243 



The price appears to have always been low, in 1850 it averaged 

 6s. to 10s. per 100 billets ; in 1876, 6s. to 8s. for the same number 

 [in Gaboon], and in Europe Jc3-5s. to £3-15s. per ton (I.e.). In 

 1906 it was valued in Liverpool at £2-15s. per ton (Hillier, Kew 

 Bull. 1906, p. 375), and in 1909 it realised £3-7s.-6d. per ton at 

 Liverpool (Rayner & Co. W. C. Afr. Prod. Rep. 6th Aug. 1909). 



Although formerly of some importance it now appears to be 

 practically unsaleable in this country (Hillier, I.e.) 



The natives near Ododobo, Cross River, prepare the dye for 

 colouring their bodies in the following way : the dry wood is cut up 

 into small chips, pounded with stones in circular holes cut [or 

 worn ?] in the solid rock. After being well pounded in a dry state 

 it is sieved through a small basket, and the coarse stuff remaining 

 again pounded. The disintegrated bark is then pounded in a moist 

 state, made into cakes (about 12 in. x 9 in. x 3 in.), and dried. The 

 work is done chiefly by the women. 



Billington observed a similar method at Frufa (Report Expedition 

 to Cross River, in Africa No. 1, 1895, p. 31). 



The trunks of Barwood are cut out into canoes by the natives of 

 the Oil Rivers and the countries further south to Batanga, &c. 

 (Walker, in Report Bot. St. Aburi, 31st Dec. 1892). The wood from 

 this region is also used at Sheffield for making knife handles (Director 

 Kew, 2nd Oct. 1891, to Colonial Office). 



The dye-wood weighs 48 lbs. per cubic foot, calculated from the 

 specific gravity (-7785) of a commercial sample in the Kew Museum, 

 from the Gaboon. 



There has been considerable confusion in the nomenclature of 

 Barwood and Camwood, but [the woods are easily distinguished, 

 since Camwood is heavier (see BapMa nit i da) and Barwood lighter 

 than water. 



Re/. — " Barwood : The Commerce of the Gaboon," Walker, in 



Journ. Soc. Arts, xxiv. 1876, pp. 590-591. " Barwood (Pterocarpw 



Soyauxii, Taub.)," Hillier in Kew Bull. 1906, pp. 373-375. 



Pterocarpus tinctorius, Weliv. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 239. 



Vernac. names. — Taciila or Tucula (Angola, Welwitsch, De Wilde- 

 man) ; Hula, Mubiri or Lucula (Golungo Alto, Welwitsch) ; Muangue 

 (Pungo Andongo, Welwitsch). — Redwood. 



Mamu, Ife and Ilesha Forests, W. Province, S. Nigeria ; Angola. 



Wood and root yields a dye similar to that of Barwood ; the 

 colouring matter in the root is said to exist in greater proportion and 

 to be more deeply coloured than that in the wood (Hiern, Cat. Welw. 

 Afr. PI. i. p. 278). In Pungo Andongo, newly-born children are 

 frequently painted all over as soon as possible with the red dye made 

 from the pounded root, and stylish ladies on festive occasions never 

 appear without having their feet coloured with the dye to imitate 

 shoes or slippers. The pounded root also furnishes a drug in general 

 use among the natives of Angola, as the principal panacea for the cure 

 of illness, and mixed with various vegetable and mineral substances, 

 the sawdust is used in the composition of charms and for the decora- 

 tion of the body ; it is sold in all the markets and all the native tribes 

 believe in its virtue (I.e. p. 279). In Sierra Leone the ground-up dye 

 wood of this species from S. Nigeria is used in preference to thai oi 



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