THE TECHNOLOGIST. [June 1, 1865. 



622 THE KOLA-NtJ*. 



wise pursued by the caravan returning from the coastal districts to Kano 

 and other marts of Central Africa, the leaf of a species of PJirynium, or 

 other succulent plant, being resorted to for a similar purpose. For it is 

 well known that if they are permitted to become dry and shrivelled, 

 they lose, not only their mercantile demand, but a considerable portion 

 of their bitterness. In this condition they are termed in Tripoli, Kowda, 

 and are held to be of inferior estimation. According to Lyons, the 

 seeds in their fresh state sell in Fezzan at the rate of four per dollar, a 

 price that virtually precludes their enjoyment by the poorer classes of 

 people. These so valued luxuries are offered to visitors as a substitute for 

 coffee, being handed round on salvers ; hence the frequent application 

 of the title, the coffee of the blacks, or of Soudan, bestowed on them. 

 If some of the native reports be trusted, when, in former years, a great 

 scarcity of this fruit prevailed, owing to a long-continued dearth, so 

 difficult was it to procure a few of the nuts, that a slave was frequently 

 given in exchange for one. 



Denham, Clapperton, and the more recent travellers Bichardson, 

 Barth, &c, who have traversed many extensive kingdoms of Central 

 Africa, likewise furnish incidental notices of this popular tonic and 

 stomachic. The last-named traveller has, however, entered more fully 

 into the details of the subject, stating that they were considered the 

 greatest luxuries that negro-land, or Soudan, could afford, and, as articles 

 of trade, were daily increasing in importance, as might be gleaned from 

 the fact that they comprehended, with gold-dust and salt, the three 

 staple commodities that supplied and governed the markets of Tim- 

 buktu. A few imperfect outlines respecting their botanical origin 

 renders it necessary that I should revert to his statements in a future 

 portion of this paper. 



My knowledge of the tonic and astringent properties of the Kola- 

 seeds commences so far back as 1850, when in garrison at Fort 

 Christian sburg, on the Gold Coast, West Africa, then but recently 

 transferred to the British Crown. With other diseases endemic to the 

 settlement, a particular form of diarrhoea often prevailed among the 

 European population, caused more by local relaxation of the mucous 

 membranes, and other visceral structures, than from constitutional debility. 

 For its cure, the white inhabitants were in the habit of administering a 

 decoction of the fresh seeds, and with apparent benefit. Experi- 

 encing a similar form of attack, I was relieved by resorting to the same 

 remedy. 



This affection having supervened whilst recently residing in Jamaica, 

 I followed the same system of treatment ; but, much to my surprise, on 

 taking the medicine late, two evenings in succession, found that I was 

 deprived of sleep during the remainder of the night. Uncertain whether 

 this insomnia proceeded from some temporary constitutional idiosyncrasy 

 or an inherent peculiarity belonging to the fre=h seeds, I intermitted taking 

 the decoction for a few days, and with the intermission the natural rest 



