Proposal to introduce New Varieties.—Since it has begun to be realised that the local variety of palm is probably constantly inferior as an oil producer to some of the varieties found farther to the south, it has been suggested that some of the forms, with a thicker fibrous pericarp and a thin-shelled kernel, should be introduced and planted upon an extensive scale. It is assumed that by doing so, a better type would become established. Experiments made in the Kamerun show, however, that the progeny of palms having a thin-shelled fruit (Lisombe) do not necessarily retain their important characters. Dr. Strunk has suggested that, in the variety mentioned, the characters are not fixed or susceptible of transmission, but the experiments are not considered as yielding conclusive evidence, and it is advisable that experimental plots should be planted with the more useful forms in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, the seed being obtained from artificially fertilised sources.
Improvements in the Local Manufacture.—During recent years great efforts have been made by the Administration to increase the exports of both palm oil and kernels by opening up the previously rather inaccessible areas in which palm trees were found growing almost untouched. The first step in this direction was the extension of the Sierra Leone Railway line from Boia, a small village just beyond the Headquarters District boundary, to Mafokoyia, lying a short distance to the north. From here a road was made eastwards towards Yonnibannah, passing through country fairly well studded with oil palms. Later from Yonnibannah the objective of the railway became Baga, a town on the Maybole river, again to the north. At the present time this line has reached Kamabai, at the foot of the Koinadugu mountains and to the west of Bumban, passing the town of Makump on its way there. The whole of this route has been chosen in order to make the oil palm regions more accessible, and the increase in exports of both oil and kernels between 1907 and 1913 is almost entirely attributable to this development.
Not only was it desirable to open up new areas from which palm fruits could be gathered, but, owing to the deficiency of pericarp oil shipped from the country in comparison with palm kernels, it was thought that, by the introduction of improved methods for extracting the pericarp oil, more of this commodity might be obtainable in the future.
The prospect of working a large area both experimentally and commercially for oil extraction in situ, attracted Messrs. Lever Brothers, who installed ample mechanical apparatus at Yonnibannah in 1914. The Government had granted this firm a concession to work several hundred square miles on the understanding that the local traders and merchants were not thereby to be debarred from buying the hand-prepared oil from the natives as before. The scheme was intended to demonstrate the advantages of mechanical means of extraction over those of hand power; and it was thought that, by the introduction of these greater facilities for dealing with the oil palm products, labour would be liberated and would be employed to a greater extent in the less heavy and more remunerative direction of plantation and field work. Messrs. Lever Brothers’ factory was one designed to be equipped both from a mechanical and research standpoint, and a special shunting yard on the railway was leased to the firm by the Government to deal with the anticipated work. The project seemed so promising that local firms were contemplating following Messrs. Lever Brothers’ example in other localities. The whole scheme was, however, abandoned after a short trial; Messrs. Lever Brothers having probably discovered two facts in connection with the oil palm industry in Sierra Leone which had been lost sight of. The first is that the pericarp of the common type of palm fruit found in Sierra Leone, as pointed out in the first edition of this book, is very thin and therefore contains very little oil, and that the shell of the nuts in this thin-pericarped fruit is extremely thick. The common Sierra Leone kind is therefore of less economic value both in respect to pericarp oil and kernel contents than the common kind found in the Gold Coast, Nigeria and Kamerun. The second point is that the Mendis and Timanis occupying this part of the Protectorate are a lower type and generally poorer workers by comparison with the Fanti tribes of the Gold Coast or the Yorubas of Nigeria.
One explanation given for the failure of Messrs. Lever Brothers’ effort in Sierra Leone was that they did not offer a sufficiently high price for the oil palm fruit heads to induce the natives to collect and carry them to the factory. As the chiefs and villagers saw that by selling the fruits to the factory the main occupation of their wives (the preparation of palm oil and the cracking of nuts for the extraction of palm kernels) would be taken away, they were said to be averse to the establishment of a new condition of enforced idleness, which would impose greater difficulties on them of keeping their wives in order. The offer by the factory to return the nuts for cracking in the villages, did not dispose of this difficulty, as the villagers only saw in it an arrangement involving them in extra transport. Messrs. Lever Brothers have now transferred their work to the Belgian Congo, where, by reason of the better type of palm fruit commonly obtainable, the conditions are more satisfactory for the development of the mechanical extraction of palm oil on a commercial scale, and where the inhabitants are less independent and more accustomed to co-operate with European enterprise.
Export Figures.—The average annual export of palm oil and kernels for the first nine years of the century, and the annual total of the subsequent ten years are given:
| Palm oil | Palm kernels | |
|---|---|---|
| Year | Gallons | Tons |
| 1900-1908 Av. | 303,790 | 26,630 |
| 1909 | 851,998 | 42,897 |
| 1910 | 645,339 | 43,031 |
| 1911 | 725,648 | 42,892 |
| 1912 | 728,509 | 50,751 |
| 1913 | 617,088 | 49,201 |
| 1914 | 436,144 | 35,915 |
| 1915 | 481,576 | 39,624 |
| 1916 | 557,751 | 45,316 |
| 1917 | 543,111 | 58,020 |
| 1918 | 260,442 | 40,816 |
RUBBER.—Until 1907 the African tree rubber (Funtumia elastica) had not been recorded from any part of the country, although its congener, F. africana, was found everywhere. A number of trees of the first-named species have been recently discovered in the Panguma and Gola forests, and have been carefully examined. The latex, from trees tapped in the former locality, yielded a good quality of rubber when boiled with three volumes of water.
Native Method of Preparation.—The tree is known to the Mendis as “Gboi-gboi,” and in order to obtain the latex it is customary to fell the tree, afterwards ringing it at intervals of about one foot. The latex, which flows, is collected in leaf cups or other receptacles, and is heated in an iron pot. When in a state of semi-coagulation, induced by heat, it is poured upon plantain leaves, placed on the ground. Another plantain leaf is then used to cover the mass, which is stamped out with the feet into a rough sheet. The sheet is hung up to dry in a hut, in which it obtains the benefit of the fumes from the wood fires used by the occupants. The next process is to cut the sheet into strips, which are subsequently wound into large oval balls and enter the Freetown market under the name of “Manoh twist.”
Owing to the wasteful method of tapping the trees, the species has been exterminated in many places, and the local Government have had under consideration the formulation of an ordinance to prevent the continuance of such destruction. As the existing trees are now practically only found in the dense forests near the Liberian frontier, and are probably widely scattered over a large area, it will prove a difficult matter to enforce any regulations with regard to collection.