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THE SHEA BUTTER OF AFRICA. 



Small quantities of this soft solid oil, mentioned by Mungo Park in his 

 Travels, have recently come into commerce from the TVest Coast of Africa ; 

 and, as comparatively little is known of its origin, the following particulars 

 may prove of interest. 



This oil or butter is obtained from the fruits of Bassia Parlcii, by boiling 

 them in water. It is called by the natives in some parts ori, and is now 

 exported from Abbeokuta. Like the butter of Bassia butyracea and other 

 allied species in the East, it has a medicinal repute, being esteemed in rheu- 

 matism and contraction of the limbs. In India Bassia butter is used by 

 natives of rank, perfumed, as an unction. Before describing the African 

 shea butter, we may allude to the Indian fats. 



1. That obtained from the fruits of Bassia longifolia by expression is 

 called Illoopei oil. It is used for burning in lamps, and for making soap, 

 and is a common substitute for ghee and cocoa-nut oil in the curries and 

 dishes of the common people. 



2. The seeds of B. latifolia also yield a large quantity of oil by expres- 

 sion, which is only used by the common people for burning. It has been 

 imported into this country under the name of Mohwa oil, and recently 

 under the name of vegetable oil, from Calcutta. It is usually of a greenish 

 white colour, having hardly any taste or smell, and of the consistence of 

 common butter. It melts at 97° Fahr., and is composed of 56 parts solid 

 and 44 of fluid oil. The Bassia latifolia is produced plentifully in Bengal. 



3. Bassia butyracea produces a fine vegetable butter, which bears the 

 name of Fulwa or Phulwara butter in Nepal and Almora, and is a soft solid 

 at 95 9 . The kernels of the fruit are bruised to the consistence of cream, 

 which is then put into a cloth bag, with a moderate weight upon it, and 

 left to stand till the oil or fat is expressed ; it becomes immediately of the 

 consistence of hog's lard, and is of a delicate white colour. Dr. Adams, in 

 the " Voyage of the Samarang," says a concrete oil is obtained in Borneo 

 from the expressed boiled fruit of either Bassia longifolia of Linnaeus, or 

 B. butyracea of Roxburgh. It is made up into large round flattened cakes 

 of the consistence and colour of cheese, and also in cylindrical masses, which 

 have assumed the form of the bamboo-joints, into which it had been poured 

 when in a liquid state. Judging from some cotydelons which were imported 

 not long since, as the source of the Borneo vegetable tallow, that concrete 

 oil must be referred to another, at present undefined, tree. 



4. Shea butter (Bassia Parkii). The following extract from " De Caille's 

 Travels," vol. i. p. 311, furnishes the most full details we have met 

 with : — 



" The butter tree or ce is very abundant in the neighbourhood of Time. 

 It grows spontaneously, and in height and appearance resembles the pear 

 tree. The leaves grow in tufts, supported by a very short foot stalk. They 

 are round at the top, and, when the tree is young, they are six inches long. 



