualities render it valuable as a 

 preservative of the surfaces of the heated iron sheet 

 from oxidation, until the moment of dipping into the 

 bath of melted tin, the sheets being rapidly trans- 

 ferred to that' from the hot oil bath — which consists 

 almost entirely of palm oil. The softest, purest and 

 most neutral oil is preferred for this purpose, and the 

 kind known as Lagos is much used therefor. The 

 exports of palm oil from Lagos were 3,304,967 

 gallons, value ;^239,i33, in 1877; and 1,570,638 gallons, 

 value ij 1 39,094, in 1878. Ela;is wine, a drink much 

 liked by the natives of Western Africa, is obtained by 

 cutting off the male flower-spike. The Europeans use 

 it as yeast for making bread. The main nerves of the 

 exterior of the pinna, and the exterior of the petiole, are 

 used for basket-work, for brooms, &c. At S. Paul de 

 Loango the fibre at the base of the leaves, and also 



