236 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
growing, shade-bearing tree. It likes a somewhat rich soil, but 
can, however, stand in water, and apparently withstands floods. 
Natural regeneration appears to be good. 
The timber has not been cut for export nor for local use. 
The fronds are occasionally used for a similar purpose as that 
of R. vinifera, and sometimes the leaves also. 
Native Use.—The fronds and leaves are used in a similar 
way to those of R. vinifera. The base of the leaf stalk is cut 
off into lengths up to 6 feet (it almost encircles the tree and 
extends much further up than in the case of R. vinifera) and 
laid in stagnant water. After the intervening substance between 
the fibres has got more or less soft and partly rotted away, 
the whole is taken out and the fibres cleaned with a kind of 
comb. These are then dried, and packed together in bundles 
of 20 pounds upwards, and sold to the European factory as 
Piassava. This industry is more widespread in the Eket 
district of the Calabar province, but it has taken a great number 
of years of thought and careful attention to bring it up to its 
present dimensions. The cutting of the leaves is undertaken 
mostly by the men and the rotting and cleaning of the fibre 
mostly by the women. Before the war Piassava fibre was 
rarely worth more than £28 per ton. It is now worth over 
£70. Unless, however, a price of at least £20 per ton is offered 
in Liverpool market for this fibre, it is doubtful if the industry 
can be made profitable for everyone concerned, producers 
included. 
Raphia vinifera. The Palm Wine Tree, or Tombo Palm, or Bamboo, 
the last named being the name used by the English-speaking 
Jekris. Ako (Yoruba); Emmaha Augor (Benin); Oukot 
(Efik). 
It is found in the Abeokuta, Ondo, Benin, Warri, Owerri 
and Calabar provinces and the Colony of Nigeria, at the edges 
of the streams and rivers in the evergreen forest zone, where 
it grows in large groups and pure forests. 
It is a medium-sized palm, growing separately with one 
stem, which clears itself of the leaf fronds for about half its 
height. between the twelfth and fifteenth year. The trunk 
then is comparatively smooth, except for the very large scars 
of the leaf stalk. The fronds are the longest of any of the 
African palms, reaching sometimes a length of 40 feet, roughly 
sickle shaped ; in section they reach about 2 inches diameter 
at the broadest part, and are a yellow-brown colour. The 
leaves come out from the stalk almost at a right angle, thus 
making them much wider and, owing to their greater length, 
much finer and heavier foliage than that of the Oil Palm, or 
