THE DOUM PALM. 



291 



not consider dates and various otter minor fruits worthy of record. 

 In 1860 only 11,300 cwt. were received. The imports in later years 

 were : — 



Year. 



Quantity. 



Value. 



1867 

 1868 

 1869 

 1870 



cwts. 

 33,443 

 35,112 

 18,775 

 93,873 



£ 



35,393 

 35,223 

 32,957 

 70,611 



The Spiny Date {Phoenix spinosus, Thonning) is met with in the 

 delta of Nun and Brass, West Africa, and in some parts of Central 

 Africa, generally with the oil palms. The leaves are extensively 

 employed in Nupe and Zarcya for making fine mats. This palm ex- 

 tends from tropical Africa to the Cape Colony, where it is indigenous. 

 Dr. Kirk found the green bunches, if immersed in water for half a 

 day, suddenly to assume a scarlet hue, and then the astringent pulp 

 to become edible and sweet. 



The Wine or Bamboo Palm (BapJiia vinifera, Beauv. ; Sagus 

 vinifera, Poiret ; Metroxylon vinifera, Spr.). — This West African palm 

 is constant along mouths and in deltas of rivers ; also, according to 

 Dr. Baikie, inland, in moist places in Ibo, Benin, Yoruba, Dahomi, 

 &c., and still farther from the sea, in Kororofa, Adamawa, Bautsi, 

 Yuriya, Gbari, Nupe, Kambari (as far as near to Yauri), Borgu, 

 Gurma, and along the road to Gonja. The greatest known distance 

 from the sea is the town of Kuno, and more than 400 miles from 

 the sea. 



The dried pinnae of the leaves used for making ropes, pretty bags and 

 mats, dyed hats, and for tying thatch. Long midrib of leaves, often 

 upwards of 30 feet in length, used in construction of roofs of houses, 

 for poling canoes, for making seats, couches, &c. The soft inside 

 part of this used for making a large kind of mat used in travelling, 

 and called by Hansa and Nupe " Memme." Sap used as a kind of 

 palm wine, termed Bourdon, and much relished by the drunken 

 savages of the coast. Fruit occasionally eaten (the mesocarp), but 

 bitter, and in a few places, as in Kiipa, oil is made from it. The fibre 

 of the midrib is also woven with cotton into a kind of cloth in Benin 

 and Yoruba. 



The DouM Palm of Upper Egypt (Eyphene Thehaica, Mart. ; 

 H. crinita, Gaert.), grows away from the sea. The fruit of this is 

 much larger than that of the date palm, and is equally nutritious. 

 The pulp of the fruit is brown and mealy, and has both the taste and 

 colour of gingerbread ; hence one of its common names is the ginger- 

 bread tree. The spongy, internal portion of the fruit of this palm 

 forms an important article of food, and when mixed with an infusion 

 of dates, it constitutes a cooling drink, much prescribed by the Arabs 

 in febrile affections as cooling and demulcent. 



The kernel is turned into beads for rosaries, and little perfume 



u 2 



