THE TROPICAL AQ«lt5tILTUmST. 
[October t, 1890 . 
256 
belief is held that moat, if not all, will soon do the 
same. It is the opinion of some of the objectors that 
the scheme is a mere trap into which to drag Indian 
Tea to the ultimate advantage of China Tea. It should 
be understood, to make the reasons for this opinion 
clear, that outsiders are rarely tempted to speculate in 
tea, and that the market thus made is the sport of a 
small group who play shuttlecock with contracts 
between themselves, and create a fictitious quotation 
at their own sweet will. Thus they can at any time 
send up the prices. It is not by any means impossible 
that the uncertainty thus crested in the case of China 
Teas, has not done much to disgust Grocers with the 
vagaries of China Teas of late, to the great advantage 
of India Teas . — Indian Planters’ Gazette. 
■ ♦ 
THE KOLA NUT AND ITS PKEPAEATIONS. 
Amongst the vegetable products of the Great Dark 
Continent, perhaps none are more interesting than 
those which, under the various names of Itola, gourov,, 
otnhene. naru/ouCi and lolckorolcou, are used as articles 
of consumption throughout tropical and equatorial 
Africa, and for preparing beverages equivalent to our 
tea, coffee and cocoa. African explorers have often 
described the uses of the kola nuts. They are used 
medicinally in the cure and prevention of disease ; 
they play an important part in the social customs 
of many of the tribe.s, figuring as emblems in the 
formalities of declaring war, making peace, and 
marriage. So high a value is placed upon these nuts 
In certain parts of Central Africa, where they are 
not grown, that they are readily purchased for an 
equal weight of gold-dust. The kola nut is the fruit 
or seed of the Sterculia acuminata, a tree which grows 
to a height of from thirty to sixty feet, and in its 
general aspect resembles that of the English chesnut 
tree. There are at least two varieties of the kola, 
so-called, which are yielded by two families of plants, 
and dift’er very much in appearance, but the kind 
which is most widely distributed is the “ true kola,” 
which is called by some of the natives the “ female 
kola.” The true kola grows wild upon the western 
coast of Africa comprised between Sierra Leone and 
the Congo or Lower Guinea, and extending inland 
some five or six hundred miles, when it appears to 
fol'ow the limits of the palm. It is also found grow- 
ing wild in the country of the Momboutous (24° E. 
long., 3° N. lat.), and in the moist hot woods near 
the southern coast of Venezuela, but is believed to 
have been sown in this latter country by African 
negroes about the same time as it was introduced 
in Martinique. 
The kola tree commences to yield a crop about the 
fourth or fifth year, and by the time it is ten years 
old the tree is m full bearing. Like the orange tree, 
the flowering is continuous, blossoms and fruit occur, 
ring at the same time. The crop is gathered in 
October and Novembei, and again in May and June. 
The ripe kola nut consists of a brownish-yellow cap- 
sule, inclosing both red and white seeds, which vary 
in number from five to fifteen. They are collected 
with great care by women, wh > remove the husk 
and episperm an 1 pick out all damaged seeds. The 
sound seeds are placed in large bark baskets lined 
with bal ” leaves, and then are ready for transport. 
Ill Africa, the kola nut is an important commodity 
in the caravan trade, and the _ great centres 
of this trade are in Goree and Gambia. In the form 
of a dried powder these nut-i find a ready sale at 
fabulous prices even so far away as the remote Son- 
dan and Tirnbuctoo. In addition to those native uses 
ot the kola to which we have already n furred, it 
is used, fresh, as a “ masticatory,” for improving foul 
water, and fur rendering tainted meat edible, also 
for enabling persons to undergo jirolonge 1 exertion 
without fatigue. Somo of the tribes of the interior 
make a very agreeable, slimuliiting and nourishing 
bevetuge by mixing the powered nuts with milk and 
honey. As to the chemistry ot tlie kola nut, this has 
chiefly been investigated by Ileckel and Schlagd n- 
hauffeu. who have made a largo number of expcrimimt®. 
The dried seeds were finely powdered and treated with 
chloroform, and also exhausted with alcohol and boil- 
ing water. In each case a careful examination of the 
matters taken up in solution was made. These 
analyses revealed high percentages of caffeine (the 
active principle of tea and coffee) and theobromine 
(the active principle of cocoa), and at once suggested 
the suitability of preparing a beverage from kola nuts, 
of the same character as tea, coffee, and cocoa. And 
in view of this it is instructive t o compare typical results 
obtained in the analysis of these substances. In e.ach 
case the authority is given. 
Caceo 
(Mitscherlich 
Coffee 
(Payen). 
Green tea 
(Peliglot). 
Black tea. 
(Peliglot) 
02 
.S-n 
o 
W « 
K 
Fat 
53'00 
1300 
0-28 
0.585 
Proteid matters 
13 00 
13-00 
3-00 
2-80 
C-761 
Theobromine ... 
1-50 
— 
_ 

0-023 
Caffeine 
— 
2-25 
0-43 
0-46 
2-348 
Essential oil ... 
0-40 
0-003 
0-79 
0-60 
undet. 
Rr-sin ... 
— 
— . 
2-22 
3.64 

Sugar 
Starch 
0-5 1 
15-50 
— 
— 
f 2-875 
1 33-754 
Gum 
— 
— 
8-58 
7-28 
3-040 
Cellulose 
— 
34-00 
17-08 
26-18 
29 831 
Colouring matters — 
— 
17-24 
19-20 
2-561 
Ditto 
5-00 
— 
2-22 
1-84 
1-290 
Extractive 
— 
— 
22-80 
19-88 
— 
Tannin 
— 
— . 
17-80 
12-8S 
1.618 
Ash 
3-60 
6-697 
5-56 
5-24 
3-395 
Water 
6 00 
12-00 
— 
— 
11-909 
We may fairly conclude that the yield of caffeine 
from the kola nut is greater than in mo-it commercial 
teas and coffees, and that the proportion of theobromine 
is greater than that contained in cocoa. By a special 
process a paste is made from the nut, called kolatina, 
which produces a refreshing and sustaining drink with 
boiling water or milk. It is also stated that kola is 
of use to tea-tasters in counteracting the effects re- 
sulting from their occupation, and that it can be used 
for “ improving ” low-grade cocoas. The analytical 
table shows that Kola does not contain anything like 
the quantity of tannin that tea does, nor the fatty 
matter that cocoa does ; hence people having weak 
digestions will find none of the inconvenience in the 
use of kola preparations which they experience when 
they take certain other beverages. 
If kola paste is mixed with cocoa it gives a chocolate 
of good quality, which is nutritious, and, according 
to the chemists, five times more sustaining than cocoa. 
Kola chocolate again is said to be ten times more 
nuiritious than the best kinds of ordinary chocolate. 
Mr. T. Ohristy, f.l.s. &b., to whom the introduction 
of the kola into this country is due, has a large num- 
ber of testimonials from cyclists, journalists, and 
others, which speak in terms of praise of the bene- 
ficial effects of using kola preparations during extreme 
mn.'^eular or mental exertion. Kola was used by the 
director of telegraphs of Egypt on his journeys into 
the Siudan, when bulky stores could not be carried. 
The French Alpine Club has just adopted it as a 
stimulant and nutrient in their mountain-climbing 
expeditions. Tha Gernnn War Office has recently 
ordered thirty tons of the nuts, owing to the benefi- 
cial results of experiments with them during the 
autumn manoeuvres of last year. The British Govern- 
ment are also giving their attention to the kola pre- 
parations. Kola is made up iu various forms: first, 
there is the kola luste, or kolatina: then it is made 
up in tablets as kola chocolate. According to the 
(Ji/clinii Record, “it is a f.ict that a single Cike of 
kola chocolate contains sufficient nourishment for a 
cyclist to ride from morning till evening without re- 
quiring other fool.” Another from is the kola lozenge, 
which can be carried in the vest pocket. Thera is also 
a kola cordial ; and Mr. Ohristy is shortly going to bring 
out a kola “cocoa” and a kola “coffee.”— London Grocer. 
