104 AFRICAN PALMS. 



Uses : Dried pinnae of leaves used for making ropes, bags, mats, hats, 

 and for tying thatch. Long midrib of leaves, often upwards of thirty 

 feet in length, used in construction of roofs of houses, for poling canoes, 

 for making seats, couches, &c. The soft inside part of this used for 

 making a large kind of mat used in travelling, and called by Hansa and 

 Ntipe " Memme." Sap used as a kind of Palm-wine, and much 

 relished by the drunken savages of the coast. Fruit occasionally eaten 

 (the mesocarp), but bitter, and in a few places, as in Ktipa, oil is made 

 from it. The fibre of the midrib is also woven with cotton into a kind 

 of cloth in Benin and Y6ruba. 



Family Borassace.<e : — 1. Borassus czthiopum, African Fan Palm. 

 Nearest approach to sea along river Niger in Ibo, nearly 150 miles up. 

 In Yoruba and some other places it is found very near the sea, abun- 

 dantly scattered throughout Bonu, Ntipe, Hansa, Bdrnu, scarce in Margi, 

 abundant along banks of river Binuwe in Kororofa, and Humarruwa in 

 Adam&wa, and in the west in Borgti and Gurma. Wherever it is plenti- 

 ful elephants abound as they are very fond of its fruit. 



Uses: Wood used in building. Fruit edible and pleasant, though 

 with a slight terebinthine flavour. Pulp beaten with milk in Hansa. 

 Boot-buds of seeds taken as an annual crop in October and November, 

 and the spindle-shaped body roasted -and eaten, and very palatable. Sap 

 used as a kind of Palm wine. Mats and hats made of leaves. Of very 

 slow growth, and the tallest of the African palms, trees of 70 or 80 feet 

 being often met with. Bemarkable for the great swelling of its trunk, 

 generally about two-thirds from the ground. 



2. Hyph.ce.ne Thebaica, Dum Palm. Most abundant in G6bir, Mauri, 

 Kabbi, Azben, northern parts of H£nsa, B6rnu, Margi; scattered in 

 southern parts of Hdnsa, Ntipe, at Hdrin, and in Borgti ; the most 

 southern station is at Luk&ja, where I have planted them. Uses: Friut 

 edible and very pleasant ; kernels made into little perfume boxes at 

 Kiino ; leaves used for mats and the best kind of hats at Sdkoto and 

 Gwandu. 



3. Geonoma sp. Found by Barter growing near the Niger. 

 Family Coryphace.e. — 1. Phcenix dactylifera (Date Palm). — In 



Azben, northern parts of Hdnsa, K&bi, &c, but a few are found in South 

 Hansa, in Ntipe, where they bear fruit, and at Horin. They are now 

 growing at Lukoja. Uses : Fruit an important article of food. 



2. P. spinosa (Spiny Date). — In delta of Nun and Brass, in upper 

 parts of Yoruba, in Nupe, Kimbari, Zariva, Bautsi, Kororofa, and 

 Adamawa, generally with Oil Palms. Uses : Leaves extensively employed 

 in Nupe and Zariya for making fine mats. 



Family Cococe^e. — 1. Elais Guineensis (Oil Palm). — Most abun- 

 dant in Ibo, Benin, Y6ruba, and Bonti ; also very abundant in Kororofa, 

 and in countries behind Adamawa. Plentiful in Bautsi, Zarya, Gbari, 

 and Ntipe. Plentiful along road to G6uja. Extends along Niger to near 



