THE OIL PALM. 



527 



are restored, a most important trade will undoubtedly arise there. 

 A generation ago, when palm oil was merely an article of food, 

 there was, we have said, no property in palm trees. Since, how- 

 ever, a large foreign demand has arisen for this oil, the plantations, 

 as already they are called, begin to be cared for ; and lately the 

 title to some of them has been disputed in our courts on the Grold 

 Coast : a contention which constitutes the first evidence we have 

 received of the value of land, not actually under their own cultiva- 

 tion, being recognised by the natives. Thus the feeling of pro- 

 perty and the desire for accumulation are springing up out of the 

 palm oil trade ; and they are everywhere the germs of nascent 

 civilisation. It is no light question, therefore, thus involved in an 

 increased demand for this article ; it may produce African conse- 

 quences of incalculable importance to the whole human race. It 

 is in France hitherto that the great consumption of ground nut 

 oil has occurred. It is there used in the manufacture of soaps, 

 which, though preferred abroad, are little used in England — very 

 much because of the Excise laws. The specific gravity of the soap 

 made out of ground nut oil is higher than those laws permitted ; 

 in consequence we could neither make it for our own use nor for 

 foreign exportation ; and thus France has substantially the soap 

 trade of the world. By the repeal of the duty, England will be 

 enabL^d to compete — in this, as in all other trades — with France 

 abroad." 



The price, in Liverpool, for palm oil, in October, 1853, was 

 £38 10s. to £39 per ton. 



We export annually nearly four million gallons of oil made from 

 linseed, hemp seed, and rape seed. 



PALM OIL KETAINED FOR HOME CONSUMPTION 



cwts. 



1835 242.733 



1836 234,357 



1837 211,919 



1838 272,991 



1839 262,910 



1840 314,881 



1841 300,770 



1842 353,672 



1843 



1844 



1848 



1849 



1850 448,589 



1851 493,598 



1852 408,577 



cwts. 



377,765 

 363,335 

 510,218 

 493,331 



The quantity of the four principal vegetable oils annually im- 

 ported into Grreat Britain, is shown by the following figures : — 



Palm oil. Coco-nut oil. Castor oil. Olive oil. 



cwts. cwts. cwts. tuns. 



510,218 85,463 4,588 .... 10,086 



493,331 64,452 . .. 9,681 16,964 



448,589 .... 98,040 .... — .... 20,738 



608,550 .... 55,995 — ... 11,503 



523,231 .... 101,863 .... — ... 8,898 



The Olive-teee {Olea Europea). — There are several varieties 

 of this plant, two of which have been long distinguished— the wild 

 and the cultivated. The former is an evergreen shrub or low 

 tree, with spiny branches and round twigs ; the latter is a taller 



1848 

 1849 

 1850 

 1851 

 1852 



