Sketch of the Forestry of West Africa. By Alfred Moloney,
C.M.G. (Sampson Low and Co.)—Mr. Moloney is an official of the Colony of Lagos, and tells us, in language more expressive than correct, that "both temperature and other demands upon his time have not been favourable " to composition. Temperature must be a " demand upon one's time" in the damp heat of the West African Coast. Notwith- standing these difficulties, Mr. Moloney has collected a number of valuable statistics relating to West African trade. Palm-oil is the principal export. Of this, the imports into Liverpool during eleven months of last year were as much as 41,614 toss, the highest for a whole year having been 45,767, in 1880. Palm-oil follows thereto that governs almost all commercial articles. The trade has increased, and the profit has diminished. Its maximum price in former years was £52 per ton ; last December, the highest quotation was £23 5a. On the other hand, in 1790 the export was little more than a hundred tons. West Africa produces many other things,—Intoutchouc, cotton, coffee, indigo, various gums and spices, and tobacco among them. But the cultivation of these things wants developing, and it is Mr. Moloney's patriotic purpose in writing this book to Resist in that development.
Previous page
