The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-10-09
ia
The Palm Tribe.
THE AFRICAN OIL PALM.

,ytki2lCCflSlS, .IIln.) 10, e4lGSK VIC SSOo1r
nut pslm, one OF the most important
in a commercial point of view, since
l. furnishes to British commerce
afont 10000 tons Of oil annually, OF
the value Of one and half to one
and three.quarters Of million ster-
inc besides the quantity locally
consumed as food in Africa, and sent
N other countxies. It is distin-
pushed by its decumbent trunk, and
hears clusters Of one-seeded fruit
idr1lpes), with oily husks Of a bright
yerniilion or moro or less yellow
color, The range Of this palm is not
~ vet we'll defined, but appears to
extend from the coast Of Guinea to
the south Of Fernando 10, and
crows as far up i'll the interior as
Zheru, 3 distance Of four hundred
miles from the sea, or the mouth OF
the Min, one Of the emboNchures Of
the Niger.
CaptAin Burton, in his Lake Re
sious Of Central Africa states that
This palm is known by the Arabs to
ROW in the islands Of Zanzibar and
Pomba, and more rarely in the noun
taius of Usagona. 1t springs up
apparsntly uncultivated in large
dark groves On the shores Of the
Tanganyika, where it hugs the mar
gin, rarely growing at any distance
inland. This tinc palm, he adds, is
also tappcd, as the date palm is in
Western India, for toddy, and the
cheapnces Of this timbo-thc sara OF
Western .Africa-accounts for the
prevalence Of intoxication, and the
consequent demonstration Of the
Lake tribes.
The principal ports III the Blight
Of Benin from which palm oil is ex-
ported are Badagry, Porto Novo,
Whydah, Aliquah. Lagos, aud Pal
mas. ..''
Palm oil is exported from the fol
lowing rivers: Brass, New Calabar,
Benny, Old Calsbar, Bemba, Cam
eroons, and also from Fernando Pc,
independent of these, in the rivers
Malunba, 6oreah, and Kampo, palm
oil sc brought by coasting. yesseis
of palm oil That IS Drought from any
river in West Africa.
The process Of extracting the oil
is very simple. The clusters or
branches of fruit, which contain, per-
haps as many as four thousand, are
gathered by the men, and thrown
Unfortunately into trench or pit,
aud so left until they become some
Whist dccayed. The fruit is after
wards pounded in a mortar to loosen
the husky Gbre covering the nut.
This done, they are placed in large
clay watts filed with water, and two
or three women tread out the semi
liquid oil, which comes to the surface
rs dsengaged from the fibre, when
it is collected and boiled to get rid
of the water. The inner surface of
these clay watts having at first alb
Sorbed q small quantity OF oil, is
NOT afterward effected either by the
water or oil. The oil is collected in
pots, containing from three to TWEEN
ty gallons. :,
NJ, Boussingalt has shown, from
information collected, : that the aver
age production Of OIL from palms is
at the rate of nine hundred kilos.
per heclare, that is TO say, superior
by . third to the production of oil
from the olive in the south Of Eu-
rope,
'rnis vegetable LAT is stated by A,
&. Oudemans, jun, to have the fol-
towing remarkable composition {:
steariu, paImitin, myristin, lauroin,
claim, caprin, caproin, and caprylin.
1t is used with the other solid fats
for making soap and candles, and for
railway grease. The price OF the oil
at the close OF 1876 was HI per
ton. The enormous progress that
has been made in the commerce in
this article is shown by comparing
the imports Of 1910 with those OF
the last six years, which have aver
aged one million hundredwcights,
and this is only Inc British imports.
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