218 
F0KE8T TEEES. 
They are greatly attached to Englishmen, and have 
CTcr shown the most friendly feeling to the white 
residents, whose opinion they regard as law. Fortu- 
nately Mr. Beecroft unites with his kindliness of dis- 
position, a thorough knowledge of the native character 
here and all over the coast, so that they respect h i m 
very much. The timber in the neighbourhood is 
remarkably fine, being different species of iron-wood, 
red-wood, African oak, and many sorts of fine woods 
unknown as yet by their botanical characters, but 
producing excellent timber. The Bomhacece are 
the largest in Afi-ica, some of them being one 
hundred and fifty feet from the base to the first 
branch, while the buttresses by which these immense 
trees are supported often occupy a circumference of 
fifty or sixty feet. They are truly the giants of African 
forests; the wood being very soft and buoyant, is 
suitable for canoes, but scarcely for any other purpose. 
Most of them have in the dry seasons festoons of 
beautiful parasitic plants pendant from the branches, or 
convolvuli twining gi’acefully round the trunks. The 
trees most prized by the natives, are the palm and goora 
or Sterculiaf^, apparently a different species to that 
found on the mainland. The former, besides affording 
a refreshing drink — topi, or palm-wine — yields the 
oil which adds zest to their simple cookery, and pro- 
cures them in barter the luxuries of tobacco and rum ; 
* Dr. Thomson obtained an extremely bitter alkaloid principle 
from the stei’culia, which he designated Sterculine. 
