OILS AND FATS, ETC. ' 347 



Independent of these in the rivers Malemba, Boreah, and Kampo, 

 palm oil is bought by coasting vessels, chiefly American and French, 

 and some oil is taken by each of the African Steam Company's vessels. 

 At Porto Novo, Onim and Ajuda, the shipments sometimes reach 4,000 

 tons yearly. 



The palm nut tree grows as far up in the interior as Zheru, a dis- 

 tance of 400 miles from the sea, or the mouth of the Min, one of the 

 embouchures of the Niger. 



Bonny supplies the largest amount of palm oil that is brought from 

 any river in Western Africa. There are generally from 12 to 15 vessels 

 in the stream, and these comprise an average tonnage of 9 to 12,000 tons. 



In 1836, only 13,850 tons of palm oil were imported into England 

 from Western Africa ; in 1861, upwards of 37,000 tons were received 

 here. 



Egga and Eabba, up the Niger, are the chief places of the manufac- 

 ture of shea butter, a fat from the Bassia palm-nut already described, 

 Technologist, vol. i. p. 217. But abundance of the trees from which 

 it is produced are met with up the Shadda. 



A superior kind of oil for cooking, used in Eastern Africa, is the 

 " uto " extracted from the infuta simsim (Sesamum), which grows every- 

 where on the coast, and extends far into the interior. The process of 

 pressing is managed by pounding the seed dry in a huge mortar ; when 

 the oil begins to appear, a little hot water is poured in, and the mass is 

 forcibly squeezed with huge pestles ; all that floats is then ladled out into 

 pots and gourds. Oil is extracted from the two varieties of the castor - 

 plant, and in spite of its unsavoury smell, it is extensively used as an 

 unguent by the people. At Unyanyembe, and other places where the 

 cucumber grows almost wild, the Arabs derive from its seed an admir- 

 able salad oil, which, in flavour, equals and perhaps, surpasses, the finest 

 produce of the olive. 



Petroleum Oils. — Specimens of these oils were shown in the 

 United States and Canada collections, and two samples made from Bar- 

 bados tar. This oozes out of the ground, and is skimmed off the sur- 

 face of a small pool of water in the island of Barbados. 



Mr. Charles Humfrey gives the following report of an analysis he 

 made of it : 



" This tar was of a dark brown colour, very viscid, with a faint 

 pleasant smell, its specific gravity *940. 



Ten ounces distilled gave : — . 



\ oz. water. 



5 oz. crude oil, No. 1, sp. gr. "912. 

 4 oz. crude oil, No. 2, sp. gr. "927. 

 \ oz. coke, left in crucible. 



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