June 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE KOLA-NUT. 521 



a pure and agreeable liquid. No statement could be so far from tbe 

 truth. This error had doubtless proceeded from the circumstance that 

 it is necessary, for their preservation, to retain them for a short period 

 daily in water, otherwise they would become dried up and lose their 

 essential qualities. With the object, therefore, of testing the value of 

 this supposed purificatory influence in the West Indies, I placed a few 

 of the fresh seeds in a large tumbler of stinking river-water ; no change 

 was perceived until after a few days, when a quantity of ropy mucus 

 was generated, which, so far from assisting in the removal of the foetid 

 effluvia, had quite the reverse effect, the incipient decomposition of the 

 seeds themselves increasing the offensive odours. 



The introduction of the Kola- or Guru-nut into the kingdoms of 

 Northern Africa may be assumed to be of a comparatively modern 

 epoch, for little, if any, mercantile connection was held with the pagan 

 tribes until after their conversion to Mahommedanism by the Arab or 

 Berber invaders. The first mention I can trace relative to this plant, 

 is in the travels of Leo Africanus, who explored a large extent of Cen- 

 tral Africa, about the middle of the sixteenth century. He briefly 

 adverts tc* the fact that no trees were observed in the territory through 

 which he passed, but a few of great size, yielding a bitter fruit 

 resembling a chestnut, and denominated by the inhabitants Goro or 

 Guro* 



From this period until that of Lucas's visit to Northern Africa in 

 1797, no valid information respecting their intervening history has been 

 promulgated worthy of credit. Lucas's account of these nuts teems 

 with descriptive errors, so that but little reliance can be placed on his 

 statements, evidently gained from secondary sources. Under the 

 Soudan term of Guru-nuts, he enumerates them with gold dust, slaves, 

 and other products, among the usual articles of commerce -imported by 

 the Fezzan merchants from the negro states south of the Niger. They 

 were esteemed a pleasant bitter, and became so grateful to those familiar 

 with their employment, as the means of changing the brackish and 

 unwholesome waters of Fez into a more palatable drink, as to be con- 

 sidered of essential importance to the comforts of life. 



Lyons, and subsequently other travellers, supply far more accurate 

 and trustworthy knowledge of this product. By the designation of 

 Goor, Guru, or Kolla, they were brought to the markets of Mourzuk 

 for sale from Dagumba, Ashanti, and other circumjacent regions, in 

 parcels, enwrapped by a peculiar kind of leaf, which, by being occa- 

 sionally moistened by water, retained their freshness, and thus main- 

 tained their value for months. This mode of preservation is like- 



* " Ma no v' ha frutto di niuna sorte; eccetto alcuni frutti clie producono 

 alberi molti grandi, iquali si assomighano, alle castagne matengouo alquanto dell' 

 amaro. Questi arbori si discontano dal flume verso ia terra ferma ; il frutto, 

 ch' io dico, e chiamatonella lor lingua Goro." — Delia Descrittione dell' Africa, &c, 

 per Giovan Africano : Viaggi da Ramusio, part 1, page 9. Edit. Venice, 1613. 



