246 



THE AFEICAN OIL PALM. 



progress that lias been made in the commerce in this article is shown 

 by comparing the imports of 1840 with those of the last six years, 

 which have averaged one million hundredweights, and this is only 

 the British imports. 



Cwts. Cwts, 



1840 315,504 1870 868,270 



^ 1850 447,797 1875 904,562 



1860 804,326 



Marseilles also receives about 1000 tons, and the United States 

 some quantity. 



The oil rivers of Biafra and Benin extend over 800 miles of coast, 

 and include the island of Fernando Po. The chief exports consist of 

 palm oil and palm kernels. 



In 1872 the number of British traders was t^^^enty-four, and 

 there were two foreign. Those twenty-six palm-oil traders have fifty- 

 five trading establishments in seven rivers, and employ 207 white 

 agents, clerks, &c., 419 blacks, and 2000 kroomen. The Fernando Po 

 oil crop never exceeds 400 tons a year, and yet from the number of 

 oil palms there at least 4000 tons might be obtained, but the 25,000 

 aborigines do not care to produce more. More oil palms might be 

 grown, for ihere is abundance of room for them in the oil district, 

 though it is but a mere fringe of the African continent. But the 

 natives never think of planting oil palms. The river chiefs, now oil 

 brokers, were slave brokers formerly. 



The following table gives the quantity of palm oil imported into 

 the United Kingdom for a series of years : 





Cwts. 





Cwts. 



1840 



,, 315,504 



1859 , , 



685,794 



1841 ., . 



402,126 



1860 ,. 



804,326 

 740,332 



1842 .. . 



.. 424,242 



1861 , 







1862 , , 



865,890 



1844 ,. . 



. 414,648 

 .. 505,704 



1863 , 



790,224 



1845 ,. . 



1864 ,, 



666,582 

 798,724 



1846 , . 



,, 366,853 



1865 



1847 



476,301 



1866 



799,210 

 812,080 



1848 .. . 



510,218 



1867 .. 



1849 .. . 



493,831 



1868 ,, 



900,059 



1850 .. . 



,. 447,797 



1869 



814,520 



1851 , , 



608,550 



1870 .. 



, , 868,270 



1852 , . 



,, 523,813 



1871 .. 



,. 1,047,882 







1872 .. , 



,, 1,006,497 



1854 ,. . 



,, 752,618 



1873 ,. 



,. 1,017,947 



1855 .. . 



.. 810,394 



1874 .. . 



. .. 1,067,767 



1856 , , 



786,701 



1875 .. . 



904,562 

 , .. 864,472 



1857 



,. 854,791 



1876 , 









Palm-hernel Oil. — The kernels, with the exception of an insig- 

 nificant quantity used for the manufacture of oil for domestic purposes 

 in Africa, were formerly thrown away. Attention was first drawn to 

 their utilization in Liberia. Within the last fifteen years they have 

 been more generally collected and employed. The shell being broken, 

 the kernels are shipj)ed to be pressed for oil, &c. Vast extension of 

 the African trade has arisen out of this new article of export. 



