THE TECHNOLOGIST. [May 1, 1864. 



474 AFRICAN VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



bright red of the English bandana handkerchiefs is procured from th e 

 latter wood. Both woods are the produce of one tree, and the com- 

 mercial difference would seem to be selected varieties according to the 

 amount of colour contained in them, camwood fetching in the markets 

 nearly four times the price of barwood. The wood is occasionally used 

 for turning small articles, and also for the smaller kinds of furniture 

 work. Turmeric is likewise used by the natives of South-Western 

 Africa as a dye, while Henna, the powdered leaves of Lawsonia inermis, 

 is known by them as well as by the natives of the more ancient and 

 historical Egypt. 



Of fruits, seeds, &c, having oleaginous properties, there are many. 

 Cocoa-nut, sesamum, and ground-nuts are all articles of export from 

 Zanzibar, chiefly to Marseilles. The cocoa-nut grows in immense forests. 

 The oil is not expressed for exportation, but the dry copperah is sent in 

 large quantities for expression by European machinery ; a large trade is 

 also done in the seed of the sesamum (Sesamum Indica), and ground- 

 nuts (Arachis hypogecea). Both these oils are well-knowm in this country, 

 as much in the manufacture of soap as for burning in lamps ; sesamum 

 oil is also much employed for adulterating olive oil. The principal 

 African oil seed, however, is that now so well-known and so extensively 

 used in the manufacture of candles, the Elais guineensis. This is a 

 native of Western Africa, and is imported into Liverpool in immense 

 quantities. The introduction of this oil by Price's Patent Candle 

 Company has been the means of giving employment to thousands in 

 this country as well as of establishing a profitable speculation in 

 Western Africa, and in some measure supplanting the slave traffic. 

 Of seeds which are at present quite unknown in commerce, but which 

 would appear to have great claims upon the attention of the soap 

 and candle maker, may be mentioned, firstly, those of Trichilia 

 capitata, known on the Zambesi as " Motsakiri" seeds ; these are 

 small black seeds, about half an inch long, and contain a large 

 quantity of solid fat, which would no doubt prove a valuable addition 

 to our oil seeds were they exported. These seeds are the produce of a 

 large, handsome tree, growing abundantly in the vicinity of rivers. The 

 natives apply the wood to the manufacture of small canoes. The castor 

 oil is also found growing wild in this part of Africa, and attains a height 

 of from 12 to 14 feet. On the west side of Lake Nyassa, Dr. Kirk 

 discovered a small oil palm, in habit quite unlike that of the West 

 Coast, but more resembling the date palm. The albumen was found to 

 contain an abundance of oil, very similar to palin oil. It is not known 

 to be in use in any way whatever amongst the natives. The tree, which 

 grows to about 40 feet high, was not seen in great abundance anywhere. 

 A nut, much resembling an almond, both in shape and size, and called 

 by the natives " Boma nut," yields an abundance of a sweet fluid oil, 

 much used by the natives in their cooking. The fruit itself, with the 

 fleshy covering, is about the size of a walnut. The natives cultivate 



