16 



The rate of exchange for brass rods is 3d. each or four to the 

 shilling, and 19 copper wires (Citims) are equal in value to one 

 brass rod * ; Manillas f are of different values, Abbie or Prince 

 Manillas and Atorni or Wa-a-hono Manillas are valued at the rate 

 of 12 for one shilling, Ama-ogono at 24 for a shilling and 

 Awirawu Manillas at 6 for a shilling sterling, Cowries also vary 

 in value, 1,000-2,000, and even as many as 3,000 may be reckoned 

 for one shilling. The slave currency in Northern Nigeria was 

 usually only employed over large deals, and this form will now 

 pass away automatically with the abolition cf slavery. 



Further importations of all the metallic forms of currency have 

 been prohibited and also the cowries. With a view to their 

 ultimate replacement, a subsidiary coinage of nickel-bronze 

 pennies (Nigerian pennies) and aluminium tenths of a penny 

 has recently been approved and circulated. 



Botany. 



The Niger Flora, by Sir W. J. Hooker and Mr. George Bentham, 

 published in 1819, was the first important work in connection 

 with Tropical Africa. It was based chiefly on the collections made 

 by Dr. Theodore Vogel and Mr. Ansell during the Niger Expedi- 

 tion of 1811, and the plants described therein are now embodied 

 in the Flora of Tropical Africa. 



The preparation of the Flora of Tropical Africa, at the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Kew, was sanctioned by the Treasury in 1864, 

 and three volumes were published under the editorship of 

 Professor D. Oliver between 1868 and 1877. The work then fell 

 into abeyance, but in 1891, at the request of Lord Salisbury, its 

 preparation was resumed under the editorship of Sir W. T. 

 Thiselton-Dyer. Seven of the nine volumes (one being in two 

 sections) have now been published, and the two remaining volumes, 

 6 and 9, are in course of preparation. 



The following brief summaryj of the whole work shows the 

 condition and progress made up to 1906 : — 



" The conclusion of the fourth Volume of the Flora of Tropical 

 Africa affords an opportunity for briefly summarising the whole 

 of its contents with regard to the progress which it marks in the 

 botanical survey of tropical Africa. 



" When, in 1891, it was decided to resume the preparation of the 

 Flora of Tropical Africa, one volume was assigned to the orders 

 Oleaceae to Pedaliaceae of Bentham and Hooker's 'Genera 



* The difficulties of transport are much enhanced by currency of this 

 nature. The Rods weigh each 8 ozs., and are approx. ^-inch wire, 3 ft. long and 

 bent round to a length of 18 ins. Calculating 60 lbs. to a load for one man 

 this would mean 120 rods (30s.), but being dead weight, 100 rods so far as I 

 remember, were considered sufficient for a load. The wires are about 2 ft. 6 ins. 

 long bent in half like the rods, and weigh barely half an ounce, the 19 weighing 

 just about 8 ozs. 



fThe Manilla resembles an ancient Irish Bronze Fibula. 



X Kew Bulletin, 1906, pp. 210-241 



