320 
The methods which prevailed in South America should be 
studied and adopted if eee practicable here. A short account 
of the preparation of the Para rubber, which is the premier rubber 
of the world and is shia saad from a large tree which forms 
extensive forests in the lowlands of the Amazon, was published at 
the recent Agricultural Exhibition, and the curator is now drawing 
up an account of other ees which may be suitable to the 
rubber industry of this c 
The natives of the ener require to be trained in an intelligent 
way of working, not only i in the preparation of rubber, but also in 
that of oan Es ne reds to think that for the purpose of 
extracting a few or say, even pounds, of rubber, large 
trees edt be felled, yd is the case now, not to m ention vines, 
and so completely destroyed. In the territory of the Amazon, 
each rubber tree is made to yield an annual crop, and the bark, 
instead of being ringed, has a number of incisions made in it as 
far up the trunk as the hand can reach, and the milk is caught in 
little hollowed-out lumps of clay which are placed below each 
incision. This work is done by the e Indians, and there is no reason 
why the aborigines of the interior should not be taught to adopt 
similar methods. If the traders who purchase the rubber an 
other wey done products would inform the Government in what 
direction they consider reforms should be introduced in the 
ptevailtüg systems of gathering such produce, the Government 
would, I feel sure, lend an attentive ear to their suggestions. 
The "forests in the Kuniki and Koranko districts are, relatively 
speaking, very accessible from here ; Magbeli, from which place 
they can be entered, being distant about seven days’ easy marching, 
and there is water carriage for light canoes from Benkia, two 
marches from Magbeli, down the Roquelle river. 
But these forests are small compared to those on the Anglo- 
Liberian frontier, along the Morro and Mano rivers, which extend 
for 800 or 1,000 miles. Had it not been for the border raids which 
have been carried on for the last eighteen.to twenty Lien. I à 
no doubt they would have been exploited long ago; but ther 
an oppo rtunity, now that the raiding has attegethar ceased, tor 
opening up these forests, which abound in rubber and ele phants, 
and the southern portions of which are within two days' journey 
of Sulima. 
DLXXX.—BUTTER AND TALLOW TREE OF SIERRA 
LEONE. 
(Pentadesma butyracea, Don.) 
This noble tree of West Africa is a member of the — 
times attains a height of 70 ft.; the large glossy leaves are from 
5 to 10 in. long, the flowers are abundant, very handsome, and 
succeeded by a large, lemon-shaped bro wn berr rry, 6 in. long and 
diameter, with one or Posse or — M mper 
seeds. The plant was described by Sabine in the iens 
of the Horticultural Society (vol. v., 1824, p. 457) as the * * Butter 
and Tallow tree," It has recently been figured in Hooker's 
