The agricultural and forest products of British West Africa

by Gerald C. Dudgeon

The best class of Kano or Niger leather is valued at a high price for bookbinding.

In the country a fair amount of leather is manufactured for saddlery and horse trappings, pillows, mattress covers, sword scabbards, boots and hats, elaborate designs being often produced by the skilful introduction of pieces of differently coloured leather.

In preparing the leather the skin is stripped off the animal and usually pegged out for drying in the sun, after which it is immersed for two or three days in a liquid made by pounding the pods and seeds of Acacia arabica (“Baggarua”), and soaking them in water. The hides are then again pegged out and scraped in order to remove the hair, and when dry the best attain a creamy white colour, others being pale brownish. Palm oil or shea-butter is then rubbed in on the smooth side of the skin, which is worked and rolled until quite soft, after which a polish is obtained by drawing the smooth surface rapidly over a wooden upright blade.

The finest and lightest skins are usually reserved for making into yellow, green, or pale blue leather, and the rest are converted into red, black, dark blue or dark yellow kinds. The red dye is obtained from the stalks of a species of Sorghum,[13] which is grown for this purpose, and to which the Haussas give the name of “Karandeffi” or “Karantudi.” The dried stalks are pounded up and placed in a calabash, to which a solution of “potash” is added. A deep crimson liquid results, and in this the skin is steeped until a sufficiency has been absorbed by it to render it permanently deep red in colour. A pale yellow colour is imparted to the skin by an infusion made from the root of a kind of turmeric, which is pounded up for the purpose. A dark yellow is obtained from the root of a tree called by the Yorubas “Agbesi.” A black pigment is prepared from a mixture of honey and blacksmith’s slag; blue from Lonchocarpus cyanescens, one of the indigo producers; green or pale blue-green from brass filings mixed with lime juice, common salt, and other ingredients. More recently green aniline dye has been imported into the country, and has almost superseded the use of brass filings in all the large leather-producing districts.

FIBRES.—Owing to the demand for ropes among the cattle-keepers of the northern districts and the canoemen of the Niger and Benue valleys, it is not surprising to find that the wild fibres are considered insufficient to supply so great a necessity, and that in consequence a selected species is extensively cultivated and prepared for sale in the markets.

“Rama” or “Ramo” is the name which is applied to such a plant in the Haussa- and Yoruba-speaking countries respectively, but although used exclusively for fibre made from plants belonging to the genus Hibiscus, different species are indicated in various districts. The plant to which the name “Rama” is given in Ilorin, Nupe, Kontagora, Kano, and Zaria, is apparently the same as that generally termed “Farin (white) Rama” in Bauchi and Muri, and has been recognised as Hibiscus lunariifolius; that called “Rama” in the northern territories of the Gold Coast is said to belong to two species allied to H. Sabdariffa, and that grown by the Yoruba people of the western province of Southern Nigeria, and called by them “Ramo,” has been identified as H. guineensis.

In the present instance only H. lunariifolius is referred to, since this is the species cultivated throughout the country.

Although in the other countries the allied plants are cultivated, they are invariably grown upon a small scale, and are only seen in small patches adjoining houses, or cultivated as a mixed crop with peppers, okra, etc.; in Northern Nigeria fairly extensive tracts are planted, and the crop is treated as carefully as the food crops in the vicinity. In Ilorin, Kabba, and Bassa the seeds are sown on ridges in drills a few inches apart, each drill having four to six plants in it. The sowing in this locality is done in the middle of May, and the crop is not irrigated, being dependent upon the rainfall for development. The plants, when they have reached the height of six or more inches, do not appear to be adversely affected by a prolonged continuance of dry weather in the Niger Valley, but this is perhaps accounted for by the humidity of the atmosphere.

The conditions last referred to do not, however, apply to the northern districts, and the importance with which the crop is regarded is seen in the fact that it is worth while to irrigate it. At Fogola the plants are also sown in drills on ridges, but the drills are made at about one foot apart from one another, and ten or more plants are left in each drill. The seed is sown in April and irrigated until the rainy season commences in June.

The stalks are said to be cut after the plant has fruited, and are described as being retted in a manner similar to that employed for Indian jute. The unretted “ribbons” as well as the prepared fibre are offered for sale in the local markets, the former being employed in the rough state for twisting into rope used for fastening roofing poles, etc. The prepared fibre produces an excellent kind of rope, and is in appearance very similar to Bengal jute, although it has slightly less lustre. Specimens of Northern Nigerian rama fibre have been examined from time to time at the Imperial Institute, and have been satisfactorily reported on. As a result the fibre has been actually exported to Europe.