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1 Dec., 1897. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. i 459 
nuts of the Kamerunga specimens are not densely covered with the oil-yielding 
substance. The shell of the nut is very hard, and resists a smart blow from a 
hammer ; it is about a quarter of an inch in thickness, or quite as thick as an 
average cocoanut shell; its small diameter makes its resisting strength very 
great. The kernel is white, somewhat hard and dry, and is tasteless. Notwith- 
standing this, it has a considerable value in the European markets. In all 
probability Hleis guineensis requires a damp soil and moist atmosphere. It 
does not seem to have been cultivated for commercial purposes in Ceylon, or 
in any of the West Indian Islands. Its range, according to Simmons, appears 
to extend from the coast of Guinea.to the south of Fernando Po, and grows as 
far up in the interior as Zheru, a distance of 400 miles from the sea, on the 
mouth of the Miu, one of the embouchures of the Niger. Captain Burton 
states that this palm is known by the Arabs to grow in the islands of Zanzibar 
and Pecuba, and more rarely in the mountains of Uragona. It springs up 
apparently uncultivated in large dark groves on the shores of the Lake 
Tanganyika, where it hugs the margin, rarely growing any distance inland. 
This fine palm, he adds, is also tapped, as the date-palm is in Western India 
for toddy. 
The process of extracting the oil issimple. The clusters or branches of fruit, 
which contain perhaps as many as 4,000, are gathered by the men, and thrown 
indiscriminately into a trench or pit, and are left until they become somewhat 
decayed. The fruit is afterwards pounded in a mortar to loosen the husky 
fibre covering the nut. This done, they are placed in large clay vats filled with 
water, and two or three women tread out the semi-liquid oil, which comes to 
the surface as disengaged from the fibre, when it is collected and boiled to get 
rid of the water. ‘The inner surface of these clay vats, having at first absorbed 
a small quantity of oil, is not afterwards affected either by the water or the oil. 
(Simmons). M. Boussingalt has shown (“ Economic Rurale’’) that the average 
production of oil from palms is at the rate of 200 kilos* per hectare—that is to 
say, superior by a third to the production of oil from the olive in the South of 
Europe. 
Since the year 1871, the quantity of palm oil imported into the United 
Kingdom has declined ; probably the decline in value has something to do with 
the exportation. The price of palm oil, as quoted by Simmons for 1876, was 
£41 per ton. The Produce World, in its August (1897) issue, gives the price as 
£24 per ton. 
The London Chamber of Commerce Journal has the following :—‘ The 
staples in trade in the Benin River are palm oil and palm kernels. From 1872 
to 1881 trade was stopped in kernels. The stoppage was associated with the 
death of an old king of Benin, from which the people were led to believe that 
if they allowed the kernel trade their ‘ big men’ would die. The main reason 
which influenced the situation was to keep down the rising generation, and to 
‘ring’ slavery and the trade advantages derived therefrom. The busy season 
is from April to July ; the remaining months represent the slack season. A 
curious fact is that on the Benin side of the river—thatis, the right bank—soft 
oil is the staple; while on the left bank and eastward, hard oil is obtained.” 
Governor Moloney goes on to explain that the difference of manufacture is 
that one (the hard oil) is the result of the cold process, while soft oil is the 
result of the boiling process. Palm oil is received in barter, by the cask, each 
eask holding about two-thirds of a ton, or from 220 to 240 gallons, Hard 
oil is not acceptable in the German market; it has to be sold in Eng- 
land. The soft oil is said to be as good, if not the same, as Lagos 
oil, yet it rarely commands the same price. Kernels are bought by cask 
measure of half a ton each, used for the purpose. The nuts are cracked, the 
kernels producing a fair white oil. No mention is anywhere made as to 
how the nuts are cracked, but doubtless this involves serious amount of 
labour. In the Kamerunga specimens, the bunches of fruit are compressed 
* Lkilo = 2}1b. 1 hectare = 2 acres nearly. 
